13.Mar.2012 Shades of grey, blue and green
12.Mar.2012 E-commerce 3.0
Did you know that e-commerce was invented back in 1979 by one certain Michael Aldrich, even before the first web browser existed? Funny isn’t it? In fact, its mere function at that time was to provide the customer with a form to fill in only to be sent back to the merchant.
Making the move from e-commerce 2.0…
The first real evolution took place when online payments were invented. This allowed a completely automated ordering process which allowed e-commerce to start its conquest of the internet. In the last few years, expansion went uphill and e-commerce has been a booming business since then. However, there haven’t really been any major changes since then.
Surely, you’re now able to store the payment details for later use and every site has some gadgets to ease the choice or checkout process, but no real milestone has been achieved ever since. Even mobile commerce is just a small clone from it’s bigger internet brother, no matter what any hipster or communication bureau might tell. It seems like the world is being stuck at e-commerce 2.0…
…to e-commerce 3.0
But if there wasn’t any progress in sight, why would I even matter writing this article? I’ve seen some interesting changes recently, which might just make the change we’ve been waiting for. The key to this big change does not reside in just one element, but Rome wasn’t built in one day as well was it? The whole change is based on a few elements.
Will it blend?
The first one is the platform. Where e-commerce was mainly hosted on one single server, the future lays within several platforms at the same time, but hold on. Just creating a site and then releasing a mobile version of that site or an application is just continuing with e-commerce 2.0. The real change is to blend the different platforms together, create and unforgettable experience, both for the advanced e-commerce junkie or the first-time rookie. Gamification is one of the terms you might consider looking up. Don’t purely think “selling”, but try to switch to indirect selling. Creating a loyal userbase which you attract and reward is the logical evolution on nowadays web, which is dominated by social networking.
Number two is collaboration. You well your stuff, another merchant sells his stuff. What if that stuff is complimentary… still nothing? Imagine that other guy/girl sells the stuff and the customer then goes to one of your competitors to buy stuff B, instead of buying it on your site… that’s a dumb loss. Why not try to team up with the other site in order to get in more leads, on an exchange basis. The other site is not specialized in what you sell, so why not put your knowledge at their disposal? I know, at first you will have less profit, but that’s something you need to get over. Go and team up with the other site and make it happen in the most interactive way possible (hint: look back at element number one). Another advice: don’t start advertising, because that is just advertising…
Technology
Last one for today is technology. Technolgy to secure, technology to improve and technology to make things easier. It’s not fun, but we are sometimes dependent on teh bigger players to wait for a change. I’ve seen some interesting changes in which credit card verification will be integrated… into the credit card itself! Not kidding! So instead of whining about 3D Secure (Mastercard Securecode and Verified by Visa), just wait a little longer. Why undo a change that is actually providing both the cardholder and the merchant with more security, especially nowadays. The only question is not if but how. And that’s up to the bank and the credit card companies to improve. (good thing @mastercardnews is following me on twitter for this one!).
Technology to improve. Pretty obvious, but did you ever stand still that a computer is just a two sense expercience? It’s just sound and light. However, a new breed of touchscreens is being developed thanks to which you will be able to feel as well. This will be a major update for e-commerce. Also 3D printing technology holds some potential for the future of e-commerce. Isn’t there any university working on smell devices actually?
And now… to the working table!
As usual , this article is a source for inspiration and is just my way of sharing my field knowledge with the rest of you out there. Have fun with it and check back soon for more thinking material*.
*Hint: @nsonnet will provide you with the latest updates and other news!
14.Dec.2011 5 “made in Belgium” e-commerce sites for men
Belgium is a small country, but nevertheless, I’m still amazed about how many e-commerce sites go live every single month.
2011, like many previous years will be a growth year without many doubt for European e-commerce. This means that a lot of sites are finding their way from their development servers to the world-wide-web, ranging from small shops to huge e-commerce application gateways. For over a year I’ve been keeping an eye open, more specifically on the Belgian market. Most of them are startups, which greatly increases my eagerness to discover how they will unfold into success stories. From all the shops that went live this year, here are, from my point of view, the top 5 you should certainly take a look at!
#1 LFM (Luxury for men) – www.luxuryformen.be
My personal favorite, even though I’d like to specify that this site will kind of make your wallet gasp for air. This site, mainly focused on “all thing men really want” has a quite some exclusive and nice items to buy, ranging from a small replica of Tintin’s rocket to the better Veuve Cliquot bottles (and official fridge) without missing the Mont Blanc pens or kitchen items for the cooks amongst us men. What makes it even more exclusive is the fact that the shop is only open to Belgian buyers. Also, the checkout process is funneled smoothly through Magento’s one page checkout system. Suit up and enjoy your glass of Dom Pérignon 1971!
#2 Razwar – www.razwar.be
Born out of the mind of Pierre De Nayer, this site buckles up for a full frontal blow towards the two major shaving brands (which I will not name any further in order not to get the shaving mafia knocking on my front door in a few minutes). He was inspired to create this site as he felt he was being ripped off every time he went shopping for blades. You basically have the choice between 3 razor types: El Ché (precision, 3 blades), Black Edition (close cut, 4 blades) and El Fidel (fast cut, 5 blades). Additionally, you can even take a subscription to the site so you get your blades even cheaper on a regular basis. Whatever your choice is, you will pay approximately 50% less than the regular brands for the same quality, which means you van spend more on luxuryformen.be. Viva la shave-o-lución!
#3 Pirate Parfum – www.pirate-parfum.com
Wowowow, wait, Belgium is not even on the list of countries?!? That’s correct, I kind of cheated a bit here. The company behind this piece of web is based in Luxembourg, but everyone knows Luxembourg is very closely related to Belgium. If you’re on the field and you’re all suited up, you need to smell good, everyone knows that, but what do you do if you have little or no time to go shopping for fragrances in a shop where you almost suffocate in the smelly damps? You have two solutions: you either start considering using ferns or you order your next smell online. Out of 23 different men fragrances, you will easily pick out the right one by using their intuitive fragrance picker and useful images. Arr!
#4 Decovry – www.decovry.com
A true men’s nest is not a true men’s nest without a bunch of design furniture. The only problem resides in teh fact that those design people ask a lot of money for messing around with shapes. The worst thing actually is that everybody will have the same furniture as you and well, that’s not how things work. Decovry basically found a way out of this by launching a site on which you will get a new exclusive deal every week or so. I hear you saying that this might be the 1542nd group selling site and that might be true, but in my eyes, it’s the only one where you might finally find a piece of furniture for your home. Your place or her place?
#5 Econef – www.econef.be
Another one for your place to end this list, Econef will make sure everything stands in the spotlights. You will also be able to impress everyone by telling how green-minded you are. Still not convinced about buying your light on this site? No? Well they have LED and LED is the awesome way of making light, but it’s still quite uncommon to find a decent selection in most of the hardware stores around. The right lamp is easy to find thanks to the detailed overview and the quick selection tool on the left. Last but not least, LED is so energy-efficient that you will save some more money you can spend on more important things, like razor blades or rewarding yourself with a nice bottle of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin!
25.Nov.2011 Urbex Photography
31.Oct.2011 How to launch a (successful) eshop – part three
After two previous guidelines, which can be found here (first part) and here (second part), this is the third part in this eshop tutorial trilogy. This last (but certainly not least important) part will cover the three most important aspects of your shop right after the launch: logistics, customer care and marketing. Read more ›
17.Oct.2011 How to launch a (successful) eshop – part two
Welcome to the second part in this guide on how to create your own online mercantile success story. The goal, again, is not to provide you with an A-Z guide on how to do it, but more or less provide you with a few guidelines based on customer experience feedback and case studies over the last few years.
01.Oct.2011 Random Images
25.Sep.2011 How to launch a (successful) eshop – part one
You’ve probably seen a lot of guides like this one, which is normal since e-commerce is present everywhere nowadays. On the other hand, this one might actually be the one you’ve been looking for all these days. It’s plain simple, I’ve now been an active professional in the e-commerce sector for several years now and every day I face the different facets of these stores. We’re not talking about one or two projects I’m familiar with but an all-in experience with around 500 web shops launched in the past 2 years alone and a personal portfolio containing around 1500 merchants and counting. Believe it or not but every single merchant in this portfolio was helped individually.
21.Sep.2011 Scenery Photography and Landscapes
