General
Sep 07
The nominations are now officially open and everyone is invited to nominate their favourite online stores for the 2007 South African E-Commerce Awards.
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Jun 07
Content gets dethroned
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In the distant past of Web 1, the adage "Content is King" drove the internet. You couldn't just be an online shop - you had to also be an online encyclopedia. It was classic bait-and-switch tactics - bring the visitors in with tips on how to teach your dog to roll over, then at the last minute ask them to buy your new range of dog food. Hey, you're the expert on dogs, of course you're the expert on dog food too!
The Eisenberg Brothers have this to say in their book, "Call to Action":
There is a difference between searching for content and going shopping. When people want content on the web, they go to Web sites that specialize in precisely the content they seek. When they want to buy something online, they want Web sites that offer a simple, trustworthy, and streamlined buying experience (as well as outstanding service and great value). The only content they want is stuff that will directly help them make a better informed buying decision. Anything else only confuses them, or distracts them from buying, or slows the sales process or bloats your Web site.
On YuppieChef we used to publish food recipes, but we realised that people looking for something to delicious to cook for dinner weren't necessarily looking to buy an 18cm Japanese Vegetable Chopper in the same session. It's two different thought processes.
We decided that we wanted to start associating the YuppieChef brand with "cool kitchen tools", and so everything on the site needs to point in that direction. That single-mindedness helps us focus our energies, and slowly we are beginning to see an increase in sales.
P.S. if you're wondering where all the great recipes went, check out SophiaLindop.com. That's the brand you should associate with great home cooking!
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May 07
Box of goodies from Chef’n
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The team at Chef'n sent us a wicked package of goodies to try out, including some of their latest products that haven't even hit the SA stores yet. Thank you Chef'n!
We recently added the Chef'n range to YuppieChef…go check it out.
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Mar 07
We are in the process of giving our work space an extreme makeover which let me tell you is not the easiest task. I now know why Interior Designers exist!
In SA, when you are looking to purchase something, you need to decide whether this is going to be something that is available on the net, or whether you are going to thumb it through the Yellow Pages. Most of the time the Yellow Pages wins hands down because most businesses don't even appear online. Optimistically, you decide to start off with Google, hoping that something has miraculously changed in the last 24hours.
I'm looking for office furniture. I type in "office furniture" on Google and do a "pages from South Africa" search, and wait for the results. There are a few SA ads that come up (well done to those companies that are taking technology by the horns), it looks promising and at this point your heart rate starts increasing. Could this be it? Is there someone who has their entire offering online? Do they have what I am looking for? You frantically click through, the design is fresh, looks like this one could be up to date - and then you realise that you still have to phone through anyway because there is no pricing anywhere. A great example is CN Business Furniture, these guys could really up their game very easily and if we had seen something we liked, we may very well have purchased it online. I know, alot of stores don't want their competitors knowing their pricing, but is this still valid argument in this day and age? If a competitor wants to know what you are charging, they'll make a plan.
This whole process could be a lot easier if stores positioned themselves online more effectively. If they realised that there IS a growing market out there; people who would like to at least start the process online. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to understanding, priority and budget.
Bfg have taken their products online, I have ordered one of these couches already. I like the fact that someone can look around and get the full extent of their offering without having to first visit the store.
Also, fatSak have done an excellent job in presenting their gigantic "beanbags" online. Well done.
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