The Technology of Business

Using blogs as a means to communicate within your company

2007-11-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

Blogs can be an excellent tool for businesses that strive towards internal transparency, where open communication between staff can be integral to the longterm success of the business. Employees who are in the loop (and are actually contributing to it,) have a much higher personal stake in your business than employees who are not.

Keeping internal communications internal is of concern to most businesses as well.

Here is how you can address this with an internal company blog using Blogspot and a company email group (I use Google's mailing lists to do this myself):

After you have setup your blog and are logged into your account:

Go to the Settings tab
Select Permissions
Under Blog Authors, add the email addresses of everyone you would like to be able to write to the Blog.
Under Blog Readers, select 'Only blog Authors'

Add the blog author's email addresses to the list. Your mailing list could be called something like: internalblog@yourwebsiteaddress.com.
In your Blogger Settings tab, select Email
Enter your mailing list address in the BlogSend Address field.

Congratulations. Now you have a blog that:

Is 'Private', so that only your invited subscribers can view it and post to it
Is automatically emailed to everyone in the mailing list; eg, all your staff

You have just enabled collaborative communication with your staff, without exposing internal issues to the rest of the world. Congratulations on building your business up from the inside!

Setting up your merchant account... frustration is just part of the process

2007-10-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

A recent experience (with Canadian merchant accounts) has led me to believe that it is important to apply to 2 separate merchant account providers, using different gateways, in order to minimize the potential delay caused by a lack of transparency in the process.

Responses like "You are approved... if you agree to allow us to take $10,000 and hang on to it indefinitely, until the point when you close your account. Did I mention that we will not even pay you interest on the money? Silly us."

The fact that every single Canadian merchant account that I have been involved in the setup of has had completely different requirements, even when using the same gateways, leads me to believe that there is a lot wiggle room on requirements, and, depending on the specific individual that you are dealing with, you could have no problems getting setup. On the other hand, you could spend the next 6 months trying to accommodate each bizarre demand as they come up, such as: "Yes, we have processed your paperwork. Now all we need is for you to sign an agreement stating that you will never move to another provider"; or "Yes, thank you for the business plan, it's the best plan we have ever read. You are our ideal merchant. Now what we need to get your merchant account setup is for you to open a company in the US, so that you can accept US dollars"; or my favorite one yet: "Get your supplier to sign this document so that they will be responsible for paying us for any charge-backs for as long as your companies shall exist."

Yes, you read that last one right.

I would have less of an issue with these demands (except for the supplier guarantor, which I take grave exception to), if they were applied consistently, with transparency, so that a company would know what to expect in advance. The fact that I still cannot tell my customers what will be required of them in the process to begin accepting credit card payments online, in spite of having helped with this process many times, tells me that there is something wrong with the system.

Apparently usury and racketeering are alive and well, and are also just 'part of the process'.

Christmas is coming, retailers (are you ready?)

2007-10-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

I know, Christmas is still 2 months away. 2 months, however, is not a lot of time if you are planning on moving forward with e-commerce to take advantage of online sales for the holidays.

You have about 2 weeks to get online from today before the real holiday shopping starts in earnest. It is possible to get up and running in time, but the clock is ticking. (In Canada, if you don't already have a Virtual Terminal, you must start now.)

We can help; get in touch with me as soon as possible if you are ready to get started.

You don't have to be big to do bookings online

2007-10-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

What to look for in a SME Booking Solution

Offering online bookings can help to boost the number of reservations you receive by making it more convenient for your potential guests. You can expect to experience the same benefits that other businesses have once they made the move to sell online. These include but are not limited to: access to a global market, 24-hour business, receiving payments more quickly and attracting customers who would not normally have found you. Depending on the solution you choose, it may also help you to manage your inventory, store your contact database, generate reports and even support your marketing efforts.

There are a number of different options available for you to allow the booking of your products online.

The first and perhaps most common approach would be to hire a web design and development company to add the functionality to your website. The main advantage to this approach is that you can build the system to suit your specific needs. The major drawback of a customized application is that it can be quite expensive. You should expect to pay from $10K - $20K for your own web based booking system. Add another $5K if you don't already have a website.

Another option and less costly solution would be to sell your tours or packages through a hosted web application. With this solution, you can spread your costs over time. For instance you may pay a monthly fee, a commission on the items you sell or a combination of both. You might think that the pros and cons of a system like this would be the opposite of those I described for the custom approach. That is, what you save in cost is offset by less functionality. However, you may be surprised to find that a hosted web service, especially one that was made specifically to sell travel inventory, may possibly have all the functionality you need and then some. A good hosted application should offer most of the following features...

Detailed product management
Real time inventory
Support for multiple payment methods
Bookings are made through a secure server
Generate revenue and passenger reports
Address book or contact database

It should also allow you to customize the look and feel of your booking pages so that any transitions between your site and the booking application are seamless.

When comparing hosted applications, make sure that you do the math. Figure out how many bookings you typically receive each month. Multiply the number of monthly bookings by the commission rate that one service may charge. Then, compare this projected monthly commission against the services that charge monthly fees. You may want to estimate a higher number of monthly bookings when doing these calculations. After all, the whole point of offering bookings online is to increase the actual number you receive.

Independent Tour Operators Have BIG Advantages

2007-10-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Online travel is a huge, multi-billion dollar industry, and is composed of tens of thousands of travel agencies, with hundreds of thousands of small tour operators selling their tours through these agencies and independently. As a small tour provider, you have the opportunity to sell direct to your customers over the internet, taking the middle man out of the equation, and increasing your profits. You are also considerably more nimble than your average travel agency.

You can market directly to your target market. Do you provide mountain bike tours? By marketing directly to mountain bikers through community involvement, blogging about the sport, and participating in your local community, you raise awareness of your business. Network with the local bike shops. Provide the opportunity to book your tours online, and become the destination for your demographic.

You can dictate your reseller terms. Most travel agencies rely on a collection of Goods Distribution Systems (GDS) to gain access to tours, flights, and accommodations, which they then resell. In order to be resold by the GDS, you must comply with their terms. This can mean waiting months to be paid, and having refunds applied against you without your input.

One of the biggest advantages that you have over Travel Resellers is this: you can accept payments online without outlaying large cash bonds to secure a merchant account. This makes your overhead that much lower. You can provide quality tours for reasonable prices, and make a tidy profit.

You will need the following to accept your bookings online, and be approved for a Virtual Terminal (your online credit card processing account):

1) A decently designed website.
2) A booking engine that is designed to accept credit card payments, and supports 256 bit security.
3) A section on your website that addresses your terms of service, refund policy, and website usage terms.

Once you have these in place, you can apply for your online merchant account.

The next step will be setting up your online tour inventory, and marketing your site with the same zeal that you bring to your offline marketing. Get out there and get blogging! Your customers are online; go and get them. Setup a Facebook account for your tours, and connect to your current and future customers.

Now you have the opportunity to sell direct, keeping your costs low so that you can pass those savings onto your customers, while provide more comprehensive services for less then your resold counterparts. You have also just increased your online respectability by accepting the most widely used online payment method, and pre-qualified your customers by accepting payment in advance for your tours.

And that makes you 3 large steps ahead of your average travel agency.

Credit Card Basics for Online Retailers

2007-08-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Setting up your site to receive payments can be one of the more challenging aspects of heading out into the online marketplace. You basically have 3 options:

1) Paypal or Paypal-style processing account
2) Virtual terminal
3) Manual processing

These options can generally be used in combination. Let's review the pros and cons of each of these options:

Paypal
Paypal is very easy to setup, and does not require financial statements, proof of insurance or shareholder documents, nor do they require a guarantee or deposit. All they require is a business bank account, and a credit card to become fully verified. It generally takes less than a week to get your account verified.

Not everyone is comfortable using Paypal, and merchants accepting only Paypal can be viewed sceptically by online shoppers. Although Paypal has its own 128 bit SSL encryption, your website does not need to be secure to process through Paypal, which potentially leaves your customers credit card numbers unencrypted, depending on how your website is setup. Also, Paypal can take over 10 days to transfer funds from the Paypal account into your bank account. Paypal's exchange rates can also be a bit higher than most merchant accounts would be. Although Paypal is a great service, and very convenient for setup, I generally recommend that e-tailers get a Virtual Terminal as well.

Virtual Terminal
Setting up a Virtual Terminal legitimizes your online business to online shoppers; all legitimate Virtual Terminals require full 128 bit SSL encryption, which protects the information your customers enter.

It can take up to a month to set up a Canadian company with a Virtual Terminal; U.S. companies have a much quicker processing time; they can often be setup in less than 24 hours. Once you are setup, it generally takes less than 24 hours for the funds to be transferred into your band account.

Processing rates vary depending on a variety of factors, including:

the industry you're in
who your customers are
if you are selling a physical item or a service
which credit cards you accept
which credit card rewards programs your customer is enrolled in
what your sales volumes are

If you are selling your own tourism related products, such as kayak trips or walking tours, you need to discuss the application process in greater depth with your Virtual Terminal provider in order to indicate your industry correctly. For companies reselling high-risk products such as Travel Agencies, a bond may be required, as the risk for processing travel purchases is quite high.

Retailers selling physical products that are shipped using a reputable courier are much easier to get setup than service providers, and generally do not require a bond.

Manual Processing
The final option is to accept the credit card numbers online, but to process them manually using your Point of Sale processing system. Be aware that you need to be approved by your Merchant Account Provider for this type of processing, and depending on a number of factors, you may not be permitted to do under your agreement, in which case you would be required to physically swipe the card in order to accept payment.

5 Steps to getting your inventory online successfully

2007-08-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

When you first begin to get your inventory online, it can be time consuming and frustrating. Here are some tips to make the process a bit less daunting:

Pick a category to populate first, e.g. a specific brand or an item type such as T-Shirts. The key here is ensuring that you have a small sample of what you sell in your retail store, that you can use as a learning experience. Keep it down to about 10 distinct products for your first batch; you can increase the size of the batches as your confidence level increases.
Get images of the products in the first batch, being sure to treat them in a similar manner. It is important for the professional image of your site to ensure consistent image treatment. Be sure to use a process that is repeatable when you take your pictures. (It is generally not advisable to take pictures of your products outdoors, as the light quality can vary substantially from minute to minute.) Keep your background consistent; if you use a white background, always use a white background, with the same lighting.
Decide what information you would like to share with your customers about the individual products; e.g. Brand, Special Features, Materials, Short Description. Try to be consistent with the length of the descriptions, and the type of information available: "Sweet 17 Jeans, Low-Rise Button Fly, Dragon Detail, These stylish hand embroidered jeans flatter every figure and provide excellent comfort. 80% Cotton, 20% Lycra" Be descriptive, but keep it short.
Decide how much you intend to sell your products for, and how many you have on hand to sell.
You should now have everything you need for the first batch; it's time to upload your items, your descriptions, your pricing, your inventory counts, and finally, your images.

Congratulations, your store is up and running! Now for the next batch...

How a Commerce Website Development Works

2007-07-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Recently a retailer asked me how e-commerce website development works, and I misunderstood the question and started to detail the technology that we use. Turns out, what she wanted to know was a bit more process oriented; what she needed to know was what to expect, and what we expected of her in order to get her up and running. Here's a breakdown of how it works over here:

Working with the retailer, we discuss the visual element requirements, such as colour, look and feel, website elements from other sites that they like, website elements from other sites they don't like, and what their current branding efforts look like. (Design Consultation.) We then discuss the functionality requirements, such as Merchant Account Providers, Inventory Management, and any additional functionality requirements such as Newsletters or Coupons. (Functionality Consultation)
Based on the Design and Functionality Consultations, we work on a design that addresses their wants and needs, while addressing the desired functionality of the site.
Based on the the Functionality Consultation, we implement the Commerce System with the required modules and customizations, and take the customer on a walkthrough of their system.
We present the client with the proposed design, and any changes to the design are applied.
The client enters their inventory and content for their site through the administration system.
Any additional external vendors are confirmed by the client, such as the Merchant Account Provider.
The final design is implemented, and the site goes live!

From start to finish, this process generally takes between 4 to 6 weeks, and is dependent on the speed of the clients responses. The fastest that I have seen a Commerce System be implemented is 7 days from start to finish, and was only possible due to a very organized client with an existing design; I understand that it took them 2 months prior to contacting me for them to develop their content and take their pictures.

We built it, why won't they come?

2007-06-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

There are a plethora of visually stunning websites that retail businesses have spent thousands of dollars developing. The site gets launched after many months of design and development time; the business owners are convinced that their sales are going to exponentially explode!

And then they don't. A whole lotta bucks and zero bang.

"Why don't people buy from my website?" The business owners ask themselves. "My site is gorgeous; it's hip; our products are great!"

Just like any other business venture, websites require creative and persistent marketing strategies in order to draw a crowd. The method of marketing can be considerably different, while sharing many similarities to the opening of a new retail location: you have to let your existing and potential customers know what the address is in order to entice them to shop at your online store.

If you have a storefront, be sure to place your URL (website address) on your signage, stationery, shopping bags and anything else that you would normally put your logo on
Tell people about it! Make sure that your staff are trained to talk about it: "Check out OurShop.com; you can preview and purchase our new spring line there!"
Don't put images that make your product look poorly; nice pictures are very important
Make sure the content on your site is indexable by the major search engines
Make sure your commerce solution works; test it!
Ensure that as many payment options as possible are available to your customers, (There's nothing more frustrating than getting to the checkout and discovering that the store won't accept your preferred credit card.

Be excited about it! You have just opened a new location! Celebrate it; everybody loves a party!

Retailers Partnering for Online Success

2007-06-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Imagine a situation where you have 2 fashion designers with their own lines of women's fashions. They have a similar price point, and are targeting the same market. They are both interested in selling their products online, but find the cost prohibitive.

The owners of Store A and Store B have both gotten national media attention for their shops, but are only able to sell locally. It benefits them both to change this, and is possible to reduce their costs by teaming up. They are located on the same block, and the owners have a good relationship.

Store A and Store B find a URL that they both like; we'll call it shopAB.com.

Store A has a great relationship with their Merchant Account Provider, and they get a great rate on all of their credit card transaction.

Store B has a larger storage area and gets a great deal on shipping through a trade association they belong to.

They decide to pool their resources to get their products online; this reduces their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for the e-commerce site by half, and expands their marketing efforts through co-marketing; every time someone visits their website, they both get exposure. Every time the shops are mentioned in the media along with the website, they both receive attention by association.

And as far as getting media attention goes, a couple of businesses willing to work together for the benefit of both is in itself a news worthy story.

So you want to open an online store...

2007-06-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

Selling your retail products online can be one of the more daunting steps that a small business owner can take. It can also be very rewarding financially, if it is planned and implemented correctly. Starting an online store is much like opening a new store, and requires investments of time, energy, and money. Here are some things to consider:

It takes approximately a month from start to finish to design and implement a basic e-commerce site, assuming that everyone is communicating effectively and all of the pieces are in place before you start. Some of those pieces include:

Your logo in digital format.
A list of websites that you like who are selling similar products online, and notes on what you like about them.
Images of your products.
A clear understanding of who your customers are.
A fulfillment plan: How are you going to get your products into the hands of your customers? Who will be responsible for order fulfillment, shipping, and reordering from suppliers?
An online merchant account. You can't accept online payments without one; if you already have a merchant account for your physical location, you will still need to set one up. (Alternately, you can use Paypal to accept payments, but there may be more economical options available through a Virtual Terminal/Merchant Account provider.)
A great e-commerce development company with a good track record

The last point can't be stressed enough; a company that knows the technology that you need to sell your products, and has the ability to design a website the reflects your store, is very important. A professional e-commerce company will have the processes in place to help you evaluate what you need to do to make your site a success.

Running a successful online store takes overhead. Take www.shopkitson.com; they have an extremely successful online store, which is managed well by the staff at Kitson. They aggressively market their online store on the internet using very savvy Guerilla Marketing techniques, Search Engine Optimization, constant product updates, blogs, and numerous other online promotion tactics.

Many retailers take the same steps as Kitson to promote their physical locations, but in some ways actually waste their marketing dollars by providing only an informational website. Potential customers are unable to fulfill their impulse shopping impulses, and go on to another site, where they can shop to their hearts content without leaving the comfort of their own home.