ETD: 888 China; E-Tail Software; Top UK Apparel sites
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu May 19 10:40:46 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0888 May 19, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] China
[3] E-Tail Software
[4] Top UK Apparel sites
----------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Greetings.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hi All:
Today I am presenting the e-commerce software that we are using - Miva
Merchant 5. We have been very impressed with it and we got it up and
running fast. I highly recommend it.
China seems to be on a lot of people's minds now - a great place to do
business. Or is it? One of our clients had some unhappy experience this
week which caught them by surprise. Are you doing business in China?
We post a lot about retailing in the U.S. Today We have some stats on the
top UK Apparel sites. Ever hear of any of them?
Tell us about your business, which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site. This is a courtesy to our members who
contribute to our forum, and not merely a way to advertise for
free. Anything to do with the retail world, i.e., supplier, retailer,
consulting, etc. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And
we have a form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first
proposed this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we
often don't know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and
what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
[2] China
----------------------------------------------------------------
For many companies, China is an excellent opportunity for business - both
for suppliers and for customers. At least we like to think so.
This month, one of our clients were informed that the U.S. has tightened up
on import quotas from China, effective May 12. Just like that! No
advanced warning. Well the problem is this client had goods coming out of
China due in the U.S. on May 15. So what do they do now? Last week we
were scrambling trying to find other sources to make the products
quickly. We had to use makers in Korea, India and Pakistan and had to get
rush orders. You can imagine what that does for GP.
On the sales side, did you every try selling in China? Have you ever had
an e-tail order from China? Highly unlikely. The reason is they do not
have that much discretionary funds available, and they can't get money out
of the country. So, forget about selling in China, at least for the
short-term. Unless, of course, you are Wal-Mart or Carrefour, both of whom
are opening up hypermarkets in China this year.
Obviously China is not the only country with such issues. However it is
the largest country in the world, and should be one of the best marketing
opportunities.
George
----------------------------------------------------------------
[3] E-Tail Software
----------------------------------------------------------------
We are using Miva Merchant 5 for one of our companies where we sell beauty
products (http://sophisticatedme.com/) and I have to share our experience
with you. It is a total e-commerce solution that is flexible, reliable,
expandable, and easy to use. It was very easy to setup and is very easy to
maintain.
With Miva we have...
o Powerful design tools.
o Advanced catalog, customer, and order management systems.
o Inventory tracking and product merchandising.
o Order Processing and Customer Management
o Affiliate Programs and Marketing Services
o Integrated credit card processing and shipping calculation.
Powerful Store Design Tools
MIVA Merchant 5, with Store Morph Technology™, provides you with complete
control over your entire online store design. Use the built-in store
template, or modify pages to suit your specific business needs. You can
even create a completely custom set of pages.
Specify the content and position of each component on any page to fully
control the appearance of each page. With Store Morph Technology, it's easy
to insert components from third parties to display additional content on
your store pages.
Simple 'Point + Click' controls allow you to specify fonts, colors, button
labels, navigation bar settings, product layouts, and more. The 'Advanced'
mode lets you manipulate the underlying code for those settings. MIVA
Merchant 5 also provides access to the HEAD and BODY tags, which can be
edited for each page individually or globally.
Catalog Management
MIVA Merchant 5 enables you to build up your online store as large as you
like. The software has been designed with no limitations on the number of
products, categories, or sub-categories you can create. You also have the
ability to assign a product to as many categories and sub-categories as
your business needs.
Product descriptions can be entered with plain text, or enhanced with HTML.
Assign thumbnail and full-size images to display your products in detail.
With Custom Fields, you can enhance existing product information by
defining your own product fields to be shown on the Product Display screen.
Create fields for any form of product data, such as ISBN, UPC,
Manufacturer, etc.
Product attributes can be assigned to define product characteristics, with
the ability to add additional prices or weight with each attribute option.
Multiple attribute display types include drop-down boxes, radio buttons,
text fields, and more. If several products have the same attributes, create
an attribute template to quickly assign them. Changes can be made to the
single attribute template, and applied to all products referencing it.
Inventory Tracking and Product Merchandising
The extensive inventory tracking system in MIVA Merchant 5 allows you to
keep track of what products you have on hand, and can even notify you when
an item is out of stock. Display customized messages, telling your
customers how many are available, or if stock is running low. You can even
hide out of stock products from your customers.
Draw customers' attention to complementary products to help boost sales
with related products. You can assign an unlimited number of related products.
Utilize the upsale feature to suggest a product at checkout, based on the
order total, or on specific products in the order. Discounts may also be
applied with an upsold product.
Order minimums enable you to require customers to meet a certain order
total or product quantity amount. If not met, a custom message can be
displayed to your customers.
Order Processing and Customer Management
Batch your orders at the end of the day, run a batch report to analyze
order data, and even process your orders through your payment gateway right
from within MIVA Merchant 5.
Provide security for your shoppers. Encrypt sensitive payment details with
order encryption. Your customer's payment information is locked with a
pass-phrase that you create, to help prevent stolen data.
Send confirming e-mail messages when customers place orders. You can also
receive your own e-mail notifications when new orders are received.
Notification emails can also be copied to a third party for drop-shipping,
among other uses.
With the customer management system in MIVA Merchant 5 your customers can
create accounts, providing them easy access to their account details and
addresses. Offer special pricing and products when registered customers
sign-in to your store.
Shipping Calculation and Payment Processing
FedEx and USPS shipping calculators in MIVA Merchant 5 retrieve real-time
shipping rates based on weight and distance. The UPS shipping module
connects to MIVA servers to retrieve current shipping rate tables.
MIVA Merchant 5 also provides a number of table-based shipping modules to
help you offer a range of shipping options to your customers. These enable
you to build your own shipping rate tables to meet your business needs.
MIVA Merchant 5 has a wide variety of built-in payment modules, designed to
work smoothly with industry leaders. These payment modules were designed in
partnership with the Payment Gateway providers, to ensure security and
ease-of-use. Just turn it on, enter your account information, and the
payment module does the rest. For a full list of supported payment
gateways, please click here.
For a convenient, one-stop solution, try MIVA Payment. Tightly integrated
into MIVA Merchant 5, MIVA Payment features advanced fraud screening, an
online Virtual Terminal, and order processing directly through the MIVA
Merchant 5 administration interface. Coupled with our world-class customer
service, MIVA Payment offers you a complete credit card processing
solution. To learn more, please click here.
The ability to accept other forms of payment, such as PayPal, electronic
checks, and COD, is also included. If you have your own credit card
processing terminal, you can choose to accept credit cards for manual
processing.
Affiliate Programs and Marketing Services
Promote your online store with an affiliate program. The affiliate tracking
system built into MIVA Merchant 5 enables you to create affiliate partners
for your store, with individual commission levels based on order traffic,
customers referred, or a combination of both.
An online affiliate account system lets affiliates see their earnings,
retrieve store links and banners, and view your program agreement. Track
affiliates' earnings and payouts through a simple affiliate management system.
MIVA also offers additional marketing services, all of which are available
through the MIVA Merchant 5 administration interface:
Work seamlessly with MIVA Mailer, the mailing list management and email
distribution system.
Fully integrated, MIVA Marketplace offers online pay-per-click search
advertising, powered by FindWhat.com.
Take advantage of MIVA Submit, a suite of search engine optimization and
web presence enhancement tools.
Learn more about these additional marketing services »
Documentation and Support
MIVA Merchant 5 includes a comprehensive online Help system, with complete,
relevant information. Each topic is available at the click of a mouse
directly through the MIVA Merchant 5 administration interface. Detailed
instructions explain how to accomplish the task at hand, and provide
information to help you learn how to use the tool most effectively for your
business.
The entire Help system is easy to browse via a detailed table of contents.
Each topic also provides related topics, and directs you to reference
information explaining common tools in detail. A glossary provides quick,
accurate explanations of terms you will encounter as you learn about
e-commerce.
Active user communities support idea sharing and skill building for online
businesses using MIVA Merchant 5. Software developers and store designers
create innovative new modules and templates to extend the functionality of
your store, without limits. These are available at MIVACentral.com, along
with books, tutorials, and training from an array of knowledgeable providers.
MIVA offers expert support and training. Experienced professionals work
with you, on the phone, or by e-mail, to support you in achieving
e-commerce success.
I highly recommend this solution. Details at...
http://www.miva.com/products/merchant/#featlist
----------------------------------------------------------------
[4] Top UK Apparel sites
----------------------------------------------------------------
The top UK Apparel and Accessories sites for the week ending May 14, ranked
by market share of visits, from Hitwise.co.uk
Rank, Name , Market Share
1. Next 11.58%
2. La Redoute 4.62%
3. ASOS 4.19%
4. Additions Direct 3.42%
5. Figleaves 3.13%
6. TopShop.co.uk 3.06%
7. M and M Sports 2.23%
8. River Island 2.22%
9. Freemans of London 2.14%
10. Mothercare 2.08%
Has anybody outside the U.K. ever hear of any of them? Mothercare may be
the most well-known.
http://www.theretailbulletin.com/index.php?cat=hitw&page=58
----------------------------------------------------------------
Links to follow
----------------------------------------------------------------
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
E-Tailer's Digest http://www.etailersdigest.com
Interim Help http://interimhelp.com
Sophisticated Me http://sophisticatedme.com/
Marketing Your Web http://www.gapent.com/myweb/
Automated Press Releases http://www.automatedpr.com
More information about the ETD
mailing list