Benjamin Dyer

Its all about Ecommerce, IT and Business (mainly) :)

Getting the Formula for Success

Something I wrote for Business Zone, you can read the original here.

I am a massive fan of motorsport, especially F1 which is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of motor racing. For me it’s the combination of individual skill, team dynamics and technology that make these supercharged go-karts so exciting.

However, if F1 is the ultimate team sport, then without the total package even the most talented driver will struggle to perform. When you’re travelling at speeds of up to 200mph and pulling 2Gs at La Rascasse at Monte Carlo, it’s all about the detail, its all about quality.

This is an ethos the Woking-based Team McLaren has in spades, the guys there are totally driven by quality. Their attention to detail is legendary and group chairman Ron Dennis credits this obsessive culture as one of the reasons they have won 168 races, 12 drivers championships and 8 constructors championships over the years.
However, with all the high-end engineering and complex solutions to difficult problems, there is one part of an F1 car the designers can’t control which is the driver. It may sound crazy but the driver is the weak link in the total equation. You can throw as much technology and money as you like at  F1, but ultimately the driver decides how successful a team will be on a given racing weekend.

McLaren counters the dilemma by trying to mitigate as many potential problems the driver might face as possible. Chief engineer, Scott Bain is responsible for the parts of the car a driver comes into contact with; the ultimate goal is to make the driver 100% comfortable and able to focus on the task in hand. For instance, if the seat was too small or the peddles too close together the driver could get distracted and would be less capable of operating the car effectively.

I realise we don’t all make F1 cars, however these same principles can be applied regardless of the business. The issue is that achieving quality results is hard work. I would even go so far as to suggest it’s impossible if you don’t know what you are aiming for.

So I challenge you to think like McLaren. What are your aspirations and weakest links? Where do these interact? Maybe like McLaren you need to examine the detail of every point of contact with the customer. Understanding and distilling information like this is business gold dust and can help shape every aspect of a company, from marketing to management.

Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent

Something I wrote for my friends over at Marketing Donut, you should head over there, lots of great content.

It’s holiday season in the UK, the time of the year every company dreads, but every employee looks forward to. For business owners it’s a bitter sweet time of the year. I am no exception having just returned from an excellent weekend break to watch the F1 in Budapest.

In between the trips to the race track I did what tourists the world-over do, which is to explore. During one trip with friends we discovered a fantastic bar called Szimpla (http://www.szimpla.hu/). The Szimpla ethos is brilliant. When a building is deemed unfit for purpose, instead of knocking it down they take it over and set up a bar. Szimpla, by my reckoning, is an excellent example of how to turn something old and unloved into a business that is both exciting and profitable.

In business there can be a huge temptation to simply consider everything that appears past its sell-by-date as completely irrelevant. I know I have done this many times in my career, sometimes to my cost. This is especially important in the tech market, which a colleague of mine often refers to as nothing more than a fashion show!

We can really learn from this. I am a massive advocate for innovation, always looking for the next big thing to invent or focus on. However innovation should be twinned with a focus on reusing and recycling what you already have. Especially in this economic climate, it just makes complete sense.

 

 

How many calories does the body burn naturally? #fridayweighin

I learnt something interesting this morning that I wanted to pass onto the #Fridayweighin team

The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the minimal amount of nutrients that the body needs to maintain the basic essential life functions. the calories required by the BMR are what the body needs at a state of complete rest. meaning that if you were to lay in bed all day your body would need the bare minimum amount of calories that the BMR requires in order for your body just to function normally. 

There are tons of BMR calculators on the Internet but a quick and dirty way to estimate the BMR is to: 

Body weight in lbs gets converted to kilos so take the example bw of 150 lbs and divide that by 2.2 (2.2 kilos per pound) 

(150 / 2.2) x 24 (hours a day) = 1636 

So a 150 lbs person with average body fat would burn 68 calories per hour or 1636 calories over 24 hours in a state of complete rest.

Cool!

Augmented Reality – The Next Big Thing in Retail? I Hope Not

A lot has been said and written about Augmented Reality recently, so much so that it is now acceptable to just refer to this fledgling technology as AR. However, just in case you have been out of the loop for the past 12 months let me summarise what AR is in as few words as possible: “The solution for every problem known to man, ever.”

Seriously, that’s what I am picking up from the various blogs and articles I read as well as the conferences I attend. AR is being heralded as this messianic solution. From automotive solutions to advertising, medical to media, everybody is raving about it. However there is one sector that seems to be more excited about AR than any other... retail.

The “official” definition from Wikipedia states:

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality)

AR is clever, it really is. There are some amazing uses and applications out there. Currently the biggest use of AR is a set of smart phone applications displaying relevant information overlaid on a map or image of the real world using the phone’s camera. If you want to try this out for yourself and you have a smartphone, you can download Layer or Yelp from the respective app stores, it’s free.

Layar is a real success story; it has raised $4.4m in various funding rounds and has spawned numerous spin offs and copycats. But here is the problem, most of them are terrible. A very large furniture company recently launched a feature that allowed you to design your dream room online. You could then view it via an AR application that involved either printing or picking up a special card in store. It’s a complete gimmick. Sure it was good fun but did it really help me in my quest to home furnishing nirvana? No, not a chance. The technology was slow. It was frustrating to use and entertainment value aside, who prints things anymore?

Another example comes from an online fashion retailer that allowed you to try on various accessories, hats, sun glasses and, quite disturbingly facial hair, all via the comfort of your webcam. It was hilarious fun; we managed to turn my five year old daughter into our vision of a 20th century European dictator, with a trilby hat. Would she look anything like the image being represented on the screen if she really had the hat on? Again, no, not a chance.

Retailers need to wise up. Yes this is all great fun, but when it comes to the important point of selling product, AR is a long way away from being the panacea many industry experts are predicting. I was completely staggered to discover a huge high street brand recently advertising for an Augmented Reality expert to join its team. The same company has no basic mobile offering, a crazy ecommerce strategy and it’s being humiliated on the high street on a daily basis.

In retail, regardless of sales channel, there is one enduring truth. You will succeed if you are accessible in the right market, have the right product, at the right price with the right level of service. This is basic stuff. At the moment, AR for retailers is a complete distraction. Today it fulfils none of the above pre-requisites. If anyone tells you an investment in AR over the more traditional marketing methods will help to sell more product, they are lying.

The popularity of AR seems to be being fuelled by venture capitalist firms that have pumped in a lot of money and are now desperate to find a revenue opportunity. It’s the Virtual Reality of the 90s and the Artificial Intelligence of the 60s all over again.

I don’t mean to sound like a complete technophobe. AR will play an important part of the future as the technology matures. But for retailers it’s not here yet, not even close.

The Power of Partnerships

While travelling recently in India I read about a fantastic co-operative wine business based there. Three rural farmers had got together to build a very profitable venture with an exciting future.

The farmers, while reasonably successful in growing onions and table grapes, were individually struggling to make a real impact. Taking a gamble, one of the farmers sent off a small selection of his grapes to a wine master based in France. The feedback was encouraging but the barriers to setting up a successful wine brand in an area not known for its wine making abilities were huge. Individually the farmers didn’t have the land or the money to even contemplate it. So he got together with the others so at least they would stand a chance.
 
Today those three farmers are the founding members of Vinsura Wine Park which has now grown to 35 members with an estimated 900 acres and a monthly production of 36,000 bottles. The effect of pooling talent and resource not only reduced the initial barriers to entry but has resulted in a thriving business.
 
Going into a business partnership can be a fairly daunting process for all parties involved. In the current economic climate many companies are looking to each other for assistance in building new ventures or offering new capability, as it makes complete sense. In my opinion there are two simple pre-requisites that must be met if any partnership is to be a success. The first is obvious: your offerings need to be complementary. The second: the partnership needs to work for both parties. Parity between all involved is essential.
 
The Indian farmers individually stood no chance, but together they have found a winning formula. The problems they faced aren’t unique. I wonder whether a partnership could be the thing you need to kick start your business?

Get personal with marketing

I read with great interest this week the news that Twitter is getting into the ecommerce space.

In an idea copied from the very popular US-based service Woot, Twitter will be advertising time-sensitive deals via a dedicated account (@earlybird). In a reversal of traditional marketing norms, you will only receive the daily deals by following the account.

Sites offering time sensitive deals, vouchers or private sales clubs have rarely been off the front pages of tech or retail blogs for the past year. It seems almost every day I am reading about a Groupon clone springing up. Even the old man on the digital high street, Amazon, is in the game with their recent acquisition of Woot.

I can see the attraction. As humans we like to feel special, we like the sense of getting a good deal or “beating the man”. Sites like this play as much towards our egos as they do our budgets.

We can learn from this. Why not experiment with your online or traditional marketing or sales processes? Make things personal, spend time researching your customer base and tailor the offering. I love it when I walk into our local fishmongers and they know my name and what I normally buy. I always get offered something special that they know I would like. It may sound gimmicky, but it works.

Technology is enabling us, ironically, to become more personal. Why not give it ago?

Securing Your Online Shop – Getting Started

An article for the nice people over at IT Donut

It doesn't matter who I talk to about ecommerce; merchants, designers or even my parents, security is always something that is brought up. Identity theft, phishing and data loss are just some of the topics that can completely polarise any discussion regarding buying online. Some of it is very valid. There are genuine problems that need solving if you are selling online, but some of it is an over-reaction. Here I will look at the key elements for securing your ecommerce store.

Creating trust

The central pillar to the growth of ecommerce is based on trust. To be a successful e-tailer you need to be completely transparent about being a good company to do business with. A lot of this is down to the design of your site. Reassurances  include satisfaction guarantees, clear delivery times, a returns policy, contact details, a company history and displaying logos of industry bodies you belong to. Use your own experience as a customer to make sure your site is up to scratch and conveying the simple message that you can be trusted. 

However you must also comply with data security regulations.

The compliance challenge

In 2008 the retailer Cotton Traders suffered an attack on its online operation. It lost thousands of customers’ details including their credit card data. Cotton Traders, like many other traditional high street brands, has used the online channel to support its existing retail and mail order businesses. However when a company with a turnover of £50m suffers an attack of this magnitude, it’s easy to wonder what chance the smaller guy has.

The answer to the problem came from the banks (who are of course ultimately responsible) in the form of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

According to the Security Standards Council, PCI DSS is “a set of 12 requirements designed to secure and protect customer payment data”. Complying with PCI is a fairly complex procedure, the rule book is huge and understanding it correctly is no easy task. However to take online card data you have to be compliant, so how does an online merchant achieve this? Thankfully there is a simple answer: make it someone else’s problem.

The UK has a number of Payment Service Providers (PSPs). I am sure everyone has heard of PayPal and WorldPay, my company also has one, Actinic Payments. To become PCI-legal a merchant simply has to use a compliant PSP. This way, when a customer purchases from your online store they are transparently forwarded to the PSP who takes the payment. This means the all important card data is held on an ultra-secure and most importantly compliant infrastructure. None of the payment card data is held on your server. If you get hacked, at least you won’t be giving any payment data away.

Fighting fraud

Make sure that your PSP supports 3D Secure, AVS (address verification), CV2 (3 digits on back of a card), preferably one of the independent fraud checking services, as well as being PCI compliant. Once you have security in operation, mention it on your website to give extra reassurance to customers.

You can help yourself too. Look out for these fraud indicators:
  • Using the most expensive shipping method
  • Choosing the most expensive products
  • Using free email addresses such as Yahoo or Hotmail and mobile numbers.
In addition you can check whether an order is fraudulent by asking for a fax of a copy of the back strip of the credit card; asking for proof of name and address to be faxed; or you can telephone to make sure that the number is genuine. Most fraudsters give up at the first hurdle.

Summary

Cyber crime, like ecommerce, is a growing industry  And today it is the preserve of highly competent and mostly foreign criminals motivated by financial gain. Securing your online store and complying with regulation isn’t a nice to have, it’s essential.

Choosing Your Ecommerce Infrastructure

An article for IT Donut

As reliance on web sales grows, many merchants are finding that their current ecommerce platform, or set of services may not be as scalable as they initially imagined. Many merchants originally began with very low cost solutions. While this is completely appropriate for the startup, the growing merchant needs the capability to scale, both with the software they have chosen and the related eco-system of services. 

Choosing the right architecture (or service provider) for the long term is a difficult task. I speak to hundreds of merchants and web designers and the story is the same: it’s not easy. The biggest challenge is to base a decision on both the current requirements, plus the often ambitious plans for the future. The key is affordable scalability.

So, what are ecommerce services? The simple answer is, they are the supporting infrastructure you need to sell online:

● Hosting
● Support
● Integrations - Payments, accounting, stock control, etc
● Compliance – PCI DSS, Data Protection Act, Distance Selling Directive, etc

There are many ecommerce packages that can offer you everything from one source. My company, offers a hosted product (Actinic Express) as well as desktop applications, and there are many others. The advantage of taking a web-based option means the technology is not your problem; everything you need to sell online is provided. This is often the way many merchants get started. After all ecommerce can be fairly confusing, especially for traditional retailers moving into this space. However, as I said before, will it grow with you and cope with whatever you throw at it?

Hosting and support

Choosing the right hosting is one of the most important decisions an e-tailer can make. Any store, regardless of the features, will live or die by its hosting. To put this into context, your store is only as good as it’s capability to handle its peak traffic, e.g. before Christmas. Slow loading, or worse, an unresponsive site is a quick way to be ignored by potential and existing customers. The problem also affects your SEO. If your site is slow your search engine ranking will tumble because Google now penalises poor response speed in its algorithm. Likewise when you are just starting out, you must keep costs low. Unfortunately, the two objectives contradict each other. So my tips are:

  1. Look for a host that knows about ecommerce; not just as a cheap after thought, but one that has a detailed knowledge of what it takes to keep your site running.
  2. Packages are important. A good host will be able to upgrade or downgrade your infrastructure requirements quickly and easily.
  3. Pick a host that is local to your core demographics. It might seem cheaper to rent that box in the USA, but if your customers are in the UK expect trouble.
  4. When it all goes wrong you need to know things can be put right and quickly. All hosts, regardless of how good they are, suffer downtime. It’s what they do when there is an outage that's important. So check the service agreement for  their guaranteed response time.
  5. Support is critical. Nothing beats picking up the phone and talking to someone that knows what they are doing.
Payments

The ability to take payments online is another critical ecommerce service all e-tailers require. In the UK there are many PSPs (Payment Service Providers) ranging from the ubiquitous PayPal to our own Actinic Payments and long-standing companies like WorldPay. Most share a number of features so check for differentiators such as anti-fraud services and the level of integration with your ecommerce package. 

Every online merchant regardless of size should accept PayPal; the barriers for getting started are low and potential customers like and trust the brand. However, when a merchant grows, cost considerations need to be evaluated. As a rule of thumb PayPal charges its merchants 3% per transaction. While this doesn't sound a lot when you are turning over a small amount, as your store grows this becomes a big issue. 

Data security

Likewise with compliance, the UK has a fairly strict set of rules for handling card data known as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). My theory has always been to keep things simple: make it someone else’s problem. By using a compliant PSP your ecommerce store never sees customer card data.

In conclusion

Ecommerce services are the lifeblood of a successful store. The absolute top performers all have the same things in common. They are responsive and most importantly safe. Choosing the correct services for your store may mean the difference between success or failure, so it’s well worth considering carefully.

How to accept payments online

Something I wrote for IT Donut.

In my job I come into contact with a lot of ecommerce businesses and the range of sites is quite staggering in terms of both products and company size. However there is one common factor: they all have to be able to take card payments.

Accepting payments online can be a fairly daunting process, especially for the first time merchant. There is a lot of jargon, bureaucracy and confusion about how to get started. In this article I’ll attempt to demystify the topic.

PayPal

In the 12 years since its launch PayPal has become one of the most successful online businesses of all time. There is huge trust in the brand and most importantly it’s incredibly simple to set up. To me, every merchant, regardless of size, should accept payments via PayPal. Independent research has indicated it may also increase orders by as much as 10%.

There is a downside however: the fees. As a rule PayPal charges 3% per transaction. This may not sound a lot when you are starting out it can become fairly painful in the long run, especially if you are successful.

Merchant accounts and PSPs

Eventually everyone selling online will want to take more control and accept card transactions directly. If you want your bank to handle your card transactions the starting point is an Internet Merchant Account (IMA). Many people selling online come from a traditional retail environment and may already have a merchant account. First step is to contact your existing bank as often this is the quickest and most cost effective way.

Once you are set up with an IMA the next step is to sign up with a Payment Service Provider ( PSP). Well known companies include RBS WorldPay, Sage Pay and my own company’s Actinic Payments.

The PSP is the bridge between your online store and your bank. Think of it as an electronic till. Check how well a PSP will integrate into your ecommerce solution and whether it offers additional services such as anti-fraud.

PCI DSS

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a worldwide standard created to help prevent credit card fraud and has become a requirement for anyone that holds, processes, or exchanges cardholder information. If you are taking online payments, or holding card data somewhere you have to be compliant. Breaching this standard carries heavy fines that, if enforced, would put the majority of small companies out of business.

However PCI DSS needn’t be a huge hurdle. If you are using a PSP, it has to be compliant, not you. Then a customer shopping at your site is transferred seamlessly over to the PSP to input card data and take payment. The PSP has all the headaches of compliance and your ecommerce system holds no sensitive data.

Conclusion

Taking payments online doesn't need to be complex, the process itself is rather simple but it’s important you get it right. Depending on the size of your operation there is a solution that will fit. Isn’t it time your electronic till started ringing?

Do you really know what you want?

Something I wrote for my friends over at Business Zone

Recently I have become completely obsessed with usability. For my day job I am a product guy, my company produces ecommerce software, so the decisions I make have some fairly huge implications for our user-base, both new and old. So with all that in mind you might think my new found obsession is a good thing? Well it is, largely, but I have discovered a downside.

We all broadly know what we want, like and expect from things. My views on what makes something good or bad are probably completely different from yours and we often get it wrong. As an example my wife dragged me to the cinema last week to see a film she has been talking about for months, I didn’t want to go and had already decided it would be rubbish. Turns out I was wrong and I really enjoyed it.

 

It’s good to have opinions. If you are a product company then getting your customers’ views into the melting pot are essential. However there is a catch; generally people don’t really know exactly what they want.

 

Let me give you an example. I am sure most of us remember the Ford Scorpio, a car Jeremy Clarkson described as “the car that ended any argument as to which was the ugliest on the road”. However Ford did its research; it asked focus groups to comment on and review early designs. Ford even specifically targeted customers of the more prestigious marques for feedback -- after all this was the market the Scorpio would eventually be aimed at. It was a complete disaster.

 

Conversely there have been other examples where focus groups have got it completely wrong and the product has gone on to be a huge success. The hit show 24 was universally panned by reviewers during pre-air screenings as people just didn’t get the concept. 24 went on to be one of the most popular TV dramas of all time.

 

So can we trust our opinions, customers and focus groups at all, isn’t it just a complete waste of time?

 

Thankfully not. The key is to ask the right questions and make sure you know how to interpret the answers correctly. The Scorpio was technically brilliant but failed as a product due to the simple reason Ford left its comfort zone and asked the wrong people the wrong questions (OK I grant you it was horrifically ugly as well). Ford proved the point: there is a gulf of difference between discussing an imaginary product and using it in real life.

 

My advice, if you have a great idea then stick with it. Talk to your customers and get their input, but make sure you are asking the right questions and be prepared to distil the answers.

 

Are you brave enough to stand by your convictions?