Look east for eCommerce: some inspiration from China
By Tamara CaddyYou may have heard it first from Julia – this is the Asian Century…
Undeniably, Asia is ripping shreads off the failing economies in the US and Europe. Economic giant China is storming ahead – now it no longer just manufactures our tech products (like iphones) but has their own growing, ferocious demand for smart phones and tablets. While the fastest growing technology brands in Asia are streaking ahead, western companies are also reaping the benefit of the ‘red’ dollar.
China now delivers Apple the most revenue after the U.S and this continues to grow. When the iphone was launched in China in 2009 – it was then just two percent of Apple’s revenue – now it (and Hong Kong and Taiwan) are 12 per cent of Apple’s full-year revenue for 2011. This was hard to grasp in 2009 when it was launched in China as you can tell by the reactions on Gigaom at the time.
Chinese-made and owned brands like Huawei being sold for a fifth of the price of Apple phones combined with the bans on wi-fi made the success of the iphone seem unlikely – yet the rapidly growing middle class is changing this…rapidly.
As a flow-on effect, online stores are now increasingly being accessed through mobile and the Chinese average spend increasing. Australian eCommerce sites should take a leaf out of the book of the Chinese eCommerce site, Yihaodian. Boasting 120,000 goods for sale, same-day delivery in many areas and sophisticated digital customer relationship management tools. Astoundingly, it posted a three-year growth rate of 19,218%.
Or China’s Jiaxing Mbaobao Technology is one of the leading designers and distributors of bags. They take the business seriously with a research centre in Venice, a presence in Tokyo and are expanding to English-language sites targeting North America. The company, which has a three-year growth rate of 6,228%, has embraced the buzz concepts of “fast fashion”, “fast marketing” and “fast logistics” and serves over a million customers.
The growth in online sales has come despite the great firewall of China, which saw the closure of 1.3 million websites last year. In a country with such a mammoth population and so many operators trying to make a yuan, serious savvy is required.
Chinese citizens spend an average of 2.7 hours online per day — second to only the Japanese and as the country continues to open up – the floodgates are also opening to savvy eMarketers which boast a local and overseas presence. The Australian wine industry is just one growing area where satisfying the Chinese appetite for Aussie reds is a perfect eCommerce platform. With such a high proportion of our exports dependant on the Chinese market (25 per cent), there is no reason that Australia’s online commerce players shouldn’t get a hearty slice of the China-pie.
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Will you ‘socialise’ your online store?
By Tamara Caddy
Online purchasing is growing while Aussies have a more ferocious appetite for social networking than most of the world.
So it makes sense that there’s infinite plugins and extensions to help e-commerce shack up with social networks. Get it right and your social media output can be used to add value to your online store continuing the conversation and building relationships and loyalty – way beyond single transactions.
Our preferred e-commerce solution, Magento, can easily be integrated with Twitter feeds and Facebook fanpages using Magento default APIs. Similarly e-Newsletter sign-up options include features that allow recipients to share the newsletter invite across social channels.
Beyond share or like buttons, social commerce can be built across communities through all sorts of user engagement platforms, reviews, mobile apps, newsfeeds, coupons, discount and deals.
Social referrals can aid the purchasing process by spreading the word amongst shoppers’ friends and offering rewards and incentives to do so.
“Peer referrals allows consumers to gauge the product relative to their personal preferences,” explains SocialTwist CEO Vijay Pullar. ”A key trend brands can leverage is that friends know what other friends like and they know what their other friends are looking for,” said Pullar.
There’s seemingly no end to the plugins and extensions that can be integrated with your Magento online store, here‘s a handful:
ShareThis, Socialable Allows users to share specific sites, pages or products and distribute information via Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and tell friends.
Beetailer, Storeya, Facebook Store App Integrates some or all of products from your Magento store into social networks and fanpages.
Curebit, Social Twist Get your customers to refer their friends via Twitter, Facebook or email, with useful tracking features
Groupon, Zizio Social Deals Launch social deals campaigns and coupons offering rebates for referrals for your customers to tell their friends. This is a flooded category of social commerce to be weary of but it can occasionally still be appropriate for certain markets.
Facebook Referrals, Open Graph and Comments Allowing your customers to invite people and get automatic discounts, share what they ‘want’ and ‘own’ or leave comments your webstore’s product page by logging into their Facebook accounts.
Shopalize Purchase Sharing Widget After purchase, customers can share their purchases or offers with friends in social platforms.
Tailor your social strategy to your market, capabilities and objectives as running consumables out the door at bargain prices needs a different approach to a premium product looking to create brand longevity and a loyal fan base.
While Facebook and Twitter will give you wide reach, more niche and specialised social platforms are being used by brands to supplement their broader social strategy.
These communities geared to a specific interest may give you a more targeted reach. For example, sharing photos of your clothing range and inspirational images via Instagram may help gain the attention of fashionistas or you may establish credibility with foodies by posting info on Foodspotting. These niche audiences may be the trendsetters within your category of commerce.
We recommend staggering the implementation of your social elements unless you have internal resources in place or the budget to outsource its management. Social needs to be monitored carefully and providing rapid response times or risk alienating users.
Our advice: get your store working, then plan and implement one or two social extensions or plugins at a time.
Access their effectiveness and reach through services such as Facebook Insights and Google Analytics, which includes analysis of your site and e-sales across multiples channels including social.
Socialising your online store will be an evolving process as technologies and communities change, yet it is a necessary and worthwhile investment in today’s e-commerce mediascape.
Need an expert at Magento integrations including in social extensions and plugins?
Design Industries offer tailored web solutions. Click here for more info about Magento e-commerce integrations or contact us.
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eBay Agrees to Acquire Magento
By Sam PascuaThe past several years have been an amazing journey for Magento, as we’ve grown from a new open source platform into an eCommerce leader. Along the way, we’ve built not only a platform, but a company and a worldwide community. Together, we’ve identified opportunities, taken risks, innovated, struggled, succeeded, and changed the face of eCommerce. Today marks a milestone on this journey as we announce the most exciting news in our company’s history.
Magento has reached an agreement to be acquired by eBay Inc. We believe this move will open incredible opportunities for the entire Magento ecosystem.
The Big Picture
Why is this acquisition so exciting for all of us? eBay is evolving to become a strategic commerce partner focused on delivering new ways for merchants of all sizes to drive innovation. As a centerpiece of this strategy, they are building a global, open commerce platform that leverages the worldwide developer community. And Magento will be at the core of this new, open commerce platform, called “X.Commerce.”
Magento & eBay
As many of you know, Magento has had a relationship with eBay for some time. In March 2010, eBay became our first outside investor. Over the past year, eBay has gotten to know our platform, our culture, and our community. They have experienced the passion of the Magento ecosystem, and they are eager to harness the power of this ecosystem to create the next generation of eCommerce innovation.
Moving forward: the details
How will this acquisition impact our organization, customers and partners? It’s too soon to know all the details, but there are a few things we know. Following the closing, Magento will continue to operate out of Los Angeles, with Yoav Kutner and me as its leaders. We’ll continue building our team and enhancing our product line, including the Magento Community, Enterprise, and Mobile Editions, as well as Magento Go and the Magento Go Platform. And we’ll continue strengthening our training, education, packaged consulting services and support efforts around the world.
Through it all, we’ll be collaborating with our colleagues at eBay on developing the X.Commerce platform and defining the next generation of eCommerce innovation.
Yoav and I recorded a short video about the acquisition – I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch it. We have also prepared an FAQ with answers to many of your questions about this announcement.
Creating the future together
To all the members the Magento family: we thank you for all the passion, expertise and hard work that you’ve invested in Magento. Thanks to you, Magento finds itself exactly where we’ve always aimed to be: at the core of eCommerce. We are thrilled about becoming part of a larger organization that recognizes – as we always have – that the future of eCommerce is global, innovative and open. We look forward to creating that future with all of you.
Source: http://www.magentocommerce.com/blog/comments/ebay-agrees-to-acquire-magento/
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