• Today is: Sunday, July 26, 2026
Global, Grow, Internationalisation

External Marketplaces; Offering eSellers Reach, Sales and Maybe Even China

Philip Rooke
February18/ 2015

Selling online is not just about attracting customers to your own site and making the payment process easy. External marketplaces offer eSellers another route-to-market where they can benefit from the marketing, SEO strategy and payment structure of another organisation, such as Amazon. In the case of the Chinese company Alibaba, retailers on their Tmall Global marketplace are also offered help with any potential cultural differences.

Recent research shows that 95% of UK retailers are already selling via this channel with almost half using them to trade overseas. As might be expected, Amazon is the most popular site amongst UK companies, with around 86% selling on the marketplace giant, followed by 68% on eBay. However, although external marketplaces offer exciting new opportunities for being found online, locally and internationally, they are not all the same and there are challenges that need to be considered, such as delivery expectations and a potentially higher rate of returns.

In the UK many online retailers will turn to Amazon as their first point of entry to external marketplaces. The online behemoth has more e-commerce sales than anyone else — an expected $91 billion in sales in 2014; more than the next dozen largest e-tailers combined. It seems that the global giant is now often the first port of call for shoppers and is even challenging the established search engine companies. The recent report by Forrester Research revealed that nearly one-third of online shoppers now begin to search for a product on Amazon, rather than using a search engine.

We use Amazon as an external marketplace for our sellers at Spreadshirt. For ecommerce retailers like us, an advantage of marketplaces is the wider reach they can offer. Becoming an Amazon Marketplace merchant gives our sellers another important route–to-market. It has become a vital part of our company’s increasingly multichannel distribution model. Best-selling products on the Spreadshirt platform are now automatically transferred to Amazon in key markets. In our experience Spreadshirt sellers on Amazon, have reported a doubling, sometimes tripling, in revenue. Our internal surveys show that, due to Amazon’s online traction, average sales can increase by up to 140%, with some larger brands experiencing on average an increase of up to 200%.

So, Amazon is clearly influential; driving reach and sales, but it is not the only marketplace out there. eBay now offers B2C routes and other, previously industry-only players such as the portal of U.S. company, Sears, are also entering the consumer market. While Amazon and eBay are the better known marketplaces in Europe, the US and Australia, if you look east towards Russia, or Asia, you come across other large, and locally very active, online marketplaces such as Ozon (Russia), Tmall (China) and Rakuten (Japan). All in their own way and in their regions, leading representatives. Selling via one of these local market places could be a relatively risk-free way for UK companies to test the market without a huge investment.

Having said that, it is important to keep in mind that not all online marketplaces are the same. Amazon makes it easy for the customer to make a quick purchasing decision. Other marketplaces, like Rakuten, focus more on the story. Here, sellers can be more individual, sharing stories with buyers and information on special features. Both approaches are noteworthy and offer different ways to present your products.

So, these are some of the benefits of selling through external marketplaces, but there are also some challenges retailers need to take into account before going down this route. For example, shipping and delivery expectations always need to be high on the list when considering expansion and new regions.

eSellers looking at the vast and exciting market in China might take advantage of Alibaba’s Tmall Global marketplace. Through Tmall, brands can operate without investing in a local warehouse; however not being physically present may have an impact on delivery times, so expectations will need to be managed.

For us, one challenge on Amazon is that their customers expect very short delivery times. A particular problem for a print-on-demand platform competing with companies selling ready-made products. Despite having optimised production facilities in Europe, USA and South America, we still had to set up a separate business unit in order to meet new customer expectations on delivery times.

There is also the issue of higher returns rate on orders. On our site, where shoppers are more aware of the customisation and print-on-demand process, our returns are around just 3%. A downside of doing business on Amazon has been that our print-on-demand offering is not as well understood there.  In external marketplaces, shoppers tend to order, try on at home, and send back for a refund if they don’t like it. This means that our returns are up, albeit to only 6%, which is still reasonable compared to industry standards.

Other challenges of new regions are getting the cultural fit right. External marketplaces can sometimes help with this, reducing to cost of cultural misunderstanding. Tmall even helps with advice on local fashions and trends.

In our experience, an external marketplace presence can undoubtedly drive sales for eSellers. However, companies need to also be prepared to deal with the challenges that all expansion into new markets involves. They need to consider which marketplace offers the right fit; shopping as entertainment or for speed?  Competition will always be fierce online, whatever your size, so it’s important to provide a shopping experience that offers customers more than just the lowest price tag. These marketplaces are undeniably bringing innovation and vitality to the retail sector. They offer a flexible route to expansion, an opportunity to test new markets and are even changing the way we shop. Our response has been to embrace external marketplaces, as they are helping develop both the online and multichannel markets, as well as preparing us for an increasingly multichannel future.

Author: Philip Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt. Follow him on Twitter @PhilipRooke

 

Analysis, Customer Care, Discussion

A Look Back at eCommerce Predictions

Martina Mercer
February15/ 2015

We look back on ecommerce predictions for the High Street and mobile retail that were given in 2013.

Now, with our own digital marketer working with a company that promises the biggest advancement in commerce technology in a decade, is the following still true?

Beacons are taking over and one company, that’s about to launch, has already discovered the best ways to make beacons work for any business, while integrating ecommerce and mcommerce to offer the ultimate customer experience.

This company is not yet ready to reveal itself, so in the meantime, let’s see if these predictions from the UK’s leading ecommerce researchers have come to fruition.

If you took a news team and a microphone to the local High Street and asked real customers what they envisage it to be like in a decade, you’d probably hear many similar views. With big brand giants such as Comet, HMV and Jessops failing, the public believe that the High Street shop will be no more and virtually all shopping will be done online.

However one company believes there is a way where we can keep our High Streets, where we can still find the best deals online but also retain the face to face customer service we enjoy when stepping into a store. His name is John Curnow and he heads Omnico, a company whose name reveals their ethos.

If Ominico isn’t yet familiar to you, that maybe because it is the result of two companies coming together to provide an Omni channel solution to retailers, along with effective traditional multichannel options that are familiar today. Omnico is an amalgamation of the better known Digipos and Clarity, leaders in the field of providing customer engagement solutions.

What is Omni channel Retailing?

Currently many companies adopt the multi-channel marketing strategy where they may have separate providers for their mobile, online and High Street stores; however Omni channel ensures these all link up seamlessly so each can gain information from the other to engage customers, increase sales and to monitor customer behaviour.

An example John Curnow gave me was:

Imagine your favourite supermarket.

You begin your shopping list from a laptop at home, on the move you may add items as you receive requests from the family, then when arriving in the store you receive offers that save you money on items you’d already decided to buy.

Or another that could have saved Comet from the “showrooming” effect”

You enter the store to browse the TVs, Comet has WI FI so you can assess other offers while in store, however, you’ve also received a loyalty discount from Comet that lets you know that if you buy it now you receive 10% off, added to this, they can deliver the same day and they will throw in the HDMI cables for free.

Can you really be bothered to go home, find a better deal, work out if it’s cheaper once delivery is factored in and then take a gamble on if all the parts will arrive within the next 14 days?

John believes this new form of customer loyalty will give customers what they want, when they want it.

The Consumer Holds All the Power

I asked John what he thought retailers should be doing to combat show rooming, and if he had any thoughts on the demise of Jessops and HMV.

He declared that retailers need to embrace the changes and move with them rather than fight against them as the power is no longer in their hands. Consumers have unlimited choice and their behaviour needs to be analysed in order to give them what they want. It is this analysing and delivery that will enable retailers to use customer loyalty schemes and to engage the consumer so they don’t simply go somewhere else to source the cheapest.

This verifies the suspicion I’ve had myself for a while, as a consumer. At first the convenience of shopping online was exciting and profitable however now many people miss the personal touch that comes from excellent customer service. As a copywriter and journalist I always urge businesses to make every reader and visitor feel valued as we all reminisce about the days where we were treated as an individual rather than a statistic. Many people miss the chatter and the friendliness they’d receive from the local shops and now the purse strings are tighter than ever consumers need to feel valued in order to part with their hard earned cash, however we are a nation of “have it alls” and although we believe we want this service back, in reality we really haven’t the time.

So does Omni channel retailing solve this for us? Jon explains:

“Customers will showroom and they will go elsewhere looking for the cheapest however the trick is to target the customer before this happens. If retailers can understand their behaviour they can give them an offer that saves them time and money and satisfies every criterion so they simply can’t be bothered with shopping around.”

What does John think the High Street will look like in five years’ time?

“I think Argos is a good example although a few years ago people didn’t think it would work, but they cut down costs by having only limited stock on display however customers can pick up almost anything from their local store as long as it’s in their catalogue. This distribution of goods, transferring stock from one end of the country to the other may become more popular, producing more order points and more abilities to reserve online.”

I also believe retailers will focus more on giving the consumer what they want, when they want it and how they want it, as only by understanding the consumer will retailers be able to ensure their custom.

Grow, Promote

Stealing the hearts, minds and wallets of shoppers this Valentine’s Day

Phillip Smith
February14/ 2015

The Valentine’s holiday is just around the corner and whilst it may not reach the retail spikes of Christmas, or the crazy discount season between Cyber Monday and Black Friday, it’s still a high revenue generating day that all retailers will be looking to sink their teeth into.

Of course, many businesses can draw on previous experiences and start to build out a strategy based on their past success. However with shoppers becoming increasingly demanding and time-poor, knowing how to grab their attention, prove they can trust the brand and influence their purchase decisions, calls for the marriage of a number of important factors.

Of course, demonstrating commitment to customer service, ensuring delivery and resources are in place and employing the correct marketing methods is vital.

 Commitment to customer service

As well as showcasing any Valentine’s themed banners and adverts, commitment to customer satisfaction must be reflected in how other information is displayed too. Using the website to help shoppers buy with confidence has an important role in the purchase process and because of the nature of the day, last minute shoppers will want to know their purchase is safe when it comes to returns and exchanges. Displaying details on policies, FAQs and money-back guarantees should be prominently featured on the website alongside any product information.

Shoppers will also want to be assured that other consumers have had a good experience with your brand, this is where displaying customer feedback is crucial in clinching a sale. Make sure any reviews are visible among the product pages to encourage shoppers they can trust in the business.

Ensuring delivery and resources are in place

 Delivery is another deciding factor when it comes to purchases. One thing we can learn from Christmas is that there’s little margin for error – no retailer wants to follow suit with the problems faced by the likes of Yodel during the festive season. This year the holiday will be on a Saturday, so businesses should be aware that this could have an impact on operations if shipping options are limited to business day only. Those who fail to deliver on their promises will be vulnerable to loss of trust and repeat business – allowing a back-log at the last minute can cause delays. This means investing in extra resources a few days prior to the event is important. Whilst it may seem costly at the time, positive customer feedback will pay dividends. According to Google, great reviews can increase traffic by 17% so having a system in place to track customer feedback is certainly worthwhile.

Also keep in mind consumer rights. Particularly when selling items like flowers, explicit delivery dates are always binding. This applies particularly for instances when the customer is very much interested in having flowers delivered on time, especially if the business advertises delivery on that day.

Marketing methods

Employing extra resources also goes hand in hand with ramping up marketing efforts. Retailers should increase online marketing the previous week and then heavily upscale this during the evening of the 13th February and the morning of the day itself, in particular. This can include increasing Adword budgets and the frequency of email campaigns. Teaming up with Valentine’s related businesses such as restaurants and card shops can work well too – that way joint campaigns can be executed via social media to maximise the scope and number of followers. Remember, the timing and geography of campaigns must be well thought out in advance for the business to fully benefit.

Social proof and social media

Recommendations are a vital part of selling online, retailers should always make it possible for customers to share their purchases on social networking platforms  which will drive engagement and help generate value from social proof. Shoppers should easily be able to share via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest which should encourage potential new customers to visit your online store and consider a purchase.

 

Copywriting Services, Digital Marketing, SEO

Closing the Gap of the SEO Process

Warren Cowen
February11/ 2015

SEO plays a vital role in the success of your website and your business value. However there are many factors that can compromise your SEO that need to be monitored and flagged. What you don’t know about SEO, and most importantly what you don’t do, can have a fundamental impact on the performance of your website. For this reason, it is important to close the loop on the SEO process; what we refer to as the three D’s of digital growth:

Data:

Data is crucial when looking at your SEO. You need it to understand all of the keywords that the customer is actually using, how your website is performing, what actual changes need to be made and what gaps and opportunities exist at every single product and category level. You need to work out if your website is providing the best experience and where it might be letting down the SEO strategy.

Do this:

The next ‘D’ is quite simply: do this. We don’t need any more data and we don’t need any more reports. What we actually need is specific action that we can go and do inside the website on our pages and on a platform. SEO directly affects site visibility and whether your site is actually seen by consumers. It is all very well knowing what you need to do, but doing it is entirely different.

Done:

It is important to remember that the improvement to your SEO process will never be complete, but at the end of the day if you don’t get the changes that you have identified and specified for every single page and product onto the website, your SEO ranking will not move. Worryingly, research says that 80% of SEO changes either never make it, and/or take longer than 12 months to trickle through. So the key part of closing the gap with SEO is actually about getting these changes delivered into the platform.

SEO can be a minefield, with many unaware and unsure of the various factors that can compromise the success of their site. By ensuring that you have the three D’s in place, you are instantly increasing the chances of SEO success and ensuring that your business stays ahead of the competition.

Foreign Markets, Latest News, Payments, YOU!

Impact of the General Election on Value of the Pound

Deepak Goyal
February06/ 2015

The health of the UK economy is paramount to the prosperity of British businesses and, while the current recovery has heralded the beginnings of a business boom in 2014, the climate is fragile and requires nurturing. Following the financial crisis, interest rates remained at a historical low in the UK for over five years. It’s good news for those retailers looking to borrow money, however, it does mean the Bank of England’s (BOE) arsenal for fighting low growth and inflation has been reduced. Further shocks to the system could see increased volatility in currency markets, making it harder for firms looking to do business internationally, as the price of goods will fluctuate based on investor sentiment.

Volatility in the currency markets is often a signal of increased uncertainties. Investors start second-guessing the state of the economy and any changes, or surprises, in the way the economy is going, or how the country is being run, is often enough to send the pound drifting with the winds of investor sentiment. One notable upcoming event carries enough importance and clout to shake things up, and that’s the soon to be held general election, scheduled for May 7 2015.

Open political situation

There are a number of fears surrounding the general election that could see sterling pounded by currency investors as they flee from the British pound. It all depends on which political party wins the election and the subsequent decisions that will be made.

A Labour victory often makes financial markets more jittery as they tend to focus less on pure economic growth and more on economic equality. However, a Conservative win is equally likely to upset currency markets.

UK politics currently has a lot of focus on whether the country should stay in the EU or if it should leave, or more commonly known as BrExit. This becomes increasingly likely with a Conservative government and could severely damage the UK economy and the environment for businesses, because:

  • Exporting would become more difficult for UK retailers, which negatively impacts trade as exporting to Europe accounts for over 50 per cent of the UK’s export of goods and services.
  • Retailers with an online presence would lose profitability when doing business with Europe, as member states of the EU gain many tariff benefits when trading between each other.
  • Online retailers in the UK would need to follow EU rules on products to be able to export the EU, but the UK government would no longer have a say in what those rules and regulations are.
  • Scotland would be more likely to rethink independence, leading to further economic and financial uncertainty, which means complications for retailers exporting and importing across the new border.

The current economic climate presents a real challenge for online retailers with import and export needs, with currency markets continually fluctuating on the back of the ever-changing landscape.

Here at Currencies Direct we constantly monitor the situation looking closely at how developments in the polls are impacting on the strength of the pound. Stay informed with biweekly updates on FX ahead of Election in May 2015

Discussion

Using Customer Reviews to Capture Social Proof

Phillip Smith
January27/ 2015

In the world of online retail, social proof can be a strange thing. In the real world of bricks and mortar, we can see if a shop is busy, or if people are lining up outside the door of a restaurant. We look for these indicators to guide our choices, to provide the social proof we need to validate our decisions. However, in cyberspace, with the behaviour of other people not directly visible, we rely on other indicators of social proof – customer reviews.

Online reviews have become a powerful weapon in the battle for our hearts and minds, and more importantly, our wallets. When it comes to recommendations, unsurprisingly a lot of us rely on friends and family. According to a recent MyCustomer survey, 90 per cent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. What is perhaps surprising, is the fact that 89 per cent of consumers are just as willing to trust reviews posted online by complete strangers. Essentially, consumers put almost as much faith in the reviews of anonymous people posting on websites as they do in those they know and trust.

This presents a unique opportunity for retailers. Consumers trust customer reviews 12 times more than they do the manufacturers’ own descriptions. It may not come as a complete shock that marketing content designed to sell us products is sometimes viewed with scepticism. Nonetheless, for consumers to trust anonymous strangers more – by a factor of 12 – demonstrates just how powerful customer reviews can be.

Customers that read reviews are more than twice as likely to make a purchase, and on average spend 11 per cent more than those that don’t. The travel sector, in particular, is one where people tend to place a lot of faith in the opinions of others, with 45 per cent of personal travelers planning trips based on reviews, and 54 per cent of business travelers.

Most people will be familiar with sites like Tripadvisor and Yelp, and many will have used them for recommendations themselves. But the anonymity provided by the internet enables people to write virtually anything they want, as anyone who has spent time on Twitter can attest to. Stories of rival restaurateurs posting ‘grudge’ reviews on websites are infamous, and last year the BBC reported that Tripadvisor was being investigated in Italy over concerns the site was not doing enough to prevent fake reviews.

But with consumers placing so much emphasis on online reviews these days, how can retailers insure against fraudulent complaints masquerading as legitimate customer reviews? Closed review platforms ensure that customers must be verified. If the platform is open then it’s easy for fakereviews to slip through the net – exposing businesses to fraudsters or malicious actions. In tandem with these platforms retailers can remove some of the anonymity in reviews, by connecting reviewer profiles to social profiles, which adds a layer of authentication and deters many people from posting fake comments. Of course, there’s nothing to stop people creating false social profiles in order to write ‘grudge’ reviews, but the extra effort required should definitely put off the casual offenders.

Ultimately, bad reviews (whether fake or legitimate) are inevitable, and in some cases even welcome. Customers are smart, and know that retailers aren’t perfect. Sometimes stock runs out, sometimes a courier service will be late – these are things that customers get frustrated over, but understand the fact that they occasionally happen. When the service delivered is anything less than perfect, it’s a chance for retailers to acknowledge their shortcomings and act to remedy the situation.

If a customer posts a bad review on your website, the two most important things to respond with are speed and professionalism. By replying quickly, you demonstrate that you’re proactive in dealing with problems. By dealing with the situation professionally, it reflects well on your business as a whole, and reassures people that you can handle it when things don’t go according to plan. By building a rapport with the customer after a bad review retailers can rectify the damage with relative ease, and this approach certainly works better than a case that came to light in August last year which reported that the Union Street Guest House took $500 out of event bookers’ fees when visitors left bad reviews online.

Another interesting story in the press was the Facebook news that it recently sued scam artists who sold fake likes to businesses. This highlights another approach for retailers to avoid. Bumping up likes, followers or reviews with fakes fails to meet the business objective of making sales. Fake customers will never convert into paying customers as they fit into two categories, those with fake accounts, who will devalue the business profile and discourage trust. Or hacked accounts, whose owners are likely not the target customer. Customers want to see that the type of people endorsing a brand are engaging in things that interest them – not the thousands of likes or reviews on the page.

Fake reviews and professional complainers aside, online recommendations are a great way to provide the social proof people crave to validate their purchasing decisions. When collected, managed and displayed effectively, they prove to be a recipe for high conversion.

Editor’s Note: We partner with www.theconsumervoice.co.uk to give retailers and consumers a place to connect without red tape, to celebrate those brands that actively improve on customer service year after year.

Customer Care, Sales

2015: the year of the online marketplace

Adrien Nussenbaum
January27/ 2015

Online marketplaces have been around for a while now. Amazon Marketplace launched in 2000 and is now the world’s biggest marketplace and responsible for more than 50% of all Amazon sales.

eBay, the original marketplace, is still one of the most known e-commerce sites, and there are numerous pure marketplaces, such as notonthehightstret.com, that do not have any products of their own. The last few years has also seen many high street retailers launching their own marketplaces, attracted by the chance to widen their product range and increase profits, without inventory and hassle.

When you factor in the Q4 2014 UK launch of the Rakuten marketplace – one of the biggest e-commerce companies in Japan – it means that online marketplaces have never been so much in the spotlight. This also means, that for smaller retailers, there have never been so many routes to reaching a bigger audience and potential customer base.

A Royal Mail survey of small retailers in January 2015, showed that more than one-quarter of respondents planned to sell via an online marketplace in 2015. The only surprise is that figure is so small – perhaps the other three-quarters already sell via online marketplaces!

It’s almost a no-brainer for a small retailer to sell via a marketplace. In a Mirakl survey of British online shoppers in 2014, over six in ten shoppers had bought from an online marketplace in the previous 12 months, so the opportunity is vast. If you are thinking of selling via a marketplace you can be sure that similar sellers will be doing the same, or perhaps already are. We have posted before on how to sell via an online marketplace, but as marketplaces become even more commonplace in 2015, here are three further tips to make your store stand out:

Have a distinctive homepage. A good online marketplace will have scope for each seller to create their own homepage. While this will often have to adhere to the brand guidelines of the overall retailer, that’s not to say there is no opportunity to let your store be noticed. This should include information about how and where you started, a range of striking and attention grabbing photography, as well as all manner of videos and other content that communicate your brand values. This is where the story (see below) should start.

Tell a story to build a connection with your customers. This applies to both you as a seller, and the products that you sell. The story should include why you started your business and what was your inspiration. This is particularly important if you are selling something handmade, or something likely to be bought as a gift for someone else. It creates a personal brand and will help create a bond with any potential customers.

You should then try and tell a story for each particular listing. How did you create that product, why is it meaningful and what were you trying to achieve? This is easier with certain products than others, but it all helps a customer identify with you and your products.

Be known for great service. Having a wonderful product is one thing. But the chances are, there are other products out there that are equally as good. So another way to differentiate yourself on a marketplace, is to be known for having the very best service. This means prompt responses to any queries, and being honest and transparent about your policies for shipping, handling and returns.

And don’t forget to say thanks! Customers appreciate this and if you do it via Twitter or Faceook they will have the chance to acknowledge you back. This is great marketing for you, as their networks will see that not only has their contact bought a nice product, but that they have got first class service too.

eSeller Guides, Foreign Markets, Logistics, Payments, YOU!

2015 Innovations in logistics sector

Deepak Goyal
January12/ 2015

E-tailers will now have to work towards building success in the physical world as well as the digital world, according to accounting agency, KPMG. In order to create a successful supply chain, it’s critical that retailers strive to cooperate more effectively with logistics companies, in order to stave off a repeat of this year’s chaos with delivery companies.

The surge in demand during the last quarter of 2014, following the much hyped Black Friday spending spree, created a bottleneck in the delivery networks and lead to major delays. Discounts and sales saw shoppers storm the retailing world and spend around 50 per cent more than forecast, creating a pile up of parcels and causing courier firms to frantically attempt to keep up with the backlog of deliveries.

Online stores will have to prepare ahead of the festive spending period and think about paying a little extra to ensure their delivery network is hardy enough to keep up with the spending sprees.

“The challenge is to create robust networks that have flexible cost bases and capacity that can be enhanced to manage varying loads,” said Justin Zatouroff, KPMG’s global head of post and express.

“Those that haven’t developed relationships and are only after lowest cost solutions may face opportunist pricing or even find that they can’t access any additional capacity as they try to manage during peak periods,” he added.

He even predicts that new technology could herald the coming of automated couriers. Delivery drones, nicknamed ‘parcelcopters’ have already been tested by Amazon in the US for over a year now. UK residents may start to get driverless deliveries as early as 2016 with UK manufacturers receiving the go ahead to test driverless cars early next year.

“Self-driving vehicles will have the ability not just to transport goods but also to combine other process steps such as loading and unloading in order to increase efficiency of processes. In addition to providing efficiency gains, self-driving vehicles can also significantly increase safety in transport and loading processes,” said Mr Zatouroff.

Technology will be key and we may see small innovative tech solutions shake up the established logistics industry. Retailers will look into money-saving technologies to help them manage their costs while driving the innovation in order to stay competitive.

E-tailers specialise in finding their stock and knowing how to advertise and position their products to the correct audience. Often they do not focus on their own “back office” and fulfillment. One part of this is delivering the products to the customers, but equally important is paying suppliers and receiving payments from the customers. Easy enough, one would think, but when it involves foreign currency it become more complicated.

The report correctly points out that e-tailers need to create robust networks with flexible cost bases; we believe that this is just as important for the financial elements of the customer value chain and supply chain as for the physical logistics.

At Currencies Direct we work with online retailers to help them with international transfers, especially when it comes to selling worldwide on international marketplaces.

Here are some simple savings ideas to help your budget:

  • Use a specialist FX dealer and not your bank to make sure you get the best rates and minimise fees and commission
  • A good FX dealer will review your business and help you identify areas where you could be exposed to rate moves
  • Make sure you use a platform that lets you adjust rates and keep abreast of your income and outgoings
  • Make sure you protect yourself against your exposure. Tools like top-loss orders and limit orders, which let you ring fence the upper and lower rates you’re happy with
  • When buying stock from overseas, moving exchange rates can cause the input price to vary which can lead to uncertain profit (even move into loss) – consider using forward contracts to create certainty

The cost of buying the currency can be up to 3% of the value of the transfer, which is often quite expensive. A solution is to try to access wholesale business rates of exchange.

To find out more about e-tailer Collection Accounts, visit www.currenciesdirect.com/etailers

Black Friday, Customer Care, Featured, Retain

Why You Should Wave Goodbye to Black Friday

Martina Mercer
January05/ 2015

As news hits that Andy Street, a managing director of John Lewis, is reconsidering the chain’s part in Black Friday, I thought I’d share my own reasons for giving the “retail opportunity” a miss.

John Lewis reported a 1% drop in sales overall in stores and Mr Street thinks Black Friday is to blame. Personally, as an eCommerce digital marketer, but more importantly as a consumer, I’m inclined to agree with him.

On the surface there are many reasons why retailers may be enticed to jump on the Black Friday bandwagon. It’s a trend I hoped would stay in America as we need no encouragement to be annoyed with our fellow neighbour these days. In a time when offensive remarks are being reported to the police as a hate crime, it seems contradictory that we encourage and partake in physical pushing, elbowing and shouting just to get a cut price TV.

Some idealistic part of me hoped that if we did absorb the trend, we wouldn’t be subject to the mass hysteria that the Americans are. In my own silly bubble, I wrongly assumed that the Brits would be more polite. We’d queue and we wouldn’t resort to cheap insults or shoving to get what we want. How wrong was I?

We have not only taken on Black Friday as a nation, we’ve also taken on the hysteria, the rudeness and the stupidity that surfaces when we’re presented with time sensitive savings that make a rubbish accessory seem like a cure for a terminal illness. We fight as though our children’s lives depend on it, and act completely out of character, (I hope), in the vain hope we’ll save some fictional percentage on an item we don’t really need.

Now as a retailer you must ask yourself, do you really want customers like these?

Controversial Class Discrimination

Anyone of any class can be reduced to a gibbering wreck over a great sale price. Yet it’s usually those who live on bargains throughout the year that swap their own family pets for a big discount. I’m sure I’ll rile the professionally offended but as a consumer, the Black Friday customers, to me, are the ones that shop in Iceland, and swear at their kids in the aisles of Asda.

John Lewis does not appeal to this target market yet on Black Friday they turned tail and brought customers through their doors who would normally be those misspelling insults on the Overheard in Waitrose page on Facebook. All because they had X per cent off.

As we all know in eCommerce, the best customer is the loyal customer. Will these people return? Probably not when the see they can buy imitation quality crap from the local poundshop. Do you want them to return? I guess that depends on the profit Black Friday generated. The average basket value and the repeat custom generated. It will be interesting to see the figures during 2015 to find out if any of the new, temporary, deal hunters return (as there’s no doubt John Lewis is hoping a few newbies will translate into loyal customers).

Now it’s not just the lower classes that love a bargain. We all do, every single one of us but our views of how to seek out that bargain differ. It’s a certain breed that will rise at 4am to be first in the queue to seal a deal. The same who will wear elbow pads for the sole purpose of pushing people out of the way so they can get to a till.

Of course, we dream of thousands of customers fighting to buy our merchandise but at what cost to our reputation?

Are We Ready as Retailers for Black Friday?

The other question is, are we really ready for this? Shouldn’t the UK Black Friday have some USPs to differentiate itself from the American version? Why do we have to adopt this trend and the headlines that inevitably follow it and are we ready? The answer is, probably not. Many retailers faced backlash as those who shopped in the Black Friday sales online were left waiting an age for their goods to arrive. Yodel blamed Black Friday for their poor customer service, sloppy delivery and constant breakages in transit. With almost 80% of ceramic poppies arriving in such a poor state they left people in tears, (again), Yodel got it in the neck. Of course, the customer won’t blame the courier, they will blame you and so the cycle continues.

It must also be noted that at a time when couriers should be in high demand, City Link closes its doors.

Online many sites crashed and the usual shoppers became increasingly frustrated as without the patience of the determined bargain hunter, they found they couldn’t realistically shop online.

Argos, a store we usually watch with interest, performed particularly poor on the day. Already their website is unfriendly to users, (heaven knows how they ever up-sell or cross sell with it) but on Black Friday it disappeared altogether. It never did seem to recover as late deliveries and false stock levels caused many complaints (and still do today!).

In summary it may make sense to give Black Friday a miss for a few years until we really have a handle on it. Resist the urge to jump on the bandwagon and instead gain the upper hand by observing from afar.

Here are some quick pros and cons obviously open to debate to help you decide if Black Friday is right for you:

1. Reputation

Do you really want to alienate the customer base you’ve worked hard to please by showing them you’re really a bargain bucket store at heart?

2. Capacity

Do you trust your couriers to cope with extra demand? Are your servers capable of handling an influx of visitors concentrated into a short time frame? Do you have ample security in store should events get out of hand?

3. Christmas

Christmas is still one of our most profitable times of the year. Can you really afford to mess up your strategy and plans with this one single day? Do you have the extra staff? Will it impact on Christmas sales?

4. Customer Service

We’re only just learning in eCommerce that great customer service is one of the keys to success. When we started trading online we assumed the customer service team in the bricks and mortar stores could take care of the extra demand. In order to protect your brand over Black Friday, you will need stellar customer service as it only takes one complaint to ruin what you’ve worked hard for.

Putting people on hold and leaving them without contact, while using the excuse that you’ve received “more enquiries than normal” will not wash. You chose Black Friday, it did not choose you.

One light at the end of the cursing, sweating tunnel that is Black Friday

Of course, you can eliminate most of the uncouth behaviour if your Black Friday sale is online. Amazon, always a leader in eCommerce, show how to do it right. Their customer service (which is consistently impeccable) never once wavered, neither did they send an influx of emails informing customers their items would be late. Of course, with their roots in US soil they’ve had plenty of practice, which is what we all need before we profit from this dark day without a pounding Christmas headache.

Ultimately we all want to sell more, and Black Friday seems like a perfect opportunity for this but to survive online and in store, we do need to look at the bigger picture and ask if this is really what our customers want?

YOU!

What’s Hiding in Your Shopping Cart?

Stefan Schmidt
December25/ 2014

Empty-Shopping-Cart

Back in 2001, Coca Cola’s marketing team decided to retire the iconic ‘Holidays are Coming!’ advert. You remember the one. It portrays a caravan of bright red Coke-branded trucks lighting up the countryside, with Santa right at the back sipping a bottle of Coca Cola. Six years later, the company decided to bring it back. Why? Because apparently scores of customers phoned in to tell Coca Cola that for them the advert marked the ‘beginning of Christmas’. This little story illustrates just how deeply TV advertising is stitched into popular culture during the festive season.

This isn’t lost on the world’s biggest brands. Last year, US retailer Kmart was so desperate to ensure its holiday advert was appreciated by as many consumers as possible that it was released on September 8th. That’s a full 105 days before Christmas! Although, predictably, social media exploded with fury, it’s another example of how seriously retailers take customer acquisition in the festive season.

While this urgency is understandable – Christmas is ‘make or break’ for almost every retailer – it is perhaps a little myopic. According to statistics from Comscore, a staggering 66 per cent of online shopping carts are abandoned before customers ‘check out’. That’s right. At the exact moment that retailers are spending vast sums of money on advertising to attract potential customers, they are ignoring the would-be customers who are just a few clicks away from awarding them a sale. How’s that for irony?

We’re talking serious money here. According to Capgemini and IMRG, in December 2013 alone UK shoppers spent over £11bn online. Never mind 66 per cent, if just a small percentage of those abandoned baskets had been converted into a sale, there are a number of retailers right across the country that might have enjoyed a much happier Christmas. Perhaps the first question UK retailers should ask themselves this year is not ‘how many customers can I attract?’, but rather ‘how do I convert the ones that I already did attract?’

There are a number of different reasons that customers don’t follow through on an online transaction, however very few of those reasons are entirely unavoidable from a retailer’s perspective. Consumers are often distracted or interrupted midway through a purchase, and then forget to return. Sometimes a customer will place items in a basket, then go away to ‘think it over’ and never come back. Another common issue is that the product is out of stock, or the fulfilment option the customer is searching for isn’t available.

For the disrupted shopping journey, emerging omni-channel technology is increasingly capable of enticing customers back to a website to finish what they started. For example, retailers with a properly joined up, integrated e-commerce platform can remind a would-be-customer about a purchase via email, SMS, social media or in-app. They can ensure that a returning shopper knows there is something sitting in their basket and encourage them to go back and ‘close the deal’, recovering the lost revenue.

If a journey is abandoned because of stock or fulfilment issues, then, come January, retailers must take a long hard look at their omni-channel strategy. Using omni-channel commerce solutions, it is increasingly possible for retailers to provide customers with ‘endless aisles’, seamlessly source and ship out-of-stock products from other locations. In the 21st century, no product should be out of stock. It’s that simple. Secondly, every online retailer should have invested in technology that enables customers to receive their product exactly as they want, whether that’s in-store through click and collect, or perhaps a same-day delivery service. There’s simply no excuse not to.

Right now, with Christmas craziness well underway, retailers are simply knuckling down, strapping in and keeping everything crossed for a successful festival season. However, once the dust has settled, the inevitable inquest begins: did we hit our online sales target? If not, why not?

Come the New Year, some retailers will need to ask themselves a tough question: does it really make sense to prioritise a big budget advert – a billboard, a print ad, a TV spot – over ensuring our order fulfilment and basket conversion strategy is cutting edge?

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