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August 1, 2011 By

Alternatives to eBay for Businesses

Many businesses would love to sell products online, but for one reason or another, do not wish to use eBay. Fortunately, there are many alternatives out there that can ensure rapid sales and are easy to use. The diversity of function and variety of options of these sites far exceed eBay, and they allow you to sell products in ways that are much cheaper than eBay, and can ensure more rapid payments than the auction giant.

Craigslist – This popular site is a preferred way to get your products noticed by the general population, especially if you live in an internet-savvy community. It’s free to post classifieds on here, and you’ll be able to deal directly with customers, which can be a real plus in some industries. Craigslist is well-known by Internet shoppers as a site that allows them to find just about everything, so even if your products have a very specific market, chances are your customers will be looking for them on this site.

Amazon – Traditionally identified with books, Amazon actually offers a wide variety of products. Of course, most people visit this site in order to purchase media products, so keep that in mind when considering your options. Unlike eBay, which forces you to deal with PayPal, Amazon allows sales to instantly be deposited into your bank account, which means that you won’t have to wait days to receive your money and ship your product out.

Facebook – Chances are, you already have a Facebook page for your business. In the Facebook marketplace, you can list items for sale, and the categories cover just about everything. Since Facebook is one of the largest worldwide social networking sites, you have the ability to reach people all over the world, making this a great website to advertise niche products, for example, or simply to be able to get your name out to large numbers of trusted Facebook users.

iOffer.com - If you enjoy the auction route for sales, this site offers auctions with plenty of web traffic. One huge benefit here is that you do not have to pay a fee to list items for auction; you only give a small portion of your profit to the site if your item sells. You do not have to set a minimum price, if you do not wish, and an interesting function of iOffer is that you can even list products for barter, which can be helpful if you are trying to expand your product line and deal with like-minded business owners.

File under: Business, Marketing, Products & Services
July 18, 2011 By

Exhibiting Your Small Business – Why Exhibition Stands Make Sense

Why should a small business invest in an exhibition stand? The costs can seem prohibitive. However, those businesses that present themselves to the public not only earn back everything they put into the exhibition stand, but they generate tremendous amounts of potential revenue. In any business, retaining customers is essential, but creating new ones is equally vital.

In many ways, an exhibition stand functions as one of the most cost-effective methods of advertising and promotion. By securing a physical locale at a trade show or venue, a business can literally attract people who are interested in a particular product or service. By exchanging information with them at the stand, these businesses quickly build a base of people with which they can send product announcements or service launches. This highly targeted approach enables a company to create new customers at a much faster rate than with more blind avenues of advertising.

Meeting people in person is also highly underrated in an age where many transactions occur virtually. Small businesses may or may not have a large number of walk-in customers. In some cases, small businesses do not even have the facilities for a traditional reception area. An exhibition stand functions as a temporary reception area in a region swarming with likely customers. By being able to physically shake hands, hold a conversation, and generally communicate about interests, ideas, and requests, a small business can grow its sales. This is partially because people enjoy the human aspect of communication, and are more likely to buy a product from someone they feel they “know” than a company which has no human representation.

In this way, exhibition stands offer a competitive advantage against businesses that do not exhibit. This can be especially useful in “virtual” industries such as computer software or gaming. A product display, even if it is as simple as being able to view a function on a computer screen, is far more effective in person than in isolation. Generally speaking, exhibition stands should be staffed by highly genial, friendly members of the small business. If the small business owner does not choose to work the stand, he should send his most affable sales representative to do so.

By creating a positive impression in people’s minds, positive word of mouth invariably follows. Exhibition stands excel in this regard, especially if people feel welcome and informed. If a visitor to the stand meets a friendly representative of the company and is given a short but informative tour of the product or service, that visitor will ultimately describe her experience in positive terms to anyone else she meets. This kind of personal recommendation is invaluable, and will only aid in the acquisition of more new customers.

Small businesses should research local events, gatherings and other business oriented locales to determine the best time and place for their exhibition stand. The question is not whether or not to invest in a stand, but rather whether to do so now, or a few weeks from now.

Resource:

Find out more about exhibition stands at the the Nimlok website.

File under: Advertising, Business, Communication, Marketing, Products & Services
June 13, 2011 By

Why should you promote your business at exhibitions and fairs?

As a small business you understand the need for running tight budgets and keeping marketing costs under control. At first thought, exhibitions and fairs may seem an extravagant activity, but executed well, with the right preparation and follow up, they can provide a great return on investment and help to take your business to the next level.

So, what can you hope to get out of an exhibition or fair?

Lead generation: Perhaps the most obvious of outcomes, exhibitions are a great way of sourcing new leads for businesses, which, once followed up after the show, will hopefully convert into sales and ultimately profits.

New sales: Depending on the type of exhibition or trade show and the service/products that you offer, your goal may be to make sales at the actual exhibitions or fairs themselves. If you have the right product and approach, you can capitalise on the fact that the venue is filled with your core market.

Generate brand awareness: Full of your potential customers, exhibitions give you the opportunity to influence as many people as possible and build your brand with your target market.

Launch new product lines: Fairs and exhibitions are perfect for showcasing new product lines or services and allow you to sell to new customers as well as tapping into your existing customer base by upselling or cross selling.

Access to the media: Journalists are always looking for new industry trends and use exhibitions and fairs as a key research tool. By preparing a press information pack to give to the media (including a press release, photos, product or service information and contacts) you will give yourself a greater chance of some free publicity.

The opportunities are there for the taking, however, it’s no good turning up at an exhibition or fair without the right preparation and forethought. To get the most out of your investment there are several tips you should follow…

Tell the world!: Use your prospect and contacts list to notify everyone that you know that you will be attending the exhibition and where they will be able to find you inside the venue. Using email and social networking are cheap and easy ways of doing this.

Make your exhibition stand eye-catching: At an exhibition or fair, visibility is vital and there are certain elements you should consider:

The design of your exhibition stand: The design of your exhibition stand needs to ensure that you get noticed for all the right reasons. It must convey your brand and product/service clearly and concisely and your message should be visible from across the hall. Also make sure that it appeals to your target audience by using eye-catching graphics and text. Lighting is also an important but sometimes forgotten element. At a basic level, the lighting should be sufficient enough for visitors to read your displays but on a deeper level it can be used to create an atmosphere or highlight certain parts of your stand.

Offer an ‘experience’: Once you’ve enticed people onto your stand, it is a good idea to offer visitors a real hands-on approach so that they can see, handle, interact with and experience your product or service for themselves.

Your people are your brand: Ensure that your staff running the exhibition stand know why they are there, what the overall goals are and how to deal with potential questions. They can be a key differentiator between you and your competitors and so body language and behavior on the stand are also critical, so make sure there are lots of eye contact and smiles and no mobile phones, eating or crossed arms.

Use your time well: The old adage ‘time is money’ is never truer than at exhibitions or fairs. They generally only last for a day or two and in order to achieve as many leads or sales as possible you simply don’t have time for a lengthy chat with a prospect or customer. Make sure you get all the details you need from each visitor and then politely move on.

Follow up promptly: After the exhibition is over it is essential to follow up on all the leads you have gathered as soon as possible. This will keep you at the forefront of your prospects/customers’ minds and show that you are keen to do business with them.

Resource:

If you’d like to find out more about exhibition banner stands you may do so here. They supply a wide range of portable and fixed banner stands to help guarantee a successful exhibition experience as well as buying guides to help you choose the items that are right for you.

File under: Business, Marketing, Products & Services
December 14, 2010 By

Ecommerce Merchants – 5 Ways to Prevent Fraud

Fraud is big business and something every ecommerce merchant must deal with on a daily basis. There are lots of tools and tips you can use to help your business fight against fraud and I have outlined a few of them below.

Before I go into what you can do to prevent fraud, you need to know some of the warning signs of a fraudulent transaction. The items listed below are not intended to be conclusive, but situations where you should scrutinize more than normal.

Possible Warning Signs of a Fraudulent Transaction

1. Orders larger than your average
2. Orders with several quantities of the same product
3. Any big ticket item
4. Any order with rush or overnight delivery
5. Shipping to an International address
6. Multiple purchases in a short period of time
7. Different shipping and billing addresses

Always use Address Verification Service (AVS)

Always use the AVS service that is provided by Visa/MasterCard. This service allows you to verify the billing information submitted in the order with what is on file with the card issuer. You should spend a little more time scrutinizing the order if any parts of AVS didn’t match. However, the mismatch could very well be due to human error or a sign of something more serious.

Take Advantage of IP Addresses

If you have the order information emailed to you, then I would definitely take advantage of an IP Address reverse look up tool. An IP Address is a numerical label that is assigned to a computer by an Internet provider. Let’s use the Whatismyipaddress web site as an example tool. This particular tool provides you with the name of user’s Internet provider and their physical location. For example, if the IP tool said the purchaser is using Verizon in the state of Texas and they are located in FL, then this could possibly be a red flag. The way to use this tool is to have your web site setup to collect the IP address and include it in the order email using the following format:

http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/173.64.201.229.

By showing the IP in this format, it becomes a hyperlink in the email. Depending on whom the provider is, this kind of information can be very accurate. For example, if the ISP is a cable or phone company, then the physical location information should be fairly accurate. The reason for this is those types of Internet providers have a hard wired connection to the customer vs a wireless connection using a wireless provider. Keep in mind this information is not fool proof, but should be helpful regardless.

Card Issuer Verification

One of the least known tools available is the help of the credit card issuer. All you need to do is ask the consumer for the 800 number on the back of their credit card. You would then call the card issuer and ask them to verify the purchase with their cardholder. They will then call the real cardholder directly to verify the purchase. This will usually always eliminate any possible ID theft. This can be time consuming, but well worth it for big orders.

Phone Number Lookup

If you need to do a deeper and more thorough investigation, then a reverse phone number tool may be of help. A site called Anywho allows you to do a reverse look up on any phone number that is publicly listed anywhere in the country.

Avoid International Shipping if Possible

For some merchants, International is big business. It does come with a lot of high risk as some of the tools mentioned above are not available like AVS. You can use the IP address tool though. Ultimately, it is hard to verify the legitimacy of the person placing the order unlike it is here in the states. If you do plan on shipping Internationally, it is best to completely avoid the following countries as the vast majority are fraudulent:

1. Belarus
2. Estonia
3. Ghana
4. Hungary
5. Indonesia
6. Latvia
7. Lithuania
8. Macedonia
9. Malaysia
10. Nigeria
11. Philippines
12. Romania
13. Russia
14. Singapore
15. Slovak Republic
16. Thailand
17. Uganda
18. Ukraine
19. Yugoslavia

File under: Business, Products & Services