Mini-Amazon

[NewOdyssey]

I would welcome feedback from e-commerce retailers on a mini-Amazon system which we are developing.

We plan to build a network of e-commerce stores each of which can be integrated into our partner's existing website or alternatively the partner store can be integrated into our own Amazon-like shopping mall.

Customers who use our shopping mall will be able to search for products in all our partner stores. Customer will buy products directly from the partner store.

The aim is to build a network of low-cost hosted e-commerce solutions for small businesses. Each of these partner stores will benefit from being part of our e-commerce network in terms of cross-selling opportunities and online marketing activity.

 

[bob1709]

Sounds like a good idea.Keep us informed.

Are there costs involved in loining the scheme?

Bob

 

[lucygreen]

There are many stores like what you just had said called like Ebay or countersign plans like Ebay .so you must work hard than ever to achieve your aim.

 

[NewOdyssey]

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for the reply...yes there are big players out there like Ebay but we are looking at this from the retailers position.

Firstly, we won't be charging commission on sales - the retailer simply leases the shop from us and can add as many products as he likes.

Secondly, we are not involved in the transaction between the retailer and customer, the retailer uses their own payment facilities.

The idea is to provide retailers with a low-cost solution and to promote their stores through our network of stores.

If you have any more views on this, we would welcome them.

 

[Rolo Tomasi]

In order to pay for a service such as this I would need to be sure what I was getting in return (ie the number of visitors/sales) and it seems to me that in order to generate a lot of traffic you will need a large number of stores signed up but how will you attract the stores in the first place when there are no traffic stats?

Also what is the difference between what you are offering and free services such as google products and shopwiki?

 

[LicensedToTrade]

If I were one of your potential retailers I would also want to know what happens when I am offering the same product as another subscriber. What criteria would be used to rank the product? ...price? alphabetically by retailer?

What benefits would there be over amazon, ebay, google etc?

 

[NewOdyssey]

Firstly, let me say thanks to everybody for their feedback which is exactly what we are looking for as we fine tune our business model and try to generate interest in our proposed e-commerce solution.

The key difference between what we are developing and what is offered by Amazon, Google and ShopWiki is that we are really targetting businesses who do not currently have an e-commerce enabled website. We will host the retailers e-shops and these shops can be integrated into the retailer's existing website.

By hosting the retailer's shops, we can create product directories similar to Google Products or ShopWiki. The key difference with this approach is that the retailer does not have to submit product listings to us, the products directory is generated dynamically. In addition, we will be able to provide our retailers with other spin-offs such as CRM integration and online marketing tools.

Yes, we will be staring off with no traffic but in order to initially attract retailers we will be offering free trials and discounted subscriptions until traffic builds up and our online marketing begins to deliver results.

With regard to the same products appearing in our listings from different retailers, we would envisage products appearing in price order but the listings will be sortable by any other relevant criteria.

 

[anandp]

I've been long waiting for Amazon Webstore (http://webstore.amazon.com/Pricing-Bundles) to launch in the UK as I love their payment gateway integration and fulfilment facilities.

If I was starting a web store (done these before with good success before, though did everything the hard way - though it was a good 6-7 yrs ago now), I'd expect an integrated payment gateway into which I could add my own ID, e.g. Nochex, Paypal, Google Checkout ready stores into which I could use my own login ID.

 

[TotallySport]

Personally I think you will struggle, all your building is a shopping directory and expecting people to pay for it up front. if you sell it well and use hard sell like edirectory you will get people signing up but they won't repeat and as soon as internet reviews get out that will be the end of that.

However edirectory if they got the sales would be fairly good as the payment is build into their system but using your details so its very quick and easy.

As soon as you focus on price, you will lower the quality of the site, and make it impossible for certain people to make a sale, in which case they won't sign up.

Then is you expecting this to attact people who don't have a web site, then your really limiting your cash flow, people that are not web savy may struggle to list products and will need alot of hand holding, it will take and age for you and them to populate the site, their price structure may not be setup for web sites, and if you prices are two expensive you won't compete online, you have to pay to advertise and the PPC will cost a fortune.

I can list on google shopping for free and I can list on amazon for £25 or less, both are well known and have a very good setup, why would I pay you and then spend the time on setting it up?

 

[NewOdyssey]

Taking on board the feedback that we are receiving, we may drop the subscription model in the short term with the intention of making up this revenue in the longer term through advertising once the site gains traction.

Our primary market are retailers with or without an existing website who don't have an e-commerce capability. We can provide this e-commerce solution very competitvely and this will be the only outlay for our retail partners.

In effect, retailers will be getting the benefit of inclusion in our e-directory for no additional charge.

 

[TotallySport]

I would do it the other way round, and sell and ecommerce packaging with the free benefit of an exclusive and high ranking (providing it is) shopping site/directory/comparison site