Kidsontalks
This is my journey as an E-commerce Consultant
First Official German Online Casino!
5 days
by Elizabeth Hitchins
in Work
Well, I lost my pal Mathias Kuehne to a new position in the online gambling world, but I had NO idea that this was a recent thing for Germany.
In the UK we have online bingo and gambling coming out of our ears…I mean CATS seem to like to play a bit of bingo too!
So looking at their site Germany’s first LEGAL online casino they explain a little about how online gambling and Germany has progressed:
In Germany, it is finally legal to play and place real bets on the internet. OnlineCasino-Deutschland is one of the few companies that has received one of the necessary licences – we are located in Bautzen, Saxony, and are so far the only official online casino based in Germany (as of 03/2013).
So if you are partial to a bit of gambling online, try this site out.
Remember Gamble Responsibly!
Why you need a good fulfillment company….
6 days
by Elizabeth Hitchins
in eBay
Because mistakes annoy buyers. This is my experience of one seller in the USA who uses a ‘shipping company’.
This eBay seller has really good stuff and great prices. They have good customer service too. How do I know this? Because out of 4 orders, 3 have been wrong and I have had to contact them.
Each time they ask for a picture of the items with the packing slip so they can ‘claim from their shipment company’ but to be honest, I won’t buy from them again as I just want my stuff.
My first order with them was great, so I bought another set of items. One was missing, I claimed and they resent. Bearing in mind each order is for about $100. I buy ‘collections’ off them, well I DID.
Third order came though (about 2 months after the first two) and it was missing a heck of a lot of items. It had been taken out of its original packaging and only 6 of the 10 items sent. Still resolving this issue.
Unfortunately I did a forth order with them before I received my third. This was so obviously opened, tampered with, smushed back together (packaging had been cut to hide a spill of product) and sent to me. This is a ‘new’ beauty product that I have NO idea if it has been used or WHY it has been tampered with.
I hope to sort this out without returning it as the postage is high for me to return (paid $30 for shipping)
So with a 75% mess up rate, I reckon that ‘shipping company’ is defunked. Looking at their feedback they don’t seem to care about solving these issues for some people either. Hopefully, they will sort my issues or I will be leaving my first negative feedback in about 10 years.
Importing NOT from China
30 days
Well, sourcing stock for my new biz I tried various avenues and suppliers. Aliexpress was GREAT to get some samples direct from manufacturers.
During research I found with this particular product type customers and professionals were kicking AGAINST made in china products as there had been some IP/replica issues and trust was dwindling. I was heading for the mid range and NOT discount market so I decided to go with the feeling on this one.
For this particular product I found an independent US brand which had its products made in the USA which sat better with buyers in the mid market range.
Now I have my first range of stock and all excited, but a lot of photography and swatching is needed before I go live as well as website development.
My next range will be made in china. I shall be rekindling relationships of old that I used many years ago before Alibaba was wildly used. They are on there so it is SO MUCH EASIER to see their ranges and organise purchases now!
So the moral of the story is, importing from China is GREAT, but other countries do make stuff! I would *love* to develop a product with a British company also, but mostly – they ignore you.
I think sometimes we are our own worst enemy. I am PERFECT for cosmetic product development in the UK. What with the retail knowledge and that Chemistry degree. Hell, I develop mineral make up for my friends specific beauty issues and they can’t live without it now.
British manufacturers lack vision in some cases. In China and the USA they don’t.
Need advice on importing? Check here: http://www.thewholesaleforums.co.uk/
Manchester Ecommerce Expo and Online Seller Meet Up
30 days
I wasn’t going to actually go to the May Manchester Online Seller Meetup but I decided I would probably need a day out perusing and chatting as I have a LOT of work currently and new work/clients have to wait 4 weeks until I start.
I shall also scoot around Ecommerce Expo in Manchester too while I am up that way.
A note on my eBay design responsive series, looks like a few of you are checking it out and incorporating it within your templates! SUPERB! I *PROMISE* I will finish the series, but paid work has taken precedence currently but I will swing back and make some time for it as I am developing for my new retail biz (also on hold but I have the STOCK)
Laters!
How NOT to advertise your business in a discussion group!
31 days
by Elizabeth Hitchins
in E-Business
I normally stay away from business forums. The absence of ‘reality’ when it comes to online business discussion is somewhat disconcerting at times.
However, when a group or online forum is based around physical meet ups and full of people who you know or know OF it can be great.
CAN BE!
This is almost exclusively up to the participants. Sometimes this can go wrong.
In open forums rules are needed but if the members don’t want rules, then it is hard to keep a group from spiralling into a mess.
One person can instigate this mess, if they mean to or not. So these are some pointers when you approach such a forum, especially when you *think* it is your right to gleam business from an informal business discussion group.
- DON’T belittle business. If you believe that a business that earns under X amount of money a year is rubbish, keep it to yourself.
- DON’T digress into childish name calling. Saying ‘he started’ it is NOT an excuse. In fact it is worse.
- You are NOT a rock star, you don’t have FANS.
- Know when to stop. Lengthy or dying duck exit posts (when you don’t actually leave the group) are just wrong.
- Don’t play the victim after belittling and name calling. We all read what you wrote!
- Don’t invite people in to purely ‘back you up’, it looks contrived and involves more people into an already spiralling mess. They could get a bad reputation because you invited them to ‘defend you’ by being nasty about other members. It is also referred to as ‘ganging’ up on someone in the real world.
All these things completely detract from any USE you would have been to the group. Einstein was a genius, but if he acted like that no one would have bothered to listen.
Remember the effect you have on real lives and real business. An overly bullish member of any group will put off members. We all have a right to live in this space and social media is a real source of communication. Especially for those who are not in an ideal location to attend physical meet ups.
Your online behaviour affects other people. Remember what cyber bullying is and that it is a CRIME. It doesn’t just affect children.
Cyber bullying is when a person or a group of people uses the internet, mobile phones, online games or any other kind of digital technology to threaten, tease, upset or humiliate someone else.
Iwoca announce partnership with Brightpearl. Get help funding multichannel software!
31 days
At the recent and most excellent online seller meet up in London. iwoca announced that you can get assistance with improving your business. Gone have the days of investment *JUST* for stock.
Here is the press release:
iwoca, the first company in the UK to provide small business loans to online sellers and Brightpearl, a leading cloud software for multichannel retailers, today announced the release of a new speedy application process to make it even easier for online sellers to get access to funding.
“We help retailers finance every aspect of the business such as stock, technology and staffing; this is how flexible we are in supporting retailers’ growth. ” said Christoph Rieche, CEO of iwoca “This partnership with Brightpearl is a terrific milestone for the company’s growth. Through this initiative iwoca will be opening their funding options to retailers outside the eBay and Amazon space.
”Brightpearl’s prospects and current customers now have fast and preferential access to the funding facilities of iwoca. The loan application process is now integrated into the sales process of Brightpearl, with the opportunity to use iwoca’s funding option right at the time when they are purchasing Brightpearl’s software.
Adam Smith, CFO of Brightpearl, said “We are delighted to be partnering with iwoca in offering our prospects and customers financing to help them engage with Brightpearl, find working capital and accelerate their business’s growth. iwoca offers the most flexible and transparent financing in the small business market on reasonable terms. The integrated solution gives us the ability to construct the right solution for our customers in ‘real-time’.”
So who are iwoca and Brightpearl?
iwoca launched in March 2012 and have since helped hundreds of online sellers grow their businesses by providing them with working capital. By looking directly at their sales data and customer feedback scores, iwoca can make a fair assessment of an online business. iwoca has been selected as a top 20 startup in the UK and as a Smarta 100 winner.
Brightpearl is a cloud software for multichannel retailers. It integrates orders; inventory and customer data and lets retailers do what they do best: focus on growing their businesses. Brightpearl is fully integrated with Magento, eBay, Shopify, Bigcommerce, Amazon and other selling channels, providing retailers with built-in access to multiple channels for growth.
