Bernama Radio 24 - Shipping Your Products

We're back on the air again and this time Alif is on Bernama's Radio 24 to share some tips on how to post purchased products to buyers.

Alif talked about different methods of shipping cost methods. He also shared his experience on different shipping providers in Malaysia.

If you missed it, check out the show below (it's 8 mins).

Bernama Radio 24 - Marketing Your Online Store

Today we're on the air again. This time Alif is on Bernama's Radio 24 to share some tips to promote your online store.

Alif talked about different methods of marketing, both free and paid, online and offline. If you like to add other marketing tips, do share it with us as well.

If you missed it, check out the show below (it's 14 mins). Also checkout about the new Lot.my features that we're going to launch soon as briefly mention by Alif in the program.

Tips # 5 Don't Forget to Cross-Sell

In your product details, please do cross-selling. You can cross selling by displaying similar and related products to the one that your customer is currently viewing. The good news is Lot.my allowed you to do all this easily.

Customers don't always know exactly what they want or need. To solve this problem, take a cue from traditional retail stores. Think about how they group particular items together so that customers can compare similar items or purchase related products. Online stores should duplicate this practice by displaying alternative or complimentary products that the customer has selected.

For example, if you're are selling Malaysia home jersey, make sure you show other type of items that related to Malaysian  team. You can display Malaysia away jersey, polo shirt, women shirt and more.

Be creative on how you want to cross sell. Here are some do and don't for cross selling.

Do

• Only feature highly relevant items such as accessories directly related to the product
• Choose items that sell well and have higher margins whenever possible
• Keep your cross-sells down to four suggestions. This seems to be the magic number to create interest while not overwhelming or distracting your customer from making a choice
• Whenever possible, show the most obvious choices someone would want to go along with their purchase such as a matching necklace to go along with diamond earrings
• Continually test your cross-selling tactics and work at improving them for maximum effectiveness

Don't

• Never, ever, show items that are not directly related to the main product
• Don’t show items that are out of stock
• Don’t use cross-selling to simply try unloading unwanted inventory. The goal is to maximize your overall sales totals and conversion rates. Unwanted inventory can have its own area on your site such as a Clearance or Specials section
• Don’t try cross-selling big-ticket items. As a general rule the cross-sell should be in the range of 10% to 25% of the price of the original item on the product page

Remember, cross selling is one of the key to sell more!

How to Set Up Proper Total Cost in Checkout

One of new feature introduced in Lot.my is the ability for store owner to setup the total order cost to be displayed on the checkout page. With this feature, you can choose to display shipping cost, discount, sub-total cost and of cost the total cost. Here is how you can manage the display of your total cost.

1. In admin page, go to Setting > Order Total.
2. By default, Shipping, Sub-Total and Total are set enabled.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Please check to make sure you have at least Total enabled. Or else, your checkout page will display 0.00 as total cost as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
4. To enable any of the order total type, just click Edit. Then set the Status to Enabled.
5. If you setup your total as setting above, you'll be able to see checkout page as below.
   
   
   
   
   

Bernama Radio 24 - Product Details and Photos

Today we're on the air again. This time Alif is on Bernama's Radio 24 to talk more details on how to list a product on your Lot.my store.

Alif also shared some tips and tricks on how you should display your products.

If you missed it, check out the show below (it's 15 mins).

Tips #4 As Detailed As Possible

Today I would like you to suggest you to include plenty of product details to your product description.

Unlike brick and mortar stores (shops on the street), ecommerce websites do not allow customer to check or try out the product. Make sure your customer know exactly what they are getting by providing detailed product description. Remember, you rely on your product descriptions to convince customers to buy your product.

Make the product description as detailed as possible. Here is the list of product details you can include

• Size and Measurements
  Always include height, width, and depth of your product. It always good to make size comparison of the product (example: You can fill the lunch box with 8 slices of bread)
• Color and Pattern
  Colors should be described precisely because colors can be displayed differently on computer monitors. You can write "pale baby pink", "medium rose pink", or "hot fuchsia pink" to describe the exact shade of pink. If your item has a pattern, you should make every effort to describe it in detail. You could also display the close-up photo of the pattern.
• Materials
  Your product description should include what the item is made from. This lets the customer know several things that may be of interest before they make a purchase: whether they like the fabric, possible allergies, durability, weight, and feel.
• Options Available
  If customers have a choice when it comes to a particular product, you should make that known clearly in the product description. Size and color are two possible options. With Lot.my, these choices can be easily included with a drop down box. Feel free to take full advantage of this feature.
• Possible Usage
  Customers may not be swayed to buy an item by reading the basic product description alone. A good rule of thumb is to mention a possible use for the item you are trying to sell. "This shirt is great for running marathon!" or "The Enviropurer will reduce dust and dirt in your baby's room" or "The Navi GPS can help you find a petrol station nearby".
• Features Details
  If the shirt you are selling has pearl buttons and a ruffle on the collar, you should tell the customer that. If the stereo equipment has a bass boost and mp3 capabilities, you should make that known. Every detail of your product can help people decide whether they want to purchase the item or not.

In addition, don't forget Tips # 2, to include many photos of your product.

Writing a quality product description is very important. While most ecommerce sites lack articles and other keyword rich content, they get most of their copy from the product descriptions. Write them well, and they will attract visitors to your site, and turn those visitors into paying customers.

Bernama's Radio 24 Second Appearance

Today we're on the air again. Khairul was invited to Bernama's Radio 24 to talk about more about Online Business and  Lot.my.

Khairul briefly mentioned about the advantage of online business and how you can create your own one (of course using the super easy Lot.my).

If you missed it, check out the show below (it's 6 mins).

Tips #3 Apa Nama?

This tips will be one of the important business tips (for online and offline business). Have the right NAME for your business.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." That is from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. Good name reflects positive image as Juliet said.

But good name is not enough. You need more that that. You need a marketable name.

The name must be easy to say and to remember.

Cthulhu, Qashqai and Wachovia are both hard to say and to remember. Bad names stop word of mouth.  If people can not recall your name, they will not talk about you.

This is great lesson for anyone naming a business or a product. If you want someone to talk about it, you need to give it a name that people can remember and say.

That is why only the hand phones with good names get word of mouth: the iPhone, the Blackberry. Sorry, LG VX-6700, I loved you, but your name never left my mouth.

Here are some of lot.my stores with good name.Moleq, Tefta, Secret Garden, Ruang