Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`m getting curiouser and curiouser, as Alice once said, about Web sites and online selling. Is it really and truly unique, as a medium, never-before seen by mankind?

I like the Web site critiques, mostly because it`s slowly helping me to form an idea of what I want on my own informational Web site. There`s a basic category split between informational sites, and sales sites. Let`s just go with those two, for the moment.

We`ve had massive amounts of discussion, help, tips, and articles laid out on SuN about what does or doesn`t work on a Web site. One major point is that people can click through a site within seconds. Even to leave a store you don`t like takes a minute or so, walking through the door.

The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that today`s Web sites are akin to the old mail-order business, started with Sears, back when they introduced a catalog sales division. Would you agree?

If so, what makes a successful mail-order business? If not, can we make any kind of model for Web commerce that would help us learn from history?

What about an eMail Order Business? I think this would be most successful in this day and age. You will find that more people do their shopping online while at work because they do not have time. If you service was implied toward segmented client based on age and other factors, you could make this work. With the instant change capability with the internet instead of a catalog, you will be able to tailor your products.

Craig - I think the best have evolved from exactly what your are saying. I was always a big mail order person - mostly because I have been a backpacker since childhood and in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, one could not find this type of B&M speciality stores you find today in major cities. Whether it was a small 1 or 2 product company or one like REI (gear) or LLBean for nice casual clothes, we went to these people through mail order. Plus, back in the Delta days, we all worked shift work and the last thing we wanted to do was go shopping on our off days (three shifts - days, evening, midnights ... 7 on, 2 off, 6 on, 2 off, 7 on, 3 off ... it sucked big time, but we all did it ... not whining - for historical purposes only )

The great mail order houses jumped into online ordering with abandon and most were able to hit the ground running, adapt their process-oriented procedures to online ordering, and were successful. The model is there.

Extensive selection, great product descriptions, easy to navigate catalogs, outstanding customer service (ordering, easy, returns, issues, questions, etc) - they did not have to reinvent the wheel. They just took a good thing and adapted to an onlince process. They were already 24/7/365 so no change there.

The great ones were already great at segmenting their markets to ZIP codes, etc. Now, with tracking software, they can do an even better job of knowing what the customer wants - sometimes even when the customer does not know they want something.

Yes - it is mail order reinvented - but it ain`t brain surgery.

R@

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Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

I do believe online retail is very similar to mail order houses of days gone by. One real difference today is that an online retailer`s don`t have to produce printed and mailed materials to gain sales. They also don`t have to provide thousands of duplicate product... after all, the goal is to get the greatest return for the printed brochures that were mailed. Online retailers have less overhead. They also have more competition... Everyone`s selling something online. Either products or click through links on thier blog... which is were they sell thier point of view (also some donate the point of view).

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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

It`s new. There are [probably/at least] hundreds or thousands of differences. Interactivity, dynamics, etc. There are similarities, sure, but I don`t really think they`re the same at all. For one thing, web sites have proliferated far beyond catalogs. There`s global access, etc.

It`s a new medium, entirely.

Alright, I get that the interactive features make it very new. But I think what I`m looking at is that big ol` body of History, where if we can pick up some info out of that database, it`ll make life easier. Right?

We`ve got all these people putting up Web sites that have this or that flaw in the logic. Okay...fine, so wouldn`t it make for a sort of quick tutorial if we could at least borrow from the mail-order model?

Richard`s said that a lot of those companies transitioned quite easily into e-commerce. I tend to agree, mostly on anecdotal evidence. But again, I`m suggesting a model. That means the essential concepts would be applicable, and the added ones coming out of the unique Web interface would be more easily highlighted.

Vince did some good tutorial stuff on how to handle a critique, and on SEO writing (although we`ve got a couple on that topic). Cookiemonster has all that great stuff on copywriting. Seems to me we could consolidate some of the design aspects IF there`s enough similarity to mail-order.

Otherwise, we`re looking at something so totally unique there isn`t any model at all. I have to say, I doubt that. So if it`s not mail-order, what else would it be?

Hmm. I have a book recommendation that contains utterly priceless information on this entire subject. If you do not already have this book:

22 Immutable Laws of Branding, Al & Laura Ries. [It`s a short read.]

Make *absolutely sure* that you get the edition with the Internet marketing/branding section. It contains exactly and absolutely the information you need. You can pick up this book at Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. It discusses the difference between catalogs and Internet sites, etc., and contains numerous tips on how to execute in this space.

http://www.v7n.com/22_immutable_laws_of_branding.php

The chapters titled 11 immutable laws of Internet branding are what you want. [Although the other chapters are utterly excellent as well. This is just about the best marketing/branding book I`ve ever read ... and I`ve read a lot.]

I think what I`m trying to say, sort of talking out loud here, is that we can categorize two types of e-commerce sites. The one is filled with many different products, where the other is focusing only on a single product (or a very few).

People who develop large stores online are doing fine. Amazon is still a leader, and we all understand how it works. What also interests me is WHY does it work? WHY do countless customers all use Amazon as a first choice? No, it isn`t the "branding" of Amazon. They were nothing at first, and everyone said they`d fail.

It`s the ease-of-use, and the constant success in providing to each site-viewer nearly exactly what the viewer was trying to find. THEN they became a successful brand.

An online system with hyperlinking, I think also can go in different directions. Some of those are useful, others not so great. If we could say, "Learn from mail-order catalogs when you start to lay out a new site," that would be a helpful rule of thumb.

Maybe that`s the point I`m reaching for. I`ve been on SuN for awhile now, and I keep looking for those thumb rules. (Is that an expression?) :-) I like having the "10-steps to running your life," or "11 easy ways to have a perfect marriage." LOL!!

It`s my nature....to consolidate, extract, and summarize. Even if I start with a massive number of words.