This is my journey as an E-commerce Consultant
eBay
New eBay Design Offering for 2012 and Girl Geeks in Birmingham!
115 days
On Saturday I decided to go to the launch party for Birmingham Girl Geeks.
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.
Fresh back from Japan..(ish) and ready for a great 2012
148 days
Well, hisashiburi desu! (it has been a while in Japanese)
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.
Facebook E-commerce and the UK in financial freefall…
502 days
Is it just me or has there been a steady rise in anarchy in the UK? Money is always the cause.
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!
Buying Online – Breaking Down Import Charges FEAR!
584 days
I have the fear do you? The fear that when an item pop through UK customs the entire parcel value plus shipipng costs are taken into consideration when customs and VAT charges are due. How selfish, I really don’t think shipping charges should be a factor but they are.
So when I had to recently provide an invoice for customs I wondered what I would have to pay (in additional to the £15 Parcelforce clearance fee….or £8 if it comes via Royal Mail) for my parcel. Well for my import (Kimono) anything over £18 is subject to VAT (17.5%) and also a 5% customs charge.
Buying from eBay? See this little GEM : eBay Customs and VAT calculator and its parent if you bundle things from outside the EU to save shipping costs : http://www.dutycalculator.com/
So if you customer has a query on import costs, send them to duty calculator.
End of Third party checkouts, so what does that mean?
633 days
Well it means a lot of work for companies like Channeladvisor. Channeladvisor already has the functionality to work with eBay immediate payment which bypasses the CA checkout and the sales are imported after the fact. I imagine this is going to be the norm for such systems after June 2011.
The issues I see at first glance is with shipping. eBay doesn’t let you be so bespoke with shipping methods as a checkout like Channeladvisor, eBay recently opened up to account for non mainland locations in the UK but I doubt they will get much more specific before next June. And how about promotional codes?
Third party checkout will be able to integrate no problem, but the sellers who have built their business on the extra flexibility of third party checkouts will have to edit their practises and how they price their shipping costs.
Fortunately, eBay has given everyone notice of this change – but as always you don’t really know the effect a change has on your business until you try it out
Some linkage:
Scott Wingo’s response to the death of the third party checkout!
and try the basket yourself http://pages.ebay.co.uk/shoppingbasket/
