OK, I'm now going to try to SEO my own website www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk for a new phrase 'Steiner Toys'
This is for two reasons
1) Because we actually sell these toys and
2) At the moment we're nowhere (actually ranked 30 on www.google.co.uk) but that is pretty much nowhere these days.
The aim is to get to about 4 or 5 on front page in as short a time as possible.
The first phase is to create a specific landing page http://www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk/Steiner-Waldorf-Inspired-Toys_AL3R9.aspx
which we'll build and develop progressively and also develop good quality links to this page to make us a 'reference site'
I'll blog weekly on this to let people know how it goes.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Sunday, 6 July 2008
Why Website buyers are nicer than EBay buyers
Personally I find all are nice (but then my products self select the buyers - see www.laughingbear.co.uk ) but many people find that buyers on websites are nicer and less likely to complain than Ebayers.
Here's my theory...
On Ebay you're buying from Ebay a huge faceless organisation populated by faceless sellers (often 'hidden' behind bizzare user names).
You have little or no 'relationship' with the seller.
You are indoctrinated into not communicating with the seller for fear of exposing yourself to fraudulent sellers (always use EBay messages, don't respond to invitations to buy off EBay or you'll lose any buyer protection)
If there are any problems you have lots of easy to use tools to get your money back none of which require you to communicate with the seller. - If you have the choice of trying to communicate with the seller (which you're told is dangerous) or simply push a button whioh do you choose?
The relationship is started with an element of distrust
'Buy from EBay/Paypal and we'll protect you from all those dodgy conmen out there' This tone immediately implies that lots of EBay sellers are dodgy and EBay has to work hard to protect you from them (the classic IBM FUD sales tactic)
On a Website it is clear who you are buying from, you are starting a relationship, you can easily communicate with the seller (as they can with you)
Often the tone of the site tells you a lot about the seller and indeed by actually committing to buy you are stating 'I trust this seller to do me right'
So on EBay the relationship starts with distrust and on a Website the relationship starts with trust. Guess why there are fewer problems!
Some people blame the new feedback system -making it easier for buyers to complain but I think feedback is a symptom not the actual problem.
Yes feedback makes it easier for buyers to express their dis-satisfaction but it doesn't actually make them more dis-satisfied.
EBay has created an atmosphere where buyers automatically distrust sellers.
Simply by saying. "To protect you we're going to do X, Y and Z" buyers think "Christ it must be dangerous here otherwise why am I being 'protected' so much"
Think about it, if on a blind date the first thing the bloke said to you was...
"Hi my name's Gary, to protect you I always wear a condom and have an HIV test every week"
you'd be out of the pub quicker than you could say G&T!
(well I would be 'cos I'm a bloke too!)
Here's my theory...
On Ebay you're buying from Ebay a huge faceless organisation populated by faceless sellers (often 'hidden' behind bizzare user names).
You have little or no 'relationship' with the seller.
You are indoctrinated into not communicating with the seller for fear of exposing yourself to fraudulent sellers (always use EBay messages, don't respond to invitations to buy off EBay or you'll lose any buyer protection)
If there are any problems you have lots of easy to use tools to get your money back none of which require you to communicate with the seller. - If you have the choice of trying to communicate with the seller (which you're told is dangerous) or simply push a button whioh do you choose?
The relationship is started with an element of distrust
'Buy from EBay/Paypal and we'll protect you from all those dodgy conmen out there' This tone immediately implies that lots of EBay sellers are dodgy and EBay has to work hard to protect you from them (the classic IBM FUD sales tactic)
On a Website it is clear who you are buying from, you are starting a relationship, you can easily communicate with the seller (as they can with you)
Often the tone of the site tells you a lot about the seller and indeed by actually committing to buy you are stating 'I trust this seller to do me right'
So on EBay the relationship starts with distrust and on a Website the relationship starts with trust. Guess why there are fewer problems!
Some people blame the new feedback system -making it easier for buyers to complain but I think feedback is a symptom not the actual problem.
Yes feedback makes it easier for buyers to express their dis-satisfaction but it doesn't actually make them more dis-satisfied.
EBay has created an atmosphere where buyers automatically distrust sellers.
Simply by saying. "To protect you we're going to do X, Y and Z" buyers think "Christ it must be dangerous here otherwise why am I being 'protected' so much"
Think about it, if on a blind date the first thing the bloke said to you was...
"Hi my name's Gary, to protect you I always wear a condom and have an HIV test every week"
you'd be out of the pub quicker than you could say G&T!
(well I would be 'cos I'm a bloke too!)
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
EBay Feedback - What's the fuss?
With the new changes in the feedback system on EBay sellers seem to be up in arms about not being able to give negatives to buyers but is this really the end of the world?
On no other major site anywhere can sellers give negative feedback about buyers. On my shop (www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk) I cannot and indeed would never make any negative comments about my buyers. On Amazon, buyers give feedback but not sellers so why should EBay remain as the last bastion of feedback on buyers.
I can understand why, in the early days of the Internet, sellers needed to have feedback on the buyers. Everyone was an unknown and everyone was scared about parting with money or goods but now the worries should be , largely, over.
Even now sellers will be able to get a view on the reliability of buyers - after all they will be able to get a count of the number of successfully completed sales a buyer has had.
Sellers simply need to be careful about how they work and deal with buyers (just like on any other web site in the world) and get on with it!
On no other major site anywhere can sellers give negative feedback about buyers. On my shop (www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk) I cannot and indeed would never make any negative comments about my buyers. On Amazon, buyers give feedback but not sellers so why should EBay remain as the last bastion of feedback on buyers.
I can understand why, in the early days of the Internet, sellers needed to have feedback on the buyers. Everyone was an unknown and everyone was scared about parting with money or goods but now the worries should be , largely, over.
Even now sellers will be able to get a view on the reliability of buyers - after all they will be able to get a count of the number of successfully completed sales a buyer has had.
Sellers simply need to be careful about how they work and deal with buyers (just like on any other web site in the world) and get on with it!
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
How to be a great seller on EBay (or elsewhere)
Ans. Think like a buyer.
Most people fall down as a seller when they forget what its like to be a buyer.
Start by designing your business processes/philosophy by asking the question.
"If I were a buyer what would I want?"
* So what would I want the description to tell me?
* What would the pricing/P&P be like?
* What communication would I want
* How quickly should the seller dispatch?
* What kind of packaging would I expect? (cornflake packet for a second hand 99p DVD- OK; bin bag, parcel tape and newspaper for a £100 soft toy - not so much)
* If I don't like it, what would I expect the returns process to be?
If you put yourself in the buyers' shoes for a day then you should end up with happier customers.
Regardless of any feedback nonsense on EBay remember a happy customer will tell someone else, an unhappy customer will tell 100 other people.
Most people fall down as a seller when they forget what its like to be a buyer.
Start by designing your business processes/philosophy by asking the question.
"If I were a buyer what would I want?"
* So what would I want the description to tell me?
* What would the pricing/P&P be like?
* What communication would I want
* How quickly should the seller dispatch?
* What kind of packaging would I expect? (cornflake packet for a second hand 99p DVD- OK; bin bag, parcel tape and newspaper for a £100 soft toy - not so much)
* If I don't like it, what would I expect the returns process to be?
If you put yourself in the buyers' shoes for a day then you should end up with happier customers.
Regardless of any feedback nonsense on EBay remember a happy customer will tell someone else, an unhappy customer will tell 100 other people.
Friday, 16 May 2008
When is a Niche not a Niche?
When its actually a gap!
A lot of people think they have found the perfect niche - a market no-one else sells to. 'Brilliant' they think 'I'll corner the market and clean up'
Trouble is the reason no-one sells there is because no-one is buying and this is because the seller thinks that they are a typical buyer!
The problem starts like this.
The seller is looking for a purple widgets with yellow dots. They can't find any purple widgets with yellow dots. Sure they can find purple ones (though not the right purple) but no-one does the dots.
The seller then thinks 'I'm pretty typical of the widget buyer in the street and if I need them then everyone needs them' so starts planning widget.com
What they forget to do is actually check how big the 'everyone' market is before they buy in £20K of purple widgets and start painting yellow dots on them.
The moral is...
Don't imagine you're typical, don't think you've found something no-one else has and don't think that every gap is a niche sometimes there is nothing there and it is just a gap!
A lot of people think they have found the perfect niche - a market no-one else sells to. 'Brilliant' they think 'I'll corner the market and clean up'
Trouble is the reason no-one sells there is because no-one is buying and this is because the seller thinks that they are a typical buyer!
The problem starts like this.
The seller is looking for a purple widgets with yellow dots. They can't find any purple widgets with yellow dots. Sure they can find purple ones (though not the right purple) but no-one does the dots.
The seller then thinks 'I'm pretty typical of the widget buyer in the street and if I need them then everyone needs them' so starts planning widget.com
What they forget to do is actually check how big the 'everyone' market is before they buy in £20K of purple widgets and start painting yellow dots on them.
The moral is...
Don't imagine you're typical, don't think you've found something no-one else has and don't think that every gap is a niche sometimes there is nothing there and it is just a gap!
The future of Small ECommerce
Over the past ten years ECommerce has really become part of the mainstream but only in the last five has the technology matured and become widely accepted by the public. In this time hundreds of thousands of businesses have launched websites or started selling on the Internet.
As the market matures what will happen in the ECommerce market? - Will we end up having on-line shopping resembling the high street with only 20 brands dominating every place on the street and offering the same bland, identikit products and services or will we benefit from a diverse shopping experience with many many exciting shops catering to every taste and need.
I must confess to having a vested interest I run a small website www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk which caters for a small (but growing) niche market. So I am fascinated by how this ECommerce sector will develop.
At present there are four main groups of players.
1 Big League
The first are the major league on-line players (www.amazon.com, www.figleaves.com etc) These are pure online businesses who have grown and developed brands that in some cases are inextricably linked to their products. Where else would you start to look for books?
These brands will continue to grow and develop and will do everything they can to expand their ranges and backward integrate like crazy to reduce their (frankly scary) costs.
2 The Catch-ups
The second group are the big high street players who initially ignored the Internet then have started to panic and now are attempting to shoehorn the Internet into their business model. Many have had difficulties getting used to the intricacies of picking and packing individual units and shipping out to customers let alone the problems of remote customer support, returns etc etc. it is possible that these businesses will 'partner' up with the Amazons of the world who will use their experience of personal shipments and act as warehousing and dropshipping agents for them. This will benefit both parties. The Amazons will leverage their investment and reduce their costs, the high street will outsource the hassle of customer service.
The risk the highstreet players will face is when the products they are selling are available to both their stores and Amazon. Amazon can use the highstreet as market researchers and then move into the sectors it sees as profitable. Don't believe chinese walls -they simply don't exist!
3 EBay
The third 'group' are the millions of 'mom and pop' businesses selling on EBay and the other auction houses. This is a cheap and easy way to get started on ECommerce but it does have risks.
Firstly you are acting as a dropshipper for the EBay brand. in the vast majority of cases your customers will be buying off Ebay not off you. If a sale goes well then 'EBay is great' if a sale goes badly its the sellers fault.
Secondly everyone knows your business and everyone thinks they can do it cheaper. For every seller trying to make decent margins their will alsway be two idiots willing to make 1p in the £1 'profit' just to be the cheapest.
Thirdly you are paying a success fee to EBay and a failure fee - if you make money they make lots, if you don't make money then they still make money. many people have given up working for a faceless business to sell on EBay only to find they're now working for a faceless EBay.
Finally you are at the mercy of another company's changes in strategy and the whims of a USA company beholden not to you but to a bunch of corporate shareholders.
4 The Independents
With all the other players where do the independents fit? They can't win on price, they can't win on visibility, they can't lower their cost base to the per unit level of the big guys so how can they compete?
The answer seems to be to not compete. To find products and services that the others can't or won't take on, to offer ultra personal customer service, to be the specialist in whatever sector needs specialists and to develop their brand and their business in the gaps left by the others.
The skills these guys need is gap analysis and a willingness to take the risks associated with 'going off piste'.
The danger is of course that a gap exists not because the big guys missed out but because there is simply not a market there to capture. And this will be the subject of the next post!!!!!
As the market matures what will happen in the ECommerce market? - Will we end up having on-line shopping resembling the high street with only 20 brands dominating every place on the street and offering the same bland, identikit products and services or will we benefit from a diverse shopping experience with many many exciting shops catering to every taste and need.
I must confess to having a vested interest I run a small website www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk which caters for a small (but growing) niche market. So I am fascinated by how this ECommerce sector will develop.
At present there are four main groups of players.
1 Big League
The first are the major league on-line players (www.amazon.com, www.figleaves.com etc) These are pure online businesses who have grown and developed brands that in some cases are inextricably linked to their products. Where else would you start to look for books?
These brands will continue to grow and develop and will do everything they can to expand their ranges and backward integrate like crazy to reduce their (frankly scary) costs.
2 The Catch-ups
The second group are the big high street players who initially ignored the Internet then have started to panic and now are attempting to shoehorn the Internet into their business model. Many have had difficulties getting used to the intricacies of picking and packing individual units and shipping out to customers let alone the problems of remote customer support, returns etc etc. it is possible that these businesses will 'partner' up with the Amazons of the world who will use their experience of personal shipments and act as warehousing and dropshipping agents for them. This will benefit both parties. The Amazons will leverage their investment and reduce their costs, the high street will outsource the hassle of customer service.
The risk the highstreet players will face is when the products they are selling are available to both their stores and Amazon. Amazon can use the highstreet as market researchers and then move into the sectors it sees as profitable. Don't believe chinese walls -they simply don't exist!
3 EBay
The third 'group' are the millions of 'mom and pop' businesses selling on EBay and the other auction houses. This is a cheap and easy way to get started on ECommerce but it does have risks.
Firstly you are acting as a dropshipper for the EBay brand. in the vast majority of cases your customers will be buying off Ebay not off you. If a sale goes well then 'EBay is great' if a sale goes badly its the sellers fault.
Secondly everyone knows your business and everyone thinks they can do it cheaper. For every seller trying to make decent margins their will alsway be two idiots willing to make 1p in the £1 'profit' just to be the cheapest.
Thirdly you are paying a success fee to EBay and a failure fee - if you make money they make lots, if you don't make money then they still make money. many people have given up working for a faceless business to sell on EBay only to find they're now working for a faceless EBay.
Finally you are at the mercy of another company's changes in strategy and the whims of a USA company beholden not to you but to a bunch of corporate shareholders.
4 The Independents
With all the other players where do the independents fit? They can't win on price, they can't win on visibility, they can't lower their cost base to the per unit level of the big guys so how can they compete?
The answer seems to be to not compete. To find products and services that the others can't or won't take on, to offer ultra personal customer service, to be the specialist in whatever sector needs specialists and to develop their brand and their business in the gaps left by the others.
The skills these guys need is gap analysis and a willingness to take the risks associated with 'going off piste'.
The danger is of course that a gap exists not because the big guys missed out but because there is simply not a market there to capture. And this will be the subject of the next post!!!!!
Monday, 12 May 2008
Hello and Welcome
Hello and welcome to my first post.
Just an Intro - my name is Karl and I've been working on this Internet thing for about 13 years with UUNET and WorldCom in the process building 5 ISPs across Europe and worked on some of the biggest web sites in the world (http://news.bbc.co.uk).
I currently run my own website (www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk) and in the process have a few random musings on the past, present and future of the Internet and in particular how SMEs will survive and thrive here.
Feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit.
Just an Intro - my name is Karl and I've been working on this Internet thing for about 13 years with UUNET and WorldCom in the process building 5 ISPs across Europe and worked on some of the biggest web sites in the world (http://news.bbc.co.uk).
I currently run my own website (www.laughingbeartoys.co.uk) and in the process have a few random musings on the past, present and future of the Internet and in particular how SMEs will survive and thrive here.
Feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit.
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