Blogshop Models ad

 From http://singapore.gumtree.sg/c-Jobs-part-time-evening-weekend-BLOGSHOP-MODEL-W0QQAdIdZ190469072

Blogshops require people to model their clothes.  This has created a need for people to offer their services as models who are paid to appear on blogshops.

This is an example of an ad in Singapore of someone who is offering her services as a blogshop model:

View larger image

Date Listed 08/03/2010 Address Singapore View map Hi, Im currently 14 , looking for a modelling job for blogshops.  I just want to earn some extra income.    I have some experience in modelling (i did a modelling  campaign for crocs at christmas time and pictures were  displayed at Marina Square and Plaza Singapura.)   I'm quite short (160 cm, 44kg) but can work the clothes! :) willing to model for clothes (no revealing stuff please!),  accessories (no earrings), shoes, hair accessories etc..   Height: 1.60m D: Weight: 44kg   If you are willing to hire me, please leave a reply,  more info will be given to you if you need it. But do state your blogshop url (if available)   thank you! See attached pictures. Visits: 174

Progress Update 2

 Reading the Literature

I spent the most of January and February reading the literature on eCommerce.  I still have some more areas to read on, especially in micro-enterprises and eCommerce in the Malaysian/Singaporean contexts, but I have since moved on to focus on Grounded Theory.

Grounded Theory dictates that my reading of the literature should not create any bias or result in the formulation of hypotheses, but that theoretical sensitivity should emerge.  I find this to be quite a challenge- that is, to gain wide understanding of the theory and not have hypothetical expectations.  I think the trick is to read enough to gain a broad understanding of the underlying theories and concepts, and to start the study as soon as possible (as suggested by many Grounded Theory researchers)

A lot of the literature on Grounded Theory is in the context of social research, especially in the area of nursing, while Goulding and Douglas have done business-related studies using Grounded Theory.

I find Grounded Theory fascinating and I am glad that I will be using this methodology for this project.  At the same time, I also find it extremely challenging, especially the coding paradigms, the practical aspects of which I am still trying to get a handle of.

I have ordered Glaser and Strauss' 1967 seminal work 'Discovery of Grounded Theory' (the book taht started it all), which should arrive at the end of the month.  In the meantime, I am reading Strauss and Corbin's Basics of Qualitative Research' book.

I think these readings are important for me as one major issue I have is whether to use Glaser's or Strauss'  version of Grounded Theory.  I also hope to be able to read Glaser's 1992 work where he confronted the Straussian approach.

Workshops, software, and online resources
 
I attended an End Notes session last week, which was organized by the Info Resources dept.  It was certainly rewarding.  I have installed the software into my work pc, so this week, I shall be uploading references into End Notes.

I have also signed up for a Grounded Theory workshop to be held in Taylor's University College, Subang Jaya, KL on 19 March.

I am looking forward to meeting some people and interacting with them.  I have many questions I hope can be resolved (somewhat) regarding the use of Grounded Theory for this project.  The workshop will emphasize the Glaserian school.  Among the issues I would like to seek clarification at this workshop:

• how can I decide if the Glaserian or the Straussian model is more suitable for my project? 
• how to apply Grounded Theory analysis on quantitative data? Or is this even necessary?
• I hope to get some hands-on practice on analysis and coding, so I will know how this is actually done

I have also checked out the Nvivo software which is, from my understanding, a qualitative analysis tool that can be used for Grounded Theory research.  It is quite expensive and there is a restriction on the access to the software so I will only purchase and install this when it comes to time for analysis.

I have signed up to be a member of the Grounded Theory Institute.  I hope this will prove helpful somehow because so far, the forum has no one posting, and I had to pay to be a member! 

I have also signed up to be a member of Methodspace, an online community for researchers.

Other Issues

The last couple of weeks have been more devoted to getting ready for the new semester which begins this week.  I have had to spend time on meetings, unit outlines, and all the usual things that are necessary to get ready for the new semester.  I am still determined to allocate a good chunk of time to this project despite the semester starting.  The aim right now is to get the major issues with Grounded Theory resolved by the end of the month so that I can start into the Research Design phase.

Thanks for reading!

Is Livejournal, Blogspot Or Wordpress For Building Blogshop In Singapore

This article, from the Goyz Martinez site, discusses the pros and cons of using Live Journal, Blogger or Word Press to build blogshops

Is Livejournal, Blogspot Or Wordpress For Building Blogshop In Singapore

 February 25th, 2010 | Author:

 

In this article, we will explore whether Blogspot, Livejournal or wordpress is suitable for you when it comes to building your Blogshop

Livejournal

The key advantage of Livejournal is the social platform solution where blogshop owner can create their social space within LiveJournal in the internet and meet their possible customers.

Pluses: As mentioned above, LiveJournal has some many social networking features and communities where blogshop owner can advertise their sales item to the community. It is very easy to find new friends there and track their blogs.

Minuses: If you are thinking monetizing your blog, Livejournal will not allow that – all advertisements there are added by Livejournal company.

Categorizing your sales item is different and the number of themes is limited. There are no plugins at all.

More importantly when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) The search engines don’t like Livejournal: It is unlikely you will ever be on the first page of Google , so all you’ll get is the same Livejournal users as you.

Blogger

IMO, Blogger is the easiet platform for anyone is starting off. Compared to Wordpress, it is much much easy. This is a platform for beginners, who just start off creating a Blogshop.

Pluses: Yes, you can monetize your blog with Adsense: the advertisements can be added in limited amounts and positions

Plugin is available in making your blog more entertaining, and more themes.

Another advantage is it allowed you to use your own domain (without blogspot) while using their template.

Minuses: It is not SEO friendly. Many beginners think that if this platform is earned by Google, then their blog will be in the Top 10 on every page of the search engines and have thousands of visitors every day. It is not true: Although there is a possibility to be on the first page of Google, it will take much more time to get there as on Wordpress.

Blogger doesn’t look nice: doesn’t allow to add categories which is vital for a Blogshop.

With the countless of theme available, It does help Blogshop who needs to create a professional image. However tweaking is limited.

Wordpress

This is the best solution for Blogshops who want to have professional and nice looking web-page. However be prepared to learn a bit more about wordpress as it is simple as Blogshop. Also for wordpress, you need to have your own hosting so it does take a little programming if you decide to choose wordpress.

Pluses: There are many professional themes and plugins, Code programming can be done with many plugins which is helpful for blogshop.

Minuses: Hosting is required, the price is not expensive and can be covered by earnings from your blog.

Excellent platform for everyone who wants to build a professional image but a little knowlege of web programming is required

Malaysia: An Untapped Ecommerce Opportunity?

Article on e-commerce opportunities in Malaysia, originally from the Zippycart website, and later on the Malaysia Crunch site:

Malaysia: An Untapped Ecommerce Opportunity?


It was the first time in history that a Malaysian company made headlines at TechCrunch last December. Friendster, the granddaddy of social networks has been acquired by MOL Global, a Malaysian e-commerce (payment) company.

How much do you know about Malaysia?
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia which comprises many ethnic groups, with Malays being the majority followed by Chinese, Indians and others. Our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural background also makes us a unique multi-lingual society. A typical Malaysian is usually literate in 2 -3 languages (or more). English is arguably the common language used on the Internet here as many western sites or services are popular and frequently accessed. Some of us are also accustomed to sites from China, Taiwan, Indonesia or even India.

Malaysia’s facts & figures
Malaysia’s population stands at over 28 million. We have around 30% broadband and 106% mobile penetration as of the end of 2009. According to Internet World Stats, we are number 9 in Asia’s top 10 Internet countries, by having 16.9 million Internet users.

Malaysia e-commerce statistics
Half of Malaysia’s Internet users are buying or transacting online, which equaled more than 8 million in 2009. Most of the numbers are contributed by airline tickets (which we will discuss shortly). Other popular goods sold online include books, general consumer goods, movie tickets, technology gadgets and so on. The most preferred online payment method in this part of the world is credit cards followed by Internet banking.

E-commerce evolution in Malaysia
Malaysia does have its own share of online retailers and e-commerce companies, though on a much smaller scale than the United States or Japan. Some have been around since the Internet hit our shores in the nineties. One of the famous first movers here is Blooming - the online florist, and they are still going strong today.

Another prime example surviving the dot-com bubble burst is Malaysia’s very own online auction site - Lelong. It is still arguably more popular than eBay Malaysia here despite its cluttered look and feel. Interestingly, Lelong has recently attempted an Amazon-ish online shopping site at SuperBuy.

One of the most important e-commerce milestones has to be the online ticketing site by Air Asia, a low cost airline based in Malaysia. Starting operation not long after the September 11 attack, the online site is the primary channel to purchase budget airline tickets (holiday packages are available too). A lot of people here were since braving themselves by entering the credit card numbers online in order to get bargain tickets. I would say that it was the starting point of e-commerce mass adoption here.

In recent years, online buy-sell activities are frequented at major auction and forum sites, and to a certain extent, popular foreign stores. At the same time, thousands of online stores are also mushrooming locally, with fashion and apparel being the most popular segment. Quite a number of them are blogshops too, which I guess is a unique trend happening only in Malaysia and Singapore.

Perhaps partly due to the need of those blogshops to sell more professionally, we have seen a few e-commerce SaaS providers emerging last year in 2009. For example, Neowave (who has been supplying shopping cart software for years) has since offered its e-commerce SaaS branded webShaper at affordable prices to online retailers.

Not to be missed, year 2009 also witnessed the big move by a local e-commerce company - MOL as mentioned earlier. Another piece of exciting news came from PayPal in the same year, who announced that they are now accepting transaction in local currency as well as withdrawals to local banks.

E-commerce challenges in Malaysia
Yes, no doubt we have witnessed exciting developments in the local e-commerce scene, but many will not disagree that we are still far from the maturity level. The general public here simply doesn’t have the online shopping habit yet. It will take a mixture of cheaper, special, choices or loyalty offerings to encourage the habit of transacting online.

To a certain extent, I would say that we are lacking an e-commerce giant, something like Amazon or Rakuten. That could well kick start local e-commerce mass adoption, similar to what Air Asia has done to the online ticketing space. Of course, like any other markets, people here are generally concerned about security. The presence of the big boys (be it foreign or local) can afford pulling in the financial resources to help educate the local public. On the other hand, online retailers should also do their part in gaining trust from their customers.

As for smaller or medium sized online retailers, the biggest challenge would be attracting traffic to their online store without significant marketing funds. Unless you are selling something niche, it is quite difficult to pull traffic organically from the search engines which index product pages from all over the world. Besides huge e-commerce marketplaces, an obvious piece of the puzzle missing here is the price comparison engine, which could be a great channel for products to get found.

What lies ahead?
Coming back to big boys, Rakuten is strongly rumored to be having talks with certain local players, as Malaysia could well be part of their international expansion plan. There were also rumors of a substantial foreign investment on an established local e-commerce company.

Rumors aside, there are already some initiatives or ongoing developments by local companies to venture into (or expand their) e-commerce services. Suddenly, it seems that many want to be part of the e-commerce game plan. Online retailers are also growing by day, from individual sellers to existing brick & mortars. We need to keep an eye on MOL too, as they are the master in micro-transaction infrastructure. Social gaming is expected from Friendster, but what about social shopping?

So, who will be the Amazon of Malaysia? Be it Lelong, Air Asia, MOL, Rakuten, someone or no one, e-commerce’s future here can only be brighter in 2010 and years to come!

Guest post by CK Wong, E-Commerce Consultant

From Blogspot to Dot Com

Many blogshops have gone from using blog platforms to purpose-built e-commerce websites.

A blogshop is essentially an online shop that is built from a free blogging software like Blogspot and Word Press (the two most popular blog platforms used for blogshops).

There are various indicators of this classic blogshop format- the layout, the navigation, the chronologically-reverse posting arrangements, comment boxes, and the '.blogspot/wordpress' in the URL.

It is reasonable to guess that owners convert their blogshops into 'dot com' websites to take their business to the next level, as a proper website can better facilitate e-commerce operations. 

Where a blog software is free, a dot com site requires some expenditure to maintain the online presence, like hosting fees, Web design, etc. 

It seems to me that the essential questions to investigate here are:

1. the motivations to go from blogshops to dotcoms (including the features, facilities and capabilities that a website can offer over a free blogging platform)
3. whether the blogshop model is an entry-level phase for micro-business owners (the scope and size of business this model can support- for example size of customer base/turnovers, product range/inventory, geographic scope of operations, etc)
4. whether a conversion signals a move to grow the business (the neccessity to automate the business to handle larger scale operations)
5. whether it is possible for a blogshop model to sustained (without conversion to a dot com)

Here are blogshops that have converted to dot coms:

Loving Avenue: the blogshop
Loving Aveue: the dot com

News release claims there are over 3000 Blogshops in Singapore

This news article claims that there there are over 3000 blogshops in Singapore.  Previous estimates from last year had put the number at over 2000.

I think this higher number can be attributable to the loose definition of blogshops as the article uses the term 'online stores' as well.

The blogshops listed on the Blogshop City website currently stands at 1028.

The article is from the website Online PR News: http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/22644-1266820853-1-blogshop-and-online-fashion-shopping-directory-in-singapore-blogshopcity.html

Blogshopcity.com is Singapore Newest Blogshop and Online Shopping Directory in Singapore 

The latest BlogShop and Online Shopping Directory in Singapore

Online PR News – 21-February-2010 –

A Singapore-based online shopping forum and Blogshop directory, www.blogshopcity.com was officially launched today.

With over 3,000 Blogshops in Singapore, Blogshopcity is created with one thing in mind and that is to enhance the online shopping experience for its visitors by categorizing these 3,000 online stores.

For any Blogshops that seeking to advertise their business, advertisements and promotions shall prove ineffective unless the website offers a user-friendly interface. A website’s usability features are characterized by its design aesthetics, easy content search and navigational structure. Blogshopcity helps to address all that by categorizing the over 3,000 blogshops and online businesses based on the type of items they sell. By doing so, it not only to change the perspective of advertising online businesses over the internet but also help to address the buyer needs when it comes to buying that new dress over the internet. The information of each blogshop and the items they sell are mentioned in detail.

Unlike other directory and forum, at Blogshopcity anyone can browse through the categories and easily search for the stuff they are looking for. This website is also regularly updated with the latest information about the latest sales and launch of new blogshops in Singapore. This assists in your endeavor to search for the best online shopping deals over the internet

For More Info Visit:- http://www.blogshopcity.com

This article can also be found in http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/shop/launch-blogshopcitycomblog-761484



  

Why use Grounded Theory method for this project?

I think I need to convince myself (I am in the midst of reading the literature on Grounded Theory, and I am finding that it is one tough nut to crack!) why a Grounded Theory approach is needed for this project!

Stern (1994) the strongest case for the use of grounded theory is in investigations of relatively uncharted water, or to gain a fresh perspective in a familiar situation.

1.  This blogshop project is based on the question of "Why are people turning blog software that is intended for personal publishing into online retail spaces?", which is a good candidate for a qualitative method approach as it will allow the social phenomenon of blogshops to be studied in depth.

2.  As there is very little previous study on blogshops, it is an opportunity to ground the project in data, to allow theory to emerge from the data rather than to engage in a verification exercise that uses a proxy-theory, that is the testing of existing hypothesis is not the main concern in this project.


3.  Also, the vast majority of research in the field of e-commerce have employed quantitative methods- for example, the use of cluster and factor analyses to categorize online retail types. It is hoped that applying a different research approach here would make a worthwhile contribution.


4.  Grounded Theory provides for many forms of data collection, including interviewing and observations which are methods that will be utilized in this project.

5. Grounded theory seeks to construct theory about issues of importance in peoples’ lives (Glaser, 1978; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998).  This resonates very well with this blogshop study which will not just look at blogshops as business entities but their owners, buyers and partners as well.




References:

Stern, Phyllis Noerager. 1994. Eroding Grounded Theory. In Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods (Morse, Janice M. editor), Sage Pub., - ed., pp. 210-223.