Statistics about the blogshop scene in Malaysia

Here are some statistics about the size of the Malaysian blogshop scene.  I think the estimated 3000 blogshops does not include the ones operating on Facebook.


Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2013/04/17/online-payment-gateway-for-%E2%80%98growing%E2%80%99-blog-shops/

Online payment gateway for ‘growing’ blog shops

April 17, 2013

By Tanu Pandey
KUALA LUMPUR: Keeping pace with the changing shopping environment where online shopping has become very popular, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has launched a payment gateway for blog shops, targeting a blog shop purchase market worth RM105 million in five years.
Blog shops that are online shops that sell goods and services online, have been growing lately with an estimated 3,000 blog shops currently and the “the number is growing”.
Maybank president and CEO Abdul Wahid Omar said this yesterday at the launch of the Maybank2u Pay, the first payment service of its kind in the country.
This year, the bank aims at capturing 5% of the sector worth RM5 million with at least 180,000 transactions on the online shopping portals and blogs. The average size of each transaction is worth RM30 as many of the blogs shops purchases are for lower priced items.
There is an increasing trend in social commerce where blog shops use banks as a payment facility. Such shops are too small to be registered as payee corporations and in most cases use online fund transfers as a mode of payment from buyers to sellers.
The Maybank2u Pay service has no joining fee but after 2013 there will be a nominal transaction fee for each transaction done via the gateway.
Maybank plans to expand the service to Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore after this year. “This year we will try to expand the service in Malaysia and try to penetrate the market,” said executive VP and head of virtual banking & payments community financial services Mohd Suhail Amar Suresh.
When asked if the bank expects others to follow a similar trend, Abdul Wahid said, “ As a leader, we are used to others following us. We are accustomed to dealing with competition.”
Online shopping has become popular in the country with more than 1.1 million Malaysians spending RM1.8 billion for online shopping in 2010, according to statistics. The value of such shopping is expected to grow RM5 billion next year, said Maybank.



 from: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/663916

Maybank aims RM5m transactions from blogshops

Posted on 17 April 2013 - 05:40am

Ee Ann Nee
sunbiz@thesundaily.com

Print

KUALA LUMPUR (April 17, 2013): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), the country's biggest lender, expects its Maybank2u Pay -- a new payment gateway to facilitate online purchasers at blogshops -- to attract at least 5% or 150 of the 3,000 local blogshops this year, to register 180,000 transactions valued at RM5 million, said its president and CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
"This is projected to increase to 30% (of total blogshops) with expected transaction value of RM105 million in five years," he said at the launch of Maybank2u Pay here yesterday.
Twenty local blogshops have signed on for the service, which is the first by a bank in Malaysia.
"The average transaction (at blogshops) is about RM30 and this is where we feel we can play a role by making it more efficient so that it can generate more volume," said Abdul Wahid.
Online shopping in the country is expected to grow to RM5 billion next year from RM1.8 billion in 2010 spent by over 1.1 million Malaysians. Maybank currently commands 50% of registered users for online banking in the country.
"Within our customer base, we have some 2.3 million active users who performed over 2.5 million shopping transactions worth about RM675 million last year," he added.
Abdul Wahid said over the years, Maybank has noticed an increasing trend in social commerce of blogshops using Maybank2u as a payment facility.
However, they were too small to be registered as payee corporations and in most cases, were using online fund transfers as a mode of payment from buyers to sellers.
This year, Maybank will focus on rolling out Maybank2u Pay in Malaysia, but plans to expand the service across its other key markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore in 2014.
Maybank2u Pay offers blog shop owners the ability to manage their transactions via Maybank2u in a systematic and professional manner, with detailed view of sales transactions with information such as date and time of transactions, buyer's name and email as well as the transferred amount.
The new service also eliminates the current need to send proof of payment to blogshop owners. Instead, Maybank2u Pay will send email alerts to both buyers and sellers when a payment is made.
One of the key strengths of Maybank2u has always been the bill payment facility, which by far, offers the largest number of payee corporations. Maybank is also the leader in online fund transfers.
Blogshop owners can apply for Maybank2u Pay via their Maybank2u access without any joining fee. Beyond 2013, on a per transaction basis, the bank would probably charge a nominal fee like any other e-payment transaction.
Abdul Wahid also said Maybank is predicting Malaysia's gross domestic product to grow by 5.3% this year, driven by the various projects under the Economic Transformation Programme.
"With that, the banking system will both benefit as well as play a catalyst role. With an efficient banking system, we will make sure that there is enough founding for the various projects to be implemented."


from: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/rup164/Article/ 

Maybank2u Pay to facilitate online shopping

Published: 2013/04/17

KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank2u Pay, a payment gateway for blogshops, is expected to facilitate RM5 million worth of online shopping transactions in Malaysia next year as consumers look to blogshops as a convenient and reliable online shopping experience.

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said the Maybank2u Pay will likely attract at least five per cent of the 3,000-strong local blogshop community this year.

This customer base is projected to increase to 30 per cent with expected transaction value of RM105 million in five years.

Within Maybank itself, there are some 2.3 million active users who performed more than 2.5 million online shopping transaction, worth about RM675 million last year.

Abdul Wahid said Maybank will establish the Maybank2u Pay service locally before expanding it to Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore next year.

"We intend to introduce this to other key markets in the region, where we believe we can make a significant impact on the lives of micro entrepreneurs," he said at a media briefing yesterday.

Maybank is the first in Malaysia to launch such a payment gateway for the blogshop community.

Originally hosted on free blog sites, blogshops are now becoming regular online stores while retaining more personal customer relationships.

The country's biggest lender, which has been a leader in Internet banking since it introduced the service in 2000, commands nearly half of registered users in the market for its services, which include the bill payment facility and online fund transfers.

Over the years, Maybank found an increasing trend of blogshops using its website as a payment facility. They were, however, too small to be registered as payee corporations and in most cases, were using online fund transfers as a mode of payment from buyers to sellers.

Maybank2u Pay eliminates the current need to send proof of payment to blogshop owners. Instead, Maybank2u Pay will send email alerts to both buyers and sellers when a payment is made.

Read more: Maybank2u Pay to facilitate online shopping http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/rup164/Article/#ixzz2QlzZoB9X

Multiply Indonesia Expands Further into Indonesia

Multiply is to online selling what LiveJournal has been to blogshopping in Singapore.  This is a mirror article to the one a few weeks back about how re-purposed social selling has changed LiveJournal.  SO now we see how social media platform providers are beginning to respond to the blogshopping phenomenon which is now arguably fueling growth of these social media sites.

As they recognize the significance of this industry, they are starting to take steps to develop these platforms into social commere structures.  What this presents to blogshop owners is that it offers an option for them for growth and legitimacy.  Whereas previously blogshops had to convert to shopping carts to gain acceptance, they now can remain hosted on these sites while gaining a measure of recognition as e-commerce destinations as more proper selling tools like shopping carts and payment facilities are enabled.  Thus it is possible for blogshops to now be permanently hosted on social sites like this.

From: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/bisindonesia/multiply-indonesia-eyes-more-expansion-in-indonesia/441732

After establishing itself in Indonesia earlier this year, one of the world’s largest social networking sites wants to expand its workforce by four times and bring 100,000 local merchants into the site by the end of this year.

Multiply, which combines social networking and an online marketplace, has about 2 million active users in Indonesia and more than 35,000 merchants on its site. It brings in about 20 million unique visitors each month, about 7 million of which come from Indonesia.

“We just released Multiply Commerce on May 10, and within a week there were already 1,000 transactions happening through our payment gateway,” Daniel Tumiwa, the country manager for Multiply Indonesia, said on the sidelines of the Multiply Commerce launch on Wednesday.

“This year is the time for online transactions to take off in Indonesia,” he said. “On average, we have about 2,000 new merchants every month who upload about 50,000 new products per month.”

Multiply, launched in August 2004, was started as a social networking site for families and friends before Facebook existed.

Once users began utilizing the site to sell their products online, though, it decided to expand into an online marketplace. In September last year, the Myriad International Holdings unit of Naspers Limited acquired a controlling interest in Multiply.

It established a subsidiary in Indonesia last March and currently employs 37 people. The company plans to move to a large office in South Jakarta next week, in line with its plan to hire 150 employees by the end of this year.

Peter Pezaris, co-founder and chief executive of Multiply, visited Jakarta in February and said the US company was committed to make Indonesia its anchor market.

“By next year, Indonesia will be our biggest office, even bigger than the one in the US,” Pezaris said. Multiply’s office in Jakarta is its third after the US and the Philippines.

According to Daniel, more than 90 percent of the transactions in the site took place offline.

“I don’t know exactly how many transactions happened so far, but based on our internal survey, the average value per transaction is about Rp 150,000 [$17.50],” he said.

“One of the keys of ecommerce is trust and recommendations,” said Andy W. Djiwandono, vice president for marketing and business development at Multiply Indonesia. “That is why we established ‘trusted seller.’ ”

Although users can register as members for free, the company provides several options for premium accounts.

“At first I was selling stuff in Multiply just for fun. Within a short period of time, my business grew and now I am more serious about selling baby products and eco-friendly products,” said Anita, one of Multiply’s sellers who joined the site about two years ago.

Most of the sellers on the site, Daniel said, are women and people trying to earn extra income despite already working full-time jobs.

Multiply’s revenue streams come from advertising, premium memberships and commissions for each transaction completed through its payment gateway.

“We charge 3.9 percent for every transaction that is using our shopping cart,” Daniel said, adding that the most popular payment system was KlikBCA.

The site also supports other bank transactions and credit card payments through PayPal.

Another article:

Blogshopping is HUGE in Indonesia, although it is not called blogshopping.

Social shopping site Multiply to relocate its global headquarters to Indonesia

29th January 2012 by Jon Russell

Social shopping site Multiply has announced plans to relocate its global headquarters from Boca Raton, Florida, to Jakarta, Indonesia, according to a report from Daily Social.

The move is a rare example of a company choosing an emerging market over the US, as it is typically made the other way round, but there is much sense to the reshuffle which will bring the company closer to the majority of its users.

The service, which is reportedly the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, has “more than 100,000 online merchants across the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam”, and CEO Peter Pezaris explains that the move is driven by increased opportunities:

We chose Jakarta because the opportunity is so large. It’s such a fast growing economy. So many people are using Multiply in Indonesia, it’s such an important market for us.

Multiple is not new to Southeast Asia and its existing Jakarta office houses more than 50 of its 126 global staff, while it also has a presence in the Philippines. Indonesia is its largest market, as it told the Jakarta Globe, and statistics from last year showed it drew 7 million monthly visitors to its 34,000 Indonesian sellers. These number are now likely to be significantly higher, particularly given that the company saw 2,000 new sellers from Indonesia joining each month.

In addition to the move, which was announced on location in Indonesia, Multiply is giving a nice perk to customers by waiving all shipping cost and transaction fees until March. It also has news for Indonesia, where it is expanding payment options to allow XL Tunai customers to make transactions via mobile operator XL Axiata, and Prima ATMs are also supported.

The company is not shy on making bold moves and it actually began life as a photo sharing social network which rivalled Facebook and others.

On noticing that its personal pages feature were increasingly being used to build online shops, it revamped its offering with the introduction Multiply Marketplace and moved down a completely new avenue as a social shopping service.

It has placed significant emphasis on Indonesia in the past and it ran the beta version of Multiply 5.0 exclusively in the country, before a wider pilot in Southeast Asia preceded the global launch of the enhanced platform in June 2010.

In spite of its pivot, Multiply’s photo sharing service still remains popular and, according to the company, it is the second largest social network in Southeast Asia — behind Facebook, of course — while it has “millions of additional users” in the US, Brazil and India.

The relocation of Multiply’s global office will be completed over the next 12 months, during which a number of personnel and positions will be relocated to Indonesia, the company said.

Image credit: Shutterstock user Russ Beinder

Yet another article on Multiply:

Multiply 5.0 e-commerce platform being tested in Indonesia

12th April 2011 by Francis Tan

What started as a social networking platform for photo and video sharing has evolved into a social shopping site that connects the sellers in a virtual world with eager spenders. Multiply 5.0, the photo-sharing social network turned robust e-commerce platform, is currently in the works and is being tested in Indonesia.
The beta version of Multiply 5.0 is initially available at Indonesia.multiply.com and according to the Multiply blog, the new platform will integrate an e-commerce catalog store, shopping cart and payment system designed to simplify the process not only for buyers but inventory and order management for sellers as well. Multiply’s high-resolution photo upload facility will still be present.

There is still no official date when Multiply 5.0 will be released to the public, but Multiply Indonesia will put the various facilities and features in the new version to the test in the real world.
Multiply recently expanded in Jakarta, Indonesia, which is expected to be the second largest office after its main headquarters in Florida, USA. Multiply Indonesia has 34,000 sellers network (with 2,000 new sellers every month) and is being graced by 7 million visitors each month.

Blogshop Earnings

This article gives insights into how much money blogshops can make.

What jumps at me is way at the bottom of the article where it says that a blogshop's credibility is a key criterion of its success.

Source: http://www.divaasia.com/article/14048

Sun, Aug 07, 2011

The New Paper

   

Her blogshop makes up to $45k a month

by Maureen Koh

 

Six years ago, it was just a chance for them to earn extra pocket money.
Today, My Glamour Place (MGP) is a blogshop - which sells only apparel - with an average monthly turnover of $30,000.

Festive seasons such as Chinese New Year and Christmas can easily bring in up to $45,000.
Co-owner Angela Ang, 24, told The New Paper that she orders only 100 pieces of each item from manufacturers in China.

The new designs sell out within hours, if not minutes, once they are uploaded on the blogshop.
That's no mean feat given that Miss Ang and her business partner and sweetheart from their days in Singapore Polytechnic, Mr Keith Tay, started the venture with capital of just $500 each.

Mr Tay, 24, recalled: "We got into the business when we were in our last year in poly. We got so busy - from procurement (of the apparel) to photoshoots to fulfilling orders.

"I didn't even join a CCA when I was in university. MGP was my CCA."

Mr Tay studied at the National University of Singapore.

But it was not all a bed of roses for the couple at first. They started out selling cosmetics but ran into losses.
Said Miss Ang: "We had issues with the products' expiry date and realised it didn't make money sense."
But when they switched to clothes, they made only two transactions the entire week.

Mr Tay said: "We had a little squabble because I had less risk appetite, so I suggested that we stop and resume what we were best at (cosmetics).

"But Angela was adamant that we should take on new stocks instead."

Her reasoning was simple: What was not selling that week would not sell the week after either.
True enough, by the next week, MGP sold 10 pieces.

Still, it was another three more months before they managed 100 pieces in a week.

Overseas suppliers

Encouraged by the responses, Mr Tay said they decided to hunt for alternative suppliers from overseas instead of taking their stock from local wholesalers.

He added: "We also wanted to explore if it was viable to produce our own label."

Today, after six years, Miss Ang designs 90 per cent of the apparel, which includes ruffle dresses, bustiers, casual tops and jackets.

Prices go from as low as $22 for a top and $33 for a dress.

She says she draws inspiration from an extensive selection of fashion magazines for her designs.

With the blogshop going well, she quit her job as an auditor with Ernst & Young after six months in February this year.

She had found it tough to do both roles simultaneously and struggled for a couple of months.

Miss Ang said: "I felt I should pick and focus on just one job, so it was either my audit job or MGP."

MGP was the obvious choice, she added, "because we built it from scratch over a few years".

"Right now, I should take the opportunity to expand the business and see what we can do," said a feisty Miss Ang.

While Mr Tay was initially more active in running the blogshop with Miss Ang, he has since taken a backseat after starting work as teacher a few months ago.

MGP has also ventured into taking up shop spaces in concept stores at Bugis Junction, Plaza Singapura and Far East Plaza.

Mr Tay said: "People who aren't confident about buying from us online can always go to the retail stores.
"Having a physical presence also helps to build up the brand."

Their customers are mostly tertiary students and young working professionals aged between 18 and 24.
That number could well grow as experts are expecting online shopping to boom.

Mr William Klippgen, executive director of Tickled Media, which represents LiveJournal in this region, said: "E-commerce is seeing a major uptake in Singapore - online shopping here (came up to) more than $1 billion last year, according to Paypal.

"This number is expected to reach $4.4 billion in 2014."

But if you are thinking about jumping on the blogshop bandwagon, think again, said Mr Samuel Teoh, who provides consultancy services for online start-ups.

Mr Teoh, 47, said: "I've seen blogshops here today and gone tomorrow. It takes time and a lot of hard work to get the online business going because credibility is the key criterion.

"There's also a limit to what they can offer until the brand has established itself."

He added: "And it's not like you can 'close shop' for the day. Running a blogshop also means that you are expected to be working 24/7."

Mr Tay agreed: "Even when we take our short breaks or go for holidays, we'll take along our laptops and make sure that there is Internet access at the hotels.

"You can't afford to take too long to respond to your customers."

This article was first published in The New Paper.

3 Tips and tricks for a successful Blogshop- Platinum Mall Guide article

 This article is written by someone from Platinum Mall, a major source for blogshop suppliers that is based in Bangkok.  It is clear that Platinum Mall understands the importance of blogshop owners as the customers of their tenants who are major suppliers for these blogshop owners.

The whole blog serves the purpose of helping blogshop sellers to shop more effectively at Platinum Mall.

This is an indication of the significance of blogshops to the Thai fashion industry who act as suppliers.

From: http://platinummallguide.com/wordpress/?p=266

3 Tips and tricks for a successful Blogshop

By andrian on March 26, 2011
 

1. Photos
You’re selling clothes, accessories, bags or shoes, and the only point of contact the prospects have are your photos on your website. I’ve seen many blogshops who have poor quality photos of their products.
The 2 main culprit for poor quality is lighting and poor styling, not the MP or whether your camera is an SLR

a) Lighting
It makes and break a photo, some landscape photographers wait days just for the optimal lighting. Do not use flash is possible, and if you do, let the flash bounce off the ceiling to obtain natural lighting. Trying to obtain bright natural lighting is key to make your clothes look natural and not odd

b) Styling
I’ve seen many placing their clothes on their beds, or on their floors, please hang it up and use a nice hanger.
Remember you’re selling clothes here! If your pictures are not nice, they will think like wise for your actual product.

2. Marketing
Why does your blogshop need marketing? You might be thinking that you’re just looking to earn some extra cash and do not want to come out with more money to do marketing. With many blogshops closing down within the 1st year. It is paramount that you do marketing online. You’re not a physical shop that can rely on human traffic passing your shop.

Most blogshops just create a website/blog and expect through their their friends that word-of-mouth would work.

What tools are available for budget conscious blogshops?

a) Facebook
The most powerful social media right now, if you can harness the power of facebook, you easily have thousands of viewers each day. The easiest method is to create a profile and add your friends on it, after that upload the photos and tagged every of your friend on the photo. This would appear on your friend’s feeds which their friends will be able to see.

I don’t recommend this method, I suggest taking a different harder approach by creating good original content via good quality photos so that prospects are more inclined to view your page rather than being forced fed

b) Updates
Updates are paramount, in this age of the Internet, we are being fed vast amounts of information daily, and if you do not update your content, stock or status, you will be forgotten easily

c) Differentiation
This is something I would like to touch on which is sorely lacking in the blogshop landscape. I’m not talking about selling niche items, but how are you different from the other blogshop that is targeting the same consumers as you are?

I’ve browsed hundreds of blogshops and have found that a lot pictures that were provided by their distributors have been recycled over and over again. Afterall you realise that all blogshops are the same, they offer the same price point, the clothes are similar and they offer the same guarantee and features.

Offer different clothes, take your photos differently, create your profile differently, don’t be generic, you need to differentiate so that prospect would want to buy from you

3. Ready-stock
You know why just because the cashier at supermarkets are small items like sweets, batteries, and chewing gums? Because they are considered compulsive buys, and the cheaper the item, the easier it is to be a compulsive buy.

Many blogshops do not have ready-stock, and do not have an automated pay system. Why this is important is because it provides a conducive environment for the prospect to compulsively buy your product.

Blogshop Haul

This is an example of a 'HAUL'.  It works like this: someone goes on a shopping spree, buys (or hauls) a bunch of fashion items, and then share it all online.  It gives them a chance to dress up in what they have bought, take pictures and post on their blogs.  Sometimes they do this on You Tube.

In a way, they play the role of fashion consultants, or experts, and they get to show off their purchases.

From: http://cloverbeautyinn.blogspot.com/2011/01/massive-haul-from-singapore-blog-shop.html

Friday, January 21, 2011

Massive Haul from Singapore Blog Shop: Love, Bonito

Recently I have fallen in love with the clothes from a Singapore Blog Shop "Love, Bonito". Not only are the designs very trendy and cutting flattering, the prices are really REALLY reasonable too. The prices of most of their clothes range from SGD25-50. They carry a lower end range called "Love, Bonito", and a higher end range called "COVET". All their designs are original and the fabrics used are nothing short of excellent =) I buy most of my clothes from them now and here I post only some of my more recent purchases. I just made another huge order from them yesterday, and probably I will post some photos of that order when it arrives!

Byzantine Curve Dress in fuschia, SGD30, S size

COVET Charis Amour Dress in red, SGD45, S size

Red satin underneath black lace and mesh

Best Sunday Tog in cool blue, SGD28, free size

Labyrinth Maze Dress in Royal Purple, SGD29, free size

Au Courant Shrug in cream, SGD28, free size

Love, Bonito usually launches a new collection every week, and when they do, some designs get SOLD OUT within minutes! So if you are keen to buy their clothes, make sure you have fast fingers to add items to cart and fast internet connection! =)

10 comments:

Becky said...

All the clothes are really cute, but I specially like the last one

January 21, 2011 3:22 AM

Anna Crystal said...

You look so incredibly cute and you have a fantastic taste!

January 21, 2011 4:21 AM

ashura said...

Thank you Anna, I am flattered =)

January 21, 2011 5:28 AM

Steph said...

they look so cute on you =D especially the second && last one ~

January 21, 2011 8:33 AM

나니 said...

LOVE the exotic look of the first dress. SUPER pretty : D

January 21, 2011 8:47 AM

InsideOut Elle said...

these are adorable! I LOVE the first one especially ;) sexy~~

January 21, 2011 11:29 AM

Sophie-Lou-J said...

aww you look super cute in all these outfits. I love the 3rd dress!! Sophie-Lou x www.sophie-Lou-j-says.blogspot.com

January 21, 2011 11:42 AM

mineral lipstick said...

Love the pretty dresses...and the crochet stole looks like a steal.It is elegant and multipurpose.It is nice to see the new fashions when dressing...the color combination and styles which are always evolving.

January 21, 2011 7:54 PM

Nic Nic said...

my fave no2 and the purple dress!! lovely picks :)

January 24, 2011 8:21 AM

Marina said...

so so pretty!!! xx Marina

February 2, 2011 5:36 AM

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Article from the Star newspaper: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F1%2F10%2Fcentral%2F7743524&sec=central

Blogshops move to the real world

By TAN KARR WEI
karrwei@thestar.com.my

WOMEN who love their clothes, shoes and accessories usually also dream to have a walk-in wardrobe to store everything.

With that in mind, Offline Blogshop owners Yeo Bee Sean, 25, and Bernard Chia, 28, designed their store to look like one.

“People walk into the store and it is like going through their own things in a walk-in wardrobe,” said Yeo during the official opening of the store at 11.11am on Jan 1.

 

Not a square: Lam’s products are naughty and cutesy.

 

What is unique about the store is that each section of the wardrobe space features items being sold by designers and entrepreneurs online.

These online stores are also known as blogshops.

Having run her own, Yeo knew how hard it was to generate traffic into their sites.

“It is not easy to run an online site. Besides selling products online, we also have to go to bazaars and it can be time consuming.

“That is when I thought about opening my own store and found out about the space in Sunway Pyramid,” she said.

However, Yeo found out it was too expensive to rent the whole space on her own and the idea to bring together all the online blogshops under one roof came about.

“Each blogshop gets a wardrobe space in the shop and they customise the look of their own space,” said Chia.

Yeo added that the Offline Blogshop fitted in well in the mall’s Asian Avenue because the retail area had a concentration of chic and trendy designs for the younger crowd.

Butttons galore: Lam’s button badges are inspired by the periodical table.

 

Among those who had a space in the store was Aaron Lam, 25, a designer and lecturer who has been selling his T-shirt designs on his website www.individium.com

He specialises in T-shirts that were inspired by the chemical periodical table where each element has been attached with catchy words like Always Hungry (AH), Day Dreamer (DD) or Social Animal (SA).

Lam said each person could choose the label that best fit them as an individual.

Besides T-shirts, the designs were also available on button badges and he also designed unique square-shaped Individolls in different fabrics and changeable button-badge eyes.

Each doll also had a name like The Tea Critic, The Confused Analyst or The Minty Gummer.
Another space owner Chloe Mok, 23, started to sell corsets online at www.queenchloset.com when she found out how hard it was to find them.

“I like corsets but I realised you can only find them in lingerie shops and sex stores,” said Mok.

com. Economical venture: From clothes to shoes, the Offline Blogshop in Sunway Pyramid enables online blogshop owners to market their products without the high overheads of renting their own shops.

 

She said the colourful corsets was a fashion item that could be worn with jeans.

Sara Khong, 24, who runs www.zikkos.com selling accessories, said while online shopping was getting more popular, there were also a lot of people who were sceptical about buying things online due to Internet fraud.

“That is why having our products storefront at malls is a wise move to reach the people who do not shop online,” she said.

The Offline Blogshop is located at AV149, Asian Avenue, Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya.
For details, visit www.offlineblogshop.com.

Offlining blogshop

This is taken off the ABOUT US section of the Offline blogshop site:

http://offlineblogshop.com/about.html

About us

Yes, you are right. We are Blogshops and yet Offline.

Offline Blogshops is a tangible market place consisting of the best and most ambitious blogshops in Malaysia. We believe that each blogshop is unique with very distinctive and different taste. However, it is undeniable that there are limitations while you shop online. For example, you can't try the products on nor can you be assured of the quality by looking at the pictures. Now, you can see and try your favourite blogshops products for 'real' before decidingto buy their stuffs!! In our shop that is built like a dressing room, you can also enjoy a brand new shopping experience. We believe that you will definitely like this experience of moving about the 21 cabinets in the dressing room and discover your favourite item.

Please don't be mistaken, although we are called Offline Blogshops, we do online services for our honourable shoppers too. On our website, we constantly give you updates about the new arrivals and best offers of our 20 unique vendors.

Offline Blogshops is indeed a one-stop shopping place for you, both online and offline.

Come and discover your new surprises here!

The world’s smallest online businesses: Blogshops

There are not a lot of articles written in the western media about blogshops.  Here is one from about 2 years ago.

Note that blogshops here are referred to as minishops and microbusinesses.

The world’s smallest online businesses: Blogshops

Blog, IT & BusinessAdd comments

The US has about 20 million businesses with only one person–the owner.  Except for rare cases like plentyoffish.com (the #6 online dating service in the US, and #1 in Canada, serving hundreds of thousands of love-seekers every day), one-person microbusinesses are small money individually, but together add up to $1 trillion per year in revenue.

The number of free or cheap online tools for running a business is growing (see this article from mashable.com with 270 tools for small business).  Open source tools for business are increasing in sophistication.  But what about those times when even an eBay shop or PayPal button is too complicated for the budding online business person?

Enter the blogshop, a term used in Singapore to describe teenagers setting up a free blog with items for sale, usually funky fashions or accessories.  Forget shopping carts or credit cards for most blogshops–buyers simply email or leave a comment for what they want, then do a bank transfer, or hide ‘concealed cash’ in an envelope.  The buyers pick up their goods by mail, or by meeting at a subway station.  Sometimes buyers band together for a ‘shopping spree’ to Taiwan or Korea to pick up the latest fashions.

Blogshop directories like blogshopr.com and emall.sg list over 300 blogshops in Singapore.  A survey in the Straits Times found that 30% of blogshop owners spend over 20 hours per week on their sites.  It’s not the route that I would choose for starting an online store, but sometimes ease and simplicity win over functionality.

The story quoted a young business school student as saying she learned much more about business from her blogshop than her ‘boring’ lectures.  I have a difficult time imagining a ‘boring’ business school lecture, but that’s just me…

Off-lining blogshops.

From http://ujustfashion.blogspot.com/2010/12/offline-blogshop.html

Off-lining blogshops.

This is a key development, in my opinion, for many blogshop owners who would like a store to showcase their stuff but are unable to afford paying rental.

In this case, Offline Blogshop (run by UJUST blogshop) rents a shop and sub-rents it to a number of othere blogshops.  This is located in Sunway Pyramid, a major shopping hub in KL, so these participating blogshops (20 of them) are able to secure a prime offline shopping location.

offline blogshop

Offline Blogshop, 

and located @ Lot F1 AV.149 & 150, Asian Avenue, Sunway Pyramid.

Participated by 20 other blogshops,
do support and come to its grand opening,
on this coming New Year, 1st Jan 2011 (11 a.m)

10% will be given for every item (1/1/2011)

This is their entry on their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Offline-Blogshop/182583901757204?v=info

Website:

http://www.offlineblogshop.com

Company Overview:

We are located at Asian Avenue, Sunway Pyramid.

Mission:

Taking online blogshops into a tangible offline shop

Description:

It is probably fewer than five years that we Malaysians become less skeptical about online businesses. Blogshop is yet another newly sprang online shopping phenomena, of which bloggers sell different products in their blogs, turning them into virtual shops at just about zero cost. Slowly and somehow, everybody started to call these blogs as the blogshops. In fact, although intuitively understandable, blogshop is still a term so new that you can’t find the definition in Cambridge nor Oxford Dictionaries. Offline Blogshop takes 20 unique fashion blogshops, some of which are famous blogshop names in Malaysia, to a tangible shop, where blog-shoppers and the general public can 'surf' the blogs not only in virtual but also in real world! First of its kind in Malaysia!!! (read less)

Contact Details

Email:

bsean@offlineblogshop.com

Phone:

017-6155975