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Sitebrand Talks

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It’s called Rue La La and it’s creating a shopping revolution that has to be one of the most brilliant online retail ideas I’ve seen in a while! It’s got designer brands, exclusivity, urgency, community and incentive…and that’s just the beginning. Here’s the gist of Rue La La…

First of all, you have to be a member. And to be a member, it’s invitation only via email so you have to be connected to someone hip and in the know. In my case, that would be fellow Sitebrander Dan Auns = thanks Dan! In your case, it’s now me, lol – I’m serious, if you’re interested I can send you an invite. It’s totally worth the discovery. Hmm, can you see the huge viral potential here too!?! Especially since when you send an invite to someone, Rue La La will give you a $10 shopping credit when any of your invitees make their first purchase. So bottom line – no membership, no access.

But once you’re a member (which is free), Rue La La is a destination that’s always changing. Any time you visit, you’ll have different and exciting offerings. No more of that same old, same old. And they love feedback because they want to be responsive to what members want most.

Now for the really cool part. Each private sale boutique is only open for 2-3 days!! Talk about creating a sense of urgency! When they say don’t delay, they mean it! And when you check out the featured boutique, there’s a days, hours and minute countdown ticking away. Now of course, they’re not foolish. In addition to seeing “Today’s Boutique”, you’re also teased with a mini list of the “Next Boutiques”. In this listing, you’ll see the upcoming days and hours of operation.

I love it because this concept is totally maximizing so many of the things you need to do to be successful online. On top of it all, the entire concept is awesomely framed around building that sense of community through social marketing.  With this post alone, I’m clearly feeding right into it!

Who are the brains behind Rue La La you ask? I wish it was me but it’s actually part of an exciting new division of Retail Convergence, Inc., featuring ”a portfolio of e-commerce companies leveraging a common technology platform, customer database, and management team to revolutionize online shopping”. In addition to owning the Rue La La brand, Retail Convervence also owns SmartBargains.com which just happens to be #100 on the IR500 list.

They are a self-proclaimed group of people who love shopping. They’ve built the connections required to negotiate private sale prices on some of the most sought after brands in fashion and home. And they have the exacting standards required to present only the best-edited collections. I should mention that Rue La La is not about trashy stuff that’s going to rip, tear and break. I’m talking about high-end designer brands that just happen to be selling at fabulous prices. Right now they are featuring Joseph Abboud. But only till 11 am EST. As of 11 am today and for only 2 days, they’re opening a boutique for vineyard vines.  Then 2 days later it’s PUMA, and so on…

So there you have it! If you want to get a taste of the ooh la la shopping experience at Rue La La, let me know and I’ll send you an invite. Just send an email to cgardner(at)sitebrand(dot)com 

Happy Shopping!

 

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Laptop with Canadian FlagA couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie Myers, a reporter from MarketingSherpa. She called me because she was curious to understand more about the Canadian online shopper. Since I’m a Canadian living, working and shopping in Canada, I was happy to step up and share my views with Natalie. And in the end, so did several others – hence why it’s been in the works for several months!

The result of all this input is outstanding. It’s part one of a Special Report called Marketing to Canadians: How to Deal with Language, Cultural, Location and Regulation Differences.

So for anyone looking to maximize conversion opportunities in Canada, this report is jammed with great strategies and tactics you can’t ignore. Here’s a hint of what you’ll learn…

As Canadians, we want to know a few things right up front. Perhaps one of the top things is do you ship to Canada? Letting this be known right up front in a visit is key. At Sitebrand, we have many US ecommerce sites reinforcing this type of messaging through geotargeting and it’s highly successful in terms of lifting conversion. In fact, this Sherpa report references Kiyonna, a Sitebrand customer who does a great job recognizing and responding to Canadian visitors in a creative, fun way. It’s referenced with some graphic examples of how they personalize the experience for Canadian visitors, so check that out. For more on geo-targeting and how it can improve convesion, you can also browse Sitebrand’s library of case studies.  

Another nice touch is Canadian pricing and if you can have it via a Canadian site, even better! One site that impresses me is Proactiv Solution. This is a US site that does an amazing job recognizing international visitors - including Canadians via a Canadian site that clearly states Canadian pricing in red font (when you think of the red maple leaf in our flag, this is colour of font is very appropriate).

By the way, notice how I spelled “colour”, that’s the Canadian way of spelling colour. And this is another point made in this special report. To really appeal to Canadians, use Canadian English. It’s subtle, but we notice – i.e color is colour, pay by check is pay by cheque, behaviour is behavior etc. 

Anyhow, back to Proactiv Solution, they’ve purchased all the right domains and they’ve set it all up to work like a charm. I bet they have huge success around the world and give kudos to the extra steps they take online. Even when you proceed through the Proactiv Solution checkout, it’s smart enough to prepopulate the country datafield to be “Canada”. And it asks for postal code which is the Canadian equiv of a US zip code. Love it! Nothing more frustrating than being forced to put a zip code in when you don’t have one! Trust me, it will contribute to lost sales in a big way.

Getting back to the importance of shipping - if you can make shipping affordable to the Canadian visitor, this is a definite advantage. Simply offering great pricing isn’t going to make us buy. Shipping has to be reasonable or we’re out.

I could go on and on, but I think you should just read the report. And after you do, post a comment and let’s get start some chatter. For example, are you doing anything special to encourage Canadians to buy online? If yes, what? If no, why?

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