tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70489229313736618752024-03-13T19:26:33.621-07:00The Fashion CornerAll about fashion, jewelry and selling handmade or vintage in your webshop. Whether on Etsy or elsewhere.SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-52604566048849862442012-08-11T09:38:00.001-07:002012-08-11T09:38:24.224-07:00Youtube for your webstore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m3vLVBLO-eM/T_RHVDNE_iI/AAAAAAAAACo/TviSN_wJMvQ/s1600/Google.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m3vLVBLO-eM/T_RHVDNE_iI/AAAAAAAAACo/TviSN_wJMvQ/s200/Google.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SEO, it seems to be the buzzword on the internet, and also of fora of webstores like Etsy, SEO is the single most used word, at least so it seems. If I would have to make a guess on the second most popular word, my bet would be on Google, and then, Google as in the Search engine Google, not the company. Not realy surprizing, since its all about being found, and the synonym of "being Found" seems to be Google. Nothing wrong so far. The weird thing though is that, if we look at ways of being found, after Google there is a long... no a loooooooong silence. Then maybe Ask, Bing or Yahoo pop up, and maybe a cup of Facebook, a teaspoon of Pinterest, a sniff of Wanelo and maybe a hint of Instagram. One name keeps on missing, and yet it is the second biggest search engine in the world. Its name: Youtube!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-de5a4cEtNuk/UCaKLa2ScWI/AAAAAAAAAJo/oQTJeGfdulc/s1600/imagesyt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="72" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-de5a4cEtNuk/UCaKLa2ScWI/AAAAAAAAAJo/oQTJeGfdulc/s200/imagesyt.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some Numbers*:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every day, some 4 billion video's are being watched;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every month, Youtube has some 800 million unique visitors;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">70% of all youtube traffic origins outside of the USA (I will explain why this can be important).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">100 million people </span><u style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a week</u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> perform some sort of social activity, like subscribing to a channel, "liking" a video or leaving a comment.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">every minute, 500 tweets link to a youtube video.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what makes youtube so important for your webstore? Well, its threefold.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First of all, like already stated, youtube is the worlds second biggest search engine, so NOT using youtube would effectively be like roughly cutting your internet-presence by a third. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second reason is the unique content that Youtube can deliver. I believe that, if done right, youtibe can hugely increase your store's visibility, even by more that 50%.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7S0wwr299eY/UCaHtYo1ZQI/AAAAAAAAAJY/Z9XSqq16cuY/s1600/beadmakingvid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7S0wwr299eY/UCaHtYo1ZQI/AAAAAAAAAJY/Z9XSqq16cuY/s320/beadmakingvid.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How so? Well, now a days, there are a lot of people using youtube to search for tutorials. So lets just say you have a webstore focussing on hand-made glass beads, or, crochet tops. If you would take the time to, preferebly with the assistance od someone else, make a few tutorials on "how to make" either of these, you are likely to attract people interested in acquiring the knowledge, or at least, have the aspiration. "Isn't that dangerous for me?" is the most likely question. Well, it depends, but in general not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all know that mastering something takes a lot of time, and practise. Unless your crafts are more of a trick than of skill, its not so likely people will master it after seeing your vid. But it has two other effects. Firs of all, you can (ofcourse) put a link to your webstore in the vid and on your youtube page. I betcha that a lot of people will click it or visit, just out of curiosity of what you have created. But there is more, by GIVING to the internet community (in this case knowledge), you build a reputation and are more likable. And in sales, its all about people perceiving you as likable. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lastly, youtube offers something that google itself does not: social capabilities. By liking your video, tweeting about it or leaving comments, more people in their circle will see your content, the famous oil-stain effect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ogGFZUmnea8/UCaJkLb9XNI/AAAAAAAAAJg/GzPCG2BS5-c/s1600/imagesworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ogGFZUmnea8/UCaJkLb9XNI/AAAAAAAAAJg/GzPCG2BS5-c/s1600/imagesworld.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK, I still owe you why its important that 70% of the searches come outside of the USA. This is a more Etsy-specific issue. Non-USA Etsy sellers attract relatively little non-US viewers, simply because Etsy is most widely known inside the USA. And US based stores, find it harder to attract non-US buyers too (for the same reason of course). So by using Youtube, you are in fact broadening your geographic area of activity. Now, isn't that exactly what most shopowners want?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">* source:</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics/">http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics/</a><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00504070812921784850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-5607613863579024972012-07-22T06:38:00.002-07:002012-07-22T09:05:51.756-07:00Fashion Marketing: Tour de France<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to get noticed in the crowded fashio world, marketing is key.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Basically, there are two type of marketeers, the ones that prefer to spend a lot of money on add campaigns, commercials and the likes, and the other type, that prefers smart-marketing: gathering attention for free.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Schutrups, a Dutch shoe store clearly is the latter type.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-63hZx_3t_js/UAv_OrltyOI/AAAAAAAAAJE/6Zgt7NHSFTw/s1600/Tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-63hZx_3t_js/UAv_OrltyOI/AAAAAAAAAJE/6Zgt7NHSFTw/s320/Tour.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In Europe, this summer is a Sport summer: European Championship Soccer, later on the Olympics and right now, the famous Tour de France!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This last event obviously inspired the Schutrups to come up with a novelty. They commissioned a set of Tour-de-France inspired shoes with Kops-schoenen, one of the few remaining shoefactories, that once were a big source of employment around the Dutch city of Tilburg. Together with a designer of Kopsschoenen, Schutrups spawned a series dedicated to the worlds most famous cycling tournament.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-azFzDZ2Ak_E/UAwAriKLqPI/AAAAAAAAAJM/tqNZS-PhqPY/s1600/Gert-jacobs_425+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-azFzDZ2Ak_E/UAwAriKLqPI/AAAAAAAAAJM/tqNZS-PhqPY/s320/Gert-jacobs_425+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The shoes are designed around the well-known shirtcolour that can be earned in the tournament, the Green, Yellow, Orange and of course the polka-dot shirt for the mountains classification.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shutrups commisioned them for the Dutch former cyclist and co-presenter on a Tour de France TV program, Tour du jour. And in case you wonder: yes, he wore them on TV as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kops, happened to be the only company able to design and produce 11 of these shoes within the 10-day window between idea and start of the tour de France.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They have received quite some attention from different media with the production of these shoes. They are not cheap (400 euro's a pair) but its definately reasonable if you take in account that each pair takes several hours of hand-production. And for that price, you get not only a pair of wonderful, handcrafted shoes, but also a pair of conversation starters. They sure leave an impresion!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-35073111449766915572012-07-07T04:11:00.002-07:002012-07-07T04:11:20.756-07:00Fashion Technology: BioCouture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qsXf4kY83m8/T_gZNSvYzgI/AAAAAAAAAI4/sFFvZa708HY/s1600/biobomber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qsXf4kY83m8/T_gZNSvYzgI/AAAAAAAAAI4/sFFvZa708HY/s1600/biobomber.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we go to the store to look for a new dress, a pair of shoes or some other fashionable items, technology is in general not what springs to mind. But in fact, Technology and Fashion are not as far apart as you might think.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, now you think this blog is going to be about the development of Looms, or CAD / CAM like production streets. No, that IS a reality, and maybe one day food for another blog, but this a little bit more laboratory-like. This one is about biotech, yes, about growing your own garments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enter Suzanne Lee. London based Lee is founder of BioCouture, and a research Fellow on Central St. Martins College of Arts and Design.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She explains the process:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e80myI0S8r4/T_gYvBqiAqI/AAAAAAAAAIo/gevFJgqyD4c/s1600/Bio_wet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e80myI0S8r4/T_gYvBqiAqI/AAAAAAAAAIo/gevFJgqyD4c/s320/Bio_wet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"The process uses a sugary green tea recipe, to which, a bacterial culture is added. It takes about 2-4 weeks to grow a sheet that is thick enough to use. Sheets are then dried down; either shaped over a wooden dress form--like the ghost dress and ruff jacket [images, below]--or sewn together conventionally. Depending on the recipe the material can either feel like paper or--more desirably--like a vegetable leather.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In testing with dyes we found no need for mordant [a substance used for dyeing fabrics] and an incredibly small amount of dye goes a <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">long</em> way so it's eco-credentials go through the entire process. We also recycle a percentage of the fermentation liquid."</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cMmFuUQoGvM/T_gY6zbWqOI/AAAAAAAAAIw/H_bjL_RtpV8/s1600/EcoKimono.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cMmFuUQoGvM/T_gY6zbWqOI/AAAAAAAAAIw/H_bjL_RtpV8/s320/EcoKimono.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The result is a seamless piece of clothing, and I must admit, it has definately got some sort of Eco-Look-and-Feel to it, but in the positive sense.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right now its not yet commercially available, but I guess its a matter of time before you will be able to buy it prêt a porter or even made to measure!</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">[All pictures: courtesy of Suzanne Lee]</span></div>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-62385532895906938612012-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:002012-07-04T10:19:21.360-07:00Fashions next big thing: China<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ThIVj38Z16Y/T_R7CLmKE2I/AAAAAAAAAIc/XaspBJ9GzVI/s1600/Elio_Fiorucci.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ThIVj38Z16Y/T_R7CLmKE2I/AAAAAAAAAIc/XaspBJ9GzVI/s1600/Elio_Fiorucci.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While the fashion magazines are sending their editors and journalists to Florence, Milan, New York and Amsterdam, more and more pundits are predicting the next Big Thing is not coming from either of those cities. No, neither is it coming from Italy, The US of A or even France, The next fashion wave that will hit the market will be coming from: China!
Designer and retailer Elio Fiorucci told Reuters lately, “the next big issue for fashion is not China’s economic boom but Chinese creativity, and while the Western world knows little about China’s aesthetic sensibility, China’s emerging designers may surprise us, since they have the talent and a deep knowledge of the Western fashion world". I think that Elio could be right, although Gianluca Brozetti, Chief Executive of Roberto Cavalli, qualified these sentiments by saying that" while the culture and creativity of Chinese designers will certainly be appreciated in the West, it will take time to make a major impact due to the lack of economic power". Well, I wonder when was the last time Gianluca visited China, he probably still has a 1960's travel guide on China on his bookshelf.
</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BmeUtfODhVE/T_HmUVs1QiI/AAAAAAAAAHw/u-ydIqPrjsc/s1600/JiCheng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BmeUtfODhVE/T_HmUVs1QiI/AAAAAAAAAHw/u-ydIqPrjsc/s1600/JiCheng.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ji Cheng, <br />(photo courtesy of Ji Cheng)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
China has built up a reputation of cheap copycats and lacking quality, at least this is the perception of many Westerners. But they forget that almost EVERYTHING they use daily, from their übergerman Miele washingmachine to their Ultra Swedisch SUV Volvo has Chinese-made components in it. Yes, even their Good 'ol American iPhone is almost entirely built scratch up in China. The money those Chinese made with all of that is, for now, happily spent on Western brands such as imported Mercedes Benz's and French Chateau Latour. But deep inside we all know that this is just a phase in which the Chinese will endulge themselves in what for long has been considered something forbidden. And we all know that, forbidden fruits are the sweetest.... until they are no longer forbidden. THAT is when the true road of self-reflection will start, and China is about to embark on that road. Its puberty is ailing, and adulthood is on the brink. Adulthood that comes with confidence. And its just the confidence that some Chinese designers still lack.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"></span></span><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9nAnXSIx0Co/T_Ho9xfyMcI/AAAAAAAAAH8/WPeSeuiQBuw/s1600/JiChengLondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9nAnXSIx0Co/T_Ho9xfyMcI/AAAAAAAAAH8/WPeSeuiQBuw/s1600/JiChengLondon.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">This is also the vision of Chinese media Mogul Hung Huang, or as westerners would say, Huang Hung. Hung is one of China's most influential Fashion critics, Publisher of iLook magazine, author, actress and a media figure, by <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/10/20/talk.asia.china.hung.huang.cnn?hpt=Sbin" target="_blank">CNN compared to Oprah Winfrey</a>. She know also has a column Womens Wear Daily. Hung also thinks that confidence is all that is lacking. Jenny Ji, or rather Ji Cheng since I am not a supporter of the adopted western names by Chinese, designer behind the LaVie label is one of the promising designers in the new China. Having had her training in Milan, she clearly makes the connection between East and West in het ravishing designs. The Fall/Winter 2011 collection was marked with exquisite embroidery, a true feast of the eye, her Fall/Winter collection shown in London, calles Zen Awakening was far more contemporary, tremendoulsy wearable but still with the connection to its Chinese heritage. I predict a bright future for China's fashion industry, and when I say "Industry" this has less to do with Looms and more with design!</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E3cQQJ051Fk/T_H_kmT-T_I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/Bm4c2b6sPew/s1600/ji_cheng_aw12_018_650px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E3cQQJ051Fk/T_H_kmT-T_I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/Bm4c2b6sPew/s640/ji_cheng_aw12_018_650px.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From Ji Chengs Zen Awakening line: [<a href="http://www.christopherdadey.com/" target="_blank">Photo: Christopher Dadey</a>]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EkDK5jFEbdY/T_HpQWRj4dI/AAAAAAAAAIE/EuSN29z84bg/s1600/Ji_Cheng_2012FW_Invitation_London.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EkDK5jFEbdY/T_HpQWRj4dI/AAAAAAAAAIE/EuSN29z84bg/s640/Ji_Cheng_2012FW_Invitation_London.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<br />SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-61531208901511092292012-07-01T14:45:00.001-07:002012-07-01T14:45:42.063-07:00A preview to Summer 2013: Mens fashion<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its just a few days to the Amsterdam International fashion Week, but of course we have already seen some designs in the designer presentations that have been made in Florence, Milan and Paris.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If we are to believe what the male fashion for summer 2013 will bring, its among others male legs!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some top designers like Mugler, Viktor & Rolf, Raf Simons and Louis Vuitton have shown their men-collection for summer 2013, and short pants are going to be the norm!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iUo9FzeygVk/T_B96hk9ojI/AAAAAAAAAHE/Dy6SlunDgXM/s1600/LVParis2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iUo9FzeygVk/T_B96hk9ojI/AAAAAAAAAHE/Dy6SlunDgXM/s400/LVParis2013.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Some impressions from LV's catwalkshow in Paris</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Louis Vuitton did it in an almost old-fashioned way, with nautic themes: Blue, and white marine like colours, knitted pullovers for the cooler summer evenings and here and there a bright yellow coat. Kim Jones, with Louis Vuitton responsible for the male fashion line, definately went back to the eighties and made sure it was all wearable and not over the top!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aRGpuQ2OUYo/T_B_qamLS0I/AAAAAAAAAHM/hUkCQA-rFbE/s1600/rafsimonsParis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aRGpuQ2OUYo/T_B_qamLS0I/AAAAAAAAAHM/hUkCQA-rFbE/s320/rafsimonsParis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Belgian designer Raf Simons Made more of a fashion statement: combining daring prints with no-so-out-of-the-box combinations of oversized and tall, almost dress-sized shirts with short trousers, definately brought a feminine touch to its collection for 2013. The collars were high-cut or alltogether gone. But he too decided in a way to go back to the eighties: The punk-like hairdress of the models as well as the feminization of the male, all well remembered from bands like The Cure The Cult and Culture Club is suddenly back again!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But Nicola Formichetti, Thierry Muglers Creative Director is definately the one that pushed the envelope when it comes to daring design for next year. Nicola combines blazers with short trousers, front-open short trousers and even pantyhoses for men!</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eg8DI04Lyw/T_CZyNKpsII/AAAAAAAAAHY/51yvpPt7ZJ4/s1600/TM2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eg8DI04Lyw/T_CZyNKpsII/AAAAAAAAAHY/51yvpPt7ZJ4/s640/TM2013.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Thierry Muglers male fashion for s/s 2013</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lets see what Amsterdam will bring next week!</span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-6868533974119091272012-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:002012-06-30T12:28:33.432-07:00Belts: a short history<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a4pQvdyCx_w/T-rqpv8QLlI/AAAAAAAAAFw/jONuhJm8hgg/s1600/MaleBelt-clothing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a4pQvdyCx_w/T-rqpv8QLlI/AAAAAAAAAFw/jONuhJm8hgg/s1600/MaleBelt-clothing.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
Belts have been documented for male clothing since the bronze age, which, for Europe, was between 3600 and 600 BC. Both genders used them off and on, depending on the current fashion. In the western world, belts were more common for men, with the exception of the early Middle Ages late 17th century Mantua, and skirt/blouse combinations between 1900 and 1910. </div>
<div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ovilKHKdxE/T-rqQO7NCWI/AAAAAAAAAFo/bFda_P0yV7M/s1600/ObiHanaYukataInari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ovilKHKdxE/T-rqQO7NCWI/AAAAAAAAAFo/bFda_P0yV7M/s320/ObiHanaYukataInari.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A Japanese Obi-variant</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the period of the latter-half of the 19th century and up until the first WW, the belt was a decorative as well as utilitarian part of the uniform, particularly among officers. In the armed forces of Prussia, Tsarist Russia, and other Eastern European nations, it was common for officers to wear extremely tight, wide belts around the waist, on the outside of the uniform, both to support a saber as well as for aesthetic reasons. These tightly cinched belts served to draw in the waist and give the wearer a trim physique, emphasizing wide shoulders and a pouting chest. Often the belt served only to emphasize waist made small by a corset worn under the uniform, a practice which was common especially during the Crimean Wars and was often noted by soldiers from the Western front. Political cartoonists of the day often portrayed the tight waist-cinching of soldiers to comedic effect, and some cartoons survive showing officers being corseted by their inferiors, a practice which surely was uncomfortable but deemed to be necessary and imposing.</div>
<div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
In modern times, men started wearing belts in the 1920s, as trouser waists fell to a lower line. Before the 1920s, belts served mostly a decorative purpose, and were associated with the military. Today it is common for men to wear a belt with their trousers.</div>
<div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
Over the course of history, the belt has known many traditional different styles. <span style="background-color: white;">In Japan, for women wearing the traditional Kimono, the Obi came to be. Worn both by men and women, though the width would differ, the men wearing less wide versions. Some have extensive folding on the back.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s-Sx-euj3ZA/T-1QDy3J5rI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/6oGFg_IrTLM/s1600/cowrieil_570xN.259068828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s-Sx-euj3ZA/T-1QDy3J5rI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/6oGFg_IrTLM/s320/cowrieil_570xN.259068828.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tribal Cowrie belt by Studio StebbyLee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;">Also in Tribal Africa the use of belts as adornment has a long history.About the practical purpose is little known, but the most logical explanation has to do with adornment and showing of wealth. In olden times, far before currencies were introduced, Cowrie shells were often used as a form of payment. Well-to-do women would use all sort of jewelry and show off by using cowrie shells in them. To today standards it would be as making a necklace out of 100$ bills.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">On Etsy you can also find them, though they are not plentiful, for instance in the store of <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/studiostebbylee" target="_blank">Studio StebbyLee</a></span><br />
<br />
Of course, the Belt has a very practical use now a days, keeping pants from ending up around our ankles. Although they are still a way to express ourselves. Either by colour, material or with adornment, such as the studded belts worn in Rock- and Grunge scene's. If you want to make a statement, a belt definately is a part of it!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-20969568079482368142012-06-29T10:38:00.000-07:002012-06-29T10:38:11.845-07:00Amsterdam International Fashion Week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-klDYoR1Mfns/T-3lG0qIH-I/AAAAAAAAAG4/AF4fTgTzA8k/s1600/aiflogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-klDYoR1Mfns/T-3lG0qIH-I/AAAAAAAAAG4/AF4fTgTzA8k/s1600/aiflogo.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In just over a week, the Amsterdam International Fashion week, or AIF for insiders, will strat again, in its usual venue of the Westergasfabriek.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For people not familiar with this location:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e7J1Co14A5Y/T-3hCH1J1VI/AAAAAAAAAGc/91svC-82eIM/s1600/WGFAfbeelding-298-1024x768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e7J1Co14A5Y/T-3hCH1J1VI/AAAAAAAAAGc/91svC-82eIM/s400/WGFAfbeelding-298-1024x768.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The famous "Gashouder" at Westergasfabriek Amsterdam <br />[Photo: Westergasfabriek]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;">At the end of the 19th century, the Imperial Continental Gas Association (ICGA) built two coal gas factory complexes in Amsterdam: the Ooster Gasfabriek (Eastern Gas Factory) and the Wester Gasfabriek (Western Gas Factory). The latter was completed in 1885, strategically located near to waterways, the rail network and access roads. Originally, the gas was used for street lighting.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;">Now, the Westergasfabriek is providing a new surge of energy and light. The redeveloped factory site and the beautifully laid out park are an asset for the local area. Creative entrepreneurs work in the renovated historic buildings and many high-profile events and festivals are held here. The Westergasfabriek is regarded as a model for redevelopment, far beyond the Netherlands’ borders. Its different buildings form an ideal backdrop to host a variety of exhibitions or meetings, and the AIF is a regular attendee.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;">This summer, a plethora of aspiring and already settled designers will fill the catwalk, among others Marga Weimans, Bas Kosters, Gestuz, Claes Iversen and Rebecca Ward.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana; line-height: 18px;">Its not more than logical that The Fashion Corner will pay attention to one of the top Fashion Events in The Netherlands, so stay tuned!</span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-50797250215580302962012-06-28T02:49:00.001-07:002012-06-28T11:22:07.478-07:00Vogue China's CAPITAL error<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all know that in fashion / modeling, PhotoShop is a household brand: I believe there are little to no photo reports in ANY fashion magazine that have not had a PS-treatment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, the amount of "tweaking" to a picture or reportage differs greatly. From highlighting some colours, increasing the hue or saturation to editing away a few love-handles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But Vogue China has pushed the envelope to a new, never seen level.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In their newest editorial about Doutzen Kroes, there is a spread of her sunbathing.... One Legged!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some photoshop-geek of Vogue obviously decided that the model looked better with one leg, and the editor probably did not do a thorough quality check. Because a mistake like that is not just a "slip of the hand".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or, there is the slight possibility that Vogue China decided to do it deliberately as a Guerilla Marketing strategy. Or am I now thinking too bad things?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's the wreaked picture that appeared in Vogue China:</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XkgcHwMZdPM/T-wn7ccs4aI/AAAAAAAAAGE/-IV62j8KOTI/s1600/DoutzenKroesleggone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XkgcHwMZdPM/T-wn7ccs4aI/AAAAAAAAAGE/-IV62j8KOTI/s1600/DoutzenKroesleggone.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A one-legged Doutzen Kroes? [Source: Vogue China]</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-90842285273733487342012-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:002012-06-27T08:00:05.689-07:00Harajuku Kawaii coming to Paris<br />
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
For all lovers of the Japanese Fashion Scene, and specificaly the Harajuku style who are living in Europe: Good News! They will be coming to Paris soon! Harajuku Kawai is a Japanese inspired style that has been made immense popular outside of Japan due to Gwen Stefani, who often used it in her shows and music clips. It is so popular that some regard it as a fashion movement.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pb_j53YHU44/T-nUL_R3lrI/AAAAAAAAAFc/Og55d7UMm3g/s1600/400px-HarajukuGirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pb_j53YHU44/T-nUL_R3lrI/AAAAAAAAAFc/Og55d7UMm3g/s320/400px-HarajukuGirls.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the Harajuku girls</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The background group has gained huge popularity since being featured in Gwen Stefani's show, and even one of the pop-diva's songtitles was "Harajuku girls". The Harajuku name comes from a distyrict in Tokyo, Japans capital. There, every sunday, a variety of young fashionable Japanese gather with their Lolita, Gothic and Decora-outfits. The region around Harajuka station has grown to be the fashion capital of Japan.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://tokyofashion.com/?s=%22HARAJUKU+KAWAii%22" style="border: 0px; color: #1c6daa; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">HARAJUKU KAWAii</a> is a popular Japanese fashion and music event about which TokyoFashion.com has been reporting for the last couple of years. Harajuku Kawaii features fashion shows from kawaii Harajuku-friendly fashion brands (including 6%DOKIDOKI), concerts by kawaii singers (including Kyary), special celebrity appearances, popup shops, and lots of fun. While 6%DOKIDOKI has made several international appearances and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu held a concert in Los Angeles last year, the entire Harajuku Kawaii experience has never been seen outside of Japan – until now!</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Asobi System have just announced that the next Harajuku Kawaii – with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, 6%DOKIDOKI, Spinns Harajuku, and more – will take place at Japan Expo in Paris on July 8, 2012.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://tokyofashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Harajuku-Kawaii-Paris-Pics-2012-005.jpg" rel="lightbox[60417]" style="border: 0px; color: #1c6daa; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Harajuku Kawaii in Paris (3)" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-60424" height="399" src="http://tokyofashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Harajuku-Kawaii-Paris-Pics-2012-005-600x399.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(239, 239, 239); font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: auto; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 4px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Harajuku Kawaii in Paris (3)" width="600" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
In addition to Kyary, Harajuku Kawaii in Paris will feature several of the top models from the Harajuku scene (including the always-amazing Una). Here is all of the Harajuku Kawaii info directly from the source (translated by us):</div>
<blockquote style="background-image: url(http://tokyofashion.com/wp-content/themes/tokyofashion/images/quotes.gif); background-position: 12px 12px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #595959; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; line-height: 13px; margin: 5px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 8px 15px 8px 60px; quotes: ''; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“HARAJUKU KAWAii!!!!” is going worldwide!</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“HARAJUKU KAWAii!!!!” will officially be held in Paris, France, at the “JAPAN EXPO,” one of the largest Japanese culture festivals in the world. On July 8 (Sun.), “HARAJUKU KAWAii!!!! in Paris” will be held on the Japan Expo Main Stage.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Kyary Pamyupamyu, a Harajuku icon who charms the entire world, will perform a live concert. There will also be a fashion show in which the creators of Harajuku street culture, popular Aomoji-kei models such as Fumiko Aoyagi, Abochi, Ayumi Seto, and Una will perform.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The “Kawaii” of Harajuku will be on display for all to see in Paris, France, a city known for its love of Japanese culture.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
HARAJUKU KAWAii!!!! in Paris Event Summary</div>
<ul style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; list-style: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Date</strong>: July 8, 2012 (Sun.)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Location</strong>: Paris Nord Villepinte</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Exhibition Area</strong>: Main Stage</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time</strong>: Scheduled for 15:15-16:00 local time</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Audience</strong>: Approx. 15,000 people</li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
HARAJUKU KAWAii Contents</div>
<ul style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; list-style: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harajuku-style fashion shows</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kyary Pamyu Pamyu live concert</li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Performing Artists / Models</div>
<ul style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; list-style: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Artists</strong>: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Models</strong>: Fumiko Aoyagi, Apochi, Ayumi Seto, Una</li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Fashion Brands</div>
<ul style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; list-style: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Innocent World</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SPINNS</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">HELLCATPUNKS</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">6%DOKIDOKI</li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
JAPAN EXPO Info</div>
<ul style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; list-style: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Date</strong>: July 5, 2012 (Thurs.) – July 8, 2012 (Sun.)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time</strong>: 9:00 – 19:00</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Location</strong>: Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Area</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Expected number of attendees</strong>: 200,000 people</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Website</strong>: <a href="http://www.japan-expo.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1c6daa; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Japan Expo</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">[Thanks to TokyoFashion.com]</span></span></div>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-6075172333439208972012-06-25T07:26:00.000-07:002012-06-30T12:03:27.408-07:0010 tips to increase webshop traffic part - 2<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Af few days ago, I posted the first part of this blog, and today its time for part 2 of tips to increase webshop traffic</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">6) post regularly on forums where your target group is to be found. Use a link to your store in the signature.</span></h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">I think this is an important one. Te truth is that your potential customers don't know you yet (unless of course your name is Donatella Versace, but then again, something tells me you would not be reading my blog. If I am mistaken, please tell me!). So its key to make sure that those potential customers are aware of YOUR presence. And the best way to do this is to go where they go. There are plenty of fora online where thousands, and sometimes even tens of thousands people go to discuss anything from their favourite artist to the latest gossip or tips on parenthood.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqRPHN7Q9HI/T-hVbd2nviI/AAAAAAAAAEo/9V8Kq8ly40Y/s1600/hotrod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lqRPHN7Q9HI/T-hVbd2nviI/AAAAAAAAAEo/9V8Kq8ly40Y/s1600/hotrod.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Not sure if jewelry goes well in a hotrod forum...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Make sure it is something you also have an opinion about, or at least can contribute something to. Be it answers, advise or anything else. There you can also post, discuss etc, just as you would on the Etsy forum. Don't make the mistake however to just post about your webstore. People don't mind knowing you have one, but if you continually put it in their face on an irrelevant spot, it is going to be considered spamming, and a ban is around the corner.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">In stead, just put the link to your webstore with a description what is in it in your signature, so when you post about something in the thread, the link to your website will be displayed under it.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Does it work? Betcha it does! But of course only if you have built up credibility in the forum, and not instantly. It works best of course if your target customer group is on the forum. So if you sell handmade jewelry, it won't in general be the most effective to start posting on a typical forum catering for hotrods....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">7) Go to fashion fairs and alike. </span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ce4nlAFtqIU/T-hWg33rA3I/AAAAAAAAAEw/obWQg8tXnrA/s1600/braderie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ce4nlAFtqIU/T-hWg33rA3I/AAAAAAAAAEw/obWQg8tXnrA/s1600/braderie.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Every community usualy has several art or fashion fairs where it is relatively cheap to put your creations and try to sell them. No matter how online the world has become, people still like to see the item they are buying, making sure it is the quality they want, and even personaly speak with the creator or vendor. It gives them a sense of security, and it offers you a chance to convey your enthousiasm of your product to them. First buyers are a lot more likely to do a repetitive online purchase if they like what they got before. So don't just stand there and sell the goods, but also make sure that every client (or even just interested visitor of your little stand!) gets a leaflet with your contact details and webstore. I can almost guarantee you that your store in the days after the fair, will see a spike in views and likes! And since they already met you in real life, they are probably going to be a lot less weary on making an online purchase.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">8) Ad your store's link in the footer of your e-mail addressess.</span></span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Amp6uFNJytE/T-hZP_2ZS1I/AAAAAAAAAE8/b6Q_DwA86BM/s1600/footer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Amp6uFNJytE/T-hZP_2ZS1I/AAAAAAAAAE8/b6Q_DwA86BM/s1600/footer.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">In point 7 we mentioned putting your web-address in the signature of your postings on forums. Well, why not take it a step further and put it in the footer of EVERY e-mail message you send across the web? Of course, it will not be a good idea to do it in a company mail if you work for a boss, but you surely send a lot of private e-mails as well! Wether it is to a club you belong to, to the PTA of your child's school or even to the people you met on the last holiday. All potential customers. And since you already have a <i>rapport</i> with them, they are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer in your webshop.</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">If you want to keep it simple, start with just a description of what you sell, and a link to your store (for instance storename.etsy.com) . If you feel adventurous, use the banner of your store, and put that one in your footer, and mak it clickable. (Most e-mail programs will allow to make an image in the mail clickable). An image is a lot more enticing curiousity than just simple words like "Check out my handmade jewelry". Not sure how to do it? Just run a search in Google on "Adding footer in xxxxxx" where xxxxx is the name of your e-mail client.</span></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">9) Get accounts on Pinterest, Wanelo etc and post your items there.</span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PybIDln3nfQ/T-hjvJphFjI/AAAAAAAAAFI/18_E6fpeoIg/s1600/pinterest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: white;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PybIDln3nfQ/T-hjvJphFjI/AAAAAAAAAFI/18_E6fpeoIg/s1600/pinterest.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">There are a number of Graphic Content Aggregation sites such as Pinterest, Wanelo and Rebelmouse, which are potentially interesting for you as someone who is selling things on the internet. People LOVE images, and if your store is predominantly catering for women, your even in more luck! A recent study has shown that those sites are mainly used by women, and they are quite avid "pinners". Since those sites mix Social Media aspect with pictures, people "liking" or "Pinning" your items are more or les automatically also sharing it with their followers / friends. So the same goes here as what I described for Facebook: the number of potential viewers will grow exponentially if people share your items with their friends. Here too, its important however to stay active. Regulary pin something, and also return the favor for others. Don't just pin your own stuff. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">10) Use Instagram and Youtube</span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MCg2_TH0Vbo/T-hlWMLovJI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/QVzkvQmrWZA/s1600/WIPtwit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MCg2_TH0Vbo/T-hlWMLovJI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/QVzkvQmrWZA/s320/WIPtwit.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Make pics using Instagram of your <br />WorkInProgress and share!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Are the tips on Wanelo, Pinterest and the likes all about pinning already existing images, Youtube and Instagram are about MAKING them. Now how can it benefit you? Instagram will allow you to make pictures, add arty effects and layers (if you wish) and instantly share them with your friends. So what would happen if you would now and then make pictures of your items? Finished products or, if you make things yourself, an item in progress! You will see you might get a steady stream of followers in your Instagram account, and you can easily integrate Instagram with Twitter! Your Twitter acount in turn is linked to Facebook so in a single action, all your followers will be seeïng your beautiful products! </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Now, youtube works simmilar BUT it has an added advantage. Most people don't realise that Youtube is actually the worlds second largest search engine after Google. So immagine someone typing on Youtube the search string "How to crochet" and it will pull up a nice vid of you sharing tips on crochetting or showing what you do to get the product you love to make? Just add your store's URL to the vid and description and off you go! It will add to the "Personal Touch", create awareness of the work you put into your products</span></span></div>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-76681247512643684132012-06-23T06:08:00.001-07:002012-06-30T12:07:31.501-07:0010 tips to increase webshop traffic part - 1<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most frequently asked questions on webstores of handmade items seems to be how to increase of-site traffic. I don't pretend to be an expert on those matters, but I have got some tips that work, so decided to put them in an few articles to share with the world.</span><br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">1) Keep in touch with your old customers, maybe they will do a repeat buy or recommend you to others</span></span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hnq_p2-tsR8/T-W5pYvER5I/AAAAAAAAAEU/FaByWXoai98/s1600/HYC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hnq_p2-tsR8/T-W5pYvER5I/AAAAAAAAAEU/FaByWXoai98/s1600/HYC.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think this is perhaps the single most imporant rule. In Marketing / Sales, there is an old saying: "Gaining a new customer costs you 10x more than keeping an existing one. Provided that your customers were satisfied with whatever they purchased from you, one thing is sure: they either liked what you make, or they bought a present for someone that likes what you make. Either way, they are potential customers to come back and do some more shopping! </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Key question of course is how to get them to do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some idea's to do just that:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Offer coupon codes with an incentive to do a repeat buy. You'll be surprised how much it is valued by customers to get a small price reduction on their next purchase.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Add some freebees to your shipped item, such as a fridge magnet or a pagemarker, that way you keep on top of your customers mind.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Add your customers to a mailing list, or ask them to sign up. Which one you choose depends a bit on your relationship and communication with your customer. New anti-spam regulations demand you to be very careful in just sending unwanted mail to your customers, so make sure you don't get a spam-tag to your name. If you send mail to your customers, you can either ask them if it is ok to add them on your mailing list, or alternatively, to be on the safer side of things, ask them to sign up themselves and send a mail with the link to the subscribe page.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a few weeks, send an e-mail to your customer requesting if they are still satisfied with your product. This is a great time to immediately ask them to fill out feedback if by then they still did not give it</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">2) Link your page to FB and regulary post items there</span></span></h4>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lZxywVM9Xv8/T-WzoZRi5uI/AAAAAAAAAD4/Q0VVQAW18Ek/s1600/friendsDistributionFB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lZxywVM9Xv8/T-WzoZRi5uI/AAAAAAAAAD4/Q0VVQAW18Ek/s320/friendsDistributionFB.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Distribution of Amount of FB friends</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its surprising to see how much time and effort some people put into maintaining their Facebook page. And the good thing about that is that it gives a great chanche of you not only bringing your items under the attention of your FB Friends, but also the friends of your friends! Why is that important? <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-data-team/anatomy-of-facebook/10150388519243859" target="_blank">Studies</a> have shown that the average amount of friends a FB user has is over 100. So the potential amount of people that with one click could see your items or store is 10.000! (100x100). </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order to put this to effect of course, you need to interact with your friends. Make sure they appreciate your postings (so don't overdo it!) and try t get them to like it or share it with their friends. Remember, everytime they like your post, all THEIR friends get to see it too!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">3) Set up a twitter account for communication about what you are in to.</span></span></h4>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hO4xY1xuiVs/T-W3qdJqlII/AAAAAAAAAEM/B5AHdxf53b4/s1600/twitterfollow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hO4xY1xuiVs/T-W3qdJqlII/AAAAAAAAAEM/B5AHdxf53b4/s1600/twitterfollow.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter is a great little tool to interact with a growing customer base. Here too, make sure you don't just SEND, don't just swamp people with links to your store or items, but try to add some value. How? Tweet link to interesting blogs, news articles or other items your customer base might find interesting. Consider to set up a seperate twitter account for your stores activities. You might not want to mix private updates like, "Oh My God, my Daughter just won the annual Spelling Bee Competition!" with your potential customer base, although it is a good thing of course to make sure in your tweets now and then to show you are a person, it greatly helps with building a favourable relationship with your followers.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With Twitter, don't just send. Do a search now and then on interesting Hashtags (#) like #Fashion, #Jewelry or #Vintage. It will point out interesting tweets to which you can respond or show you new interesting people to follow. If you're on Esty and do Jewelry for instance, add in tweets about your jewelry #JewelryOnEtsy, they might retweet your tweet, potentially hugely increasing the visibility of that item.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And last but not least: Link your Twitter account with Facebook so tweets will show in your timeline.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">4) Start your own blog.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SxHlt1RGH34/T-W25qVRYMI/AAAAAAAAAEE/7CaghD9Tc_I/s1600/BvsW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SxHlt1RGH34/T-W25qVRYMI/AAAAAAAAAEE/7CaghD9Tc_I/s1600/BvsW.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Start your Blog!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Why? Well, you're reading THIS blog right? And thats exactly why: It creates interaction with your potential customer base. If you use the right Tags, Words and Titles in your blog postings, more and more people searching for related terms on the Internet will find your Blog, click on it, maybe read it but at least it creates interest. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">So when you have them on your page, then you need to "Lure" them into your store. How to do that?</span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Put Etsy Mini in the side panel. Its non intrusive, but highlights some of your items and are an easy and effective way to get them to click on your store.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Hook the blog up with FB and Twitter to promote it. People interested in you on one platform are most likely to start following you on another.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blog about your own items. Don't do it all the time, but now and then talking about the creation of a new item, something that gave you inspiration, or how your items reflect a certain trend is definately worthwhile!</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blog about other stores. Probably your first reaction will be: "Why do I need to put my competitors in MY blog?" Well, easy. If you choose the right stores, the store might also feature you. And their customerbase is potentially also yur future customerbase. Maybe not the wisest move would be to feature a store that is in directly the same field that you are, especially not if they are cheaper! ;)</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">But a word of caution: A blog is not for everyone. Some people just don't have writing skills and / or the time or stamina to write blogs. And there is nothing more depressing that a blog with the last post dating back a year or so.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">It costs time but its a great way to get the messages across. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">5) Link your store's url on Linkedin if you have a profile there</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FYrda_OMzKo/T-W7vgLimFI/AAAAAAAAAEc/YAo-cbA76MQ/s1600/LI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FYrda_OMzKo/T-W7vgLimFI/AAAAAAAAAEc/YAo-cbA76MQ/s320/LI.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">I assume you have an account on LinkedIn. If not, my first advise would be to set one up. LinkedIn is a great way to keep in touch with business-relevant people such as suppliers, prospective customers and maybe even editors who can feature you!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Now, Linkedin has an interesting feature: you can actualy list up to three websites to your account. So use one for your webshop, and one for your Blog if you have it. But when you do that, do it in a smart way. If you go to the Profile Tab, and click on "Edit Profile", you can add or change the websites by clicking add or edit. by default it will say: "Personal Websites", Company Website or Blog. After that you have a window to enter the URL in. Now, most people just enter the URL there. That is, for SEO purposes, not the best way. If you choose "Other", another field will open where you can put the websites Name or description. If you put your webstore's name there, it will greatly enhance the findability of your webstore's name. The URL you put in the field after that.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">If you also link your Twitter account to the one on LinkedIn, your updates will also show there. You can set settings for "all tweets" or just tweets containing the #LI hashtag.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In order tot to make this post too long, the remaining tips will be posted in a few days. So stay tuned for part 2!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f5f5f1; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-42880084814264608332012-06-21T09:58:00.001-07:002012-06-21T15:00:03.736-07:00Styles and definitions of Fashion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VluUl46G18E/T-NJv0KeSwI/AAAAAAAAADY/SptWBKt51zg/s1600/market.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="52" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VluUl46G18E/T-NJv0KeSwI/AAAAAAAAADY/SptWBKt51zg/s400/market.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Market in Amsterdam, photo: Marcel Lücht</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today, strolling on the market, I was wondering what the definition of Fashion actually is. If I had to make a guess, it was something like "A way of dressing and using accessories that expresses who you are."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Judging by that definition, whe blandness on the streets was surely indicating that there was not a lot of expression going on. Surely, there were statements of all kinds, a black woman with short milimetered hair painted signal blue, and another woman with the type of red that was screaming "<i>Not Naturally obtained</i>". But when leaving hairstyles out of the equasion (just for the sake of this blog, because it surely is a fashion statement), there was just an awfull lot of "nothing".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, I decided to seek advise of the always trusty Internet on the definition of Fashion. And it came up with:<span style="background-color: white;"> "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>a popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour.</i>" (source Oxford Dictionaries).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK, so by that definition, fashion is more of a reflection of what the <i>mass public</i> decides is "Bon ton". Enter marketing budgets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So fashion can be made, fashion is the biggest common denominator. Throw a huge budget on add campains in leading magazines lige Vogue or Elle, and there is a fair chance that the general public will, after the fashion pundits have decided its worth putting on the front cover, a new Fashion will be born.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, so far the gloomy, negative, marketing-dollar driven definition. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I think there is more to fashion than the definition above is covering. Because everywhere in the world sub-cultures are being created, that keep on influencing eachother. Some on big scales, some on smaller ones.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-esUZ2uOoBjA/T-NNlCvwB3I/AAAAAAAAADk/Cpju7Xsf8MI/s1600/LolitaMX+article-2139092-12E5418B000005DC-7_634x432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-esUZ2uOoBjA/T-NNlCvwB3I/AAAAAAAAADk/Cpju7Xsf8MI/s320/LolitaMX+article-2139092-12E5418B000005DC-7_634x432.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take the schoolgirl, Rococo inspired Lolita style that for a few years already is booming in a niche of Japan's fashion styles. Steadily it has found its way to all corners of the world and has grown there to sub-culture fashion statements, that now and then even make headlines in national and international media.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hp7ZCam7H7Y/T-NP98EM0xI/AAAAAAAAADs/_BhB_Syf2eo/s1600/lolita10305WEBAPP4-980x735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hp7ZCam7H7Y/T-NP98EM0xI/AAAAAAAAADs/_BhB_Syf2eo/s400/lolita10305WEBAPP4-980x735.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.746094); color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Members of the Lolita Paradise Club in Monterrey, Mexico<br />Photo Daniel Becerrill / Reuters</span>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The British Daily Mail recently featured <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2139092/How-Mexican-teens-catching-Japans-love-affair-Lolita-style.html">an article</a> on this particular sub-culture in Mexico's cities, and sent a reporter to Monterrey for covering of the story. According to the Lolita's Paradise Club, its a statement against the forceful "Grow Up Quickly"- statement of moderns society, trying to stay a kid by dressing accordingly. If that is the whole story is up for debate, but maybe more on that in a later blog. At least we can agree that it is a fashion statement, a way of expressing yourself through clothing and accessories. It does not seem at all a common denominator, a mass inspired thing, pushed by large corporations. Instead its a niche that, on its own, and aided by the openness of the internet and assisted by media coverage, finds its way into different corners of the world. Is everyone thinking its "beautiful", "Cute" or something alike? I don't think so. And is it popular? Walking on the streets of Amsterdam today, I did not see anybody dressed even remotely Lolita-style. Therefor it does not really match the definition by Oxford Dictionary. But is it fashion? Yes it is! Fashion in my belief is more than the "Middle-of-the-road" that brands like PME, Esprit and G-star are pushing. Fashion is an expression of an individual!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-38529795780117513612012-06-19T04:40:00.000-07:002012-06-20T04:19:45.934-07:00Tribal inspired fashion<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RowjHjHU1kU/T-Bd3VJqr_I/AAAAAAAAACg/hbZlnTQrZh0/s1600/runway-trend-tribal-intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RowjHjHU1kU/T-Bd3VJqr_I/AAAAAAAAACg/hbZlnTQrZh0/s320/runway-trend-tribal-intro.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">® TeenVogue</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A trend that is every now and then popping up is Tribal inspired fashion. Teen Vogue wrote an <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/style/trend/trendspotting/2011/01/runway-trend-global-prints#intro" target="_blank">article</a> about it in its 2011 trend report : </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>From L.A.M.B. to Missoni, the runway was a delightful smorgasbord of vibrant patterns inspired by everything from African fabrics to American prep staples. Forget everything your mother told you about mixing prints - for this look, the more you pile on the better! To get the trend just right, try mix n' matching motifs with at least one thing in common, whether it be color palette, size or common graphic line. Most importantly: Wear it with utter confidence!</i></span><br />
<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 12px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That was 2011.... however, the trend was only starting of then. <a href="http://www.fashionising.com/trends/b--tribal-ethnic-trend-springsummer-2009-1566.html">Fashionising.com</a> wrote: </span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>You're going to see a lot of ethnically inspired fashion for both men and woman in spring/summer of 2012..".. </i>And indeed, when we look at some of todays designs and fashion stiles, they truly are Tribal inspirations. Some can be clearly traced back to specific cultures, for others its harder to do.</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CozCpP35QwY/T-Bjz9IX0FI/AAAAAAAAAC8/YUBsIxBl5sg/s1600/MetalMagmail_570xN.344653941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CozCpP35QwY/T-Bjz9IX0FI/AAAAAAAAAC8/YUBsIxBl5sg/s320/MetalMagmail_570xN.344653941.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/101920360/red-glass-beads-and-big-metal-pendant?ref=ss_listing">SmpliAnwi's</a> Metal Magma</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-INAvmlGfCZA/T-Bl4aCm_kI/AAAAAAAAADE/1k1JG0HmuxE/s1600/LaNubienne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-INAvmlGfCZA/T-Bl4aCm_kI/AAAAAAAAADE/1k1JG0HmuxE/s320/LaNubienne.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/102406826/reserved-for-cl-la-nubienne-long">BarefootModiste's</a> "La Nubiënne"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also on Etsy we can find Ethnic / Tribal fashion. Canada-based Barefootmodiste for instance has almost made her trademark out of it. Her store is litteraly filled to the brim with patterns, dresses and accesories that breath Africa. All hand crafted pieces, with material that comes from Africa and are designed by an African. True masterpieces. From her also comes a new fashion statement: Tribal inspired chokers. Also each handcrafted from African Cotton material, one can truly define them as "Fashion with an attitude". Necklaces are also a favorite for tribal adventures. Shopstyle features some of them, like <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/cara-couture-tribal-multistrand-necklace/3314131?origin=category&cm_ven=Linkshare&cm_cat=partner&cm_pla=10&cm_ite=1&siteId=J84DHJLQkR4-Qkb39SEMoJLEmfrq4JJBVQ">Cara Couture's Tribal Multistrand necklace</a>. More Indian inspired is for instance Metal Magma, which has more Mayan influences to it. With some doomsday-seeers saying the Mayan Empire predict 2012 to be the end of this world, maybe it's a good idea to pay tribute to the once so powerful Empire of Central America this year! Who knows, it might keep you safe. And if the world will not end, well at least you were stylish!</span></span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-91565691105179923702012-06-17T09:27:00.001-07:002012-06-20T03:35:07.073-07:006 things to increase international sales<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Okay, so here I went, posting a <a href="https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/10478082/page/1/" target="_blank">discussion</a> on the Etsy forum: little did I know it would generate so many replies: 119 as I am typing this blog, but surely more by the time you read it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since in my last blog I raised a few questions, and the reaction on my post gave insight on what some people felt about the possible answers (at least from their opinion), let me share the results with everyone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After all, crowdsourcing is in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-azaUx5fPH7U/T930XmYy6DI/AAAAAAAAACA/VvxHBJq83V8/s1600/stats1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-azaUx5fPH7U/T930XmYy6DI/AAAAAAAAACA/VvxHBJq83V8/s320/stats1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By the time I analized this, 40 US individuals had given their opinion on the issues I raised. Here are the results.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of the 40, 35 said they did not have any real problems with buying from international stores, located outside of the USA. Thats a good score. The remaining five however, did have fundamental issues preventing them doing International orders. Of those 5, 1 reason was sort of patriotic, wanting to support US economy, one was due to the fact that international stores often only accept Paypal as a payment option, a service the customer did not want do signup with. The other reasons quoted for not wanting to shop international were of a more practical reason: costs. Either the cost of International shipping, or the costs of the goods themselves, due to the weaker dollar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zo3KdfhDhTI/T9323VhtVZI/AAAAAAAAACM/gOnASjPgNPE/s1600/EtsyGeo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zo3KdfhDhTI/T9323VhtVZI/AAAAAAAAACM/gOnASjPgNPE/s320/EtsyGeo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, 5 out of 40 (12,5%) seems a good number. But we have to put this in perspective.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't forget that 62% of all 10 million Etsy users are US Based, according to <a href="http://www.appappeal.com/maps/etsy/" target="_blank">this report</a>, accounting for around 6,2 million customers, still amounts to three quarter of a million users that DON'T want to buy international. A sizable amount indeed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yFR2C22aRk0/T934ahEwNaI/AAAAAAAAACU/7p9apC76lQE/s1600/stats2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yFR2C22aRk0/T934ahEwNaI/AAAAAAAAACU/7p9apC76lQE/s320/stats2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But thats not all. In fact, only 17 (around 50% of potential international buyers) say there is no reason why they would not buy international. The other 50% list a number of apprehensions on buying from a non-US store. The graph here shows what are the quoted reasons. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The vast majority say the shipping cost and the shipping time are huge barriers when it comes to ordering from an international seller. Obviously, <i>we want it, and we want it NOW</i> is the key here, and adding another 10$ for postage is not a very enticing idea. The next big one is the cost of the goods, basically due to the low dollar exchange rate compared to the UK pound or Euro I guess. Well, the financial markets have recently partially done their best to reduce that difference ;-). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what can international sellers do about this?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I guess the following 6 pieces of advise can be distilled:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1) Make sure you have a clear shop policy, stating what international buyers can expect in terms of delivery times</b>. Don't make promisses you cant keep, the shipment process is out of your hands, but a positively surprised customer is a better ambassador than a disappointed one. And be sure to put in your policies that any surplus on the actual shipping price will be reïmbursed, and adhere to it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2)</b> <b>Minimize the transit times by clearly filling out custom forms, not including shipping costs in the declared value</b> and (for US adresses) follow <a href="https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action" target="_blank">this link</a> to the USPS zip locator for a correct addressing which seems to shorten the transit time (Thanks to<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/frenchsoul" target="_blank"> Helen from Frenchsoul</a> for this tip!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3) Maybe, include part of the shipping rate into your item price</b>. Now this is up for debate. Some will in no way want to do that, even if it is not to deter local buyers. On the other hand, since 62% of all potential buyers are US based (and international of course a lot more!), this might be a good strategy. After all, a lot of buyers will see a relative high shipping price upon checkout, and decide to cancel at that point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4) Since most buyers can be found in the USA, make it a point to get good feedback from your international buyers</b>, and maybe also ask them, in their feedback, to put something on the real shippping time. After all, uncertainty on it seems a large deterrant for many, even though some national US shipments also take some time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5) Be sure to have a unique product. </b>After all, if a US prospect buyer can choose between simmilar items, one international with potential shipping delays and high shipment costs, and one that doesn't, you can't blame them for choosing the latter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>6)</b> Maybe most importantly: <b>respond fast and clearly to all questions or remarks, gaining potential buyers' trust</b> and, above all, get them to become repeating customers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good luck selling!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-18779629444936924612012-06-16T04:41:00.000-07:002012-06-16T08:08:20.823-07:00Conversion<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday, in Etsy's forum an interesting topic turned up, one that I had already been pondering on for some time. The topic was concerning the amount of views vs the amount of likes and the resulting amount of sales. In marketing terms this is called the Conversion rate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0tkMsGO4mtk/T9xsugShX3I/AAAAAAAAABs/Ebcta93DQWA/s1600/conversion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0tkMsGO4mtk/T9xsugShX3I/AAAAAAAAABs/Ebcta93DQWA/s1600/conversion.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first few posts, all showed similar conversion rates of, between 100 and 250 views per sale (with around 20-30 likes per sale), but later more and more posts popped up where the views per sale ratio ended up between 500-2000.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course I quickly calculated my own and ended up on an average 650 views per sale, so well within the second tier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, finding out those numbers is interesting, but the key question of course is how to INFLUENCE these numbers and in order to be able to do that, we need to know the cause.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is where it becomes a bit tough. I don't have the time to make a scientific research on this, but a few observations could be made.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To people saying that external marketing (outside of Etsy) would be the cause: I don't think so. That would increase the amount of views, but not necessarily the view/sale ratio. In fact, it could be debated that it would reduce the ratio, since more views will dilute the sales made ratio (increasing sales but not in the same amount as the amount of views).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course a difference could be that the <i>tagging</i> of items was more specific, resulting in possible less views, but a higher conversion rate per view (ie more sales per view). That is to be investigated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nuA2tXlZwx8/T9xu6QvK97I/AAAAAAAAAB0/hcoJ1s6LCRI/s1600/ThinkGlobally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nuA2tXlZwx8/T9xu6QvK97I/AAAAAAAAAB0/hcoJ1s6LCRI/s320/ThinkGlobally.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An other difference that caught my eye has to do with location. It quickly struck me that many of the shops with low conversion ratios (so high number of views per sale) were located outside of the US.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A quick look on Ebay shows that many stores don't even consider selling international. Its considered "a hassle", dangerous or just unneccesary. Whether that is a valid idea remains to be seen. However, I believe that the vast majority of Etsy buyers are US based. And I can immagine they would prefer to buy from US based stores, either because they are apprehensive of buying from non-US stores, they feel the shipping charges are too high or just for patriotic reasons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is there much that non-US sellers can do about this? Hardly. Just keep the shipping rates as low as possible (don't inflate), communicate in a timely and kind manner, and maybe in the stores policy or "about me" mention that many international orders have not caused any problems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But that aside, I strongly believe Etsy can do something too: Increase they brand awareness outside of the US.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe its a good idea to discuss this with your local Etsy representative?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your views are highly appreciated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-43046367540009308632012-06-15T10:13:00.002-07:002012-06-15T10:13:50.650-07:00Etsy's numbers<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjTwMSQa92Y/T9tr6Z22p7I/AAAAAAAAABg/dpuT76pAY9k/s1600/weather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjTwMSQa92Y/T9tr6Z22p7I/AAAAAAAAABg/dpuT76pAY9k/s1600/weather.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Under here are <a href="http://smplianwi.etsy.com/" target="_blank">Etsy's</a> monthly figures, its so-called weather report. A quick analyse shows not only volumes were up, but the growth of turnover exceeded the growth in sheer item-volume, which indicates the average price per sale went up. Slightly worrying is the flimsy growth in new members, only 0.1%.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blooming flowers and rising temperatures made May the perfect month to hop on a bike and go for a ride. The Etsy community rode through the month with sunny days and growth to match.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The stats:</span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<li style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">$65.9 million of goods (after refunds and cancellations) were sold by our community in May, 3.6% higher than April’s $63.6 million</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<li style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That represents 3,034,442 items sold for the month, 2.4% higher than April’s 2,962,196</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<li style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2,248,143 new items were listed in the month, 2.1% higher than April’s 2,202,219</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<li style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">688,365 new members joined the Etsy community in the month, up 935, or 0.1%, from April</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<li style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1.29 billion page views were recorded on the site in May</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The $65.9 million of goods sold (after refunds and cancellations) represents a 68.5% increase from May 2011′s total. At the same time, items sold were up 51.2%. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Etsy community in May!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source: Etsy.com / Sinohe Terrero</span></div>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048922931373661875.post-81841347053199976392012-06-15T02:53:00.000-07:002012-06-15T03:38:03.849-07:00The Struggle for Customers<h2>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o8LLy-oG2V8/T9r3e3afXPI/AAAAAAAAABA/_SIrbqPlfQs/s1600/customers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o8LLy-oG2V8/T9r3e3afXPI/AAAAAAAAABA/_SIrbqPlfQs/s1600/customers.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think everyone who has a <a href="http://smplianwi.etsy.com/" target="_blank">webshop</a>, or as a matter of fact, even a Brick & Mortar shop, faces the continuous struggle to find new customers. As have I. The truth of the matter is that I am not the most digitally versed person in the world, I just want to do what I am good at, making jewelry, leather bags and crochet dresses, next to my daytime job as an MD. But instead I find myself busy with things such as Tags, Blogs, Twitter, SEO and setting up Facebook Company pages.... ahh, such is the life of an artist.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Etsy, and Etsy users all proclaim a blog is a great way to engage with your customers and attract new potential customers for your webshop. Well, lets wait and see.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So what is my goal with this blog? Or rather, what can you expect? Well, expect news on handmade fashion and jewelry, updates on my projects, Lessons learned and maybe some times tips and tricks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>SmpliAnwihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911454696717905238noreply@blogger.com0