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.

A friend of mine sent a link through from a Chinese seller of seemingly fabulous looking shoes and this was the link: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Show-Story-Shop

Oh dear, I thought – I am supposed to be saving money…oh well just one pair….

So I took at look at the size 7′s. I have wide feet as a general rule so always look for measurements on width and got a bit of a shock..

All of the shoes have a width of 7cm, regardless of being a size 3 or a size 7.5.

Unfortunately in the UK, length is the only standard for shoe size but these dimensions are crazy, but being a scientist I need to make sure this wasn’t just MY assumption. So upon going shopping I decided to visit Next and measure the width of a ‘normal’ size 7 shoe.

It was 9cm.

So upon getting home I started to madly measure shoe widths and yes, the smallest shoe width for a size 7 was just over 8cm for my rocket dog wedges.

Now, if this seller (and sellers similar) wanted to clean up with their cut price fancy shoes they really need to think about the product and sizing. These shoes are too narrow for the western market after a size 4 and they are limiting themselves to people with very narrow feet. My sister is one such person, however at a size 6, 7cm width is still too narrow to be able to feel comfortable or not stretch the shoes.

For comparison Japanese Zori at 23.5cm long (UK size 4) are about 8cm wide, smallest I have seen have been 7.5cm wide. Japanese kimono zori are suppose to be smaller as it is ‘iki’ or fashionable.

The moral of the story is to check your product is fit for your target market. No marketing strategy or SEO techniques will gloss over that one. If it looks like a shoe, it doesn’t mean it will function like a shoe for you. Another one is always read the description, I would have been red mad if I had brought a pair and missed the width sizing.

Over the snowed in December, I was informed by almost all of my service related companies energy, insurance etc that the VAT was rising AND their prices were going up. The largest increase was my pet insurance at 25%. I just hope the car insurance doesn’t follow suit!

So as my family costs per month rise a further £211 (I kid not, family of two adults, two cats, one car) what will this do to my spending in 2011? I, like most who probably read this blog make money from or as an on-line retailer. The VAT rise will slow everyone’s spending in the New Year on face value, at least until they forget it happened. But the increase will squeeze the ever dwindling household budgets and affect spending. In this environment I imagine we shall see an actual increase in on-line spending. Why?

1. Online ‘sales’ are ALL YEAR ROUND baby..
2. Choice
3. Easy to price compare
4. No parking fees
5. Fast and competitive shipping

Now, I hear you say ..well you have to pay shipping on top! True, true, there is a shipping cost. But if I go to Birmingham by car, the cheapest car park is around £6 and the most I have paid is £11. I have to carry the heavy stuff home if I want to be cheap and take the train at £4.

Facebook is getting in on the e-commerce action, fan pages are coming with buy buttons and featuring eBay listings. You have been able to have your Etsy store showcased on Facebook for a while. This is now not a nice addition to your business model it is essential. I communicate kimono buys and bargains to my kimono friends via facebook, at least once a week. One friend mentioned that she has brought two of the items I posted to my profile.

On the flip side, I have been stalking the sales on Rakuten with my friends and we have all been recommending things to each other. This is the future of shopping.

I hope I will have more time this year to blog on the changing face of e-commerce. I have separated out my kimono blogging to a new site so you won’t be troubled by that obsession.

My sideline e-commerce business Hairfreax has started the year with a waiting list, booked up till mid April already! Its going to be a defining year for e-commerce. I am excited!

A bit random on the blogging side of things, but I am striding forward into a new genre/customer base in April for the Hairfreax brand. I will document the successes and pitfalls or hitting a new audience!

But in the meantime we have been given some love:

http://www.onlineaccountingdegree.org/best-ecommerce-blogs

I have more blog posts up my sleeves ready for publishing but I imagine it will be over Christmas when I will release the content with a reflection on my year as an e-commerce nut and also consultant.

Ebay is doing some funky (and possible flunky knowing eBay) things in the next 12 months, changing the customer experience, fiddling with the feedback and unpaid item process, writing bad automated emails that you can’t change….

The double edged sword in this mix is the eBay shopping cart. On one side its a big ‘YAY’ finally eBay has done this but a big…hmmmm as third party checkouts will be banned from June next year.

We knew that things would get difficult but as an eBay buyer this is a good move, the eBay checkout process is familiar and quick. On the other hand as a seller, third party checkouts let you use other card payment systems other than paypal. From next June it will just be known that you use Paypal for eBay and that’s it.

eBay wants the money to keep within its walls, it has more control over it that way, it can refund a buyer and take the money away from the seller at its own discretion. eBay wants a dictatorship and not a democracy.

Will this totalitarian eBay control be a good thing or bad thing? We can only wait and see, its only the kind of control Amazon has over its sellers and that’s doing okay for itself.

However this move might take eBay away from its community routes which made it great, and this is a shame.

Is this freedom of community a little to hard to control now the hyperweb has become so big? Fraud, privacy and security always feature in the news to terrify people and I wwould like to hear eBay speak at insite about its direction and why it has taken those decisions.

Two great forces on the interweb for me are Amazon and Ratuken which operate a shopping cart. Rakuten are going from strength to strength.

Rakuten are a big lust for me with a fantastic kimono section and for a English site just machine translated is surprisingly not that complicated to buy from. I do think we shall see more of this marketplace in the western hemisphere with their acquisition of things over this way

Rakuten, make sure you let your shop owners have a unique design…I could do with making money from you to buy more kimono stuffs….and err…lets sort that shipping out its like a black hole when you buy if you don’t know how much things cost to be shipped from Japan

*edited to remove the over use of the word ‘however’

1. The food – you are always fed ‘n’ watered well as a sponsor and attendee at Channeladvisor events. This year we had more time for the feeding process (which so happened to be in the room with all the sponsors) so as people eat they like to talk, so potential clients will wander round with their coffee chatting to other attendees and to the sponsors.

2. Other third party providers – Catalyst is always good to catch up with our fellow third party providers and competitors (Grrrrr…arrrrg) to see how they are fairing in business and exchange experiences.

In the Channeladvisor world the third party provider space is not that huge, so we all get to know one another. When you have a network of trusted service providers you can recommend to your existing clients, we all bounce off one another. Even companies who on the face of it are direct competitors, are not normally carbon copies of each other. They can offer and lend services so that the client gets what they need.

3. Other third party providers, that don’t sponsor also attend the event – I negotiated a nice deal and introduction to a newer marketplace (playtrade) that would suit the direction one of my clients is taking. He will be happy with this

4. Potential clients – it’s why us sponsors go really, to get business. The good thing with potential and current ChannelAdvisor clients is that they are pre qualified. When you are speaking to a potential they are interested in moving forward and contracting a company to make this happen.

5. Networking – Talking e-commerce with a few free alcoholic beverages in you is fun. You meet new friends and clients in a more relaxed atmosphere.

6. Ideas – potential clients are brimming with ideas, information and enthusiasm after all the seminars and speakers. They are in the MOOD, and ready to make waves with the help of us sponsors perhaps?

7. CA Staff – I spoke to lots of CA staff, to catch up with personally and to speak about clients. Lots of new introductions too. I had a demo of their new ‘salesforce’ offering which a client of mine wants us to integrate in his store and eBay design. I also got a pair of fresh eyes on a clients SearchAdvisor account because it is driving sales and traffic to a store designed by us. We want the store to be excellent in all things and we take conversion very seriously

Well that is what as a sponsor and eBay/E-commerce design company, CA catalyst means to me.

1. De-bunking the ChannelAdvisor Premium store set up process – a guide for those with little concentration.
2. Breaking down eBay’s changes for real people.
3. How to be the client in a web project (I like this one, no one ever tells the client what they need to do – and you are so important to the development process)

Thanks!

And also acceptance. I have never hidden the fact that socially, I am a bit out of the ordinary. I grab at any chance to don a full kimono or outfits of the gothic persuasion and funnily enough, this tendency does not affect my abilities as a consultant or developer. But some seem to think so

Facebook updates and tweets to the outside world can be misconstrued by sensitive businesses and I can’t always think of every angle to what I say in a random facebook update. It’s probably not about you, unless I call you out by name. But I can’t stop you thinking it, we all have a victim complex from time to time.

So on twitter and facebook Hairfreax is personal and matches my hobbies – you will know what my next outfit is, when I washed my hair and be able to see how my cats are doing or new hairpiece designs. Kidsontalks on twitter (and soon facebook) will be business related musing, and people who are more business friends and connections (who probably don’t really want updates on my cats diet) will be added there.

I apologise to those who have to put up with both, and those who I have removed from my personal facebook page.

I don’t have a lot of time, I work 24/7 and also weekends (today is a bank holiday but I am still at work with a list of to-dos and programming) so this is a slow process.

This year just feels very positive, the business is going well and I have worked with some great clients like http://www.tacklediscounts.co.uk in the last few months. They are experiencing their best ever eBay sales record and we hope the website which is promoted by searchadvisor (a channeladvisor search product) and soon a little marketing creative from CYT will match this.

But as always, with my head deep in XML/SQL files – I need to brush up on my oh so current eBay – a lot has changed this week it seems and I need to play catch up.

I have been doing a mix of projects, from SEO and programming to consultancy and design.

I shall be sitting in all the conferences this catalyst (or as many as I can) so my head will be full of blog-able information soon.

Speak then my e-commerce lovelies.