Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Style V. Substance: Which Matters More?

Remember back in high school, when the guys with the coolest cars got the dates (at least that’s how I justify my lack of dates back then)?  Then you flash forward 15 years later, and those “cool car” guys haven’t moved out of their parents’ basements (and still drive the same cars that they did in high school).  While the guys who had nothing better to do than study (as they weren’t going out on dates) now have good jobs.  It plays out with regularity with every generation — style wins the battle, but substance wins the war.

While substance is the valued trait at work and in our personal lives (or at least it should be), it seems with buying decisions we lose all grip on reality and defer to the “better looking” product or service.  Why am I going with this and why does it matter?  This shallowness really impacts small business and could be a security threat for online shoppers.

For small businesses that want to have an online presence, but can’t afford a top-line web designer, the choice is often to go with a standard design template.  So if you’re selling the same product, but your site doesn’t have the same pizazz as a competitor’s, and all other things are equal (like pricing and product), we as buyers will go with the “cooler” site. 

Why?  Because it conveys legitimacy.  If someone spends a lot on a site, they must have a lot of money because the site is successful, and therefore safe. 

And here is where the security threat comes in.  Just because a site looks better, doesn’t mean it’s safe.  In fact, those same “cool guys” from high school (that are living in their parents’ basements) have plenty of time to dedicate creating fraudulent/less trustworthy sites than a successful offline business person.  So once again, we go with what looks better, and don’t take the time on the businesses with substance. 

What’s the solution?  Well, this is KikScore.com’s blog, so you probably have a guess what I think is the answer.  But I’m open to other suggestions.

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Twitter-bay-zon…Twitter, eBay and Amazon Combined into One App!

I was reading this TechCrunch article today about how Amazon just incorporated a Facebook tab/section into their website so that customers can supply their Facebook account information and then automatically see what their friends’ wish lists are or what CD their friends just purchased so they can buy it too.  I thought that this development was interesting because it is basically the largest eCommerce company integrating with the largest Social Networking company in this way and it could mark the beginning of a new trend.

What would be some more interesting eCommerce/Social Networking “mash-ups” that we could dream up here?  Another interesting match-up that I thought of in this area was the combination of Twitter and eBay.  I think that it would be very useful for people that are trying to sell a product in an auction on eBay to be able to automatically broadcast this auction over Twitter real-time as bids are being made.  To get a little crazier here we could even add an Amazon integration into the mix where users could see live streaming tweets on an Amazon product page of the same item being sold on eBay!  Let’s call it “Twitter-Bay-Zon”!

On second thought, I am guessing that Amazon wouldn’t be too happy about this partnership I just proposed here as it would directly interfere with the current used-item marketplace that they already have, but I think you are catching my drift here.  Are we about to see a major melding of the eCommerce and Social Networking companies online?  I think that it only makes sense and would lead to increased sales, advertising, and users for everyone involved…so why not?

Here are a couple more eCommerce/Social Networking mash-ups that I just thought of that would be interesting: MySpace & Amazon and YouTube & NetFlix. What are some other partnerships like this that you see forming in the next 5 years?  What company could you see your business partnering with to get an advantage over your competition in the same way?

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Pricing in Trust: Baseball Tix and Lessons to be Applied

This week I’m spending time back home in the lovely state of Minnesota.  In addition to spending time at my parents’ lake place, I had the opportunity to visit the Minnesota Twins new baseball park.  Because it is the first year in existence, tickets are hard to come by.  In such situations, you ask yourself a question.  Do I go to StubHub.com or do I buy from a scalper on the street.

Now the benefits from buying from a scalper is that you can be spontaneous, negotiate a bit, and also avoid paying any “service” fees tacked on by StubHub.  So, with these advantages, why did i go with StubHub?  One simply reason: trust. 

A few years back, i thought i scored some great seats, only to learn that my tickets were fake.  So from that point on, I’ve been pretty wary of scalpers — opting for the certainty of getting legit tickets (and paying more for that certainty).  It seems that the same could be said for other businesses.  Competing solely on price is a war of attrition.  But if your service or site provides additional safety or features surrounding trust (or giving greater security that the shopper will get what he thinks he’s paying for), you can command a premium for identical goods. 

I’m sue there were other business lessons to be drawn from my baseball experience, but after 4 beers, this was the most obvious one for me to conclude.

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Elevator Pitching: Better than it Sounds

We’ve been talking to a lot of folks about KikScore these days: potential partners, press, associations and investment types.  They all want two things: (a) a “deck” — i.e. Power Point presentation; and (b) and “Elevator Pitch”  that they can carry back to others.  I’ve already made clear my general dislike for Power Point, but I think the Elevator Pitch is a good thing.  Why?  Well let me list the reasons:

1.  It forces you to think differently about your product.  When you’re working on a service or product, it’s all about adding features.  You’re constantly expanding the functionality in an effort to be the “best” or provide a more bundled solution.  The goal is to make sure customers can’t live without you and won’t stray for some piece of functionality that they may want from another source.  The Elevator Pitch makes you get away from listing out features and functionality.  Instead it makes you describe what problem you’re actually solving.  And if you’re not solving a problem, and this problem isn’t evident from the short pitch, you probably don’t have a very compelling service or product.

2.  Helps you with Messaging.  You’ve got to describe your service in a way that is free from industry buzz words or meaningless technical jargon.  The Elevator Pitch requires a generalist message.  For it to work, you’ve got to be clear, concise and persuasive.  We’ve already thought of some new marketing hooks while putting together our 2 lines of description on our service.

3.  Makes you think of what’s important to others.  You’re so involved in creating the product and serving customers, you sometimes forget what’s important to others (e.g. “what’s your business model”, “is it scalable”).  The pitch makes you think of things that you normally don’t consdier day to day.

Now the only question is how long really is an elevator ride.  Do you have any advice on the Elevator Pitch?

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Vegas: Good For Business, Bad For Relationships

Here’s the situation:  Raj and I are going to be speaking at a conference in a few months.  It will be a great opportunity to talk about KikScore and learn from fellow entrepreneurs.  Sounds good, right?  Um, did I mention it is in Las Vegas?  Did I mention that my wife is not really into Vegas?  I guess she doesn’t mind Vegas in and of itself.  She minds me going to Vegas with Raj — unsupervised.  I’ll let it go that she thinks I need supervision and get to the main point. 

Sometimes what is great for business — e.g. new partnerships, conferences, new channel development — is not necessarily great for your personal life.  I’m not even talking about work/life balance (which i’m convinced is not every achievable).  Instead it’s a matter of value conflict.  Let’s say that KikScore could sign a lucrative deal with a deplorable company.  I would at least think about it.  My wife would be dead set against it — and I think she’d judge me a little for doing the proposed deal. 

So what’s the end result of my Vegas dilemma — I’m going to Vegas with Raj…and Raj and my wife.  Geez!

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Just Say No, But Say It Nicely

One of our main distribution strategies for KikScore is working with partners.  Our ideal partner is one with that has a lot of interaction with small online businesses, or small businesses that want an online presence.

In my day job, I work with with partners quite a bit (or as Corporate America calls them…Channels).  As with any type of sales, reaching out to partners involves a lot of rejections.  Either they don’t have time or the proposed relationship doesn’t fit into the partner’s strategic vision.

What has surprised us at KikScore is the overall interest that our product has received from a partnership standpoint.  We’ve approached 10 different channels and we are in deep discussions with 6 of them.  That type of success rate would get you in the baseball hall of fame (as a hitter, manager or pitcher).

This type of positive reaction has likely twisted my perception.  So when I reached out to a larger company today — with a contact from a mutual friend — I thought it would be a warm reception.  Uh, wrong.  The person I contacted not only said no, but almost chastised me for bothering her.  Sorry, delicate genius.  Let’s hope you never lose that corporate job and have to start approaching people on your own.

Also, I’ll never be a customer of this company.  It’s not because she said no, it was how she said it.

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Ahoy, Matey! Pirates and Business

If you open your eyes and mind, it’s amazing where you can find business lessons in everyday life.  The book I am reading, Michael Crichton’s final novel: Pirate Latitudes takes the concept of war from the pirate’s view.  There are a good number of similarities to small business and overtaking your competition to be learned from it.  To come up with a new business idea, it doesn’t necessarily have to be ‘new’ but ‘better’ is critical to success.

Here’s some lessons that the privateers (often mistaken for pirates) of long ago still apply…

Build a good team – When Captain Hunter came up with his risky idea of attempting capture of a Spanish treasure ship in a far off, dangerous and assumed well protected island, he needed a strong team to accomplish the quest. Building the right team for business success can be tricky, but you can’t do it alone.   Delegate responsibilities that foster team member’s strengths.

Create a more comprehensive solution – After overtaking the treasure ship, the privateers are stalked by a Spanish warship that is more heavily armed with both men and weaponry. The weakened privateers come up with a risky yet tactical solution to attempt to take down the larger ship. Creativity and doing something different with your current resources is a strong business sense. KikScore wasn’t the first trust seal out there, but it is different and more comprehensive than the competition

Overtake the competition – I’m not finished reading Pirate Latitudes yet, so I’m only theorizing here… but based upon the creativity noted above and their zeal to secure the stolen treasure, I have confidence the privateers will conquer the larger warship and bring home the gold.  Obviously in business, war is not the best option, yet clever advertising and getting your business message out there can overtake the competition.   A strong and consistent approach helps.

Pirates and privateers are mysterious, resourceful and have a rather catchy form of conversation.

How is your business pirating through the marketplace?

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

Fringe and Small Business

I must admit, I am a Fringe junkie… the X-Files of the new generation… if you are a follower of Fringe, or Fringe science one can see how an obsession with a theory (or a job) can overtake you.

Let’s take the Walter Bishop of ‘our world’ vs. the Walter Bishop of ‘the other side’… why is it that he within our world is attempting recovery from insanity whilst the ‘other’ Walter seems to have done quite well for himself and been spared the asylum visit?  One could theorize that our world Walter became so obsessed with not only bringing Peter across but also with protecting him all these years and it eventually overtook his entire psyche.  Where the other side Walter has been focused on finding Peter, he seems (at least in our brief introduction to him last week) to be well put together, so perhaps not as ‘obsessed’ with this mission or at least capable of keeping the sanity surrounding his zeal.  An entrepreneur can easily be led astray down one Walter path vs. the other… so how do you keep the sanity while trying to get your business off the ground?

Here are some key areas that have helped us at KikScore:

Organization and Time Management

Know your market/customer  and react to feedback

Delegate – If you have a team, you can’t do it all yourself

Set clear goals for all team members and communicate

Keep track of lessons learned

What are your Fringe theories?  And how do you keep your sanity in your start-up?

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KikScore Interviews Zadyball Creator Alayna Slinker

While recently shopping for a unique baby gift for a friend’s newest arrival, I stumbled upon Zadyball – a unique toy that combines the things babies love best: putting soft stuff in their mouth and having a snuggle buddy.  If only I’d found this when my daughter was that small!  Zadyball is a small company that is doing wonders for moms and babies around the globe!  We are very thankful that Alayna took the time to  share the exciting Zadyball journey with KikScore.

1. Tell us about Zadyball and who you focus on serving?

A Zadyball is a handcrafted toy designed with babies in mind. They are soft to hold and cuddle, and have lots of knotted fabric strings to grab and rub. Zadyball is easy for young babies to hold on to, and it quickly becomes a favorite!

I made the first Zadyball in 2004 when my son was about 6 months old. He had a stuffed animal with a knotted string for a tail. He loved playing with the string, and would rub it to help him fall asleep. Since the string was his favorite part of the toy, I decided to make a toy for him with lots of strings for him to play with.

He loved that ball SO much and took it with him everywhere we went, and refused to sleep without it.

We got comments on it all the time, usually to the effect of “what is that thing?” And, after I explained it, many people said “hey, my kid would like that too!” So, I decided to start making them for my friends and giving them as gifts at baby showers. Other shower guests started offering to buy them from me, and I eventually started selling them online and in small stores all over the world.

Our focus is to bring a little bit of happiness to the lives of babies and their families.

2. Where will Zadyball focus most of its energy in 2010?

This year, I’ve been focusing on giving the website a bit of a “facelift”. I’ve been working on improving the product images as well as optimizing the website for search engines.

3. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about having an online business, what are those?

One thing that I’ve learned is that quality pictures are CRUCIAL to online sales. In a “real” store, people can use all five senses to view a product. They can pick it up, shake it, feel it, throw it, even smell and taste it if they really want to. But, the only sense that is available when buying online is SIGHT. So, what they are seeing had better look good!

The second thing I’ve learned is how important it is to be unique. When shopping online, buyers can view products from all over the world side-by-side. You have to be one of a kind in order to stand out.

4. If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?

Well, I think that to run my business, I’d like to be like Elasta-Girl from The Incredibles. I have to be flexible in order to make everything work. And I couldn’t do it without my family by my side – with all their super strengths!

5. If Zadyball could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

A fabulously stylish mom who wants to have fantastic toys for her children.  Someone who people can relate to.

6. How do the folks at Zadyball let loose after a busy day working?

In addition to running my business, I am a full-time mother of three, so I don’t have a lot of down-time.  Most often, my work is done while they are sleeping. But, my best times are spent just hanging out with my favorite people – my little munchkins, and my wonderful husband.

7. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

Never become complaisant. Always be on the lookout for ways to improve your business and your product. And listen to your customers – they are the best source for great ideas!

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Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’

What Sells a Product: Marketing or Functionality?

In both my day job and with KikScore, there is a raging debate…what really drives consumers to buy your product or service?  If you talk with the product team, it’s the features and capabilities of your product.  Customers are stunned by the available features of your product and must have it.  The sheer elegance of this service makes your product a customer priority.

On the other hand, the sales team is convinced it can sell “ice to an Eskimo”…that regardless of the product, through persuasiveness, a salesperson can convince a shopper to become a customer.   Don’t even get me started on the branding team…they literally believe that the choice of font will dictate the annual revenues.  They may be right, but it’s only for really cool fonts.

Who’s right?  This is an important question, as it really dictates how resources are allocated.  For KikScore, we’ve been working hard on product features and new services.  Sounds like a good idea, but that means we are not applying time and money towards marketing and sales/creating new channel relationships. 

There really is no way to find out the right balance.  Successful products magically seem to have great features, slick marketing and a very solid sales team.  Is it a chicken and egg scenario?  Or do all of these need to exist before your product takes off?

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