A Journey 2WOW

E-Commerce: A Million Different Things to Think About

Benjamin (Dino) Bernardo — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:36:19 +0000

Speaking from experience as an online marketing professional focusing on e-commerce for a start-up, there are a million different things to think about when planning and running an online business. Well, maybe not a million things, and you can probably lump a lot of them into more than a dozen manageable categories, but sometimes it seems like a million different things. And things can get pretty overwhelming. Fast. Managers and entrepreneurs are nodding as they read this. To give you a bit of context, I came from a 5-year traditional marketing background then got my postgraduate degree in Marketing and [...]

Be Careful When A/B Testing in a Seasonal Industry

Irene Lee — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:27:46 +0000

In my last blog post, I posed a question to the visitors of Furniture Escape, “Are you more likely to buy from us if we stripped all the risk, to the point where your furniture is free if you don’t love it?” Well it’s been 3 weeks since our test, and the results are in…sort of. Confusion Before launching the new USP, we shared it with a number of people. They all responded positively and said that we had a strong USP that clearly differentiated ourselves from our competitors. But when we ran our test, it showed a different story. [...]

Testing a New USP: Love Your Furniture or It’s FREE!

Irene Lee — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:18:02 +0000

There’s been a lot written about USPs (unique selling proposition) in marketing but I don’t really see much written about it for online businesses. Is it because the assumed USP for online retail is that we’re cheaper than our bricks and mortar counterparts? Maybe, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a USP. At Furniture Escape, we’ve been focused on improving our website conversion rate, but what does that have to do with USPs? Our Biggest Challenge If you asked me today if I’d choose outdoor furniture as our first online niche store, I’d more than likely say, “no” (in reality [...]

Why Are My Customers Abandoning Me?

Irene Lee — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:48:34 +0000

A colleague sent me this video, and it made me think about our online checkout process… While it made me laugh, it was a clear reminder of the importance in making it as easy as possible for visitors to buy. Especially for Furniture Escape, as our target market is made up of mostly family women, they don’t have the time to jump through hoops to make a purchase. What would your eCommerce business look like if every product placed in your shopping cart ended in a sale? It would be a dream for many if not all, as studies have [...]

What BS Have You Told Yourself Today?

Irene Lee — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:24:25 +0000

In the past 2 weeks Furniture Escape has noticed a slow down in its usual sales. When I share this with others, many if not most of the individuals say the same thing, “Oh it’s because of all the rain”. I can see why they say that, it’s easy. You’ve given yourself the perfect reason for why the business is underperforming, “It’s not me, it’s the weather”. I use to think that was a valid reason, but not anymore. So what changed? No More Excuses I was having a casual conversation with enterprise business coach Andrew Laurie at E-Web’s Christmas party where we [...]

Do You Have a Millionaire Mindset? (Part 2)

Irene Lee — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:50:21 +0000

Last year I posted the first part of my article, Do You Have a Millionaire Mindset? It’s been 2 months now, and since that time I’ve experienced how money is a result of ME; it has changed my life. I hope by answering the questions of part 1 and reading your answers against the answers below, it helps you understand who you are, and how changing your mindset can change your world. Understanding Who You Are 1. Your mind’s job is protection, but through this protection it is limiting you, limiting your growth. Have you ever said “no” to something [...]

Do You Have a Millionaire Mindset? (Part 1)

Irene Lee — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:59:53 +0000

Last weekend I spent an intense 3 days attending T. Harv Eker’s, The Millionaire Mind Intensive program. My Expectations Before the program, I had no expectations other than knowing that Harv is quite an intense presenter. But by the end of it, I can say that my life will never be the same. Many may think that this seminar would just be about money, but it wasn’t. More than anything it was about our personal relationship with money and how our mindset can control us, prevent us from being as successful as we may want to be. The 3 Most [...]

The Art of Furniture Escape

Irene Lee — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:02:56 +0000

As promised, I said I’ll share with you some video footage from our trip. This video showcases a little of what we do at Furniture Escape What do you think of it? We’ve added it onto our Furniture Escape homepage to increase our credibility and therefore increase our website conversion rate. I hope to share some statistics in a future post.

Post China Trip: 6 Things That Surprised Me

Irene Lee — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:21:56 +0000

Dino and I are officially back in our Sydney offices today and it feels weird! I’ve been so accustom to being out of the office, that coming back and having to sit behind a desk feels foreign to me. Post China trip, I want to share with you what surprised me during our time away. I actually like meeting new people! In a previous post I discussed how networking has never felt natural to me. During the trip, we met new people every day, getting to know each other over breakfast, lunch or dinner, and I enjoyed it. It didn’t feel forced, [...]

Top 10 Canton Fair Tips

Irene Lee — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:20:37 +0000

We’ve just completed our visit to all 3 phases of the 110th Canton Fair and have learnt a lot from the experience. Here are my top 10 tips to ensure you maximise your time there: Register for the fair before your trip and bring a passport size photo so that you can get your Buyer’s badge as soon as possible when you arrive. Stay in a hotel that is walking distance from an MTR station, it’s the easiest way to travel to and from the fair and only costs about $1 each way. Many hotels provide buses to the fair [...]