Smartcompany.com.au recently approached me to start writing regular blog posts for their readers on a topic they did not yet cover, so here is a link to my profile of articles:

Operational Optimisation in the Online and Retail space

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I feel the need, the need for speed!

“I feel the need, the need for speed” said Pete Mitchell to Nick Bradshaw in the classic 1986 film Top Gun.   Little did “Maverick” and “Goose” know that 26 years later nearly every Retail Ecommerce Manager would be saying that very same thing to their IT Manager in the lead up to the most important trading time of the year for every retailer on the planet!

Speaking plainly, site speed equals high conversion rates which in turn equals dollars in the bank.  Outside of planning a suite of Christmas campaigns, that are seamlessly executed across the range of digital marketing channels, the next topic on the Christmas planning agenda has to be: how is the website going to maintain high-speed performance during a period of intense load both from browsing and purchasing customers?

This Christmas Cracker usually finds itself on the desk of an already busy IT Manager who is busy trying to get agreement with “the business” on a lock-down of system changes during peak trading times to ensure stability, squeeze some additional capacity from an already overloaded IT infrastructure to bolster retail store performance and populate a Xmas rota to ensure that the department had adequate cover during the holiday season.  

Needless to say, without an accurate prediction of site traffic and predicted transactions and in fact, even with an accurate prediction of site traffic and transactions, finding the budget and resources to implement the IT infrastructure (servers and network bandwidth) required to cope with peak load is very difficult.  

The upshot being that during the Christmas season some online shoppers will be presented with slow and very slow websites that are struggling to keep up with the pace of the voracious demand from the Australian multi-channel retail consumer!

So, what to do?

To ensure that your online customers don’t lose  “that lovin’ feelin” during the Festive Season the answer can be found in a new and highly effective solution: FEO – Front End Optimisation.  FEO is a combination of Content Distribution Networking and Website Acceleration (through software optimisation) that can significantly improve the performance of page rendering on your website, reduce load from your servers to ensure that transactions are handled faster and create a buffer so that spikes in high traffic volumes go un-noticed by your customers!

This combination of content distribution and site acceleration can be implemented within 36 hrs, require 5 minutes involvement from your IT Department, is contract free, pay-as-you-go and has a money back guarantee! 

For more information, contact iceman@hitworks.com.au who will help keep you out of the Danger Zone!

Setting up an online store | Nett

A nice article about setting up your online store... It still however seems to exclude the pitfalls of starting up, creating content, copy, images and data. Also no discussion whatsover about integration to accounting, warehousing etc.

Selling online is like walking through a minefield.

Setting up an online store | Nett:
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iPad Competitions Galore - Do they Add Valuable Subscribers

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I am sure you have all seen the ongoing ebb and flow of competitions used to entice people to subscribe (and refer friends  to go into the draw) to win an iPad. Just today I checked my Facebook page and there for all to be seen, two competitions, one after the other. See image below.

Does giving iPads away bring highly engaged subscribers?  Personally, unless you are an Apple reseller, I doubt they do. I enter these competitions purely to win the iPad. I know this as I recently unsubscribed from an online book reseller after I entered the competition.

Perhaps if I had won their iPad, i would have remained somewhat loyal to their emails out of respect for the prize I would have won!

What are your thoughts?

Infinity-channel retailing

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Forget Omni Channel Retailing, the next BUZZWORD is Infinity Channel Retailing, which sums up the a concept of future smarter computing with far greater artificial intelligence and even deeper cross and multi channel integration capability.




Stuart Bennie Writes in an article in Inside Retailing about the potential future,  where infinity represents WITHOUT ANY LIMIT. Bennie eludes to extremes such as technology capable of walking into David Jones and ordering a McDonalds; where  data is stored as a 'qubit' represented by a quantum system such as the spin of an atom's nucleus or an electron, as opposed to the current  model of our faithful transistor that stores '1''s or '0's... 

And I though I was a forward thinker ! Infinity Channel Retailing. I like it.

Click on the link below to read more about this 
Infinity-channel retailing | IR News | Inside Retail:

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Tarocash launches e-commerce platform

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Wow, after all these years, its nice to see Tarocash embracing eCommerce. With the support of Amblique, they are in relatively good hands to ensure their eCommerce sales and multi channel strategy is implemented correctly


Tarocash launches e-commerce platform:

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Demystifying big data | IR News | Inside Retail

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Big Data, A topic that has very much piqued my interest in the past few months, and something I intend to explore more over the next few!

 Here is a nice article Demystifying big data.

Click on the link below to read more:





Demystifying big data | IR News | Inside Retail:

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E-commerce Sales and History of Online Shopping [Infographic] - Deals Direct Blog

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A nice  brief  infographic on the evolution of eCommerce sales in Australia, brought to you by the team at Dealsdirect

E-commerce Sales and History of Online Shopping [Infographic] - Deals Direct Blog:

'via Blog this'

Online shopping - we're (almost) all doing it | IR News | Inside Retail

Old news for all of us entrenched in the Online Retailing Space, however nice to see the data backed by researched numbers from Visa.



Click on the link below to read the full article:

Online shopping - we're (almost) all doing it | IR News | Inside Retail:

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To pin or not to pin? Insights into Pinterest for business | Digital Business dot Gov | DBCDE

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I have got to say that Melbourne based Justine Bloom has got great strategic ideas behind Pinterest and how to use it for business. 

Click on the link below to review the follow up article written by DigitalBusiness.gov.au about Justine's work.

To pin or not to pin? Insights into Pinterest for business | Digital Business dot Gov | DBCDE

or visit Justine's Blog: http://justinebloome.com/

Stayin’ alive on deadline | Flying Solo

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It's really rewarding to see someone taking up an opinion you put forward and actually getting a result. I recently posted a suggestion on how to manage multiple urgent deadlines, this was picked up and utilised by Jodie McLeod from flyingsolo.com.au 

Click on the link below to read more:

Stayin’ alive on deadline | Flying Solo:



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IdeaWorks wins DealsDirect account | B&T

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It's interesting to see DealsDirect mentioned in B and T, a source of news and info to the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

Just a few years ago, DealsDirect was shunned by many as a pariah of retail, and now it's welcomed as "one of the true pioneers and leaders in online retail in Australia."


IdeaWorks wins DealsDirect | B&T:

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The Startup’s Guide to Facebook Fan Pages

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 A great article with hints and tips to optimise your Facebook Fan Pages.

The Startup’s Guide to Facebook Fan Pages:


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Scott Kilmartin - Haul and Saasu Insights

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Haul goes from garage to global with Saasu

haul is an award winning design brand upcycling old advertising billboards into iPad cases and laptop bags. They originally started life in a garage, turning used number plates into journals and photo albums and selling them from a card table at Salamanca Market in Hobart, Tasmania.

Recently we spoke with owner and creative director, Scott Kilmartin, about the role that Saasu has played as they have grown from the card table to a global marketplace. Read more

Bing Lee of the Giving Kind

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Bing Lee of the Giving Kind

A quick post to thank Peter Krideras Head of eCommerce at Bing Lee, one of Australia's more exciting consumer electronics retailers,  for sending us a camera to use for filming videos and taking snapshots at our group consults at guerillatactics.com.au  and when we are out and about prowling for stories and pics for internetretailing.com.au.

Thanks Peter, works a treat, far better definition than the iPhone and the video is great.

and check out what it can do, pretty neat.

Brand Differentiation and Online Retailing - Brainmates

Brand Differentiation and Online Retailing
Posted on 28 August 2012 at 3:18 by Elissa Bramley

Christopher Columbus may have been wrong after all as the Internet removes geographical boundaries essentially rendering the globe flat and expansive. This has generated a boundless realm of possibility and wealth and Internet Retailing is at the forefront of this push.

Mark Freidin is an online retail pioneer. As Chief Operating Officer of the Catch of The Day group of companies incorporating catchoftheday.com.au, Groceryrun.com.au and its sister site Scoopon.com.au. Prior to that he was the General Manager of a national luggage and handbags multi-channel retailer. He led the charge online, establishing the age of the ‘non-brand as a brand’. He also co-founded www.internetretailing.com.au, Australia’s first news and information resource for the Online Retailing Industry. He now works as a specialist online retailing consultant. Mark shares some key insights around creating a profitable retail product online in a tricky, global marketplace.

Click below to read more:

brainmates – product management people » Blog Archive » Brand Differentiation and Online Retailing

Google Case Study on Call Tracking

Google Case Study on Call Tracking

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Google have created a Call Tracking Case Study with Beaurepaires, one of Australia and New Zealand's leading tyre retailers. Jet Interactive partnered up with Google to provide call tracking technology.The case study was to shed some light on the thousands of customers who were calling ahead to request or confirm information before actually dropping in to a Beaurepaires store. They needed to discover where these calls where coming from in order to hold digital marketing channels accountable.Daniel Lloyd, the Online Marketing Manager at Beaurepaires concluded the case study saying "By implementing the call-tracking trail we were able to specifically pinpoint the digital channel that our customers had taken to contact our stores"To find out more: Download the Google Call Tracking Case Study

Google Case Study on Call Tracking

Australian Ecommerce Statistics | NerdGraph Infographics

From Nerdgraph, an interesting summary of eCommerce statistics in Australia (with REFERENCES)

For more statisitcs follow this link to internetretailing.com.au/statistics-online-shopping-in-australia.html 
Australian Ecommerce Statistics | NerdGraph Infographics

Bufferapp... Awesome aggregation tool...

I received this email on signing up to bufferapp.com, an aggregation tool that lets you send a message to Linked In, Twitter and Facebook simultanneously. (read the access rights you assign for each service though, some demand anytime access to your page but you can control this)

I just love the openness and customer service nature of this message, we can all learn from this, makes me like the product even more and I haven't even started to use it properly.

Hi,

I’m guessing it's not every day that you sign up for a new service. That's why I want to make sure everything is in place for you to feel welcome and at home. On the slightest whim, please drop us a line hello@bufferapp.com or Tweet us @bufferapp.

I hope you have already got the gist of using Buffer. If there is just one single tip for getting the most out of it, I'd say try the browser extension. I think you'll love it. It’s a terrific way to amaze your friends and followers with awesome content you find on the web. Whenever you find something you want to share, click the Buffer icon in your browser. That’s it.

One last thing I want to say is that the whole team are always around, almost 24/7, to reply to your emails. In fact, you can just hit reply to this email or any others you receive from us. Whether you need help, have ideas or just want to say "hello", we'll get back to you within a few hours.

- Joel and the Buffer Team

P.S. In case you also want to connect with me personally, just Tweet me anytime @joelgascoigne

For more info on eCommerce and Online Retailing in Australia, visit internetretailing.com.au

SEO - How to Move Your Website, SEO Checklist

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After a query from a client about the issues they had after rebuidling this site, I found this neat summary of actions that need to be taken when planning a site revamp or server move.

Moving or Redesigning Your Site

Moving or Redesigning You Site
SEO & Linking Considerations

Your web site is going to move to a new server, or be involved in a site redesign at some point. Often this transition is simultaneous. The prospect of expanding your web presence can be exciting, and help boost your bottom line if done correctly. If done incorrectly, you can wipe out a huge portion of your past work and customer base, as well as destroying your rankings in the search engines. A failure to plan your move is a sure-fire plan for failure!

Moving or Redesigning Your SiteMoving or Redesigning You SiteSEO & Linking ConsiderationsYour web site is going to move to a new server, or be involved in a site redesign at some point. Often this transition is simultaneous. The prospect of expanding your web presence can be exciting, and help boost your bottom line if done correctly. If done incorrectly, you can wipe out a huge portion of your past work and customer base, as well as destroying your rankings in the search engines. A failure to plan your move is a sure-fire plan for failure!

SEO - How to Move Your Website, SEO Checklist

http://www.netrafic.com/blog/moving-or-redesigning-you-site/

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PESA Professional eBay and eCommerce Sellers Association InternetConference - Gold Coast June 2012 

and...

Some notes and statistics over the last few months on eCommerce and Online Retailing in Australia

How time flies. I recently noticed that its over three months since my last update, so here one is. Once again my thoughts, learnings and experiences over the last few months.

I have formed an opinion that the Online Retailing landscape continues to evolve rapidly (duh who doesn’t) and changers every three months.  Factors that appear to affect this are:

A natural increase in online shoppers

The rapid evolution of cloud solutions and drop in costs and barriers to entry in entering the online space are dropping (Shopify, Big Commerce, Volusion, Neto, Epages come to mind amongst others).

More sellers are creating online offerings therefore more competition than ever from local and international online retailers. International competition continues to increase as more retailers abroad vie for Australian dollars from local consumers. The uncertain economic landscape in Australia (and the world for that matter), and more so called experts and "eCommerce consultants" and full service agencies are popping up like wild mushrooms. There is a 12% increase in online spending according to Forrester (not sure if this is Australian or International).                                                                                         

more.....

What are the best ways to get likes on a brand's new Facebook Page? - Quora

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What are the best ways to get likes on a brand's new Facebook Page?Are there good ways to get the early fans on brand page from the scratch? We have great information on it but there is no one to know and like this page.What should i do to get this known by targeting audiences?Post (1)Cannot add comment if you are logged out. 12 Answers Ross Simmonds,Digital Adman14 votes by Bryan Cavage, Christopher Telles, Martin Wawrusch, (more)Loading...The most effective ways of generating fans are (1) Have a contest (2) create great products (3) utilize existing channels (4) Run an advertising campaign through Facebook.

What are the best ways to get likes on a brand's new Facebook Page? - Quora

Australian Retailers Lag in Cross Channel Retail Study

144 Retailers from 17 countries across four major retail categories benchmarked to find the worlds cross channel champions.

The 2012 Global Cross Channel Retailing Report, released today, has revealed Australia lags significantly in its ability to implement effective cross channel retail strategies. 

When it comes to making it easy for consumers to shop both online and in physical stores, the retailers that do it best are in the categories of general merchandise and consumer electronics and based in the United States and the United Kingdom.  Scoring third last out of 17 countries with only the Chinese and Turkish champions behind, Australia’s cross channel champion was named as Dick Smith with Walmart being named as global champion.

“Despite the fast growing cross channel trend and retailers’ intent to deliver a well-integrated online and store shopper experience, the study shows overall that most retailers are immature in their ability to exploit this opportunity”, commented Brian Walker, Managing Director of Retail Doctor Group. “We have found a correlation between the advancement of retailers’ ecommerce capabilities and cross channel capabilities, largely determining why some retailers are more successful than others.  This is particularly the case in the results we are seeing for Australia, and why the USA and UK are so far ahead of their countries in these research results.  Australia was an early adopter in the dot.com boom, but many retailers had their fingers burnt and have been cautious on the uptake to implement ecommerce strategies again.”

The 2012 Global Cross Channel Retailing Report was conducted and released by Retail Doctor Group in conjunction with Ebeltoft Group - a worldwide alliance of leading retail expert consulting companies of which Retail Doctor Group is the Australian member.  Defining cross-channel retailing as an operation that drives sales, customer communications, and the availability of products across multiple selling channels such as web sites, stores, catalogues, mobile commerce and social media; the report compares the level of cross-channel capabilities of 144 leading retailers, across 17 countries and among four retail categories: general merchandise, consumer electronics, home improvement/DIY and specialty fashion.

The study uses a 47 Point Indicator Retailer Cross Channel Framework organised into five core areas, that rates the performance of retailers in each category for their offering in each of these five areas: consistency of shopping services across channels; the ability of shoppers to research online and buy offline; the ability to purchase online and pick up or return items in a store; a “connected store” environment supported by digital shopping services; and the ability to serve customers across social, mobile and local channels.

“Research shows that cross channel customers are up to four times more valuable than single channel customers. Walmart has been fast in recognising this value and they have embraced it by offering a thousand details that connect customers across the channels, offering a seamless service and experience that makes them the global frontrunner.  The beauty of this study is that we now have a systematic approach based on five core cross channel indicators, we can use for Australian retailers to benchmark their capabilities, strengths and weaknesses and then help close these gaps operationally,” concluded Walker.

In addition to Australia, the other 16 countries in the study are the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

A full copy of the global findings is available to retailers through Retail Doctor Group.

 

This is absolutely awesome - Caution, may intimidate
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A CRO infographic by SEOgadget.co.uk, read the full guide on SEOmoz

New Internet Explorer 7 Tax :) -

Kogan imposes Internet Explorer 7 Tax on users for costs to make his site work properly on this beast

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New Internet Explorer 7 Tax :)Posted on 13 Jun 2012 .TweetToday at Kogan we've implemented the world's first "Internet Explorer 7 Tax". The new 6.8% tax comes into effect today on all products purchased from Kogan.com by anyone still insistent on using the antique browser.But don't worry, unlike other taxes, we're making it easy to get around this one with a simple upgrade away from IE7 :).

Click on the link below to read more!

New Internet Explorer 7 Tax :) -

Cellnet Exit's the Online Category | The Australian

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Cellnet (CLT) 25c

June 12 2012 The Australian

THE mobile-phone accessories mob has become the latest to realise that cracking the online market is not just a matter of hiring a spotty-faced web designer to devise a glitzy site -- and will cut its losses and exit the category.

Late on Friday, Cellnet revealed it would post a full-year pre-tax loss of $200,000, solely because of losses from the online venture.

But while the suspiciously timed disclosure attracted the immediate attention of our after-hours surveillance committee, there was also welcome news of a 10c-a-share franked div to disperse the riches from Cellnet's cash-rich balance sheet.

Cellnet, 46 per cent-owned by CVC, owns the Dealfox.com.au bargains site and has a 30 per cent stake in the Off Your Trolley grocery site.

"While fully operational, the necessary scale for profitability has not been achieved, margins have been more aggressive than anticipated and expected repeat customer numbers have not been achieved," management reports.

The planned exit leaves Cellnet with its traditional wholesaling business, which made $1.3m on revenue of $58m for the year.

In contrast, online sales racked only $600,000.

We rate the stock an avoid -- the stock is thinly traded -- although there may be a case for milking the fully franked dividend ahead of June 14 ex date.

Asos beefs up Australian team | IR News | Inside Retail

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Asos has appointed an Australian marketing manager as it strenghtens its business Down Under.

Prue Thomas has been appointed to the role, reporting to Australian country manager Sally-Anne Newson and working with local agency Golightly PR to grow the business in the Australian market.

Thomas was most recently with Sportsgirl, for three years as strategic brand manager, during which time she implemented new initiatives including a digital strategy, visual merchandising initiatives and marketing campaigns.

Asos beefs up Australian team | IR News | Inside Retail

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Shoes of Pray raises $3 million | Michael Arrington

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Fearless’ Fox finds funds: Shoes of Prey now well heeled
June 6, 2012 - 4:00PM All shapes and sizes ... Jodie Fox of Shoes Of Prey with some of the footwear on offer. The company is not joining big retailers calling for GST to be added to online purchases from overseas.
An Australian husband-and-wife web start-up that allows customers to design their own shoes has raised $3 million from heavyweight investors in Australia and the US.Shoes of Prey, based in Sydney, received the large financial backing from US venture capitalist Bill Tai, Silicon Valley blogger/investor Michael Arrington's CrunchFund and Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of the Australian-based global enterprise software powerhouse Atlassian.

Shoes of Pray raises $3 million | Michael Arrington

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Posse, Raises $1.2 Million and Performs a Pivot: Finance

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Posse raises $1.2 million and performs a pivot
By Oliver Milman 
Wednesday, 06 June 2012 Sydney start-up Posse has completely overhauled its offering, relaunching as a retail-focused app, after raising a further $1.2 million from a host of US and Australian investors. The business, which launched in 2010, was previously based around the music industry, giving bands a platform to reward dedicated fans who promoted their shows via social media. This model has been completely changed, however, and a new iteration of Posse will be officially unveiled next week.

Posse, Raises $1.2 Million and Performs a Pivot: Finance

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DealFox to undercut Kogan - Shopping

DealFox — a bargain site with a similar modus operandi to Catch of the Day — is going cheaper than even Kogan with Kogan TVs.

(Credit: CBSi)

Commencing at 12.00pm on 5 June, DealFox will be selling Kogan television sets with a standard warranty at a heavily discounted rate for 24 hours — or until stock runs out.

The Kogan 42" full HD LED TV with PVR, with a recommended retail price of AU$469 (currently at a pre-stock price of AU$407.50 at the time of writing) is being offered by DealFox for just AU$299 — and DealFox's manager Simone Busch assuredCNET Australia that the TVs are in stock and ready for shipping

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The Athlete’s Foot, Replicates Full Service Model Online – Tips For Retailers: Internet

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The Athlete’s Foot replicates full service model onlineBy Michelle HammondTuesday, 05 June 2012Bricks-and-mortar retailers can offer a full service model online but must be prepared to make a sizeable investment, says the chairman of The Athlete’s Foot, which has launched its online offering. The Athlete’s Foot has launched an online shopping facility on its website after working on the project for a year. Part of the RCG Corporation, The Athlete’s Foot has long been considered a standout offline retailer, offering a footwear fitting service in its 140 Australian outlets.

The Athlete’s Foot, Replicates Full Service Model Online – Tips For Retailers: Internet

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OZSale.com.au Acquires Competitor Buyinvite.com.au - Startupsmart.cm.au

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OzSale acquires market competitor Buyinvite
By Michelle HammondMonday, 04 June 2012
Australian online shopping club OzSale.com.au has acquired market competitor Buyinvite.com.au for an undisclosed sum, as it ramps up its operations both here and overseas. OzSale, founded in 2006 by its chairman Jamie Jackson, is a members-only online shopping club, which describes itself as a “doorway to affordable designer fashion”. The business, which is part of the APAC Sale Group, has buyers in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe, who negotiate deals directly with suppliers to offer exclusivity to their members. With more than 250 staff, OzSale says it sells a product every five seconds via its websites, across five countries. The business has now acquired Buyinvite.com.au for an undisclosed sum.

OZSale.com.au Acquires Competitor Buyinvite.com.au: Buy A Business

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Online Retailing and eCommerce trends for 2012 and other drivel

Online Retailing and eCommerce trends for 2012 and other drivel

If you just want to see the section on trends, then skip down to the middle of this email entitled My thoughts on what I am seeing already in early 2012 in the online retailing space, otherwise read on.

A wonderful weekend cycling along the rail trails from Mansfield to Yea last weekend (in north east Victoria) and racing down the mountain biking tracks of Mt Buller, gave me ample time while pedalling away in the rain to ponder my last five months and think about what I should consider writing in this update.

3 Tips for Managing a Store's Online Reputation | Practical eCommerce

March 06, 2012 3 Tips for Managing a Store's Online Reputation ·
 Ecommerce marketers can monitor and maintain their stores' online reputation with regular searches and alerts, social media tracking software, and a commitment to good customer service.Reputation management, which is the practice of listening to and responding to what people say about a business online, has become a necessary feature of the modern marketing plan. Especially, when one considers that peer written reviews, social media posts, and blog content are collectively some of the most trusted store and product information on the Internet.

3 Tips for Managing a Store's Online Reputation | Practical eCommerce

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