E-Commerce in Textile and Apparel-A FUTURE TREND

E-commerce is an exemplary concept in the future of textile and apparel industry. It is playing a major role in the present scenario of textile and apparel industry. It is also very significant that the future of textile and apparel industry is complete only with E-commerce. Diverse e-commerce applications are being implemented in the textile and apparel supply chain. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the capacity to make extravagant amounts of information available to users located in various parts of the world. ICTs also facilitate rapid communication between them. One application of these technologies is in the development of e-commerce to support electronic trading.

E-Commerce A New Concept and Scope

E-commerce can be specified as any form of economic activity conducted through computer-mediated networks. The potential of e-commerce caught public's attention as a result of ventures such as the electronic bookshop. As a result there are a growing number of other Internet-based retailers in the business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce area. However, business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce is growing much more quickly than B2C forms of electronic trading. E-commerce is a new and exciting technology, attracting much interest. It has the power of fundamentally changing the ways in which companies do business. It is having a profound effect on the management of the supply chain. Aspects of e-commerce are much diversified.

E-commerce has a large impact on industry as a whole, including aspects associated with Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in companies practicing electronic commerce. Two basic modes of organizing such companies have emerged. The first is creating a "brick-and-mortar" company, by installing an e-commerce division. The second is initiation of an enterprise as an electronic commerce company (dot.com), without previous organizational links to a traditional "brick-and-mortar" organization. Both modes of corporate practice of electronic commerce require redesign, recalibration, and even restructuring of key organizational dimensions. In such companies, there is also a question of applicability of traditional organizational dimensions to this new format of conducting commerce. As electronic markets and electronic commerce proliferate, there has been a marked increase in scientific studies of this phenomenon.

The emerging conventional wisdom suggests that electronic commerce is different enough to warrant an in-depth examination of traditional organization design in the present global scenario; e-commerce and e-business have increasingly become a necessary component of business strategy. E-commerce also acts as a strong catalyst for economic development. The integration of information and communications technology (ICT) in business has heavily improved inter organization relationships and intra organizational relationships. Specifically, the use of ICT in business has improved productivity, encouraged greater customer participation, and enabled mass customization and has also reduced costs. With the help of developments in the Internet and Web-based technologies, distinctions between traditional markets and the global electronic marketplace are gradually being narrowed down. The strategic positioning, the ability of a company to determine emerging opportunities and utilize the necessary human capital skill is the main aim of each and every firm. To make the most of these opportunities through an e-business strategy that is simple, workable and practicable within the context of a global information milieu and new economic environment is the focus of e-commerce. E-commerce coupled with the appropriate strategy and policy approach enables small and medium scale enterprises to compete with large and capital-rich businesses.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

A new B2B Marketplace – revolutionary approach towards outsourcing

www.dataentryprojects.net - an OUTSOURCING portal that made a new wave online in B2B marketplace. It adopts a revolutionary and transparent approach towards outsourcing.

Ahmedabad, IN - June, 6 2009 - A new transparent B2B marketplace – http://www.dataentryprojects.net is making waves amongst outsourcing industry across the globe with its revolutionary approach towards outsourcing. It adopts very transparent approach to help outsourcing service buyers and providers.

It covers the entire spectrum of data entry and back office tasks which is a perfect fit to be outsourced viz. data entry, administrative support, data processing, data conversion, word processing, web research, typing services, claim processing, scanning and indexing, mailing list development and much more.

“It has attracted thousands of visitors in precedent two days” said CEO. Many businesses are preferring www.dataentryprojects.net for their back office outsourcing over many other project portals. Experts envisage that it will be “next Google of outsourcing”.

The portal works in an awfully easy manner:

Service Buyers - How It Works?

• E-mail your project description/requirements on projects@dataentryprojects.net or post it on site FREE.

• An editorial team will put your project on DataEntryProjects.

• Project alert email will be sent to all registered providers.

• Services providers searching for the projects will examine your project's details.

• If any provider is interested in undertaking your project, then he will contact you directly.

Service Buyers - Benefits

• Service is absolutely FREE. NO Middleman, NO Fees, NO Commission.

• No need to search for freelance service providers or companies. There are hundreds of services providers visiting the website daily.

• Your project being considered by a variety of skilled service providers locally, nationally, and globally.

• Choice to select your preferred provider based on capability, costs and talent.

• All service providers are pre-screened, so only authentically skilled service providers will get in touch with you.

• No obligation on your part to award the project.

Service Providers - How it Works?

• Register/Sign up on website http://www.dataentryprojects.net absolutely FREE.

• Search projects from the categories you prefer.

• Purchase contact details of the outsourcing services buyers associated with projects.

• Get connected to unlimited outsourcing services buyers.

Service Providers - Benefits

• Absolutely FREE registration.

• Free listing of company / freelancer profile.

• Providing verified leads.

• Save time and resources in finding buyers.

• Cut down marketing overheads.

• Build international clientele. Get projects locally, nationally and globally.

The portal also introduces various membership plans that suit every freelancers / companies’ budget and need.

The portal is muck talked in the outsourcing industry and many businesses sees it as a one stop solution for their back office outsourcing which saves valuable time wasted in bidding process.

Source: http://ecommwire.com/

The Importance of Website Conversion

Many companies make the mistake of spending money in areas where it's not necessary. Take, for example, companies pumping marketing dollars into increasing traffic on the website. It's great to get more traffic, but that is just the first step. Now you need that traffic to do something.

Website Conversion Defined

The percentage of total visitors who come to the website, follow through after clicking on the company's desired point of action (POA) and submit information, download a demo, make a purchase, etc. is the definition of website conversion. In an e-commerce application, multiple visitors will add items to their shopping carts, but a smaller percentage will actually make the purchase. The percentage of visitors that completes the transaction signifies the conversion rate for the website. In a lead-generating application, multiple visitors will follow a path that you desire for them to follow (at first), but will not complete the form, download, etc. The percentage that does signifies the conversion rate.

In order to boost the website conversion rate, companies need to determine why potential customers drop out at certain points in the process and eliminate these roadblocks in order to increase sales. Clearly defined POAs, intuitive navigation, and simple checkout processes all make it easier for potential customers to buy, contact, download, or whatever else it is that you want them to do that will lead to a sale.

Point of Action

Basically, the POA on your website is what you want visitors to do initially. Many websites will have more than one POA, so POAs are further broken down into primary, secondary, and even tertiary POAs. A primary POA (usually the most profitable action for a user to take) might be completing a purchase on the site while a secondary POA might be signing up for the site's email newsletter announcing weekly specials. As a general rule, the marketing department (not the web designers) in consultation with sales should decide what the primary and secondary POAs will be.

Some websites have no clear POA and mainly serve as 'brochure-ware.' If a website doesn't have clear POAs that guide users toward taking specific, valuable actions, those users are of course less likely to become purchasers.

Take Rate

The number (or percentage) of visitors who show interest in your POA (i.e. click on a link to visit the site's contact form), comprise your take rate. Say a B2B website is highlighting its downloadable demo as its POA; a visitor might click on that link to get to a download page. Whether or not they actually follow through with the download has no bearing on the take rate - the take rate merely demonstrates that there was enough interest for them to take the POA.

On an e-commerce site, for instance, a visitor who adds a product to his shopping basket has taken the first step toward the company's desired POA, but the potential purchaser may not complete the transaction.

There are many ways to improve the take rate of a website. One of the biggest ways is to simply make it very clear to visitors, on every page of your site, what you want them to do. Whether this is to purchase, to contact, to download, to sign up, or any number of other actions, make it clear and prominent for the visitor. No matter where they are on your site when they decide they are ready to take that POA, your site should make it easy for them to do so.

Website Conversion Rate

The actual website conversion rate is the ratio equal to the number of people who actually convert on the site versus the overall number of visitors to the site for a given period. If, for example, 3 out of every 100 visitors to your B2B site filled out a contact form (and that form was your only POA) your website conversion rate would be 3%.

Obviously, improving your take rate will also improve your conversion rate, since more people will be coming to the form, download page, purchase page, etc. But there are many things you can do to increase the likelihood that people will convert after they have taken the initial POA. Keeping contact forms short and only asking for the minimal information you need is one way. Having a prominent and clear privacy policy or encryption policy can also help. The important thing to recognize is that a large number of people who demonstrate an interest in your products or services by clicking on your POA may not follow thorough, and it is important to determine why and to remove those obstacles.

Putting it Together

There are literally thousands of elements you can change on your website to increase both your take rate and website conversion rate. A/B testing has long been used to determine how changing certain variables affects the conversion and take rates. However, this method is limited to testing one variable at a time if you want to gather the granular metrics from each slight modification. Today, with more sophisticated testing software packages available, multivariate testing, which enables you to test many variables at the same time while still seeing granular results, is becoming more common. Common tests include changing color schemes, tweaking various aspects of navigation, copy, and POAs have all been proven to maximize the take rate, website conversion rate, and subsequently, your revenue and bottom line. Website conversion is all about your visitors - appeal to their needs and desires in a logical, concise way, and you'll see your rates improve.

Source: http://www.techlinks.net/

Mobile eCommerce - success means doing it right

The promise, hype and expectation of South African eCommerce fulfillment, fuelled by the realisation that online procurement and supply-chain management could potentially trim costs and improve customer relationships, even after 10 years has fallen short.

In 2007, World Wide Worx study of internet shopping, predicted a contribution of at least 20% to the holiday shopping spend and that the trend showed that consumers were beginning to gain confidence in online gift shopping specifically.

Two years later and South Africa has still not perfected the formula nor managed to successfully bring online purchases mainstream. Approximately only half of the current internet users shop online. It is still very much a developing market with statistics predicting that internet usage figures alone are set to grow by a further 13% during 2009, providing some hope that with it, so will online shopping. Although online browsing has increased significantly with consumer's easily performing product price comparisons, most purchases are still taking place offline.

Although it is still a developing market, this year it seems that a new trend is being adopted by internet commerce-potential institutions. It is as if South Africa decided to skip completing the eCommerce cycle and jump straight onto mCommerce. For the South and larger African market mobile commerce would be a step in a potentially lucrative direction as the mobile platform is the most accessible form of internet access on the continent.

But how successful can this channel be if we consider that we've hardly scratched the surface on eCommerce?

Obstacles faced in eCommerce

Up to 2003 the biggest obstacle to eCommerce was the lack of a robust online payment platform and costs involved to create bespoke commerce solutions put many companies off from investing in developing this on their websites. Six years later the complications have finally mostly been ironed out, but the hesitation to leverage these systems still remains.

Bandwidth was another technical barrier, which also mostly lead to shopping carts and payment systems that were in place to time-out, leaving would be purchasers with the fear that their credit card would be doubly charged.

From the design and usability side, commerce websites in South Africa are not up to the commonly accepted Western Standards. When a website is not user-friendly and simple to navigate, drop-off rates are high, which result in the site not generating enough revenue.

Some companies also encountered delivery issues, and with the era of instant gratification for those individuals that were already net savvy, waiting for up to six weeks versus immediate satisfaction of store purchase was no contest.

Although by no means the only obstacles, having learnt from these, how can we make both eCommerce and mCommerce a success, and can we do this jointly?

Development considerations for e+mCommerce

It is hugely important to ensure that a website is initially built correctly. Don't have an add-on wish list for later, unless you are 200% sure that all the ‘wish-list' components will work with the existing website functionality. For example some might develop commerce functionality, but consider mobile commerce functionality as an afterthought. Ideally if the site is created on a XHTML platform, it would not require a full redevelopment at a later stage and could save companies fortunes.

Consult with usability and conversion experts and conduct user-group testing on the platform to ensure that it can cater to both ‘newbies' and ‘techperts'.

Ensuring that your website has a robust and simple ‘shopping cart' will minimise the purchase drop-off rates. One does not need to invest in bespoke carts to achieve this. There are many “off-the-shelf” products that cater to this and won't break the bank. By using “off-the-shelf” products can save up to 35% on maintenance and license fees alone. Commerce software products that have proven functionality include Magento, OSCommerce and Zend Cart.

Achieving success through Mobile Commerce

Mobile Commerce,, or mCommerce, include applications and services that are accessible from internet-enabled mobile devices (cellphones).

Mobile is the most accessible form of internet access on the African continent, therefore products and services in theory have a much wider chance for adoption if they are accessible through this platform.

Achieving success in mCommerce as with eCommerce very much relies on a sound technical structure. Making your website mobile friendly does not necessarily mean that you need to build an entirely separate website primarily for mobile. It is of course ideal to own a .mobi in addition to the .com or .co.za domain extensions indicating that your website is focussed and viewable on a mobile device.

There are dedicated mobi search engines, which can be utilised from both the desktop as well as mobile device. As with websites ensuring the structure is accessible by these search engines will also ensure that you gain increased visibility. XHTML hierarchies have ensured that both desktop and mobile search engines are easily able to read the content and classify it. Also, the website should automatically be enabled to transform itself to the mobile screen if developed in this coding structure.

Understanding mobile devices and their capabilities to render this structure is of vital importance. Ensure that it is compatible with the most prevalent cellphones and that updates for new phones could easily be implemented.

As with most things online, the marketing would be the biggest factor in achieving success. Comprehensive campaigns including press articles, social media and search are the primary channels to use to increase adoption rate.

FormFunction Digital Consultants Pty Ltd is one of the leading digital exploration and implementation companies in South Africa and takes pride as a strategic consulting business first and foremost. Understanding and hands-on experience with various web and social application platforms, successful eCommerce websites deployment in technologies including Magento, OSCommerce and Zend, and experience as one of the first agencies to create an iPhone application make them a natural forerunner in the field of mobile commerce in South Africa.

To understand how your company could potentially benefit from creating an eCommerce or mCommerce presence, contact FormFunction to arrange an objective and informative consulting meeting.

Source: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/16/36419.html

TAITRA Features Recession Beating Global B2B Tools on Taiwantrade

TAIPEI, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) features recession beating B2B tools on Taiwantrade. Designed to meet the rapidly changing requirements of global trading during challenging times, Taiwantrade provides instant access to B2B commerce tools to international small and medium enterprises who are members. Taiwantrade is going to launch a promotion to offer free memberships and elite bonus to all worldwide suppliers and buyers next week.

Essential tools include an electronic bulletin board showcases numerous buy and sell business opportunities posted by Taiwantrade members from around the world, and alerts for new products, biz exchange trade leads, new suppliers, special offers, and trade-related news. Taiwantrade also provides an extensive business and trade database. A personalized homepage will highlight exactly the information that was specified while signing up as a member.

Taiwanese companies play a major global role in supplying the world’s requirements in sectors such as electronics, communications, computers, auto parts, and motorcycles. Associations representing these industries work closely with Taiwantrade to enable global buyers and suppliers to obtain the latest information on products and manufacturing services offered by these Taiwanese enterprises.

In 2008, TAITRA organized 28 international trade shows, provided services to 10,072 local and foreign exhibitors. TAITRA updated a domestic suppliers' database that features more than 240,000 companies, and established a foreign buyers' database that includes more than 1.12 million companies. TAITRA provided enterprise-portal services over 30,000 companies, compiled 240,000 pieces of new electronic product catalogs, initiated 706,600 trade leads, and racked up 7,668,176 visits to the Taiwantrade and TAITRA websites. TAITRA also sponsored 68 promotional seminars concerning eMarketing, increased foreign company members by 27,364, and organized 23 international online trade shows. Plus, TAITRA arranged 915 purchasing tours for foreign buyers to come to Taiwan.

Mr. Yuen-Chuan Chao, the President and CEO of TAITRA stated that “The e-Procurement Site service of Taiwantrade helped foreign buyers and sellers create 54 global business transactions in 2008, of which value reached up to US$800 million. We are redoubling our efforts in 2009 to overcome the challenges of the difficult times. Taiwantrade is a major component in our strategies.”

With the B2B commerce tools on Taiwantrade, it has never been easier for worldwide buyers and sellers to locate online vital global trade information that exponentially increases business opportunities.

About Taiwantrade

Taiwantrade is an interactive e-business portal designed to provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with immediate access to B2B e-commerce activities, and to help them gain a digital edge over their competitors worldwide. Backed by a wealth of trade promotion resources and strong support from different trade and industry associations, e-marketplaces, and popular trade websites, Taiwantrade offers the utmost online trade and promotion services. Taiwantrade is sponsored by the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and administered by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council.

Source: http://www.businesswire.com

Financial Times launches new B2B direct marketing campaign

The Financial Times is launching a new B2B direct marketing campaign designed to target media planners and buyers in the EMEA region, in conjunction with Touch DDB and DDB London. The campaign entitled ‘A Complete Spotter’s Guide to the World’s Most Elusive Breeds’ will launch with a teaser email on 30 April, followed by a direct mail pack on 6 May and a refreshed media toolkit at www.ft.com/advertising.

The direct mail brings to life how media planners and buyers can more effectively target an elusive high value audience using a combination of advertising space in FT print and online products. With a bird spotting theme, a guide profiles six audience ‘breeds’ – including the high net worth individual, the business decision maker, the entrepreneur, the client facing professional, the financial professional and the opinion leader.

A pack with the guide and an FT branded pair of binoculars will be sent to approximately 300 existing contacts while the guide will also be delivered separately to 1,000 further recipients.

Caroline Halliwell, Director of Brand & B2B Marketing at the Financial Times, said: “The campaign has been created to position the FT as the most effective and efficient route to reach the world’s most influential and affluent people. That’s why the FT is such an important media choice for advertisers.”

Guy Bradbury, executive creative director at Touch DDB, added: “Communicating with media buyers, the savvy and difficult to reach audience, can be a real challenge but with this piece we’ve really hit the nail on the head, creating something memorable, amusing and demonstrative that the FT is the smartest way to reach high-quality audiences for a wide range of products. This idea was all about creating something pertinent to media buyers, something they would keep referring to but also enjoy reading and in doing so consider the FT more often.”

The newly designed FT online media toolkit created by OneBite will feature a free trial subscription to FT.com which will allow agencies to sign up to email bulletins and keyword alerts on their clients, competitors and industry sectors. It will also include case studies, research, audience information, product highlights and information about FT strategic solutions and digital innovations.

Source: http://mnilive.com/?p=3272