Cwynire

New Media for Entrepreneurs

2010-05-21T17:54:00.026+08:00

Sorry, this article has been moved to http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-media-for-entrepreneur_03.html.

Why Web Statistics Are Important for Your Online Business: Part II

2009-05-26T15:51:00.016+08:00

Sorry, this article has been moved to http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-web-statistics-are-important-for_8871.html.

Why Web Statistics Are Important for Your Online Business: Part I

2009-05-25T15:57:00.015+08:00

Sorry, this article has been moved to http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-web-statistics-are-important-for_449.html.

How To Increase Your My1Stop E-Store's Online Sales

2009-03-24T16:21:00.010+08:00

This is an English translation & updated version of my older post, due to request. For a Bahasa Melayu version/ older version) of this post, go HERE.

Many sellers have approached me with the above question … The fact is, there are e-stores which make higher sales than others. When I say 'sales', I'm actually referring to online sales via My1Stop system, because My1Stop is only able to track these sales (unless seller or buyer CC to us their private/direct orders). For sellers who fail to make sales as they hoped, they would wonder … what went wrong? To assist My1Stop sellers, I have made some research into this by observing the different strategies and statistics of top selling e-stores. So carry on reading this article for the keys to having a successful My1Stop e-store …

When sales aren't as expected, some sellers even blame My1Stop for not driving in customers to them. In reality, product sales & promotion lies on the shoulders of the sellers themselves. Picture this ... if you open a physical store in a real shopping mall, and merely wait for customers to drop by your store ... you can bet that out of the many mall visitors, you will only get a small number of them visiting your store. You can anticipate that the scenario would be the opposite i.e better crowd of visitors, if you dynamically promote your physical store by handing out fliers to passer-bys and hanging promotional banners at strategic places.

You just can't blame Mid Valley Mega Mall for your store's poor sales, can you? Bottomline is ... you got to reach out to your customers as you may not be the only seller selling the particular product you are selling, let alone the only e-store in My1Stop. People will not buy your product if they are not even aware that you are actually selling it. If you can't even get a huge crowd to visit your store, what are the chances of making sales (normally, only 10% of total potential customers actually become buyers). It is unfair to think that the sales you make fully reflects the crowd the shopping mall gets. Try visiting other e-stores (especially the Featured E-Stores e.g. e-farmasi, MyIKEA2U, DNS E-STORE, Qasseh-Design Shop) and check out their stats - you'll get what I mean.

Internet is not only about borderless market, more importantly, it enables dynamic web applications to ease your activities at minimal cost. So don't sleep your way through your online business, but be a real business person and put to practice all the typical business DO's and avoid the DON'TS. So what if there are millions of internet users out there? You can't expect or force any of them to buy your product. They've got their own minds, preferences, their own online activities.

Realizing this, My1Stop showers our sellers with useful online tools to assist you in your online business, from e-store shopping cart system that supports online payment (credit card & online banking), easy to use online catalog manager, order manager, online marketing tools like Plug-In Catalog and Catalog Template, to product and e-store statistics. My1Stop e-stores comes from FREE to only RM180 per YEAR. Sooo affordable. What My1Stop wants in return is for every seller to make full use of the e-store features provided. There is no point in claiming to own/rent a store, but you sell like a shopless seller ... when you have a crowd to pull, but you sleep in your own store ... when you have a My1Stop e-store, but you sell like you would in any other virtual platforms that do not provide these dynamic tools!

E-STORE SUCCESS FACTORS

External Factors:

Good product quality

Good demand in product - unique products & products not in abundance/ hard to get offline sell better online

Good/Reasonable price (including delivery & packaging)

Good after-sales service

Good luck ... :)

Internal Factors:

Use/upload attractive/appealing product photos ... enough to increase the probability of visitors clicking on them. The size should not be too small for viewing satisfaction nor too big for fast loading time. The photo has to be of the actual product or at least very related so that your customers do not feel cheated.

Provide comprehensive item description - complete with sizes/colors available, testimony, photos of the product in various angles, video if applicable. the more information you give your customers, the more they are aware of what they are about to purchase & the better potential they have in making an actual purchase.

If you have a physical store … use your My1Stop e-store as a credit card terminal for your physical store customers to pay using credit card. Just open a PC or laptop at your store counter! Isn't this a much cheaper option for a credit card payment solution for your customers?

Send e-mails of your e-store catalog periodically - use My1Stop Catalog Template for an organised display of your products, complete with photos and links to purchase online). No more uploading individual product photo attachments and sending lengthy promotional emails that often get deleted before getting read. Find out more about Email Marketing strategies HERE.

Attach your e-store link in your signature/footer of emails, forums posts, etc… some sellers even put their e-store links in business cards and fliers!

If you have your own website or blog, display your e-store catalog dynamically there by using My1Stop Plug-in Catalog. Changes to your catalog will reflect in real-time.

Do check your e-store stats to know more about your e-store visitors. Unlike with your brick-&-mortar store, whereby you can see with your own eyes, customers coming into the store ... in an online store ... you don't get a clue unless you have access to the web statistics of your e-store - My1Stop plugs in reliable and comprehensive e-store stats to every featured e-store complete with email reports, while the free package sellers get a unique visitor counter (you will be able to explore the numbers you get once you upgrade to featured e-store). The stats can tell you wonders! I will write a special post on the importance of web stats soon :)

Use your e-store message board to communicate with your customers. The message board acts as a knowledge bank to other customers as more and more questions and feedback are posted. More importantly, it gives your customers the impression that YOU DO EXIST. Some 'human touch' is still needed even in the virtual world. In fact, one of the major hindrance of online business success is uncertainty - so counter this by responding promptly to your customers inquiries & posting latest news & offers!

Drop by your own store as frequent as possible! Goodness, please check your email if you even want to do business online! Login to your e-store and check out what's there, what's not. There have been cases whereby sellers actually receive online orders but responded only a little too late, customers start complaining and flee. Some customers ordered online, online to find out later that the product is no more available! Let's save everyone the trouble ... !

All in all ... when you decide to open an e-store at My1Stop, you should explore all the features that have been provided for you. It would be a waste to not fully utilize these features, and only complaining why you are not making sales as you had expected. Selling online is not far different from selling in the physical world. Bottom line is you are a seller ... so uphold & practice the common business ethics in the virtual world as you should in the real world.

Good luck to all My1Stop sellers & may your online business soar! :)

Dilema Ingin Berniaga Online - Patutkah Berhenti Kerja?

2008-06-18T20:21:00.012+08:00

Berniaga online bukan baru ... tetapi fenomenanya agak baru di Malaysia. Ramai yang berminat untuk berniaga di internet kerana kelebihan berniaga dari rumah yang umum rasakan lebih mudah dan kos-efisien. Apatah lagi khabar berita dari seberang laut yang dari masa ke semasa membuktikan perniagaan di internet boleh melahirkan jutawan pantas. Saya tidak mahu bicarakan isu jutawan internet kali ini, tetapi lebih kepada isu yang kerap saya baca di kedai-kedai kopi di internet @ forum - untuk berniaga online, patutkah saya berhenti kerja?

Sepintas lalu, dilema bakal peniaga internet adalah:

1. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, cukupkah masa untuk menjalankan perniagaan online saya?

2. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, mampukah saya terus menjalankan kerja pejabat saya?

3. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, mampukah saya menyara kos kehidupan/keluarga dengan pendapatan perniagaan online saya?

4. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, apakah jaminan bahawa perniagaan online saya akan membuahkan hasil dan menampung kehidupan keluarga saya?

DILEMA ...

Saya sendiri telah menempuhi fasa ini. Pilihan saya? -- berhenti kerja. Sukar, ya sukar ... kerana hidup anda selepas itu penuh dengan ketidakpastian. Berniaga ada jatuh bangunnya ... apakan jadi jika jatuh?

Bangun semula! Semudah itu? Pastinya tidak. Akan ada ketikanya anda rasa seperti terkapai-kapai di lautan ... tercari-cari arah ... tertanya-tanya jika pilihan anda untuk berhenti kerja dulu adalah tepat atau tidak. Dan jika anda tiada keinginan dan semangat yang tinggi untuk mencapai kejayaan di dalam perniagaan ... anda pasti bungkus idea anda untuk berniaga dan cuba-cuba kembali kepada kehidupan dulu, yang walaupun tidak seindah mana, tetapi tidak melarat.

Ya, pastinya makan-pakai anak-anak/keluarga perlu diutamakan ... jadi mungkin ada wajarnya untuk anda mencari pekerjaan & makan gaji semula - tidak ada salahnya. Cuma rasanya untuk terus kuburkan idea berniaga kerana serik ... tidak harus terjadi.

Apa yang pasti, jika kita jatuh, kita perlu bangun semula & belajar daripada kesilapan. Jatuh kita hanya membawa kematian jika kita tidak menyediakan safety net! Jadi sebelum mula meniti, pastikan kita sudah ada contingency plan.

Saya pernah menasihatkan forumer tentang dilema beliau untuk berhenti kerja atau tidak ... dan nasihat saya: teruskan dengan pekerjaan anda (walaupun bukan itu pilihan saya sendiri). Mengapa? Kerana keadaan kita mungkin tidak serupa. Tanggungan kita berbeza, sistem sokongan kita berbeza, skala perniagaan online yang ingin diceburi berbeza, keinginan kita untuk berniaga juga mungkin berbeza. A mungkin hanya ingin cuba-cuba, B pula mungkin beriya-iya. Tepuk dada tanya selera.

Yang penting, apa sahaja kita usahakan biar bersungguh-sungguh dan berilmu. Tidak amanah sekiranya kita mengabaikan pekerjaan pejabat kita untuk berniaga online kerana kita tetap dibayar gaji bulanan. Jika ingin berniaga online secara serius ... fokus ... jangan separuh masak, hasilnya bakal separuh masak juga. Jika takut tidak mampu menampung keluarga, maka buatlah perancangan perniagaan setelitinya. Pastikan anda buat kertas kerja perniagaan anda. Bukan untuk memohon dana semata-mata, tetapi untuk lihat prospek perniagaan anda, bagaimana aliran wang perniagaan anda, best-case to worst-case scenario. Anda tidak rugi menghabiskan banyak masa di dalam proses perancangan, berbanding kerugian lebih banyak masa dan wang kemudian hari dek kurangnya ilmu anda di dalam perniagaan yang anda sendiri pilih.

Saya kongsi sedikit sebanyak rangka Pelan Perniagaan (Business Plan):

1.0 Ringkasan Eksekutif
2.0 Latar Belakang Syarikat
3.0 Produk & Perkhidmatan Yang Ditawarkan
4.0 Perancangan Pengurusan & Pentadbiran
5.0 Analisa Pasaran & Persaingan
6.0 Perancangan & Strategi Pemasaran
7.0 Perancangan Operasi
8.0 Perancangan Kewangan
9.0 Kesimpulan
Lampiran2
- sijil pendaftaran
- portfolio (jika)
- apa2 yang relevan dengan perniagaan

Jika perniagaan kita masih dilambung ombak setelah pelbagai persediaan dibuat, maka bersabarlah & berusaha lebih keras - restrategize mana-mana patut. Di sinilah pentingnya para usahawan lain, kaum keluarga saling bantu-membantu ... hari ini kita bantu orang yang memerlukan, esok lusa, mungkin roda berputar pula. Jangan ketawakan atau perlekehkan usaha seseorang peniaga ... berjaya, biar bersama :)

Q & A

1. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, cukupkah masa untuk menjalankan perniagaan online saya?
JAWAPAN: Terpulang kepada skala perniagaan online anda, jika besar ... PASTI TIDAK CUKUP!

2. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, mampukah saya terus menjalankan kerja pejabat saya?
JAWAPAN: Terpulang kepada skala perniagaan online anda, jika besar ... salah satu perlu dikorbankan. Jangan yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran!

3. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, mampukah saya menyara kos kehidupan/keluarga dengan pendapatan perniagaan online saya?
JAWAPAN: Mampu jika anda all-out berniaga online, berniaga jujur & sudi belajar dan aplikasi tip dan trik berniaga di internet.

4. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, apakah jaminan bahawa perniagaan online saya akan membuahkan hasil dan menampung kehidupan keluarga saya?
JAWAPAN: TIADA JAMINAN ... jika berniaga se'selamat' dan semudah itu, pasti semua orang berniaga sekarang ni. Kita tidak dapat lari dari risiko, tetapi kita perlu bijak meminimumkan risiko dan kesannya.

Just my two cents :D

My1Stop - lagi laman web seperti eBay & Lelong ... FIKIRKAN SEMULA!

2008-06-12T16:38:00.002+08:00

Salam.

Kali ini saya ingin menulis serba sedikit mengenai baby saya, My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall.

Baby ini dilahirkan pada tahun 2006, di dalam kemelut keluarga Carwin sedang tercari-cari halatuju perniagaan keluarga yang baru dibina. Diilhamkan hubby, ia berkonsepkan kompleks membeli-belah (seperti Mega Mall & Billion), ia menyediakan ruang niaga versi maya kepada peniaga-peniaga yang ingin menjual produk di internet secara mudah, sistematik, dan murah. My1Stop telah 'dibesarkan' oleh si ibu muda BERSAMA 4 orang anak-anak kecilnya - Suatu pengalaman yang wajar diceritakan di dalam satu post khas untuknya. Sistem ini tidak dibina dengan open source software dari mana-mana, tetapi dihardcode dari sifar dan dinaiktaraf dari masa ke semasa, hingga menjadi kompleks membeli-belah maya seperti yang anda lihat dan gunakan hari ini.

Ya, ya ... ruang untuk berniaga secara percuma cukup banyak di internet. Jadi apa istimewanya memiliki e-store di My1Stop?

Istimewanya, memiliki e-store di My1Stop adalah umpama benar-benar memiliki kedai anda sendiri. Yang pasti ia bukan sekadar menempek gambar secara caca-merba, tetapi di dalam katalog yang tersusun dan boleh dibeli melalui sistem shopping cart & online payment (kad kredit & online banking). Lebih istimewa, peniaga dibekalkan dengan online reseller & marketing tools untuk peniaga mempromosi melalui internet produk-produk mereka dengan mudah sambil resell pakej My1Stop.

Ooo ... tempat jual-beli ... macam eBay lah ye? Pada dasarnya memang serupa, tapi tak sama. My1Stop 100% tiada lelongan & sistem, paparan dan tools juga berbeza. Sekuriti sistem pembayaran onlinenya amat reliable dan sistem shopping cart My1Stop yang unik membolehkan pelbagai jenis produk dengan kuantiti yang berbeza-beza boleh dibeli pelanggan di dalam satu resit. Sistem shopping cart My1Stop juga menerima voucher kredit. Online marketing tools My1Stop menjadikan usaha pemasaran online setiap peniaga amat mudah dan dinamik. Program Reseller My1Stop pula menjadikan setiap pelanggan sebagai kakitangan pemasaran setiap peniaga. Konsep teamwork & viral marketing ini yang antara lain membentuk My1Stop dan menjadikannya berbeza.

Kini paniaga amat bertuah, kerana My1Stop turut menawarkan pakej e-store PERCUMA kepada peniaga. Bayangkan memiliki e-store sendiri dengan kemampuan e-commerce tulen (online payment system) tanpa perlu keluar sebarang kos! Wahh! *Walaupun ada e-store percuma, pastinya ia tidak akan sama dengan pakej e-store berbayar kerana peniaga berbayar mendapat lebih eksklusiviti, lebih keistimewaan. Apa keistimewaannya, galilah sendiri jawapan yang lebih komprehensif di SINI.

Online marketing tools My1Stop yang dibekalkan termasuk:

Plug-in Katalog untuk memaparkan produk-produk peniaga di blog dan laman web sendiri (seperti yang anda lihat di bawah blog ini).
Template katalog untuk peniaga copy-paste ke dalam mesej forum atau email.

Kaedah pemasaran viral begitu murah tetapi efisien dan My1stop mengambil kesempatan ke atas kaedah pemasaran ini. Bukankah susah bergerak sendiri mencari pelanggan berbanding sama-sama mencari pelanggan untuk semua? *Di My1Stop, apabila setiap peniaga mempromosi produk masing-masing menggunakan online marketing tools My1Stop, mereka secara tidak langsung menarik lebih ramai bakal pelanggan kepada SEMUA peniaga dan juga My1Stop sendiri, & sambil berpeluang menerima komisyen (win-win situation). Usaha secara teamwork ini jauh meninggalkan usaha mana-mana peniaga secara solo, baik dari segi wang, tenaga mahupun keberkesanannya.

Walaupun My1Stop yang baru berusia 2 tahun ini belum lagi di dalam liga dinosaur jual-beli seperti Lelong & eBay, toddler ini sedang aktif membesar & mempelajari benda baru setiap hari. Dan pastinya ia ingin menjadi individu yang tersendiri dan tidak dibayangi para dinosaur!

* TIP online biz

- Harus bersedia membuat pelaburan untuk keuntungan yang lebih.

- Harus mahu berjaya bersama-sama, dan bukan berjaya sendirian.

A Better Start ...

2008-06-11T20:01:00.002+08:00

I guess I should start with a little introduction about myself and my intent since my first post had no direction.

I started this blog in year 2005 just to check out what's the deal with blogs anyway, and left it eversince. Today, again coming in for 'testing' purposes, and I've realized that blog providers have come a long way. I am a web developer and I've even developed my own blog system (at http://www.myhappyclub.com/) - not yet comparable to Blogger and the like but serves its function. Just a little too busy to upgrade it. I've always loved the idea of blogging but never really had the time.

Nonetheless, here I am joining the bandwagon of bloggers, promissing myself to make some time for sharing the things I've learnt and read about online business, e-commerce, and more importantly, WORKING FROM HOME WITH CHILDREN - a colorful life I've been living for some years now. How qualified am I to write on e-commerce? Well, I've done academic research in e-commerce for my thesis in MIT (if this even counts), and run my own online business (with my hubby), a virtual shopping mall, which I developed myself from scratch - My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall @ http://www.my1stop.com.my/ ... and that's all I've got in my portfolio. But this is the world of blogging and one doesn't have to have PhD to blog, but more importantly, live it and love it.

Do I believe in the potential of e-commerce? YES. Do I believe online business can produce millionaires? YES. And if you think of embarking into e-commerce with a mindset that you'll end up as a millionaire, I wouldn't say 'dream-on!' but I'll say ... keep up with the spirit, the dreams ... and * work your butts of doing plenty of research, strategize & restrategize ... coz WHILE IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE, NOT EVERYONE HAS A HEART & SOUL BIG ENOUGH TO REALLY BECOME ONE. Heart & soul? Yeah, coz without it, you're nowhere near success in whatever you do.

When deciding to do online business, we tend to be over ambitious and see things only pretty. We'd think everything will fall in its place and work like a charm. As soon as we launch our website, gazellions of customers will pour money into our pockets simply because we're selling on the internet where there are gazellions of users online ... NOT!!!

Bottom line is online business is still a business and it follows the typical recipe:-

1 tbsp good product
1 tbsp good marketing
1 tbsp good customer service
1 bowl of enthusiasm
1 bowl of perseverence
a pinch of luck and a whole lot of prayers

Of course doing business online has some advantages over traditional brick-and-mortar business that cuts short your route to success by probably 1%. Businesses need not be geographically bounded, marketing becomes more affordable and flexible, just to name a few.

Disadvantages? There are a few, but only a problem for the weak-spirited. Most prominent disadvantage would be the mighty tough competition where your competitor (be it from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, UK, US) is just a click away. That's what you get from a borderless market --> a borderless competition. * While it becomes easier for you to research others' strategies, others can easily copy you!

If you're wondering whether or not to embark in online business, my answer is JUST DO IT! What to do and where to start? ... boy I've got plenty to share ... in my next posts. Till later!

* Online biz TIPS

#1: Dreams are dreams until you make them come true.

#2: In the fast-evolving & borderless world of the internet where new trends surface as we speak, the creative and innovative will top the league.