Supplyant

Do you trade direct through an existing company or trade through a new UK registered company? This is a common question for our International customers so we asked our partners at Quick Formations to give some further insight.

With the history and structure of The Companies Act alone, it’s not difficult to see why a UK registered company enjoys an almost limitless amount of benefits when it comes to credibility, a certificate of incorporation is an affiliation between your company and the oldest and most comprehensive Corporate Law structure in the world.

To almost emphasise this fact the latest Companies Act 2006 is the largest bill ever to go through UK parliament, taking almost 4 years to come into effect in its entirety. Therefore when dealing with potential clients globally to be able to show a UK Certificate of Incorporation shows that you take business seriously and that you adhere vehemently to the regulations in place.

Once registered as a UK company the maintenance of Limited status can be easily lost or fines and penalties can even accrue due to neglect, so being able to show as an active, up to date live Company is of a huge credit.

A key consideration also is that by being a UK registered company with overseas ownership you have the most up to date ‘webfiling’ internet filing technology – meaning a UK company can be maintained from anywhere around the world, an asset no other Country can offer.

Here in the UK the benefits of trading as a UK company with a UK Company much outweigh trading with an oversea company.

Firstly the governing body for all UK companies, Companies House, maintains a free data search for anyone with an internet access can use – meaning your UK company is completely searchable within a matter of seconds, allaying any fears or mistrust from your prospective client by your company being transparent and searchable from the offset.

The advantage of UK companies is not solely for the gathering of clientele either – the infrastructure and support available to a UK company from its government, via Companies House and independent corporate services like Quick Formations, is seen as a leading light across the globe. Only recently, the UK government reaffirmed its stance on backing UK based business and making it a priority to develop UK commerce and entrepreneurialism across the world and Quick Formations is at the very forefront of implementation of these changes, ensuring our clients get the most accurate information first time, every time.

If you would like expert advice on cross border internet retailing please call +44 1604 679090 or email nick@supplyant.com

I found this excellent picture over at digg that showed two very different tactics in determining how you should feel about tweaking your logo.

Remembering the Target

The Coke v Pepsi battle is one of marketing’s finest case studies:

• Coca Cola (aka the market leader)
  Just think of coke’s Xmas adverts; traditional values rule for the Coke marketing team. They are secure with the biggest market share. People buy Coke because its not changed for a hundred years. Mums buy Coke for the family
• Pepsi (aka the challenger)
  Everything that Coke is they attack. The flout tradition and push directly for a young audience desperate to try new things. They will try anything to get some extra market share. Kids buy Pepsi for themselves

So what does this mean to me?

If your the market leader, never change your logo. People buy from market leaders because they feel safe.

If your not the market leader find ways to be different to them. People wont remember your logo changes but will remember what makes your products and services better.

Something that happened to me that really singled zappos as  a cool company.  My brother Nick was talking on Seesmic, a video blog site,  about company culture. During that conversation he was contacted by a guy called Tony who offered to send a copy of his companies culture statement to see if it would help.

Two days later all the way from the states arrived a really cool 200+ page book signed by Tony Hsieh of Zappos featuring each and every one of the employees at the company, telling the readers what they thought of it. Nick wasn’t going to buy anything from them in the states, it was just a really cool thing to receive.

Zappos has just sold to Amazon for a staggering $900 million.

Some cool zappos facts:

• Zappos.com has more than 10 million customers.
• 75% of business is repeat customers
• They uniquely offer free shipping both ways (if something goes wrong, dont worry we’ll pick it up)
• CEO Tony Hsieh receives about 2,000 e-mails a day.
• Tony now has 1,039,695 followers on twitter

The things I find interesting are:

• The site isn’t “flashy” but “functional”
• Everything is geared around exceptional service, nothing to do with the web
• The zappos culture is right in front, its preached on every page
• They have made a point of being open, embracing social media like twitter and facebook.

And why did amazon buy them?

• Zappos is growing quickly and shows no signs of stopping
• Zappos culture that has been fundamental in its  success. Amazon will love learning from this
• Zappos has great customer service.  Associating with this is great.
• Zappos has grown a group of amazing people. From its leaders to the post guy they are unified.

Everybody has favourite websites; sites you use, recommend and admire. I never look for inspiration from sites in my own market, but for leaders in other markets. That’s the only way you can innovate.

In my eyes ASOS stand out clearly as a company using a common sense, planned approach to rapid growth. ASOS’s recent annual report, gives a great insight into what a rapidly growing online trader is looking towards to maintain this growth.

The headline figures:

• Turnover: £81 million to £165 million
• Profit: £37 million  to £71 million
• International Sales: up 303% to £32 million

The full report is here

The ASOS story – ecommerce by numbers

Find a niche
ASOS (As Seen On Screen) began life imitating celebrity fashions. Seen a handbag posh spice  is wearing in a magazine? ASOS will sell you a handbag in the style of posh.

Grow the customer base
By doing a great job, customers used them often and recommended them to their friends, building a loyal bunch of fans.

Brand Extension
ASOS then launch into men’s, designer labels and kids

Overseas
The UK is a small place, lets take on the world.

What’s next for ASOS?

Delivery
Improved delivery has been identified as a big mover in increasing conversion rates. So much so that a same day delivery service is being launched.

Social Media
Growing the blog, Facebook, Twitter and Bebo channels are a fundamental part of the strategy. Building a community of people who love clothes and love talking to each other about clothes.

Overseas
A weak pound and economies of scale with delivery allow massive growth opportunities

More own brand
Now they have built a strong brand with a great identity it’s time to leverage it.

The lesson

It’s easy to look at your own competitors and copy them, but it will be time consuming and expensive to build a brand by doing this. ASOS didn’t start out saying “We want to be like Next”  they had a clear identity and worked it.

If you must copy somebody, look to leaders in other markets and take the best they have to offer. It’s a better way to retain a clear identity.

Seth Godin has always struck me as a great thinker on modern marketing. If you want an insight into where the internet is destined I beleive this guy has the answers.

Today on his awesome blog, which you must subscribe to today, was this great post.

Most marketers are organized around more. More share. More customers.

And if you want to do that fast, it means marketing to strangers. Strangers that don’t care about you, don’t trust you and aren’t listening to you.

You market to a friend differently. A friend isn’t necessarily someone you went to summer camp with, it’s someone who gives you the benefit of the doubt. Someone who will listen, at least once, to your pitch.

I was talking to an author about his next project. The question I asked him was, “are you writing this for strangers or friends?” The implications are huge. It impacts how you design the cover, how you price it, what it’s about, where you sell it, when you publish it, how much you pay for store displays, etc…

You need to treat friends differently at every step along the way. First, don’t confuse the moments you’re supporting them or connecting with them with the moments when you are doing business. Second, understand that the most powerful win is when your friends tell their friends about you. This is worth 1000 times more than you talking about yourself.

The cool thing is that now, everyone has ten times as many friends as they used to. The social graph online is a fascinating, exponential factor in growing the list of people who might be willing to hear what you have to say (once).

Which means that your site and offer and products can be organized around friend selling instead of stranger setting.

Guaranteed: if you sell a friend the way you sell a stranger, you’ve made neither a sale or a friend.

If you can get you friends to become raving fans then they will do the selling for you.

Do you have any stories about customers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to sing your praises?

Id love to here them by clicking here and leaving a comment

If your customers trust you, that puts you in a pretty awesome position.You all of a sudden have permisson to market to them on a regular basis and they wont think of you as a pushy salesman, but a friend wanting to help them out with there problems.

Building this kind of trust doesnt come overnight though. Marketing guru Jay Levenson will tell you it takes somebody seeing an advert 20 times to actually remember the advert even exists.

Your mission is to start  building your trustability right away, every second counts!

My top 3 tips for building trust with your customers are:

1. Customers love regular contact.
   Dont stop talking, stick to a schedule of regular newsletters or blog posts. The number 1 reason for customers not coming back is apathy. The only way they know your still open is if you contact them
2. Be real.
   Dont hide behind fancy corporate rubbish. People still buy from people and they love to know who they are buying from. Show pictures of yourself and your customers.
3. Dont hide.
   Dont sit in your office wondering why no one comes to see you, get out in the hallway and mingle. Your customers will trust you more if they see you commenting on other websites, getting into magazines and being an active member of the community you sell to.

Keep doing this and your customer will trust you and love you….

As a little bonus the first 4 chapters of Seth Godin’s excellent book on Permission Marketing are free to download at this address

http://www.sethgodin.com/permission/

Theres a whole bunch of experts that I read up on. Of all the guys I read up on, Seth Godin seems to be most in tune with Marketing in the modern arena.

You have to remember marketing is not advertising. Understanding this is a core requirement of your online push. Seth sums modern marketing in a fantastic way and is well worth checking up on.

If your contemplating getting real results from your marketing I would definately read the following:

• Tribes
• Permission Marketing
• Unleash The Idea Virus

And dont forget to subscribe to his blog. 1 minute marketing snippets that make you think in a different way

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ (subscription link is on the left)

If you have read some Seth feel free to post your comments.