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-> Shopping
Fox
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 Mon, Jan 28 2013, 6:33 pm
| chana_f wrote: | Fox, apples and oranges.
Many of the small frum sites are working only with inventory that they physically have right in front of them. It's not sitting somewhere in China. So needing data feeds from suppliers isn't an issue. |
That's exactly my point. Someone who has the inventory sitting in front him is almost by definition not doing a significant amount of business online and is therefore not going to put a ton of money into a highly sophisticated website. That's just not how money is made by online merchants.
BTW, I'm not sure frum businesses are the only ones whose websites are problematic. For example, I find Amazon.com to be incredibly confusing and time-consuming to use, and I've seen tons of other big-name sites that are slick to look at but aren't really as useful as one might hope.
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TranquilityAndPeace
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 6:46 pm
| aniri wrote: | | All our workers mainly frum here's our site www.this-co.com what u think? |
There's no way I can possibly do a site review, when all the information I'm given is the URL!
You'd have to tell me the objective of the site, how your visitors find the site, the actions you want the visitors to take upon landing on various pages of your site, and which parts of your business are the most profitable to you... and then I can ***begin*** to review your site!
Otherwise, I can simply review the color scheme, but I do not have access to any prophecy that will tell me what your site's goals are so that I can give a constructive review.
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September June
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 6:57 pm
| Fox wrote: | | chana_f wrote: | Fox, apples and oranges.
Many of the small frum sites are working only with inventory that they physically have right in front of them. It's not sitting somewhere in China. So needing data feeds from suppliers isn't an issue. |
That's exactly my point. Someone who has the inventory sitting in front him is almost by definition not doing a significant amount of business online and is therefore not going to put a ton of money into a highly sophisticated website. That's just not how money is made by online merchants.
BTW, I'm not sure frum businesses are the only ones whose websites are problematic. For example, I find Amazon.com to be incredibly confusing and time-consuming to use, and I've seen tons of other big-name sites that are slick to look at but aren't really as useful as one might hope. |
Fox, it isn't just the look of the site that is an issue (and mostly music and oh nuts manage to have nice sites despite the fact that they mainly cater to the frum community). Shipping charges and poor customer service (including return policies) are the 2 main reasons why I don't frequent Jewish sites.
It doesn't take a lot of time or effort to answer customer e-mails in a timely fashion. And yes, if shipping costs almost as much as the item you are selling, you need to re-evaluate your shipping options or close up shop online.
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TranquilityAndPeace
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 7:06 pm
| September June wrote: | Shipping charges and poor customer service (including return policies) are the 2 main reasons why I don't frequent Jewish sites.
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Frum stores cannot compete with national brands' return policies. National brands lose millions due to returns; a small mom-and-pop business cannot be profitable with the return policies of Bed Bath & Beyond or Lands End.
FYI- I had an ecommerce store for 7 years. (I recently sold it.) I did NOT target frum people in any way, shape, or form. I would guesstimate that 1-2% of my sales came from people with obviously frum names and addresses, while 30-40% of my returns came from people with obviously frum names and addresses. Therefore, as a merchant, I can pity frum shops with generous return policies - unfortunately many in our community will take advantage of these policies. (Is it true that Lands End doesn't take returns from Lakewood??)
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September June
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 7:23 pm
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I obviously don't expect a frum store to have a similar return policy to a department store. I do expect them to accept returns if the item is obviously defective (I almost never return anything when I buy from small businesses unless it is the seller's fault).
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sunspot
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 8:00 pm
Just to chime in--I build websites and teach web design..but before I do that I ask an all important question: who is your target market and what is the goal of your site. It is funnny since all pple I have either designed sites for or have provided consultation to say I would like to sell. There is more to that and you cannot think that you will sell to everyone. You have to decide who you are targetting (according to your market research) and design and build the website accordingly.
Also, super important, you need to make sure there is a path going through your site, so people know how to get from point a to point z. it can have a beautiful design but not be functional
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sky
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 8:03 pm
| TranquilityAndPeace wrote: | | September June wrote: | Shipping charges and poor customer service (including return policies) are the 2 main reasons why I don't frequent Jewish sites.
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Frum stores cannot compete with national brands' return policies. National brands lose millions due to returns; a small mom-and-pop business cannot be profitable with the return policies of Bed Bath & Beyond or Lands End.
FYI- I had an ecommerce store for 7 years. (I recently sold it.) I did NOT target frum people in any way, shape, or form. I would guesstimate that 1-2% of my sales came from people with obviously frum names and addresses, while 30-40% of my returns came from people with obviously frum names and addresses. Therefore, as a merchant, I can pity frum shops with generous return policies - unfortunately many in our community will take advantage of these policies. (Is it true that Lands End doesn't take returns from Lakewood??) |
they take returns from me (I live in Lakewood). But I do know people who abuse their policy.
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IloveHashem613
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 10:44 pm
| TranquilityAndPeace wrote: | | IloveHashem613 wrote: | | TranquilityAndPeace wrote: | Lots of frum businesses are still in the 1996 mentality of the Internet - that it's a nice thing, but not all that important for business.
I also see frum businesses on FB that post 5 status updates per day for 3 weeks, and then disappear for the next 5 weeks, on and off again... really unprofessional!
Recently, I had a consultation with a large frum business. They were interested in hiring me to re-vamp their website and integrate an online marketing strategy. A week later, they told me, "We decided that we don't want a large web presence because the rabbonim are against the Internet."
Then, they recently contacted me again and said, "Can you build us an app? An app is not really online the way a website is, so we're more comfortable going that route."  |
haha that is way too funny! What is wrong with people?? Oy, seriously, c'mon how do you expect to have a successful business these days but shun the internet? The app story is hilarious. Anyways, I didn't read through all the posts but I was just curious, what do you do? |
I build websites. And integrate marketing strategies into the sites.
I always say that building a nice site is like building a gorgeous store... in Antarctica. While it may be beautiful, user-friendly, and have incredible products, if nobody can find it, then it's not going to be profitable.
This page lists my expertise: http://websiteswithwisdom.com/expertise/ |
I absolutely agree, you can have the best product/service but if you can't market yourself, you are dead in the water.
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aniri
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Mon, Jan 28 2013, 11:08 pm
| TranquilityAndPeace wrote: | | aniri wrote: | | All our workers mainly frum here's our site www.this-co.com what u think? |
There's no way I can possibly do a site review, when all the information I'm given is the URL!
You'd have to tell me the objective of the site, how your visitors find the site, the actions you want the visitors to take upon landing on various pages of your site, and which parts of your business are the most profitable to you... and then I can ***begin*** to review your site!
Otherwise, I can simply review the color scheme, but I do not have access to any prophecy that will tell me what your site's goals are so that I can give a constructive review. |
Our target group is very rich people in the city . By the pictures we provide we would like them to see how we can transform their place. Our main profit is from big renovations . Do you this our site is professional enough for people who spend millions on their apartment? Thank you
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spinkles
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 12:06 am
| Quote: | That's exactly my point. Someone who has the inventory sitting in front him is almost by definition not doing a significant amount of business online and is therefore not going to put a ton of money into a highly sophisticated website. That's just not how money is made by online merchants.
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I'm not sure I understand. Obviously a small business like that is not going to throw a ton of money into a super-fancy site of the sort you described.
But if you have a website and want people to purchase from your website, then it needs to be functional. That's all I said. Not fancy. Not expensive. Just functional and user-friendly.
I mean, my husband has done simple ecommerce sites for under $1,000. It's really not a huge investment. Some of the sites I visited are from people who've been in the business a long time and are seemingly making a good income from it. It's not like Shprintzy selling tichels from her basement and making fifty bucks a month. I'm talking established small businesses. If you're going to have a website, make it usable. No?
Shprintzy doesn't have a thousand to spend on a website. But Shiffy who has a store on 13th Avenue and a loyal clientele--why wouldn't she spend for a decent website? I really don't get this idea that if you're not currently doing a lot of business online you shouldn't spend on a decent website to hopefully bring in more business. Googlers are out there; why not bring them to you?
Shiffy doesn't want to become a huge online retailer with all her tichels sitting in China. She just wants to increase her sales.
What am I missing?
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FranticFrummie
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 3:59 am
I disagree with returns being a problem for small businesses. I'm a one woman show, and I have a very generous return policy.
I call it the 3 R's. Return. Replace. Repair. Your choice, no hassles. I've had a couple of things that needed fixing, and I've gotten some of my best repeat customers that way.
I once restrung a beaded necklace that according to the buyer had been worn every single day, for over a year! She was heartbroken when the wire snapped. I gladly took it back, and immediately figured out the problem. She has very acidic skin, and the wire was not nylon coated. I upgraded her to a better quality wire. While I was doing that I noticed that the gold plating was wearing off of the spacer beads (for the same reason, acid), so I swapped them out for gold fill when I restrung it. I'd also gotten better at my technique for finishing the ends, so she got a nicer looking clasp.
When I was done, I thanked HER for giving me the opportunity to learn how to better construct my work, and saving me many embarrassing moments in the future.
She was so thrilled, she did ALL of her birthday and Xmas shopping from me. 
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Yocheved84
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 10:26 am
To the person who asked for a review of http://www.kolneshama.org/ :
I love it! The colors are vibrant--like a bedazzled, tie-dye tee-shirt. It's clear you're targeting teen/young women. In marketing, a key element is to make someone feel that by investing in your product, they are becoming part of an "image." When I went to your site, the colors and smiles in the photographs made me feel "young" and "cool," but tznius.
However, I think you could be a bit clearer on exactly what you are. If you could have a clearer "About Us" page, that would be great. The main page's dates had me thinking, "is this a summer camp?" at first, until I clicked around a bit.
But I loved the design elements.
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bigsis144
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 10:52 am
| Yocheved84 wrote: | To the person who asked for a review of http://www.kolneshama.org/ :
I love it! The colors are vibrant--like a bedazzled, tie-dye tee-shirt. It's clear you're targeting teen/young women. In marketing, a key element is to make someone feel that by investing in your product, they are becoming part of an "image." When I went to your site, the colors and smiles in the photographs made me feel "young" and "cool," but tznius.
However, I think you could be a bit clearer on exactly what you are. If you could have a clearer "About Us" page, that would be great. The main page's dates had me thinking, "is this a summer camp?" at first, until I clicked around a bit.
But I loved the design elements. |
Thanks! You made my day!
We've been around for 14 years, and baruch Hashem, lots has happened. So while our main purpose is the yearly summer arts camp, we're also selling DVDs of previous productions, posting information about live performances and screenings of our films (sometimes selling tickets online as well), posting articles about us from when we've been featured in various magazines... it's a lot of information to organize!
And different facets of the organization take precedence at different times -- it's January now, so we're starting to take campers for the upcoming summer program. But in July, for example, I would be posting photos from the current summer and blogging about behind-the-scenes, and not trying to "sell" the program as much. And in September, we get very little traffic related to the summer program, so I'd try to push the products and get people to buy DVDS... etc. etc.
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Fox
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 12:09 pm
| chana_f wrote: | Shprintzy doesn't have a thousand to spend on a website. But Shiffy who has a store on 13th Avenue and a loyal clientele--why wouldn't she spend for a decent website? I really don't get this idea that if you're not currently doing a lot of business online you shouldn't spend on a decent website to hopefully bring in more business. Googlers are out there; why not bring them to you?
Shiffy doesn't want to become a huge online retailer with all her tichels sitting in China. She just wants to increase her sales.
What am I missing? |
The missing piece is that online retailing and brick-and-mortar retailing are totally different ventures. They have different supply chains for merchandise, and they require completely different sets of skills to successfully operate. Suggesting that a successful brick-and-mortar merchant simply extend his/her reach by putting up a nice website is kind of like suggesting that a pediatrician extend his/her practice by doing a little plastic surgery on the side.
I love the examples of Shprintzy and Shiffy! Let's see how $1,000 invested in a good but basic website might play out for each of them:
Shprintzy starts by buying a bunch of tichels wholesale. She marks them up 100 percent, and sells them to ladies in her neighborhood. It quickly becomes apparent that no one is beating down her door. First of all, people really only need so many tichels at a time. Second, she is competing with brick-and-mortar stores and sheital machers in her community where tichels are sold as impulse items. She also discovers that she is stuck with all the ugly tichels that no one wants.
So Shprintzy has the idea of enlarging her customer base and appealing to women in smaller communities where there are fewer merchants selling tichels. She hires an imamother or her husband to make a nice template-based website. She's really only just begun, though. Not only does she have to update availability regularly, she has to find ways to promote her website. She has to edit the text to reflect key search terms as well as get people to post links to her website in order to boost her Google rank.
Pretty soon, a trickle of orders comes in, and the trickle widens to a modest but consistent flow. But now all of Shprintzy's time is being taken up dealing with processing orders and then placing new orders with her suppliers. Her supplier, recognizing a good customer, suggests that they "drop ship" the tichels. Shprintzy will pay a slightly higher price along with shipping costs, and the suppliers will enclose a "Tichels by Shprintzy" packing slip. Now Shprintzy can go back to working to maintain and promote her website.
Let's see what Shiffy did with her $1,000 website investment. After being nagged endlessly to "get on the web," she agreed. The website looked great, and everyone who saw it complimented her. But Shiffy has a store to run, along with employee issues, dealing with her landlord, and waiting on customers. The website creator didn't teach her how to do anything other than update product availability, and lots of days, Shiffy forgets to do that. Lack of updates combine with lack of links and lack of hits, and a Google search of "tichels Boro Park" lists Shiffy's store on the fourth screen. In fact, Shprintzy's website actually comes up before Shiffy's -- because even though Shprintzy moved to Dallas last year, she has the words "Boro Park" in a couple of key locations on the site.
Now, if Shiffy had the resources and desire to become both a formidable web presence as well as a brick-and-mortar store, there's no reason why she couldn't do so. But maintaining her physical store while establishing an online business is a little like changing a tire while the car is moving. A lot of small businesses just don't have the manpower to do everything simultaneously.
I don't want to give the impression that I'm in favor of lousy websites. I just think that the worst offenders are often places that don't really want to be online retailers in the first place. There's really nothing wrong with a single-page website that gives the name, address, phone, and hours of a place. It's much better to run a good brick-and-mortar or a good web store than to run a mediocre store and a lousy website.
Of course, the danger for Shiffy is that her customers will discover that they can get tichels for less by ordering online from Shprintzy. Shiffy will have to create some value for customers that Shprintzy can't provide. Shprintzy, meanwhile, is in danger that Malkie will set up a similar website and sell tichels for $2 less plus free shipping. And they're all in danger that Wal-Mart will suddenly realize that they can force their Honduran suppliers to make tichels for .49 each, and they'll sell them in selected stores for $7.99 -- thus undercutting Shiffy, Shprintzy, and Malkie.
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ewa-jo
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 12:31 pm
| AztecQueen2000 wrote: | | I'm surprised more companies don't just use a marketplace site like Etsy. It would solve a lot of problems. |
The one big issue with using someone else's marketplace platform (Ebay, Amazon, Etsy) is that you have to pay them money (fair enough!) but also you have to abide by their rules. Also, it's easier to 'lose' your customer once you have 'caught' them.
It's also difficult to compete in such a huge marketplace. If I had fabulous homemade tichels and had my own website, I would advertise and you would find my site and look at my tichels and then decide which one to buy.... if I posted my tichels on Etsy... you would find my page and see the tichels I'm selling... but wait! With a tiny click of a search bar, you could find 50 other people selling tichels on Etsy (and maybe some of them are prettier or cheaper than mine!) ....so I am opening myself up to a huge field of competition if I choose to situate myself on a platform like that.
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Sherri
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 1:08 pm
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Nope,my K9 still doesn't.
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Hashem_Yaazor
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 1:38 pm
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I think k9 has already assumed it fits into that classification. You can contact them to change it for all users, IIRC.
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spinkles
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Tue, Jan 29 2013, 8:04 pm
| Quote: | The website creator didn't teach her how to do anything other than update product availability, and lots of days, Shiffy forgets to do that. Lack of updates combine with lack of links and lack of hits, and a Google search of "tichels Boro Park" lists Shiffy's store on the fourth screen. In fact, Shprintzy's website actually comes up before Shiffy's -- because even though Shprintzy moved to Dallas last year, she has the words "Boro Park" in a couple of key locations on the site.
Now, if Shiffy had the resources and desire to become both a formidable web presence as well as a brick-and-mortar store, there's no reason why she couldn't do so. But maintaining her physical store while establishing an online business is a little like changing a tire while the car is moving. A lot of small businesses just don't have the manpower to do everything simultaneously. |
But updating product availability shouldn't be something that's dependent on the owner remembering to do it. This is something that can be a computerized, automated process, with the store computer linked to the website. And that's not expensive to do.
Shiffy can just get on Facebook to announce sales and do occasional giveaways, and the problem with lack of links/lack of hits goes away. I mean, she already has a loyal client base that will be interested in these promotions. Not all of them are on FB, but a lot are. That takes, what, 20 minutes once a week? And she can do it at midnight from home, while waiting for her challos to come out of the oven.
No?
You said in your initial post that we can't complain too much about these sites. I still hold that if you're offering customers the option to buy online (rather than just having a simple homepage with store info and a number to call), then THE CUSTOMER NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THEIR PURCHASE ON YOUR SITE. That's all. Without making a long-distance phone call to find out what you actually have available. And if someone can't make that happen, then why offer the online shopping at all? I don't get it.
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sunspot
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Thu, Jan 31 2013, 9:25 am
Chana. I think the best way to counter the in stock issue is to have a live chat feature on the website and have s/o staffing it that has the pertinent info. First of all people feel like they have s/o to talk to, from my experience, people also like to be anonymous until they actually decide to make their purchase etc.
You are right though that it is a very bad user experience if people feel they cannot complete the sales cycle in one place quickly and easily. On the web especially people was things quickly.
Another thing I have noticed in general is that a nice amount of websites dump too much on the home page instead of making branch offs for their site visitors. think about the main targets who you are selling to and make sure they see the step you would like them to take next, clearly and easier. Always try to cut down the amount of steps a visitor has to take before they do the action you want them to do on their site, otherwise you will lose them before they get anywhere.
Also, on the main landing page make sure they see information that they were looking for. if they are looking for boots, make sure you are not stressing stuffed animals!
Also an important SEO tip is make sure your web designers use H1, H2 etc tags and place in them descriptive information about each web page (or have the product name set up to be in the H1 tags etc. because that is one of the places search engines look for how to rank you. Also, make sure the web address is something relevant to what you are promoting on the page too.
Create an informational/interesting blog on the website with associated embedded links to products you sell on your website
I would love to hear other tips!
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