Retail
ASOS Marketplace is live
On the 17th March, I left my job at EMC Consulting (formerly Conchango). On the 19th of March, with my fledgling company Orangered I started doing some work for Profero. My first project was to work on a pitch for ASOS, a company I’ve admired for sometime who are known for doing interesting things in the online retail space in particular with regards to fashion.
Apparently ASOS were doing some sort of marketplace site which would allow their customers to sell to one another. Well after a successful pitch and 6 months building the site (with one of the best teams of people I’ve worked with), it’s live.
I’m delighted with what’s been achieved in such a short space of time. It’s a pretty rare thing for me to get to the end of a project like this and feel so happy with the results rather than lamenting what might have been. That is a credit too the developers, for caring about the design and user experience as much as the code, and to the client, ASOS. Throughout the company, but most particularly the product owners have a keen eye for what works, a drive for quality in everything, but also another trait which is so important with any product owner - they know where to give and take, when to insist on a feature and when to sacrifice one.
Marketplace is not finished, I’m not sure if it ever will be. Its is not a site that will be left to lie fallow over the next year. Instead ASOS have learned a little from agile start ups and launched early, prepared to make mistakes but learn from them. To trust their brand is strong enough to hold their course should any stormy waves buffet the good ship Marketplace - rather than wrap it in cotton wool.
I can’t wait.
Sky and Universal Partner for Digital Downlaod Service
Announced to Universal Staff this Morning…
Universal and Sky partner on subscription service
14:00 | Tuesday July 22, 2008
Universal and Sky are throwing their considerable weight behind an innovative subscription plus download music service that will launch later this year.
The new, as-yet-unnamed service will offer consumers in the UK and Ireland unlimited access to streamed music from the Universal catalogue, as well as a fixed number of DRM-free MP3 downloads depending on the level of subscription.
All of Universal’s catalogue will be available at launch and Sky is in discussions with other music companies, both majors and independents, and expects to announce further partners soon.
Universal Music Group chairman and chief executive Lucian Grainge explains that the new service will meet a demand among music fans that is currently unfulfilled. “There is an awful amount of unmet demand in music,” he told reporters at a press conference at Universal’s High Street Kensington headquarters this morning.
“We are convinced there is untapped demand that is why we have come together. This is part of our attack, coupled with our defence. Rather than tell people what they can’t do, we want to remind them what they can do, what the opportunities are, what is sexy and what is good value.”
BSky B chief operating officer Mike Darcey added, “It’s clear that there’s huge demand for online music and companies like Sky and Universal Music are well placed to work together to meet consumers’ needs. We aim to offer an easy and affordable service for all UK music fans, while ensuring that artists are properly rewarded for their creativity.”
However, both men denied that the new service is an attempt to unseat iTunes from its market-leading position in digital music. “It is more about offering flexibility and something for people whose demands aren’t met by the iTunes model,” Darcey said.
“iTunes is not going to go out there and be everything for everybody. There is space for other models.”
The music service will be operated by a new joint venture company, in which Sky will be the majority shareholder.
Further details, including pricing and branding, will be announced at a later date.
It will be interesting to see what the “fixed number” of DRM-free tracks will be. They say they are going to offer flexibility, but if this is still DRM laden, it’s never going to be as flexible as users want it to be. This is especially true for the early adopters who are a key demographic to get on board. The “Short Head” is so hugely dominated by iTunes it’s going to be hard to unseat. Amazon has shown that you can make inroads into that position of power, but offering DRM-free tracks is key to that.
Patience IS a virtue
I really love spreadshirt. They’re great in all sorts of ways, and I’ve had nothing but good experiences dealing with them. In fact I’ve had a blog post sitting as a draft describing all the reasons why I like them for some time now, waiting on me to sort out some photos. When my last order was delayed I didn’t mind, and didn’t really think anything of it, I wasn’t in any particular rush. So when I received a mail offering me a £10 voucher I was delighted. A really simple way to reward your customers, and if they use it a chance to show the level of service that they can provide.
Dear customer,
at Spreadshirt, we pride ourselves on our especially short production
process: nearly all orders are sent out within 48 hours, the majority
within 24 hours.Your recent order took longer to produce due to the relocation of our
production department, combined with unusually high order levels.Most of you were able to wait a few extra days, but we know this did
not delight you. As a token of apology, we are offering you a £10
discount on your next order. Please use the following voucher code at
checkout:**********
This code is a personal code and is valid for one order until
31th August 2008. There is no minimum order required.I thank you personally on behalf of Spreadshirt for your patience,
and look forward to serving you again!Kolja Hebenstreit
Business Unit Leader, Direct Retail
Glad I rmembered to blank out the code there.
A Different Way to Sell…
200 Nipples sell t-shirts online. As a lover of interesting t-shirt designs I’m interested already. But that itself probably isn’t particularly blogpostworthy (it’s a word OK?)
What is blogpostworthy about them is that they only sell limited edition designs, and just 100 of each with an interesting price structure. They sell the 1st for $1 the 2nd for $2 and the 92nd for $92. I just bought #40. I figured I should get in before Seth’s blog sends a pile of traffic their way. I was amused to observe that while all number up to #44 had been taken (I’m not quite sure why #40 was skipped, perhaps it’s cursed), the only other number taken was #69.
That pricing model is not entirely original online however. Isn’t that exactly how airlines sell tickets; they’re cheap when there’s lots available and expensive when there’s only a few left. However making the system so open and transparent is.
If they keep producing great unique designs then they will surely build a loyal following. People like exclusivity. “This t-shirt? Oh it’s #40 of only 100 that were made.”
It will be interesting to see how sales progress over the next few weeks.
You can follow the 200 Nipples Blog too.
Another post about 200nipples…
First, how good a name is 200 Nipples for a company that sells 100 copies of every t-shirt design.
Second, if you looed at the site, did you notice this?
They put a chicken image after “don’t be scared”, isn’t that fantastic?
On their contact page they have a wonderful taxonomy…
New school / old school / and stay in the loop!
It’s hard to explain show much of an effect great copy can have on a site like this. It’s so important for small home business retailers to inject character and personality into their sites. If this site was dull, I wouldn’t have explored and I wouldn’t have ended up buying something. And I’ll certainly be back to check out the next design and try and pick up a $1 t-shirt.