Slow Cooking

In our house we like to use the Slow Cooker that we received as a wedding present some 15+ years ago, to make stews and curries etc. Even after all this time, the one we have still works perfectly and is a much used and loved staple component of our kitchen gadgetry.

However, time has moved on and we now feel it’s time to buy another that perhaps has a bigger capacity and maybe a glass lid so we can see what’s bubbling away without having to take the top off! The reasons are unimportant, I’m just setting the scene here as you’ve no doubt figured!

So off we went down to our local retail park and spent some time browsing around the shelves of the big high-street multiples to see what was on offer.

There’s the Very Fellow for Me!

Optimising Your Product Pages with the Product Name

In one store we found the very model that ‘ticked all the boxes’ as far as we were concerned, namely a; “Morphy Richards 48715 Slow Cooker”. Nice big capacity, glass lid etc. We even liked the colour!

In the shop, this item was retailing at a penny under £50. Reasonable in itself I suppose but like many people we thought, “Hang on a mo! I bet it’s cheaper online”.

So we resisted the temptation to buy it there and then, thus avoiding the pleasure of immediate ownership and more importantly for the shop we were in, an immediate sale! Instead we made a note of the model name and went back home to boot up the laptop to look for it online.

Searching by Product Name

Searching with Google

Once online and into Google, we did something that is the bane of every high-street retailers life, namely; having spotted our purchase of choice in a store, we then set about searching for it online at a cheaper price using the product’s exact model name as a search term.

In this case “Morphy Richards 48715 Slow Cooker”.

Sure enough, pages relevant to our product of choice were quickly presented on the screen. A few clicks through to some of the page links presented (interestingly enough here, we never ventured past Page 1 of Google’s SERPS for this query), resulted in us buying the cooker product we wanted from an online retailer, in this case Amazon, for £24.99. That’s half the price of the original high-street retail shop we viewed the product in to start off with.

Click, tap, click! Job done, product ordered. Free delivery thrown in as well!

I’m sure you’ve done this exercise yourself. Frightening for the high-street retailers with their high cost base of shops, stock and staff wouldn’t you say?

Erosion

The erosion of the high street retail market through online sales isn’t news. It’s been happening for a few years now and one can see the effect it’s having on the high-street through reduced prices, consolidation, diversification and even store closure.

The classic example is the music CD. Before online CD sales and subsequently “downloads” came along, it was not uncommon to find CDs priced at £15 or more each sitting on the shelves of HMV. Not anymore!

A Simple Lesson

Anyway, back to the point of this post, which isn’t to examine the impact of online sales on prices, but is to illustrate a simple lesson for e-commerce website owners.

As obvious as it may sound, if you have a shopping cart based website and your products have their own dedicated pages (often termed “Product Details Pages”) then you need to search engine optimise those pages so that the text on the pages and their hidden meta tags (particularly the Title and Description tags), contains the full product name and model.

Why?

Because there are loads of your potential customers out there that have done exactly what we’ve just done when looking to buy stuff online.

By correctly optimising your e-commerce site’s product pages you’ll have a better chance of them being ranked by the search engines as “relevant pages to the User’s search time”.

Need Help?

Need some help optimising your site’s pages? That’s bread and butter business for us here at iNet. Give us a call to learn more.

Now, let’s get this thing plugged in for some serious cooking. Albeit slowly!

Figures just released by IMRG reveal that UK consumer spending for November 2009 was up by a quarter compared to the previous month and by 11% against 2008.

This news comes just after the BBC reports of critisism levied by the consumer advisory group Which?, who claim that many online retailers are breaking the law when it comes to complying with the Distance Selling Regulations.

Not Surprised

Neither of these stories surprise me if I’m honest.

Even though my household generally lives its life online, when it comes to Christmas shopping we’re traditionalists at heart; preferring to trawl around the retail parks rather than click away when it comes to filling our Christmas stockings.

However this year the allure and convenience of online shopping won us over particularly when faced with the pressures of limited time due to work commitments, apathy at leaving the house (brought on by bad weather and a touch of the lurgy) coupled with the need to watch the pennies this year. I suspect others are the same to a lesser or greater degree on all these counts, hence the shift towards the e-tailing platform by many shoppers.

As for Which?. They were critical of the websites’ of many major chains including Marks and Spencer’s and Game, who quite frankly, should know better and are suitably resourced to ensure they are compliant.

However it’s not the big names that we need to worry about when it comes to making sure we as consumers, are suitably protected by the law when purchasing online. After all, should it ever ‘kick-off’ then you’ve got a lot to lose Mr M&S and besides, we all know where you live!

Instead it’s the smaller retailers, the virtual businesses, the ‘drop shippers’ and the back bedroom entrepreneurs who at best, are misinformed or oblivious to their legal obligations; or at worst, are deliberately out to deceive us; that we need to worry about.

Low Barriers to Entry

The problem, some would say, is that the barriers to selling online are very low and policing is practically non-existent.

Think about it!

For as little as a couple hundred quid or so, anyone can download a free shopping cart such as OS Commerce, fill it full of products then bolt-on a PayPal account or even a simple web form that captures credit card details and Bob’s your uncle! You’re online selling! Minimal technical skills required and no real business behind it all, is needed.

To be fair there already is a whole raft of legislation when it comes to selling online. This ranges from the Distance Selling Regulations mentioned above, the PCI standards and the Trade Descriptions Act to name but a few. The banks try to do their bit, by dictating a standard of website before they will grant a merchant account, but judging by the number of e-commerce websites that I come across on a regular basis that fail to make the grade; the current level of policing isn’t enough to ensure adequate consumer protection.

For example, take a look at this website I came across recently. What’s wrong with it? Answers on a very large postcard please to…

My Top 10 Warning Signs

So to help consumers spot the warning signs, I’ve compiled a list of the top ten characteristics shoppers need to look out for if they want to buy with confidence from an e-commerce website.

1. Is there an easy way to contact the website owners other than email i.e. by telephone or post?
2. Is their telephone line answered by a knowledgeable human being? Give it a try.
3. Is there a real-world bricks and mortar postal address available on the site?
4. Is the company that runs the website a limited company? Look for a company registration number and check they exist on the Companies House website. Not essential, but a limited company is easier to track down.
5. Do they offer a clear delivery and returns policy? What guarantees do they offer in case of non-delivery or faulty products?
6. What is their payment policy, do they take a good leaf out of Amazon’s book and only take payment from your card as your goods are dispatched?
7. Are there other customer reviews or ratings (ideally user generated) on their website? What do they say?
8. How does the website handle credit cards? Look for the secure padlock symbol and ideally an association with a well known card processing provider perhaps linked to a major bank or a provider such as SagePay or WorldPay.
9. If you have doubts about the website, try googling them to see what other references there are to them on the web. You could be surprised what a search brings up.
10. Finally, does the design and shopping process you experience on the website, make you feel comfortable? If it doesn’t abandon your purchase and look elsewhere.

This list isn’t exhaustive, post your own suggestions below.

Happy Christmas to you all.

A Barbecue British Summer — Perhaps Not!

I’ve been away for the last couple of weeks or so on a “Staycation” and despite getting all excited about a “Barbecue Summer” as promised by those bods at the Met Office before I went; the British Summer once again did not fail to disappoint in its performance when it came to the weather.

So much for all this global warming they keep banging on about!

Yes folks, Summer is now over! So it’s back to to the grindstone for the long haul up to Christmas, which incidentally is only 110 days away in case you’re counting!

Prepare Yourself

Christmas — 110 Days and Counting

Christmas for many online retailers is one of, if not the biggest; revenue generating event of the year with the sales run-up starting in November for many.

Last year in the UK £4.67 Billion was spent online during December with £102 Million of that being spent on Christmas Day itself. (Source: IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index). Both values are expected to be significantly higher this year as more shoppers, still bruised by the credit crunch, are expected to turn to the web in their search to stretch out their Christmas budgets.

So if you’re an online retailer, are you prepared for the forthcoming money making months? If not, you should start to prepare now.

If you run a Google Adwords campaign to help promote your e-commerce site:, here’s some top-tips from the team at the Google Retail Blog that will help you get ready for increased sales.

• Target key age and gender demographics with unique Christmas related ad texts, keywords & landing pages.
• Launch your campaigns early (perhaps late October) to meet increased search traffic by mid-November and don’t forget the last minute shoppers, those who shop on Christmas Day and those looking for post-Christmas sale bargains.
• Add both branded & non-branded keywords.
• Use Google insights for search to investigate your own product categories to see what searchers are interested in.
• Expand keyword lists using the Search-Based Keyword Tool.
• Use the Google Content Network to reach your target demographic and complement your search campaigns.
• Consider placing your Content ads on complementary sites; remember to target gifts for women on men’s sites and vice versa.
• Use Display Ad Builder to easily create image ads.
• Set appropriate CPCs and competitive budgets to anticipate increased traffic

Good luck and happy Christmas!

Protx was established in 2001 and provides online payment services for small and medium businesses (SMEs) in the UK, with a customer base of over 10,000 businesses. Protx online payment gateways are accredited by a range of banks including Lloyds TSB Cardnet, Bank of Scotland, Barclays Merchant Services, HSBC, Natwest Streamline, American Express, Diners Card, JCB, and Euroconex.

At the time of the acquisition Sage Group chief executive Paul Walker said: “The acquisition of Protx brings Sage the capability to integrate secure payment systems with our business management software. With Protx in the UK and Verus in the US, we continue our strategy to expand into new adjacent markets and broaden the range of services we can offer our SME customers.”

Protx has always been our online payment gateway of choice for those clients who are looking to sell online with a shopping cart based website or as a way of simply taking payments online in a secure manner through their website.

The company has some good value products that do exactly what they say they do and added to that, we’ve found their merchant and developer customer support to be responsive and helpful when needed.

When Sage came along and snapped them up I felt then as I do now, there’s no reason to change this view.

Protx Re-Branded to Sage Pay

A couple of years have now passed since the takeover and up until last month (April 2009) the company has continued to trade as Protx. The official launch of Sage Pay was on the April 21st with the launch of its new website www.sagepay.com This marked the demise of the Protx brand and its re branding to Sage Pay.

Will this re brand benefit the company? I think so. I always found that a lengthy explanation of who Protx were was needed when I recommended their products to our clients as the Protx brand had low recognition amongst SMEs. However with the introduction of the “Sage” name into the brand and the high recognition and confidence factors associated with this name amongst SMEs and the general public, I feel this will be reversed and will provide additional confidence to those shoppers who use Sage Pay merchant websites.

A short video from Sage about the change is below:

Over the last few months I’ve been witness to the demise of a client’s business purely because of negative chatter on the web.

If you run your own business you’ll be acutely aware that a positive word-of-mouth endorsement for your company or its products is worth its weight in gold when it comes to generating a sale.

Conversely if your business gets things wrong and more importantly, continues to get them wrong; then news of those negative customer experiences will quickly spread and before you know it; you’ve got yourself a bad reputation.

Trust in your company or product begins to wain and before you know it you’re into “fire fighting mode” with sales going down quicker than Bobby Crush on an oil-rig.

Word of Mouth Marketing

In the days of over the fence gossip, a bad reputation was relatively easy to contain. You simply moved your business to the next town out of ear-shot.

Then some bright spark invented the printing press, then the radio, telephone, TV and eventually the Internet. So what we have today is the means for people to tell other people around the world en-mass, their good and bad news stories about particular company or product. That’s why companies tremble at the negative exposure on consumer TV programmes such as the BBC’s Watchdog and their like can bring but conversely, love the ‘buzz’ that the internet can generate about their products.

You know all this I’m sure. However when you see its impact on a business first hand, then it brings home the power that the medium of the web, particularly when blogs and websites such as Twitter and Facebook are thrown into the mix, can have on a business.

Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword

In my real-life example, the client was an online retailer of furniture which sold its products purely through its website. After being in business for a couple of years they had built their turnover to about £1M and were profitable, which isn’t bad for a small company of less than 10 people. They even included some famous clients amongst their regular shoppers and enjoyed some good exposure through the TV make-over shows as a result.

All seemed to be going swimmingly; their existing website had some faults, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a refresh (which is where I came into the picture with a strategy for an improved website and online marketing campaign). Added to this they had plans to expand into their own premises with a larger warehouse.

However somewhere along the line, independent of their website, things started to go wrong. Customers started to suffer from late deliveries, faulty products, poor communication and at the end; money being taken without orders being fulfilled.

Oh dear! Trouble at’Mill!

Now I wasn’t privy to the whole story; this post is based solely upon my observations. However what I did pick-up on was the increasing level of negative chatter about the company amongst consumer forums and blogs.

Clearly there were some very unhappy people out there who wished to vent their anger.

This sort of bad mouthing soon started to snowball and couldn’t be easily overcome to such an extent that it began to impact upon the client’s ability to promote their website in the search engines. Any search for the company not only brought-up references to their website, but also the negative comments from their unhappy customers.

Shredded

Eventually the client’s reputation was in tatters by the very medium that they had used to build their business with in the first place and their business had to fold.

A sad situation for both their customers and the two directors of the company involved, who I had grown fond of over the preceding months!

Get your Back-end Right

So the lesson of the day in this post is: “Get your back-end right.”

By this I mean it’s not good enough just to have a swanky website with all the bells and whistles if you’re an online retailer. You need to get the customer service elements right as well behind the scenes by making sure your customers trust your company and its website.

This is done through quick order fulfilment, quality products and good customer communications. Get these bits wrong and… well! You know the rest!

Here endeth the lesson