Archive for 2011

Returning an Unwanted Gift? It Might be a Little Easier This Year!

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Now that we are 10 shopping days past Christmas I hope you have already returned all of the gifts that you didn’t want.  I was just reading this article in the Wall Street Journal about how most larger retailers are now starting to ease their return policies this holiday season. 

The article makes special note about how Best Buy has stopped charging their 15% restocking fee for certain items.  I think this is an interesting point because it shows how ridiculous some retailers return policies have been for the past few years.  The fact that Best Buy has actually been charging people so that they are happy with their shopping experience shows how far the pendulum has swung in the favor of the merchant in recent years when it comes to returns. Hopefully in a few years there will be no such thing as restocking fees and other return policies that retailers have in place will be eased considerably.

I actually have a recent first hand experience of trying to return a large ticket item that was purchased as a gift from Amazon which is one of the largest online retailers in the world.  Since the gift I was trying to return or even exchange (I was willing to do either) was purchased longer than 30 days previous to the day I was returning it within days after Christmas I was told that my only option was to return it, pay for return shipping, and only get reimbursed for 85% of the value of the item.  30 minutes on the phone with customer service later and Amazon was paying for the return shipping and I was getting a gift card for 100% of the value of the item but I had to put up a considerable fight and jump through a few hoops to make this happen!   Ridiculous!

Anyway, I think there are a lot of really non-consumer friendly return policies out there that are hopefully about to reversed over the course of the next few years.  Does anyone out there have another unbelievable return policy that they experienced first hand to share?

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Archive for 2011

KikScore Site Down for Routine Maintenance on 1/5/11 from 8:30PM to 10:30PM mountain time

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

Due to routine maintenance the KikScore website will be unavailable on 1/5/11 from 8:30PM to 10:30PM mountain time.  Our apologies for any inconveniences that this causes.

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Archive for 2011

Swami Speaks & You Should Listen – An Excellent Article For SmallBiz

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

We do not usually do this and we are probably breaking an unwritten rule for your own blog about sending readers to another site.  But we do not really care because the article that our dear friend, Shashi B (the Swami!), recently wrote is worth a read for every small business, startup and entreperneur.  The article is posted at one of our favorite sites, Small Business Trends that is run by the small business expert, Anita Campbell.

The reason why the article is so good is it deals with what is probably one of the most important marketing tools for a small business or startup: your website.  The post is titled Top Website and Website Design Trends for 2011.

Please tell us what you think about the Swami’s post.

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Archive for 2011

How to Boost Your Company’s Facebook Popularity

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Most small business owners today are starting to recognize the power of managing their online presence. Having a Facebook page is an important part of managing that presence. But how can business owners gain popularity on Facebook?

Facebook users today have the option of selecting “likes”.  A user can publicly press a “like” button to indicate that they “like” a brand or a company that they support. So how can you increase the number of users pressing that button to support your business? Here are a few tips to help make your company more popular on Facebook:

-Make sure your audience and former customers know that your company has a Facebook page. Obvious, I know. A recent study by DDB Worldwide and Opinionway Research made this concept even more clear and found that three-quarters of Facebook users worldwide decided to “like” a brand/company only after the company extended an invitation or advertised. In other words, your audience is not necessarily seeking your business out on Facebook. So make the first move! Also, make sure your Facebook page is mentioned on your company website and on your Twitter page,  and on any other social media website you may have.

-Keep your audience entertained by posting interesting content regularly. If you post interesting articles or content, your Facebook fans will be more likely to share this information with their Facebook audience. This could ultimately bring more fans to your Facebook page and to your business.

-Encourage your audience not only by posting interesting content but by eliciting their feedback and then responding accordingly. Your fans will be more likely to submit feedback if they think you’re actually reading their feedback and responding to it.

-Reward your Facebook fans with special offers posted only through your Facebook page.

-Don’t overwhelm fans of your Facebook page with constant messages. After awhile, they may stop reading them or even remove your company as a “like”.

What are some other ways to boost your company’s Facebook popularity? What has worked for you? What hasn’t worked?

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