Video Ecommerce & Retail

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Will video ecommerce be the next big step for retail?

 Ecommerce websites, like all other technology-dependant mediums, are prone to change over time. From being html supporting pages to interactive ones, ecommerce businesses have seen it all. It is now the turn of video ecommerce to propel an ecommerce website forward.

What started as a small trend when retailers such as Golfsmith, JC Penney, Moosejaw and Verizon Wireless started inserting videos into their product website seems to have unwittingly become a potential new wave.

Extended product description

An ecommerce business that uses an ecommerce site to sell its products will now have an additional medium with which to take a product closer to the shopper’s heart than perhaps ever before.

In static ecommerce websites, we have alt texts to briefly explain products when we scroll the mouse over it. In the case of video, description of the product is not only more precise and elaborate; it is almost like a person explaining it. That is the difference video makes to an ecommerce business.

This translates to a major, altogether new way of reaching out to customers in a way that is bound to be paradigmatic. The effectiveness and proximity to the product is enhanced to a dramatic extent.

Huge potential

One real factor that could help video change the face of ecommerce is that it is adaptable for mobile. Taking this a little further, video can play a central part in marketing, like being effective in social media networking and email campaigns.

Will video ecommerce be the next big step for retail?

 Ecommerce websites, like all other technology-dependant mediums, are prone to change over time. From being html supporting pages to interactive ones, ecommerce businesses have seen it all. It is now the turn of video ecommerce to propel an ecommerce website forward.

What started as a small trend when retailers such as Golfsmith, JC Penney, Moosejaw and Verizon Wireless started inserting videos into their product website seems to have unwittingly become a potential new wave.

Extended product description

An ecommerce business that uses an ecommerce site to sell its products will now have an additional medium with which to take a product closer to the shopper’s heart than perhaps ever before.

In static ecommerce websites, we have alt texts to briefly explain products when we scroll the mouse over it. In the case of video, description of the product is not only more precise and elaborate; it is almost like a person explaining it. That is the difference video makes to an ecommerce business.

This translates to a major, altogether new way of reaching out to customers in a way that is bound to be paradigmatic. The effectiveness and proximity to the product is enhanced to a dramatic extent.

Huge potential

One real factor that could help video change the face of ecommerce is that it is adaptable for mobile. Taking this a little further, video can play a central part in marketing, like being effective in social media networking and email campaigns.

What to look out for in ecommerce business

In the fervour of starting an ecommercebusiness, many businessmen tend to overlook some important points. One of the most important of these is choosing the right ecommerce website platform.

The ecommerce platform drives your business!

Website ecommerce is not all about just having an attractive ecommerce site. Your website ecommerce is not just a collection of ecommerce design and multichannel ecommerce. Ecommerce website development goes beyond these.

The e-commerce software is at the heart of your online business. Choosing the right ecommerce platform is often the most important decision you will have to take for your ecommerce business.

What all should my ecommerce platform support?

Never get fooled by what many ecommerce designers offer: an ecommerce web site that has dozens of features, most of which you may not need. Yes, features are very important for an ecommerce site, but you should be discreet about choosing an ecommerce platform that offers what you need, rather than having loads and loads of redundant features.

You should ideally go in for an ecommerce platform in which you will be able to expand your product categories as your business grows, without straining itself or your purse.

Since f-commerce is here to stay, your ecommerce platform should be in a position to accommodate Facebook ecommerce. And then, very importantly, it should offer new features like sms integration with website, eBay store design, e-commerce ERP and m-commerce CRM.

And never forget that since most online ecommerce is now multi channel ecommerce, features like eBay ecommerce integration, eBay listing software, eBay listing tools and eBay design could come in handy.

The key is to think about what is appropriate, rather than what assortment of features is offered.

Visual appeal is very important in ecommerce

What is it that greets a visitor to an ecommerce website? It is the visual appeal of the product that acts as the handshake between the ecommerce business and the customer. There are other factors, such as the look and feel, brand, price and so on, but all those come into picture only later.

Since the visual appeal is the first point of introduction to the website ecommerce, ecommerce design is effective when it is finessed to the point of attracting the visitor.

Make the presentation lively

One of the first steps to success in website ecommerce is to make the product as lively and attractive as it can get, so that it gets noticed even in a crowd. The success of ecommerce design rests primarily on the impact a product can create at first glance.

The skill and experience of ecommerce web designers can be useful in creating such an impact. Ecommerce designers can create great visual appeal in enhancing the noticeability of products. Further, they can also design the navigation of the elements of the website in such a way that the visitor feels compelled to go through all the sections of the site.

Make movements within the site easy

The web ecommerce design could also take into consideration factors like how the visitor transitions in the ecommerce website to multi-channelretailing, if the website offers it. It should also make the switch from one element to another without feeling clumsy. It should lead to the ecommerce website eBay integration, for instance.

The visitor should be almost subconsciously led from one section to the other without clumsiness. Flexible E commerce Software helps carry out the actual process, but the design is the first bait.

Selling common products on the web is a challenge!

One of the challenges an ecommercebusiness faces is that of selling ordinary products. Of course, we all know that a premium product often sells by itself. This situation is all the more true in an ecommerce business.

When the ecommerce site is loaded with products that are not indispensable for the consumer, how does one sell them?

Let us take the example of selling a cigarette lighter on an ecommerce website. This is a product that is used by a smoker or by a non-smoker who gifts it to one. A product like this offers many alternatives to the visitor. The customer doing ecommerce shopping does not have to wait till the particular brand is made available. If it is not, she would move over to another ecommerce web site.

Create the chance of getting noticed

In this situation of selling a generic product, ecommerce websites have one option: They can make the product get noticed. A cigarette lighter can be, for instance, placed beside a cigarette pack. It could also be made to appear bright and exuberant in its display.

Colourful branding is a great way of making a product noticed. In website ecommerce, ecommerce design is very critical. Intelligent, intuitive and appealing design offers the product a greater chance of being seen than one that is displayed insipidly.

Doing ecommerce online and selling pedestrian articles can be a challenge; yet, it can also be fun and exciting if the e-retail wills it.

Offering more payment options makes sense

What would be a greater disappointment for an ecommerce business than to have a customer walk out because she was not able to make the payment? This happens when the ecommerce site is unable to support different payment options.

Make payment options easier

The bottom line of good e-retail business is to offer as many payment options to the online shopper as possible. The fewer the payment options, the lesser the chances of retaining the customer. This is why:

What would the ecommerce website shopper feel like, if at the end of the shopping process, the card she swipes is not accepted?

This can be a big put off. It is likely to turn that customer off the ecommerce siteforever. That is why it is very important to offer more and more payment options on your ecommerce website.

Get the services of more payment providers

Ecommerce shopping is not all about just getting the customer to visit the ecommerce web site in which the visitor goes to the ecommerce shopping cart. It is the next steps that matter.

It is a good idea to be affiliated to payment option providers to facilitate more payment options. Yes, this is not free service, but a small payment which yields enormous returns in the form of more happy customers is a far more sensible idea than limiting the payment options on the business ecommerce and losing the customer for all time.

Offering more payment options is a good idea

What would be a greater disappointment for an ecommerce business than to have a customer walk out because she was not able to make the payment? This happens when the ecommerce site is unable to support different payment options.

Make payment options easier

The bottom line of good e-retail business is to offer as many payment options to the online shopper as possible. The fewer the payment options, the lesser the chances of retaining the customer. This is why:

What would the ecommerce website shopper feel like, if at the end of the shopping process, the card she swipes is not accepted?

This can be a big put off. It is likely to turn that customer off the ecommerce site forever. That is why it is very important to offer more and more payment options on your ecommerce website.

Get the services of more payment providers

Ecommerce shopping is not all about just getting the customer to visit the ecommerce web site in which the visitor goes to the ecommerce shopping cart. It is the next steps that matter.

It is a good idea to be affiliated to payment option providers to facilitate more payment options. Yes, this is not free service, but a small payment which yields enormous returns in the form of more happy customers is a far more sensible idea than limiting the payment options on the business ecommerce and losing the customer for all time.

Make your ecommerce website interactive

What is it that the visitor to the ecommerce site who wants to do ecommerce shopping sees first? It is not the ecommerce software or ecommerce website development. The most inviting part of the ecommerce website is the web ecommerce design and layout.

It goes without saying that the most important component of the ecommerce business is the ecommerce site. This is the equivalent of the infrastructure in the physical store, and houses everything from the ecommerce shopping cart tomultichannel retailing to eBay store to Amazon integration. That is why it is most essential to have an ecommerce website that is not only functional, but aesthetic as well. Creating a good first impression is very vital in creating a positive opinion about an ecommerce web site.

Never keep anything static

Display of products is undoubtedly the most aspect of the ecommerce website. Display goes beyond just arranging items in a proper order. They have to be made to look as real as possible, because this is about the only element that a physical store offers but is missing in an ecommerce site.

If it is a shoe that is being displayed, the ecommerce site design should be such that it should have multidimensional displays of the product. The ecommerce website should be able to display how the shoe looks like from different angles. It should go beyond the display of mundane details such as size, price, etc. These are important no doubt, but looks should take precedence over information. It is then that the visitor can be expected to become a customer.

Ecommerce integration options for businesses

An ecommerce business is sure to face, at some or another point, what integration strategies it has to adapt, since ecommerce business is essentially about integration.

1. What to integrate?

What to integrate depends on how important what you want to integrate is to the ecommerce business. Some factors your ecommerce business could take into account could be where it stands in the industry, for how long it plans to be in the business and so on.

2. When to integrate?

Some functions may have to be integrated at the start, while some need to be integrated at a later time, which could be either midway through the business or at a later stage.

3. How much to integrate?

The website ecommerce could think of integrating those functions, whose lack of integration will hinder the smooth running of the business. Systems that have lesser importance can also be integrated, in the possibility of their importance increasing over time.

4. With what to integrate?

Whether it needs to weigh the option of whether to integrate systems with one another or with the backend is another important consideration for the ecommerce company. A typical instance of some functions needing to be integrated with one another is a standalone retail store. On the other hand, chain stores or those that offer multichannel integration like eBay integration, eBay store, Amazon integration and Amazon web services may need integration with the backend.

Ecommerce integration options for businesses

Consider these ecommerce integration options

An ecommerce business is sure to face, at some or another point, what integration strategies it has to adapt, since ecommerce business is essentially about integration.

1. What to integrate?

What to integrate depends on how important what you want to integrate is to the ecommerce business. Some factors your ecommerce business could take into account could be where it stands in the industry, for how long it plans to be in the business and so on.

2. When to integrate?

Some functions may have to be integrated at the start, while some need to be integrated at a later time, which could be either midway through the business or at a later stage.

3. How much to integrate?

The website ecommerce could think of integrating those functions, whose lack of integration will hinder the smooth running of the business. Systems that have lesser importance can also be integrated, in the possibility of their importance increasing over time.

4. With what to integrate?

Whether it needs to weigh the option of whether to integrate systems with one another or with the backend is another important consideration for the ecommerce company. A typical instance of some functions needing to be integrated with one another is a standalone retail store. On the other hand, chain stores or those that offer multichannel integration like eBay integration, eBay store, Amazon integration and Amazon web services may need integration with the backend.

Don't fall prey to SEO scams!

In the huge, huge world of the Web, scams are perhaps as common as success stories. It is not uncommon to come across phoney advertising messages promising the moon for nothing. These are not very different in their pitch from the ubiquitous mails we keep getting about being winners of a lottery without a ticket or an inheritance from a person we had not heard about till then. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) scams are no different.

Be realistic!

The online business needs to understand that SEO is not something that one can create out of thin air. It is carried out by SEO specialists. It requires the use of social media tools to succeed.

Social media services are applied to a site to help it improve its rankings, but it has to be noted that this is not a magic wand. Many ingredients such as content, right choice and use of keywords, lots of offsite marketing and related activities go into website optimisation.

Once these are put into effect, it still takes a lot for the website to crawl up the rankings and attain higher rankings. SEO can push the page rankings, but only with sustained effort. Even if it does reach the top, it takes a lot to remain there.

Understand how social mediamarketing works

Understanding the working of website optimisation and social media marketing is the key to preventing frauds. SEO scams, like superstition, can flourish only in an environment of ignorance. So long as online businesses are in awe of technology, a fake SEO company is expected to have a field day.

An online business may not be able to prevent a scam at the source, but what can be done is to be knowledgeable about the workings of website optimisation. When you design ecommerce website, you have to make sure the right ecommerce design that uses the professional help of ecommerce designers and has the proper ingredients such as SEO is in place. Only then can scams become less common.

Does customer service exist in ecommerce?

Can customer service and ecommercecoexist? This seems like a very corny question to ask. The answer, surprising as it might sound, is a big ‘yes’. The truth is that, customer service and ecommerce are inseparable twins.

One major reason for which most people tend to think that customer service is not needed in ecommerce business is that it has no salesmen working in a physical store. People think of ecommerce solutions as ecommerce websites on which one displays a product and sells it.

This is true, but only up to a very small extent. Ironically, the role of customer service is more accentuated in ecommerce, because there may be no salesman, but serving the invisible, faceless customer is all the more challenging in the online space.

Actually, the ecommerce company starts customer service much before a product gets sold. It all starts with getting the ecommerce site to get noticed. At this stage, some kind of customer service starts.

And then, once the customer makes the purchase using the ecommerce shopping cart, another level of customer service starts, because the website ecommerce has to ensure that the product is delivered properly.

Since the ecommerce web site has to induce the customer to buy on it, and once that is done, take care of the remaining aspects, customer service, although it does not appear so, is more pronounced in ecommerce business than in the conventional, brick and mortar model.

Should your ecommerce business offer daily deals?

Deals are an indispensable part of an ecommerce business. Any e-retail can hope to survive only by offering deals. This is because a good deal is something any customer would look forward to.

So, which are the kinds of products that can be offered as daily deals, and which do not do well?

An ecommerce web site would get an idea of these items over time, but some of the kinds of products that are suited for daily deals include items of daily use. You could think of items like say toiletries.

A rule, kind of

Your ecommerce site could go by a simple logic: Daily deals are suited for daily items, while they are not for those that are consumed once in a while. The trick is to mix and match that stimulates the sale of related products.

Even products that are not related, or are not consumed on a day to day basis, can be pushed through deals. Your ecommerce shopping customers can be made to buy a pair of goggles that has not moved for a long time, if it is offered when the bill exceeds a certain amount. The cost of the goggles can be made up by the high value of the bill. This way, the ecommerce company does well, and the items keep moving.

Best of all, the customer who gets the feeling that his ecommerce shopping cart is always full is a happy customer, whose loyalty is the best reward for ecommerce websites.

Dealing with ecommerce site crashes is important!

As someone who has been in e-business, you would know more than anybody else that in terms of embarrassment, there is nothing that comes anywhere near a site crash! An ecommercewebsite crash is more than an embarrassment. It can be highly frustrating and worst of all; can result in a loss of face. There can be no bigger disincentive for the shopper than to arrive on a website and find it in bad shape.

Creates a bad impact

Having a glitch-ridden ecommerce site is disastrous for the ecommerce business because it creates a bad impression in the mind of the customer. One bad experience is enough to deter a customer from visiting sub-standard ecommerce websites for perhaps a lifetime.

Choose the right ecommerce website

Most ecommerce websites flounder because they are not built to handle high traffic at one go. So, choose an ecommerce site that has the resilience needed for this. This should be the most important factor to consider when choosing your ideal ecommerce website. It takes precedence over other qualities such as ecommerce site design, ecommerce shopping software, ecommerce design and other related ones.

Other elements

If this is the critical aspect of an ecommerce website, other factors need to be taken in to account. Ecommerce shopping software should be such that it should make all functions such as payment gateway, eBay integration, Amazon integration, etc. smooth and easy. All these should be supported by a strong backend which ensures that crashes happen at no time of the business.

Customers' trust is indispensable for ecommerce business

We have heard this before –nothing contributes to a business’ success more than the customer’s trust. This is the universal strand across all businesses, whether it has a brand or not.

In ecommerce, you may have the catchiest ecommerce site design and you may have the best ecommerce software; but do these in themselves enable your business to earn customers’ trust? How does one bring that about in the ecommerce business space?

Bringing about the human touch to ecommerce

It is a fact that no matter how well one’s brand is known, it is the human element that makes an ecommerce business a success. It is the salesman who finally brings about the sale. Where there are no humans involved in selling, and where the business is all about items such as ecommerce website design, ecommerce web development, ecommerce business solutions, ecommerce shopping software, e commerce site development, online shopping cart software, e commerce software and the like; is there space for human contact?

Ecommerce solutions may run on a good e commerce software and get propelled by proper support services, but more important is to get a good feel of what the customer looks for. Understanding customer behaviour is the important component for success in ecommerce, and this requires human intervention.

Yes, there is no person convincing a customer about a product, but in a technology-intensive industry, customer behaviour analysis is its equivalent.

The technology that is already there needs to be used to analyse and understand the customer better. This should be used to offer the products the customer looks for. This is how the human element of technology works.

Communicate at the personal level with customers

Website ecommerce, as its term indicates, depends on the Net for its sustenance. In a sphere in which the Net pervades every of its activities, ironical as it may sound, communicating at the personal level with customers is vital.

This is often the most important way of establishing customer recall and eventually, loyalty. There is a flood of products for customers to select; so, how does one bring about personal communication in this industry which thrives on ecommerce shopping?

An ecommerce business has a lot to gain by sending out just an occasional personal letter. It does not have to speak anything about offers, no matter how attractive the ones the business is planning to have, is. It can just be a personal, informal greeting from the top brass of the online business.

While it is all too common to keep getting mails that we hardly open and consign to the recycle bin the moment we see it, a personal mail from the owner of an ecommerce business from which we have been buying, is sure to arouse interest.

It need not speak at all about ecommerce shopping. The ecommerce company can have its owner speak something about the user experience of the ecommerce site.

It can simply say a nice word or two about how important this customer has been to the ecommerce online. It can speak of a memorable event that the customer could have shown interest in. It can come up with many forms of communication that will go a long way in creating an endearing bond with the customer.

Chart out a roadmap for your ecommerce business

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Any business that has a serious intention of growing should be having a roadmap. An ecommerce roadmap is, in simple terms, a plan for the future of the business. So, what is a roadmap? It is the route to the target that those in ecommerce business set for their business.

An ecommerce business roadmap is not a goal; it is the means to one. An ecommerce company may set itself goals, but the route it is going to take to get there is the ecommerce business roadmap.

Challenges

That anyone doing e commerce online needs a roadmap is beyond doubt. But in this particular industry, there are unique challenges. First, there are many new businesses which are not sure about where they will be headed over the long haul. So, for such ecommerce websites, it is a little tricky to chalk out an ecommerce business roadmap.

Secondly, and more importantly, website ecommerce is by nature dependant on technology, which as we all know, changes drastically over time. Any ecommerce business that draws out a roadmap based on factors of the present may have to encounter uncertainties brought about by new technologies, which could throw existing technologies and modes of business out of gear.

Foresight is the key

This is not to suggest that when you design ecommerce website, you will not be able to have a roadmap. A good businessman is one who can foresee the direction of his business, no matter what technology is present or will come up in the future. On this rests the chalking out of a roadmap and its realisation.

Watch out for these ecommerce products

How does one make an assessment of the most popular products of the future in a highly lopsided, fragmented global market for ecommerce shopping?

The world over, there has been a phenomenal growth in the number of people who shop e commerce online. Yet, this growth is very unevenly distributed between the developed and developing economies, with a fair percentage of growth being witnessed in the emerging economies.

Any reference to what people will buy in the future will depend on a large number of variables. Some pointers can be had from a study Nielsen Company conducted in March 2010, during which it polled more than 27,000 Internet users in a wide swathe of 55 markets from across the globe, in the markets of the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America and South America.

These were the top five answers the study threw up:

• Books
• Clothing and related accessories
• Videos/games
• Electronic gadgets
• Music

Again, this is highly unpredictable and can change at any time. Yet, this could shed some light on what one can expect in the future. Whether these products are the definers of the future of ecommerce is difficult to say, but one fact is certain – e commerce online is not only here to stay, it is here to grow.

Are ecommerce owners required to know too much technology?

In a business in which technology is the driving force, how much technology is the one who runs the business required to know?

Ecommerce websites are a prime example of a business that runs entirely on technology. It is a business that was born out of technology, and has in fact, precipitated major changes in technology entirely for itself.

Ecommerce software lies at the heart of ecommerce business. An ecommerce company obviously needs technology for any of its operations, ranging from having orders placed for products on the ecommerce site to ecommerce design to, in fact running the entire website ecommerce.

Not externally visible

It may be e commerce software may power the business, but as with any technology, it runs the ecommerce business from the backend. Yes, an ecommerce business does run on technology, but only unobtrusively.

Whether it is multi channel ecommerce, multi-channel retail or an end-to-end ecommerce business suite that you want for your business, the technology that goes into it, without which the business is unthinkable, happens without being seen.

Ecommerce website development ensures that when an ecommerce website is being used for business, none of the features requires the use of any great knowledge. It needs no rocket science to print out the alphabets on the keyboard, does it? Similarly, E commerce software ensures that the user have nothing more than minimal knowledge in running the business. All that is needed is elementary knowledge –and this too is on most occasions made easy –is all that is needed. The ecommerce software does the rest.

Easy way of reaching out to over 200 million potential customers

Reaching out to more and more customers is one of the cornerstones for success in ecommerce business. As a business, ecommerce drives on selling better when more people are within its reach. When this is the stated aim of an ecommercebusiness, one of the easiest ways of doing this is to have eBay integration into the e commerce online.

More is better in ecommerce

Why eBay integration? It is for the simple fact that it has a user base of over 200 million. Of these, no fewer than 15 million are from the UK. As many as 10 million products get traded, making it the world’s largest online marketplace.

eBay ecommerce integration is made as easy as a few clicks. Once this is done, the way is cleared for opening your own eBay store. This is the easiest way to making your ecommerce site a multi-channel retail store. Multi-channel retailing, as we all know, is the integration of several functions into e commerce online. That is not all. You also get:

eBay shop design

eBay template design

eBay integration with website

eBay listing software

eBay listing tools

eBay design

eBay store design

Do you need to integrate with Amazon?

When starting an ecommerce business, an ecommerce business is bound to ponder over this question. The answer would be a firm ‘no’. That is, if you want your business to remain where it is and lose out on the opportunity of selling to about 90 million potential customers.

Amazon integration is a must for an end-to-end ecommerce business suite. Websites ecommerce drive on a single motto –of reaching out to more and more people. When you have a simple chance of reaching out to a huge chunk of this planet’s population, why should you let your e-retail suffer the lost chance?

An ecommerce web site that does not offer Amazon Integration is incomplete, to say the least. Amazon ecommerce integration is one of the easiest ways of selling your products through one of the world’s largest online marketplaces.

When you integrate with Amazon, you associate your business with this name known the world over. One of the big benefits it offers is that it automates data flow from Amazon Seller Central, Amazon.com's virtual bazaar where sellers can offer their products for sale, to your ecommerce site without requiring any effort from you.

Enjoy freedom with policies

Another major advantage Amazon Web Services offers is that you set your own policies with your customers in regard to items like customer return, shipping and handling policies for your set of Amazon.com products. If you design ecommerce website that is Amazon approved, you can sell in several Amazon.com categories. Amazon will handle payment processing without charging an item listing fee.

Do I need to integrate with Amazon?

When starting an ecommerce business, an ecommerce business is bound to ponder over this question. The answer would be a firm ‘no’. That is, if you want your business to remain where it is and lose out on the opportunity of selling to about 90 million potential customers.

Amazon integration is a must for an end-to-end ecommerce business suite. Websites ecommerce drive on a single motto –of reaching out to more and more people. When you have a simple chance of reaching out to a huge chunk of this planet’s population, why should you let your e-retail suffer the lost chance?

An ecommerce web site that does not offer Amazon Integration is incomplete, to say the least. Amazon ecommerce integration is one of the easiest ways of selling your products through one of the world’s largest online marketplaces.

When you integrate with Amazon, you associate your business with this name known the world over. One of the big benefits it offers is that it automates data flow from Amazon Seller Central, Amazon.com's virtual bazaar where sellers can offer their products for sale, to your ecommerce site without requiring any effort from you.

Enjoy freedom with policies

Another major advantage Amazon Web Services offers is that you set your own policies with your customers in regard to items like customer return, shipping and handling policies for your set of Amazon.com products. If you design ecommerce website that is Amazon approved, you can sell in several Amazon.com categories. Amazon will handle payment processing without charging an item listing fee.

NicheSuite POS Features

Whether you are a large, multi-location retail chain or a small, independent retailer, NicheSuite POS Solutions serve your every need. Our POS solutions give you the option of choosing the right technology and with it, the benefits relating to the operational, capital/operational expense, support needs and security & maintenance. NicheSuite can also be deployed on different kinds of IT infrastructure and hardware.

POS – Administration features

• A searchable full audit trail of the store's sale history is enabled by the electronic journal
• Can enrol new customers into loyalty programs for campaigns/CRM purposes
• An employee database that supports attendance, labour scheduling and time can be maintained
• Ensures smooth functioning of day to day tasks between headquarters and stores
• Generates pertinent and effective reports relating to profitability, sales and stock
• Interfaces with multi-order points like cell phone, kiosks and web
• Is capable of printing vast variety of reports with which cash management processes can be smoothed
• Items such as edge shelf labels, applicable tax rates, prices and tender types are updated
• Registries for items such as for bridal and baby gifts and events by dates, names, items, prices, etc are supported
• Set up authorisation levels and usage security with which to manage different stakeholders and groups and control the roles they play in the system
• Shipment packages with online integration with shipment companies like DHL, FedEx, Royal Mail, UPS and USPS etc can be tracked
• Special offers, such as promotions and percentage discounts, can be launched
• The GUI, which is browser-based, enables back-office users to manage every aspect of the store. This makes its use easy and reduces training costs.
• The price check system, which is fully integrated, allows reporting on management of promotional message displayed to customers and system usage, helping to improve customer service
• You can set up and manage ecommerce and retail stores and warehouses and set up associations between them.
• You can synchronise intervals between warehouses, ecommerce stores and retail stores. With this, you can see a real-time synchronisation between these different business channels and set up preset stock replenishment levels
• Your business can set up payment gateways like Barclays, CyberSource, Google Checkout, HSBC, PayPal, Sage Pay and any other custom payment gateway that has inbuilt 3D Secure support

POS –terminal features

• Can handle different kinds of payment methods, such as credit card, cheque, cash, voucher, or gift cheque
• Can integrate with third-party processors, such as stored value cards, smart cards etc
• Can manage advance sale, cash and credit
• Goods can be shipped to consumers
• Indicative sale, like consumer specific promotion or up-sell prompting, can be done
• Its Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) interface aids third-party integration
• NicheSuite POS supports internationalisation. A number of languages and currency options that can be comfortably swapped are available for the user/cashier
• Offers a host of flexible sales functions, such as sale by item, and accepts all popular modes of online payment
• Offers support for US taxation
• PLU, the number assigned to that product which is not bar-coded, is supported. When server action is restored, offline transactions are automatically recorded and updated
• Returns/Exchange, Refunds and Deliver Slip can be tracked
• Sales can be reviewed through a web browser interface
• Store is completely automated, because of which super fast checkouts are ensured and human errors reduced
• Supports currency and drawer management
• Targeted sales goals can be set. Every step towards achieving these goals can be tracked online, adding to the motivation levels among sales personnel.
• The Hold and Retrieve Options under Suspend/Retrieve functions, by which an employee can return to a transaction later, is enabled
• The print management system gives out clean receipts and can void transactions when required
• Use of gift certificates is supported

How to make online visitors to stay on your ecommerce site

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You’ve got them to your ecommerce site. What next?

Website ecommerce is all about getting your customers to buy from your ecommerce business. Getting your customers to stay on your site is the first and most important step to successful ecommerce business. Great. So, how do you make this happen?

Give them what they are looking for!

In website ecommerce, there is perhaps no weapon that is as effective as user experience. This is a nearly beaten to death expression that is so vast it means one thing to you and another thing to me; yet, this is the clincher. This has to be brought about by the combination of ecommerce shopping software and ecommerce design.

On the one hand, internally, the e commerce software should have the potency to power the features that the visitor looks for. Externally, the ecommerce design should be appealing and aesthetically done.

On top of it, there is a combination of website optimisation and social media marketing. Social media tools and social media services, which SEO specialists carry out, act as another bait that draws your visitor to ecommerce websites, from where it is necessary to use a few tricks to make them stay and buy.

Social Media + ROI + Investment

Being successful in social media requires an investment, and typically a greater one than many anticipate
when they begin participating. Driving even a minimal amount of social media marketing doesn’t come for
free, and doing it right often requires multiple resources, services and integration, requiring a layered
approach of best practices for success. First, companies need to establish a base social media presence,
setting up their Twitter account(s), Facebook fan page, LinkedIn profile(s) and Blog site(s). Alinean research on
social media engagements, best practices and ROI revealed that the setup/start-up investments were modest
for almost all companies.
3
Getting started was the easy part.
Second, companies need to attract, connect and interact with users to create engagement. Alinean research
revealed that to do this well required a layered hierarchically approach of content and activity, forming the
Social Media Hierarchy of Needs. The hierarchy is established from a strong foundation of Content,
progressing to Campaigns, then Monitoring and finally, Collaboration. Having each layer in place sequentially
was a key to results achievement.
Third, marketers needed monitoring, campaign management and reporting tools and integration (with CRM
and Marketing Automation solutions) to help them facilitate and monitor engagements, interact with users,
nurture relationships, qualify and process leads and opportunities, and measure results.

Investment is tallied across setup, engagement and tools, including the cost for internal resources, outsourced services and tools/ integration.

Usage of Social Media Value Chain to calculate the ROI

By using each step in the value chain as a method to determine costs and benefits, marketers can understand
the components needed to achieve value, and enable the measurement and calculation of ROI.
Using the Social Media Value Chain, Alinean analyzed hundreds of different organizations to determine thepotential ROI. The research uncovered the following ROI trends:
1. Certain marketers are realizing better levels-of-engagement, and as a result, lower costs/higher
downstream benefits and a more positive ROI, particularly larger companies with popular brands, customer demographics that match social media users, and particular industries including: High
Technology, Consumer Products, Retail, Travel , Media and Entertainment, Hospitality, and Automotive;
2. The majority of organizations are currently achieving a marginal or negative ROI, especially companiesthat are having to spend more to engage effectively and reach critical mass on their efforts, especially smaller firms, those that do not have popular brands, and those in particular industries with lowengagement levels, particularly: Energy, Utilities, Wholesale & Distribution, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare,Chemicals, and Professional Services/Service Providers;
3. Best practices matter in social media ROI success, in particular those companies that implement a
hierarchical approach to engagement, The Social Media Hierarchy of Needs;
4. Certain companies who are aggressively pursuing social media channels and implementing innovative
campaigns are achieving a significant ROI of 500% or more from these efforts.

HOW TO CALCULATE ROI FROM SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

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Calculating the ROI of social media requires a framework or model of the dynamics of social media
campaigns. This is then populated with measurement of how engagement with new prospects, existing
customers, and collaborators via social media channels helps to drive and derive a bottom-line impact to the
company, either through cost avoidance/savings or incremental revenue/margin impact.
Alinean proposes that Social Media ROI can be calculated by analyzing the value chain, from Investments to
Engagement to Benefits and Derived Value and finally, to ROI (net derived value/investments) as follows:
1. Investments — to get any benefit from social media requires an investment, particularly in marketing
labor, resources and tools to establish the social media presence, create content and campaigns,
monitor and collaborate and measure social media success;
2. Engagement — a first order effect of the investments, measuring the resultant number of followers,
advocates, reach and influence of the social media marketing efforts;
3. Benefits — the quantification of the resultant value of engagement, measuring the impact that social
media marketing is having on generating incremental revenue with new prospects and existing
customers, driving product/operational savings and innovation with collaboration partners, or avoiding
costs, such as avoiding the marketing expenses for other less effective/ efficient or redundant lead-gen
programs;
4. Derived Value and ROI — a financial summary comparing the ratio of investments versus derived
benefits to assure that the social media efforts are generating enough value compared to other
potential investments, and worthy of more (or less) investment.

Calculate your ROI from Social Media Marketing

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Marketers are investing significantly more in social media efforts, with increases from 6% to 18% percent of
marketing budgets expected within five years.
1
Marketers understand that you must make an investment to
deliver social media results and success, but what spending levels are required, and how much effort needs to
be expended to deliver specific results?
As social media marketing efforts increase, so does the investment required. And in today’s ―age of austerity,‖
every significant investment now requires proof of bottom-line impact and superior value — a condition
called Frugalnomics. As a result, with the social media spending increases, comes increased executive scrutiny,
and challenges from other stakeholders who may be losing budget to these efforts. This is driving the need for
better social media measurement and return on investment (ROI) accountability.
Recent survey results from Altimeter state that measurement is indeed one of the most important aspects to
social media success; in fact, the top priority reported by 48% of corporations was ―Creating ROI
Measurements‖ for internal programs.
2
According to Altimeter, ―those that can effectively measure
improvements can make the business case, and can truly obtain more budget funding.‖
However, even though social media ROI measurement is important, Altimeter found that benchmarking efforts
are incomplete, with 65% of corporations using only Engagement Data as the top measurement metric, and a
mere 22% capturing Product Revenue, a key element in quantifying value and ROI.
With so little measurement, can anyone say that there is actual ROI from social media in general and your own
unique marketing efforts in particular? Alinean believes that the sustainability of funding for social media is at
risk in enterprises that are not able to demonstrate solid business cases for these initiatives.
In the next several sections, this paper address the ROI measurement issue, outlining a practical set of
methodologies, calculations and measurements to better understand and calculate the ROI from Social Media.

Ecommerce & Big Brands in Asia

Asia-Pacific countries have experienced a rapid rise in Internet usage in recent history. China, in particular, has seen 40% of its population (or 500M people) connect to the Internet in the past 10 years, and continues to experience an increase in its user base. This large user base, coupled with a rise in wealthy households and per capita spending, is driving a dramatic increase in e-Commerce retail, specifically in the luxury goods space. Consumption of luxury goods in China has reached $9.4B in 2010, second only to Japan in the world. As luxury purchase rates continue to increase in China, luxury fashion brands are investing many resources to understand the customer, develop the market, establish the supply chain, and deliver the products. Polo Ralph Lauren (PRL), in order to continue its growth in China, is expanding aggressively through license reacquisitions and retail store developments. Furthermore, to provide its existing customers with additional products and enhanced services, and to capture consumers who live in cities without access to PRL's brick and mortar stores, PRL has set its vision to develop an e- Commerce business in China. This thesis provides a fundamental understanding of PRL's current business operations and of current e-Commerce fulfillment models for luxury apparel brands in China. An assessment of gaps was also conducted between current fulfillment operations of PRL and those of other luxury brands and 3PLs operating in China, specifically on delivery lead-time, last mile delivery options, end-to-end customer service, and return logistics. From this research, we recommend general methods for luxury brands to manage and provide best in class fulfillment service. For PRL, we specifically recommend the company maintain ownership of all customer-facing activities to ensure quality. We also advise PRL to integrate all customer information from retail to e-Commerce, further strengthening its service offering and brand image. Furthermore, we recommend PRL to locate and outsource its initial DC in Shanghai and partner with FedEx and EMS for fulfillment.

The CRASH of A380 Flight QF32 & Social Media

 “The
reports from Batam Island sparked a lot of activity on Twitter,
with people asking what had happened, seeking information
and also retweeting conversations. Several media outlets
also reported on the tweets and indicated that there were reports that
a Qantas jet had crashed after leaving Singapore. This included several
reports on wire services. This information and reporting happened very
quickly and it was difficult for Qantas to correct the record immediately,
due to the volume of misinformation on Twitter.”
Two-and-a-half hours later (by which time the aircraft was back on
the ground in Singapore) Reuters was still freshly reporting to the world
that “Qantas says crashed plane an Airbus A380 … Qantas told CNBC
television that a plane that crashed near Singapore was an Airbus A380.
No other details were immediately available.” By now, a combination of
wrong tweets combined with a misquoted, incomplete report of a CNBC TV
statement, made the crash seem authentic.
Says Mr Joyce, the big problem at that time was, “Qantas had no instant
way of getting the message out to the world in its own words.”
Despite the fact that “within minutes” Qantas officials had “provided
information to the media that no aircraft had crashed and that the A380
was making a return journey to Singapore”, the damage had already
been done. Because of the long tail of news (eg via news wires, which
are picked up and often repeated by online and hard copy conventional
media with very little change or cross-checking), the incorrect reports
were reverberating across time zones faster than the correcting news being asked about this incident.”
The same is still probably true of most
airlines. Not so Qantas. Not any more.
After this initial firefighting exercise,
Qantas then “fast-tracked the establishment
of a number of channels, including
@qantasmedia. This was set-up within 48
hours [of the A380 incident]. This account
is set up purely for the provision of factual
information for the media (and others) during
normal operations and also crisis situations.”
“We had this up and running very quickly
to ensure we could provide updates on the
grounding of the A380 fleet, as well as other
delays, incidents or news which would be of
interest to the public. We also used other
social media platforms during the next 19
days to provide updates to the public." - by Qantas CEO

Contribution of Facebook in Airline Sector

Facebook too has enormous and varied
popular appeal. It is increasingly a tool
for information exchange and a valuable
supplement for the airline’s own website,
where it can win new “likes” and provide a
focus for special offers. It is also potentially
(and controversially) a source of evolving
distribution capability, containing as it does,
massively detailed personal data, along with
access to more than half a billion consumers
(see for example, Professor Nawal Taneja’s
article in this issue, and below).
Many Facebook users are in the more
attractive market segments, with disposable
income and mobility. Despite a slowing in
growth, Facebook is still highly popular, with
extensive social relevance. As one Egyptian
activist, a local google marketing executive,
said on CNN in Feb-2011: “I want to meet
Mark Zuckerberg and thank him personally.
This revolution started online. This revolution started on Facebook. This revolution started in June 2010 when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians started collaborating content.”
Any self-respecting tyrant will take this to heart and block access to social media, just as Iran, Libya (and China) have. But that does not
apply for most airlines, which will have to live the foreseeable future with these forms of media, immediately a challenge – but also an opportunity to understand more about target markets first hand.

COUNTRIES WITH MORE THAN 100M INTERNET USERS

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China 850(in Millions)
India 760 (adding 17m/month)
USA 300
Russia 215
Brazil 205
Indonesia 170
Japan 108
Germany 107
India’s democracy is more hospitable to social
media, notably to Facebook, although less than
2% of the population is signed up so far. More
importantly, that proportion has doubled in the past
year, with some 22 million today. Sixteen million of
those are males, outnumbering females by a factor
of almost three (in the US, females exceed males).
Finding a bride is still a high priority.
Indonesia already has 35 million on Facebook;
Turkey has 26 million; and Brazil (where there is
stiff local competition in the Portuguese-speaking
country) has 13 million, double the number only six
months earlier.
Russia’s leader at present is Facebook lookalike,
VKontakte, with 28 million users. Facebook is still
small there, but growing; Mark Zuckerburg has
specifically stated he wants to penetrate that
country’s market, as a prelude to invading China.
And Indonesia and Brazil top the stats for market
penetration by Twitter, each with 21%. The US, by
comparison is a humble 12%, while Japan sits at
17%. For a phenomenon in its early stages, these are
remarkable figures.
Local dynamics are important; Japan, for example,
has US-level Twitter usage, but only tiny penetration
by Facebook. Homegrown medium, Mixi, which allows
greater anonymity, has about 15 million members,
with a market cap of USD1 billion.

Usage of Social Media In Airline industry Contd..

5) FOR AIRLINES, NEW
CUSTOMER RELATIONS
STRATEGIES ARE NOW
ESSENTIAL, REGARDLESS OF
ENGAGEMENT WITH SOCIAL
MEDIA OUTLETS. The pointed end
of social media is Twitter and instant
messaging – positively, for its potential
use in customer relations, marketing
and selling and – negatively, for its
ability to magnify problems which are
not well handled.

6) TWITTER IS A WAKE-UP
CALL TO IMPROVE MINI-CRISIS
COMMUNICATIONS. This medium
allows the communication process to be
followed back up the communications-
operations chain (and across an airline’s
“silos”). That trail can then be retraced
back down the line – keeping frontline
staff in the picture.

7) PASSENGERS FEEL
EMPOWERED IF THEY KNOW
WHAT’S GOING ON – and best they
hear it directly from the horse’s mouth
than from other dissatisfied passengers
sitting around in the informational
dark. Every “crisis” becomes a great
opportunity to shine with sensible use of
the new media.

8) DON’T USE SOCIAL MEDIA
TO TRY TO CHANGE YOUR
IMAGE WITHOUT CHANGING
YOUR FUNDAMENTALS. What
works for a fresh young LCC often won’t
work for a long-established legacy
airline, even where it has recognised
that Twitter or Facebook are for real.
And the old maxim applies – don’t overpromise and under-deliver. Upscaling
some of the current initiatives will
become impossible as one-to-one
communications propositions.

Usage of Social Media In Airline industry

1) ➤ SOCIAL MEDIA’S
OPPORTUNITIES ARE
CHANGING THE WAY MANY
HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF
PEOPLE COMMUNICATE
and, vitally, share information. The
behavioural change now under way is
irreversible. It substantially shifts the
information power balance towards
consumers. There is more to come.

2) ➤ SOCIAL NETWORKS TAKE
VARIOUS FORMS, EACH WITH
INDEPENDENT ORIGINS and
usually with different target markets.
Hence the value of connections between
the different media forms. Each has
very different potential uses (and risk
profiles) for airlines.

3) ➤ ONCE AN AIRLINE ENGAGES
FULLY IN SOCIAL MEDIA,
IT BECOMES A PARTICIPANT,
not automatically a leader. It discards
the levels of control over output that it
has been used to. But it will usually be
in a stronger position than if it does not
participate.

4) ➤ SOCIAL MEDIA OFFER
ONE-OFF OPPORTUNITIES
FOR INNOVATORS. First movers
can be rewarded disproportionately, by
using the media in a coordinated way.
But there can be no 10-year strategy.
Actions will need to be flexible and open to adjustment, as the media evolve.
Five years ago Facebook and Twitter
barely existed. They too will change
rapidly, or be replaced.

Social Media Presence in UAE : Conclusion

The most popular types of social media in United Arab Emirates are generally the same as those used
in other regions across the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. These include social networks
(Facebook), video-sharing sites (YouTube), and micro-blogging sites (Twitter), among others. UAE
respondents were both generally skilled in the use of a variety of social media, and well aware of its
potential ethical and practical limitations. It has served as a vital source and vehicle for news,
information, business development, opinion sharing, cultural production, and entertainment. But
residents were also well aware of its potential as a platform for making business and government
practices more transparent, and its usefulness as a mobilizing platform for political change.
Further research is needed to determine the larger impact of social media, particularly on youth
and women in the UAE. Also, further research should be done to determine a more complete picture of
its benefits, liabilities, and potential in an area that maintains one of world's highest net migration rates.
In the UAE, and perhaps the Gulf region at large, social media has established its place as an
integral and interdependent actor in society.

U A E - Levels of Trust and Concern about Social Media.

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Participants expressed both a level of trust and distrust in the social media that they used frequently
regardless. They were well aware of its pros and cons.

As mentioned earlier, the relatively young and well-educated sample expressed much
confidence in their own ability to work with social networking sites. However, there approximately one quarter (26%) stated they were "Not Confident" with this medium. Even confident participants conveyed knowledge about the potential drawbacks of social media. Interestingly, the largest hindrance noted to the adoption of social media was a significant feeling of "lack of control" (42%). Reservations regarding skill level (32%) roughly matched with Not Confident levels, and about a third of those surveyed mentioned a of credibility and ethical problems as reasons for questioning social media.

The potential dangers of social media for teenagers in the UAE come out in focus group
discussion. Participants noted threats to teenagers and even children under ten years of age who are
using Blackberries and chatting with older adults who are complete strangers. They mentioned their
use of inappropriate pictures. Aside from morality, they mentioned the waste of time as children used these technologies during school time, against school policy. Participants suggested new legislation to prohibit access to these technologies by children: "Money is not more important than humanity. The USA doesn't allow children under 18 purchase cigarettes, so we hope to likewise pass laws restricting access to new technologies like social media. YouTube videos, etc." In describing their caution about social media, they said "It is like Wikipedia. Any person can create his/her own story and distribute it in the society. Uneducated people are victims of fake news when they cannot distinguish between lies and facts."

However, all participants agreed that social media is a vital source of news. They recognized
their new day-to-day reliance to get fast news updates and acquire new friends. They also noted how people submitted videos and information to outlets like Al-Jazeera after major media channels were blocked during the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. They recognized the limitations of Arab media in the past, and said that new media has "opened a new world" for them.

Perceived Benefits of Social Media in U A E

Social media appealed to most participants as both entertainment and for more practical reasons.
Survey respondents mentioned that they liked the games, tests, and gift-giving features of Facebook.
Their choice of a particular social networking site was based on the perception that it offered leads that
competing sites did not offer. For another popular site, YouTube, they liked the ability to comment
upon and rate videos. They liked the convenience offered by social bookmarking sites like Delicious
for managing and viewing websites. Flicker was mentioned as a means of finding excellent photos of
lesser known photographers.
In terms of more practical considerations, when surveyed about the potential benefits of social
media to improve a person's communication skills, an overwhelming number (97%) agreed. They
mentioned its aid in making communication more precise, in expanding vocabulary, and in developing
writing skills. Results also describe the usage and benefits of social media in professional employment.
When surveyed about which departments would be most likely to use social media to advantage, the
largest share (29%) went to Public Relations departments, while the second spot was roughly shared
equally by public government use ( 15%) and use by management (11%).

Social Media usage in United Arab Emirates

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A fundamental question that was considered was the frequency of use of social media. The question is
particular important given theories regarding the interdependence that occurs once media use becomes
substantial. As the quantitative results provided at the end of this article show, social media shows a
very strong presence for UAE participants. Strong usage statistics are exhibited in major categories.
When questioned regarding length of use, more than half of the participants (53%) reported using
social media for over two years. A significant percentage of newcomers (25%) had begun using social
media within the previous year. One way of measuring levels of usage is to ask about how confident
users are in their ability to use social media websites. Confident usage suggests substantial familiarity
and experience. A strong majority (57%) of participants felt "confident" in the knowledge they
possessed about various social media sites, and nearly one fifth (17%) felt "very confident" in their
skills. Attitudes toward social media were also quite positive, suggesting a generally favorable level of
interaction with these sites by residents. For example, when queried about the ability of social media
sites to credibly and accurately relay information as compared with traditional media, far more either
agreed (46%) or strongly agreed (25%), than disagreed (21%) or strongly disagreed (8%) that such
sites were reliable in this manner.
In general UAE respondents favored the same category-leading sites popular in the West and
worldwide. For example, the social network service of choice was Facebook, which was identified as the service of choice by 86% of respondents (followed by LinkedIn at 56% and MySpace 36%). The
video sharing site YouTube proved quite dominant (74%) in its category for survey takers. In another
major social media category, photo sharing, usage was less pronounced, but significant (24% used
Flicker, 12% used Photo bucket). The response in terms of Blog usage was distinctive. While Blogger
and Word Press are the most used blog sites in the West, UAE respondents identified Live Journal
most often as their blog of choice (36% for Live Journal versus 7% for Blogger). Focus group response
suggests that the reason for this is the attraction brought by the strong representation of international
users in Live Journal's user base. The relatively no-frills and technically demanding characteristic of
Live Journal (Live journal, 2011) suggests that respondents possess a substantial skill set for taking
advantage of social media features.
Most participants agreed that the use of social media is on the rise in the current teenage and
adult population (Twitter, YouTube, the IPhone, Blackberry, and IPad were mentioned frequently).
They had a clear conception of a wide range of uses for it, defining it as useful for contacting others,
discussions, searching for information, selling products and logos, making announcements, and
distributing surveys. But when surveyed about how they initially came upon a social media site, only
10% specifically mentioned the attraction of features. Some 27% reported that they subscribed to a
given site after being referred by a friend and 18% after hearing about the site, perhaps through
advertising or public relations

Survey on Usage of Social Media in Australia - Key Findings

Of 752 respondents 68% have created an OSN site profile. As would be expected younger
respondents were more likely to have a profile (86% of <17 and 87% of 18-25 year olds), while around half of the respondents aged 26-36 have a profile and only 27% of those aged 36 and over have created an online profile. Type and number of profiles Facebook was clearly the most popular website for this sample (49%), MySpace came in second with 29% of respondents using this platform and the remainder distributed amongst other well-known sites (for example, LinkedIn and Hi5). Almost 50% of respondents reported that they had actively maintained an online profile for over one year. The vast majority (75%) has just one active profile, while 22% acknowledge that they have two active profiles and only 3% of respondents had three or more active profiles. Profile Purpose The two primary reasons respondents identified for originally creating their online profile were, an invitation from others (40%) or a desire to stay in contact with family and friends (29%). Fewer respondents indicated that they had originally created a profile to actively get in contact with others (as opposed to staying in contact) (9%), out of general curiosity (9%), promote themselves or an event/issue (4%), to expand social networks (3%) or business networks (2%) networks, or ‘other’ unstated reasons (4%). Privacy With respect to privacy, the majority (68%) indicated that they created an online profile to be viewed only by people already known to them. Only 16% have part of their profile available to be viewed by anyone and 16% have their entire profile openly accessible to anyone. Further analysis of this data revealed that male respondents and those aged over 36 years had a greater tendency to have their profile publicly available. ‘Friends’ As would be predicted, younger respondents have a greater number of online ‘friends’ than their older counterparts. As outlined in Table 2 below, 84% of under 17s and 73% of 18-25s have more than 50 friends. In contrast, less than 20% of 26-35 year olds and 8% of 36+ have greater than 50 online ‘friends’ Also of interest is the amount of time being invested in OSN activities. As outlined in Table 5 (over page) the majority of respondents are spending under one hour per week on their own profile (and certainly less than five hours per week) and also less than five hours per week on the profiles of their friends. Overall 98% of respondents report spending less than five hours on their own profile and 95% devote less than five hours per week to their friends’ profiles. This data was further Young: Identity Creation and Online Social Networking ©International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society 2009 47 http://www.swin.edu.au/ijets
analysed in relation to ‘number of friends’ and ‘time spent online’. This analysis revealed that
number of online friends is not a predictor of time spent on one’s own profile. For instance,
respondents with 50-100 friends were identified as spending more time per week on their
own profile than those people who reported having over 200+ friends.

No respondent reported updating their profile picture on a daily basis but, 14% do so weekly,
47% do so monthly, 14% do so yearly, while 23% never make changes to their online profile
picture. More interesting were the respondents’ qualitative responses about their choice of
online picture

In addition to posting an online profile picture another area where the individual has control
over is his/her image is updating of status/feelings. Survey data revealed that 40% of
respondents make use of this feature. There was no discernable difference between gender
or age in making status updates.

Feelings toward online social networking
When asked what may contribute to OSN being viewed negatively it was found that
respondents felt quite strongly about receiving negative messages/actions and being
ignored. Over half of respondents also found the amount of time they were spending online
to communicate to be an issue. Table 9 below presents the items in order of most
detrimental to those which have less negative effect on the feelings of the online social
network user.