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!

Which E-commerce Avenger are you?

1. Captain America.

A good sort of chap, more weathered in experience and still loves to reminisce of the days before the scourge of facebook. I mean, you have only just warmed up to e-commerce and the hyper web….now you are being told you have to sell through social media? You just don’t get it. In fact, you don’t want to get it.

2. Hulk.

SMASH! Lets put ALL of our 20000000000 product catalogue on eBay and totally smash our way into being the best. We don’t need strategy because we are STRONGER and MADDER than YOU! RWOAAARRRRR!

3. Iron Man.

If your website is not optimised for the 2017 apple smartwatch that is currently in development you are not interested. The future is NOW, even the distant future.

4. Black Widow.

You know your strengths and weaknesses and play them to the full when it comes to your competition. Always flexible and always ahead of the game. You know how to get the best discounts, from the best suppliers and know the best avenue for online sales. You look fabulous while you are doing it as well.

5. Hawkeye.

A bit impressionable but good at what you do. Sometimes you get talked into changing your e-business mostly to your detriment. Fortunately the e-world works fast and you can quickly recover and learn from your mistakes. Shame about that adwords bill though…no absolution there!

6. Fury.

You know what you are doing and you are damn well going to speak about it at the next Internet Retailer and tell these FOOLs whats what. But first you need to gather your team as this is going to be BIG!

7. Thor.

You are in total control of every aspect of your business and online marketplaces. In fact you are a GOD in your category and you fight every day gladly to maintain your place. Fight on comrades!

but of course no good set of super hero’s is ANYTHING without a super villan…

8. Loki.

You can manipulate your trading environment to suit YOUR needs. You drive for influence at the highest level, speak to all the key players at eBay and know how to play third party providers off one another to get the best deal on your eBay design. You play a high risk game but you love it. You might make a loss on that 99p auction but you will slaughter a weakling competitor in your category by doing so. Glorious.

When you fail though, you fail big time. And we laugh at you.

Please note I have not based these on anyone I know I have based them on…ya know…The Avengers (Film)…

Feel free to own up to your Avengers personality, suggest different traits or another Avenger from the comics

However recently I and a few others have sold items to our close knit kimono community THROUGH facebook. There is a lot of recycling going on!

We even have a group now which brings the wider kimono community together to trade by branching out from the self imposed limits of a friends list. We have in essence, created our own free eBay style trading platform.

Paypal and now Ping It are being used for payment.

It feels as though through facebook we are going back to clearing out the loft and trading personally with fellow enthusiasts like in the days of old and well…gumtree.

This method is not for the large retailer of course, and this community is about individual unique pieces which have historical/antique value.

However, a friend is organising to sell a very special item through facebook to the tune of $3000 at a near 90% profit. Nice huh?

When my band of shopoholic friends start using facebook e-commerce stores I will report that, but for now..nothing.

On how you can use facebook for other business activities give this a read:
Four practical ways to use Social Media to sell

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.

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.

Social and mobile have changed how I shop. I am normally one of the first on the shopping cart bandwagon as I shop ALL THE TIME and it is one of my favourite pastimes.

Mobile Commerce and the wrath of the eBay iphone app

This revelation has killed my bank balance, eBay has infected my life even more than before – in bed, on the train and even waiting for food as a restaurant the iphone sneaks its way out and I can check eBay. It has some needs, like being able to search a sellers items or more ‘ebay shop’ functionality but it does relieve me of quite a few pounds. I also only shop on amazon via mobile now.

However, if there is no app I am probably not going to buy from you on my mobile. Even the ‘mobile friendly’ versions of e-stores annoy me (but normally I don’t check because they are not the norm yet) and I quite often, switch back to the full site if I can. These smartphone friendly versions have a long way to go before they reach ‘app’ status.

Evils of social commerce

You have to have a facebook page now, if you don’t I forget you exist. Sorry.

Recently we (as in createyourtemplate – disclaimer, I’m pluggin’) designed a facebook page for one of our eBay clients passion4italianfashion and instigated an idea of a weekly competition which involved tagging to get maximum exposure. The account started with around 41 likes and has now grown to over 850 likes with around 80 entries to their competition each week. This page will continue to grow and create brand awareness, keep them in-touch with their customers and grow sales.

Another interesting facebook marketing campaign was spearheaded by a friends company. I love Illamasqua makeup and they did a ‘social sacrifice‘ campaign which in effect you killed all your pictures and you had a set of professional pictures to replace them with Illamasqua makeup-y goodness. As a subscriber to their facebook page I get to know when they are doing promotions as it is an expensive brand so I wait for deals

So, as for shopping habits I have fallen right into mobile and social commerce like a stone. However, quite a few of the people (small/medium businesses) I speak too still don’t think it is anything to worry about or use to their advantage. The managing directors who use sites like Facebook, Groupon or have a smart phone always see differently. They see how they and their families spend money and want a slice of it!

So, get a website, make it social and make it mobile (with an app if you can). Don’t forget the power of social marketing if your demographic fits.

On a side note, I am volunteering in Japan (Ishinomaki) next month and staying with a friend who connects the international kimono community through her facebook page. She has kept us all updated about the real situation and stories from the first shake to her last trip.

Say?nara! Ganbatte!

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.

Many e-commerce retailers and suppliers try to get you to like them (with free stuff/competitions) and follow them on twitter (or create a trend) in order to get more exposure but this is basically empty marketing as if they don’t ‘win’ they don’t bother again or buy your service/products as they liked 20 other pages that day.

Successful brands/e-commerce retailers create a real community. Something you want to be part of that is above and beyond the offers and freebies.

It’s not e-commerce but with kimono de jack we are hell bent on getting more people interested in kimono, kitsuke (kimono dressing) and join in our events. Kimono lovers are sporadic and spread the world over but facebook and twitter bring them together and give them a place, excuse and company for their passion.

So if you are a retailer, how do you create a community? – Your aim is to get people to spend money but you need to give the love back. People love information, stories, discounts, insider information and to feel exclusive. Get people involved in any way you know how, its your business, your area, you have the 411! Be creative and innovative.

Need examples?

If your an e-commerce third party provide white papers on the industry on your facebook page, or organise e-commerce events for all and not just your customers.

If you are a retailer, impart your knowledge, exclusive reviews etc as you are an expert.

Most e-tailers are the bees knees in an area, so you can impart that knowledge to help buyers make better choices as well as building your profile.

Some e-tailers however (as a client once said ‘we just sell boxes, what’s in those boxes can vary’) shift boxes with no specialism. Social media and creating a community probably won’t work with you unless some consistency is found

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!