week 3 - E Commerce

E commerce is the boom these days mann. okay the past years.. some of my friends are into it, and some enjoy spamming my mail to advertise their blogshops, trying to get me to advertise them... life has been much easier since i've blocked those. seriously, i dont think mass emailing or spam messaging helps in advertising one's business site. i think what matters most is credibility and word of mouth. and of course, most imptly, an idiot proof, easy to use, no frills site that anyone can use!

as written by this guy from this blog

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/17-new-rules-for-successful-ecommerce-websites

he listed 17 'must-have' in an e-commerce site. and it's not anything dramatic or special of out of the world. but instead very simple, and allows skeptical anti-online-shopping people like me to feel comfortable and want to try! (actually the only reason i dont is not having a credit card... but yes..)

what i agree most is pictures. for e-commerce, the item on sale is not in reality. its just an image on the net. the less i can see of the product, the less i can decide whether i want it. of course a 3d thingy would be cool.. but! prob expensive if i can do it myself as the business person. so the more pictures the merrier.

i guess the reason ecommerce can succeed if it has credibility. whether the website is super cool, or there are many products or whatever. if it doesn't meet the IMMEDIATE needs of the people... that's byebye to the site. in the near future, it would be great also if the site could narrow down my 'likes' and 'dislikes' and actually promote through emails or such if there's a new product that i might like.

the reason ecommerce can fail is basically the survival of the fittest. with the millions of sites around, there's DEFINITELY a site that is already selling what you're selling or something of the same 'family' anyways. so yes. there's always that competition. which means if you're a new business person, you'll need to have a pretty attractive site to draw customers! however, for a site to be attractive enough, you must either be a web designer yourself, or hire one. and then comes the problem of spending before you start earning.. and from the site my lecturer Abel Choy sent us, i thought it was hilarious how this company started expanding and growing across several states (U.S.) before it even started earning much! that's like... straight road to bankruptcy please. but yes. i also thought it was funny when the pet shop offered delivery service for their cat litter and took a while to send it.. the poor cat must have pooped all over the house.

i think what's worse though is the security of an online shop. not just for the seller, but the consumer! a classmate from this class was telling me how her friend got cheated after transfering her money already.. and it got me thinking.. yeah.. for an e-business to launch. that's the hard part. because before you have your ratings, before you have credibility under your belt, there needs to be a start. but who's gonna give you the start if there are sites cheating them? hmmmm.

that's my thoughts on e-business. if i did have a credit card, i would def buy stuff online. but only from sites that are established.. (APPLE.) ahhaha. but yes. i dont think i'll have a small blogshop thing because i think its a drag.. getting the stock, trying to sell it, trying to attract customers. but when i do have my own business when i'm older, i'll def push my services/products online. nothing reaches out better than the internet.