Sometimes the e-commerce underdog (not quite so full of death and hate I hope) is royally smashed into the floor by those big ‘retailers’ whom your buyers seem to instantly revere as the ‘good guys’

Even though you have been around for a while, carefully understanding your customer base and what they need (not quite subjugation I hope)……along come the ‘Avengers’, or as some know them ‘the outletters’ who completely wade in and become the law in your category.

But don’t forget even the underdog has fans and social media is one way you can get this loyal following. Even if your not the one in the shiny red iron suit.

Twitter is a great way to get quick messages across and start trends. If you are unsure about twitter and how to play it take a look at one of my favourites:

http://twitter.com/#!/mclaren_eshop

Being in F1 they know about fans, what they want and how to get purchases made.

Facebook is great for brand development. Sometimes you have to play the same game as these big branded retailers and carve yourself in the the conciousness of the people. Don’t be afraid to become a brand.

One of my favourite clients is becoming just that: http://www.facebook.com/Passion4italianfashion

Great giveaways, showing who they are as a company because they are a group of dynamic women who source and provide great fashion and discounts unmatched by outlet retailers.

So use the power of social media to create your army and take over your category! You were MADE to RULE!

On the flip side if you are one of the Avengers or eBay outlets if you don’t ‘bring it’ you will be trounced by the younger brothers in your category who could ‘outfox’ you as your swinging around the hammer of power.

It doesn’t always work, being the biggest and strongest…especially if you are late to this party.

Some of the big retailers had the foresight to integrate themselves into online marketplaces from the beginning (thinking of Littlewoods and Schuh) and like Iron Man and the Hulk have had plenty of story lines and incarnations to work with. Already loved by the public before the outlet programme was assembled.

Take a good look at how THEY use social media to engage. Schuh retweet their followers comments on purchases. I’ve had two re-tweets myself so with over 8000 followers (remember e-commerce business don’t have scream-y fan bases like actors so don’t expect 100K from a retailer too often) they still manage to read and retweet.

Social media DOES take time and time is money but with patience and management can be a great way to communicate who you are to customers, as this is what they like.

Try not to become a megalomaniac though and take over the world. Because even though we love twiddleston as an actor of evil guys…in reality balls of hate trying to take over the world by force are not generally a good thing!

The companies I trust and value are never 100% glowing, as all companies have their problems and not all solutions work for all business models.

A few people have mentioned the ‘e-commerce boys club’ (even though no sexism was meant in this reference) of companies partnering with each other, covering each others faults and basically not giving real information to clients. Practises include cleansing out bad or even just critical reviews, convincing clients wrongly that they NEED said solution just so they can get their chunk of referral.

I hate paid referrals. It makes finding the best solution for your client about your own pocket. I avoid them where I can and only team up with partners who I like and always think of my customer first.

Happy customers who are successful make me happy. Unhappy customers constantly trying to fit a square business into a round hole makes me sad. I had enough of this torture in my previous life with another company. I hated it but then I was also being forced into an odd shape that didn’t fit.

I hope that this ‘notion’ that small businesses have about the ‘e-commerce club’ doesn’t hurt great companies and great designers who are in this industry because they love it.

I mean, e-commerce is a child only a parent can love at the best of times! It’s my addiction, my passion and my clients are continually the best in the business.

As a small (or large) business, does the effect of ‘paid referrals’ or even worse ‘paid reviews/blog posts’ worry you? Are you being hoodwinked into spending your money? Are you concerned you will face legal action if you complain about a company publicly?

The site needed a facelift so bear with me!

I have written a post on the WIDSHOP new section today about a new cleint that is looking exceptionally Spring like.

Makes me feel those random hail storms we keep having are a fallacy!

http://widshop.com/en/2012/04/widshop-ebay-design-is-taking-over/

On another note spring time is great to think about investing in your business. You know how much profit you made last year and how much you need to pay the taxman!

You can’t stagnate in the e-world, your competitors will leave you behind in a flash.

And while you are at it… Go Global or Go Home!

I stole this graphic from the Channeladvisor blog because I love infographics! Very US centric but it works both ways as the world wants UK stuff too!

This year though, we are introducing our Widshop eBay design service so we have a four strong team, 3 from Berlin and yours truly.

The reason we sponsor Catalyst and have done for 5 years is the very reason people GO to catalyst.

Relevancy.

The content reflects on the past success but mainly focuses on the future of e-commerce and what areas need investment for business expansion.

This year Catalyst will focus again on cross border trade as this is SUPER important and not just looking at Europe.

The east is where there is a massive amount of money and a love of UK goods. Check out http://import.buy.com – a site pushing American goods to the Japanese market.

And who owns Play.com – A Japanese company! Should you be selling to the East? Have you been watching the telly recently? Loads of programmes on the expansion of China and the east. Heck, we are asking China to bail out Europe!

I digress, where was I..oh CATALYST

This year are some great speakers talking about social commerce, search, female representation in business (you can tell I have started to go to Girl Geek stuff and networking with my fellow business women) and all kinds of things relating to being a successful e-business.

One of the great things about Catalyst is meeting like minded people with the same goals, needs and problems as you. There are a lot of opportunities to network, party and you are ALWAYS well fed at this event.

This event is about information, relevant to your on-line business and where the sector is heading.

The other great thing about Catalyst is you can speak to various third party service providers (which I am one) and discuss potential future partnerships. Having everything in house is expensive and hard to run, third party companies are essential in e-businesses.

Well, I hope to see you at Catalyst and I (Createyourtemplate) will be there with chocolates and sweets as always.

Sometimes you work for companies that actually would harm your career to have been associated with them in the past. Regardless that you left way before they went catatonic.

I control my work history exclusively through linkedin so my association is clear (as it is always part of your CV whether you like it or not) but clear dates are shown so clients know how far removed I am from said company. Fortunately, unless you are specifically searching for my name and said company will any results show *phew*

However, disgruntled clients always like to name and shame on the web, something I don’t allow on this blog or in comments unless it is glowing and positive. This is hard to control, you would be surprised.

The reason I am talking about this is I have been doing competitor research as we have a new eBay design service. It’s been a while since I have personally taken a look at what our competitors are doing, normally the MD keeps up on this.

One company gets bad reviews and in one particular piece on a prominent review site a disgruntled client specifically named an employee of the company in full. Normally you get ‘bob from ABC foods is the best/worst guy ever’ but a full name is not fun.

The review consisted of claims that $1300 was lost, the customer service was bad (even though this named person works in an administrative role) and a whole host of other complaints. You would think that said person was solely responsible for the bad experience and not due to the failings of the company as a whole.

When you google said person with said company you get the correct facebook page and cyber stalking begins These kind of websites mostly have a naming and shaming policy so hopefully if the company notices, they can request the removal of the name.

I also love how WRONG hypernet information can be. I keep getting spam mail about getting a pension as 192.com lists my age guide as over 50! The electoral role got it wrong the once and obviously our council sells on its constituents information to mailing lists etc including age data so we can get junk through the post.

I am err…still 21 right?

On the Saturday I arrived too late to go out with the volunteers so I familiarised myself with the Its not just mud ‘bubble wrap chic’ house that I would be staying in for 5 days.

I had my first experience of an onsen (a temporary onsen which equated to a large paddling pool in a shed). It was free, spine tinglingly hot and well you had to get neekid in front of people! (same sex of course)

As it was the weekend there were lots of volunteers and remembering names was difficult, or in most cases just not done! A fantastic spread was put on my the INJM chefs as always. As a general rule a donation of 500y per night is appreciated in the INJM house to pay for food and heating. Also helping with the chores. I find it strange being not of domesticated blood, what to actually volunteer to do round the INJM house. However, washing up after dinner is a good staple, and you will be asked if further help is needed.

Sunday we traveled out to Ayukawa. The March 11 tsunami that slammed into Japan’s northeast coast took most of Ayukawa with it, destroying 80 percent of houses and leaving 400 of its 1,400 residents unaccounted for. Above where we where working on debris clearance there was a combini (like a co-op) with help in English and kanji still on the carpark. You just can’t imagine.

We worked with around 200 volunteers that day

Looking out towards the sea

This used to be homes.

and of course we all need to eat

The other team that went out from the house cleaned around a huge effigy of a can of whale meat that was displaced during the tsunami. It is being left in place as a reminder for the people of Ishinomaki.

I help the guys from Its not just mud maintain their website but they are also looking for sponsorship if any company wants to add to their corporate social responsibly, especially if you have a client base in Japan. They also help regenerate business in the area.

Get in touch!

Even though widshop is designed and developed around a set frame designs can still look very different.

My first example is:

Click image to see the large version

This is a clean professional design within our standard frame and my current favourite:

Click image to see the large version

…which is the other end of the spectrum design wise but still around the same framework.

You don’t need to have ‘just three’ banners on the homepage, it can be one large image or a series of smaller banners (we don’t recommend more than 6 as they will get a bit too small)

The side navigation is driven in real time by the attributes you use to list to ebay so you never have empty results.

These are the live stores:

http://stores.ebay.de/ZENDAGO
http://stores.ebay.at/toyworld24

Included in the standard package is:

• Adaptable homepage
• Dynamic search
• Adaptable product view
• Integration of custom pages
• Category filter navigation
• Cross-selling galleries
• Full text search
• Social Bookmarks
• eBay integration

and this is a eBay certified application which is very important

More info and examples are on the website http://www.widshop.com

People always ask me the difference and eBay design makes, and a good one at that and I always say that you can make up loads of reasons why an eBay design such as this is good. But our clients see a significant uplift in sales. That is what it is all about in the end, return on investment.

Widshops with a bit of tweaking can also be used on your facebook page….but this is a secret at the moment

It was a unique experience as you are immersed  in a room filled with people JUST LIKE YOU.

On my table were business women, photographers working in e-commerce, web designers, social media experts, mobile web designers and even people who had just started at technology companies.

Girl geek meetings are not just for us to let our inner feminist out (men do come too along with their girl geeks) but to understand and provide support, stories and mentoring to each other in a typically male dominated industry.

Denise Jacobs was our first speaker and told a story about her rise to becoming a public speaker, writing a technical book and basically becoming a web diva of extraordinary proportions.

She reminded us to stop beating ourselves up for being female and thinking we can’t progress in this world. She indicated that actually, most of the barriers we feel are self generated and no one will stop us…however male dominated we think the technology industry is.

Us girls of a geek nature also need to shout about what we do. If we are too understated (I suffer from this affliction) and don’t say ‘ Hey, I can do that’ we will never get where we want to be.

We know more than we think we do

Want to feel inspired? Pop over to youtube: http://youtu.be/FTTj7DWABes

Second up was Karen Strunks from the 4am project – She detailed about using social media to promote her photography at 4am from a insomniacs walk about to a global photography project showing our world at this unique time.

This is Karen’s video (shot by me as I was sitting there): http://youtu.be/v1B18U_KgiY and see our world at 4am on flickr!

Our final speaker was Rachel McCollin taking about mobile web and how she got into the industry from working with the environmental agency.

Her video is here:  http://youtu.be/ZzWFCSV365o

So all in all it has inspired me to become more active again, on this blog (and meeting with my fellow girl geeks will give me more content to write again) and also is public speaking. Hey I may even offer to speak at a girl geek event.

IN OTHER NEWS >>>>> (shameless self promotion segment)

A new eBay design offering is hitting the web-o-sphere. A smart phone optimised solution for the SME market with dynamic navigation to die for. Full details will be in the new Tamebay Tools and services guide coming out on the 31st of Jan.

Want a sneak peek of new clients taking advantage of this?

Check out: http://stores.ebay.de/outdoorsportshop24 (still updating hislisting templates), http://stores.ebay.de/HHV-MUSIC (still updating his listing templates) and http://stores.ebay.at/123boerse (who has actually updated his item templates!!)

With a set up fee of 1500 Euros (plus monthly subscription based on volume) this is an ideal solution for eBay sellers.

More info to come of course but if you want to get in touch about this product please contact us via info@widshop.com.

I have had a very busy e-commerce 2011. The economy has taken a bashing but online things are still hotting up! The world is our oyster online with the expansion of social commerce and like many sellers looking out to Europe and beyond is the key to success.

This year as been the year for international expansion for my sellers and myself. Most of my eBay clients are moving into France, Germany and the USA as a minimum. Most are going much further.

To stay ahead of the game as always, I am looking into the Asian markets. Strong currency in these countries suddenly makes buying stuff from Europe side cheap and boy is it TRENDY!

While I was in Japan (business and volunteering) I saw that the union jack was EVERYWHERE on clothing, accessories in shops and on the people walking past. It was very surreal.

Language is no longer a barrier. Improvements in translation engines have made things easier.

For a year or two I have bought from Rakuten and Yahoo Auctions Japan (though a shopping service) and each time it gets a bit easier. For instance Japanese sellers are more interested in international trade, probably due to economic conditions in their own countries and better support networks.

So as my clients are expanding in to Europe, Australia and America in the next few years, I will get ready for the expansion east by building relationships, language skills, cultural/business skills and finding sensible solutions.

Oh yeah, and prepare for Widshops…oh yes….eBay design mark deux….

and a picture from my volunteering in Ishinomaki!

Fixing a shrine gate in Onasaki

Onasaki – Rebuilding houses, reflooring, clearing out garbage and putting a shrine gate back up.

Place was completely flooded – government is not restoring electricity and water.

On the way in we passed the shrine at Okawa Elementary School, the team had worked on the clearance of the area so stopped to pay resepect and see the progress – it was completely destroyed, killing 75 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers and staff. The teachers and students were evacuating from the school and were swept away by the tsunami while crossing a nearby river bridge.

You could see the part of the bridge ripped out by the tsunami still in the river.