International E-Commerce What Have I Learned From My Own Mistakes?

We learn a fair bit from other people’s mistakes, at least if we are smart we do. We might even learn more from our own mistakes, because they are so much more internalized. When we publish something, we externalize our mistakes – so there is no point in denying them.

The focus of this post is to acknowledge the mistakes I have made throughout the development of an online store. Since it is a work in progress, there are still many improvements to be made. My hope is to help others who embark on this entrepreneurial journey, since I have been at it for several years now.

When I first got started, things were quite different. The concept of shopping cart plug-ins was still being developed. There was no option to use WooCommerce or Shopify. In addition, you had to worry about being PAC compliant surrounding the storage and protection of the customer’s credit card data.

Initially I chose software that was developed in Russia called CS Cart. To their credit, it was the most sophisticated software available at the time. But the technical support was slow and spotty. In addition, I did not realize that product photos have to be square. I took thousands of photos that were not properly cropped or squared, so in a sense it was a good thing the software and the store I had worked on developing at that time, did not work out.

I certainly do not have all the answers, but setting up the product photos in a square, with a solid coloured background – is a high priority. Over the years, I have fussed around with the back drapes as much as the product itself. Try steaming the wrinkles out of something larger than a king size sheet, and you will know what I mean. The drapes also have to be long enough to cover the floor beneath a long dress or robe.

Since all photos have been shot in window light, there are many things to consider. Next to the perfect square and backdrop, you need to be able to get far enough back to get the entire length of the gown, which is tricky of you don’t have a large studio space. There are macro lenses, wide angle lenses, and zoom lenses – yet none of those will work to take a picture of a maxi dress. The best lens for amateur product photography in my opinion, is the 50mm Nikon portrait lens. It works better than a mid range zoom.

You can buy a collapsible stand for the back drapes. I never used the drapes that came with it since they were too small and made of heavy wrinkled cotton. Eventually, I found the best background drapes in thrift stores in Vancouver. A large white one came from a trade show, and a large black one that had been used in a dark room.

When you look at product photography – most of the professional work is done on a white background. They will even photograph white products on a white background. It might be the safest way to go, but in my opinion, it is best to show the product with as much detail and contrast as possible.

When I look through the media library at some of the product photos – I cringe. The most difficult colours are the reds. Since red has the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum – you can literally see the flattening and distortion of detail through the cameral lens. Certain colours and light conditions create a dark or uneven cast in the background, and if you change the exposure, they lose all detail. Other than lightening the exposure and increasing the definition, I do not touch up the product itself. I have spent a fair bit of time taking any noise or wrinkles out of the background.

The reason the photography is so important is because people like to look at clear bright pictures. I use both black and white for the background, since I am more concerned about product visibility than I am about making it the same as what everyone else does. Ideally I would like to be able to create a Gallery for every item. For those who have to hire professional photographers to list products, it would be a very expensive start-up. The photography and background editing, can be quite time consuming.

When you first embark on the creation of an online store, give careful thought to the categories you set up. The categories are key to the organizational component of your store, especially if you are doing niche marketing.

In Internet lingo, they refer to products as being at the head of the tail, or long tail. The head contains the volume sales or mass consumer market items. These are things more likely to sell in higher volume, such as socks and T-shirts. One T-shirt will have many different variables, perhaps five different colours, two styles, and four sizes.

Whereas in the long tail niche market, the product is usually one of a kind, or manufactured in a very small volume. To my way of thinking, there is an inverse proportionality to consider. If the head of the tail has large volume sales for a single item, the tail must have a large volume of single items. Otherwise, it is too difficult for customers to find you, if you only have twenty one of a kind items – no matter how beautiful they are. When it comes to long tail, I tend to think – the longer your tail the better. It might be the only way to become known and to establish an Internet footprint. I guess it would be more accurate to call it a tail print.

Things to avoid? Because of the fact fast fashion is filling up the landfills, and lacks quality and attention to detail, I have always avoided the mass produced items with made in China labels. Ivory, fur and leather are also things to avoid, or at least consider very carefully because there are bans on these items in certain countries. Ivory has a global ban that was enacted a few years ago. Since then the challenges to those bans have been won in some locations, for older ivory. Even so, ivory and fur are not good investments.

Perfume can also be problematic, due to the risk of flammability. Canada Post does not differentiate between perfume, which is flammable, and eau de toilette, which is mostly water, and is not flammable. You have to ship all perfume ground – with all kinds of special labelling and wrapping. It means if you send a bottle of Yves Saint Laurent Printemps eau de toilette to France in January – it will quite literally take until spring to get there!

The advancements in software in recent years is a huge advantage for new online stores. Just a few short years ago, it was daunting to try and figure out the stringent requirements to keep the client’s credit cards or bank informations safe. It was a huge responsibility to consider for a small start up. Fortunately things have changed.

When maintaining the credit card safety reverted back to the payment gateways, initially it was structured so the customer would add the item to the cart, and when proceeding to check-out, it took them to the Visa card or Paypal page. This was an improvement, but the continuity was interrupted as far as the online store branding was concerned. Within a couple more years, they were able to set it up so the transfer is not visible to the customer, making for a more streamlined transaction.

When you first set up a store, you choose what is called a skin, or template. I made the mistake of choosing one that is more complicated than I need. In fact, the convoluted publishing sections for a home page are no longer a requirement. Websites are no longer based on the layout of the home page, but rather on the menus. If you choose a complicated skin like I did, it makes it harder to choose fonts, font colours and what not, because initially you cannot even tell what you are doing or changing. You have to keep going to the published version to see if you got the fonts and lettering looking half decent. Keep in mind that not only the fonts, background colours, size of lettering, etc. has hundreds of variables and combinations, but there are also colours and styles on what hovers, what sticks, and what scrolls.

One of the bigger challenges is International shipping. I do not have all the shipping zones set up yet. In addition, you can set up all the customs forms and taxes online. Canada Post has a find a rate section on their website to enable shipping calculations.

I have not had any returns thankfully, but have had to refund a couple of times when the shipping or the product was prohibitive. The refunds are quick and easy. It is also easy to allow partial payments.

The structure and set up of an online store is both creative and task oriented. The categories are the foundation of the organizational component of your store. Whenever I get an order or an enquiry, I time myself on how long it takes to locate the item. Usually it is less than five minutes, so I do feel a sense of accomplishment in that regard. Everything is in containers, numbered and labeled on shelves, in their specific categories. So if the item is A562, you go to that shelf and look for the container with that number.

Each order has a set of tasks to complete that goes something like this:

1. Check to see that the money is in your merchant account.
2. Communicate with the customer to thank them and let them know you received payment.
3. Get out the item and go over it carefully. Dresses and other garments get taken to the cleaners.
4. Find a box the right size. Since the size of the items, and cost of shipping depends on the box size, I buy a few different sizes from the Dollar Store and the Post Office to keep on hand.
5. I use large sheets of acid free white tissue paper and minimize the packaging.
6. Print a shipping label and the customer’s paper copy of the invoice.
7. Look up the shipping cost and fill in the customs forms, even if you do it by hand. With all the long line-ups these days, if you fill in those forms ahead of time, it cuts down on the length of time to mail it.
8. Make sure the item is wrapped and labeled with care. Apparently most items are lost due to an improperly attached label.
9. In most cases, it is wise to get a tracking number. But if the item is not expensive and the customer is agreeable, I have sent things without a tracking number. It is so much cheaper, and it will get there. In that case, I will take a photo of the item at the Post Office after all the shipping labels are applied – as proof of shipping and email it to the customer instead of the tracking number.
10. Once the item is shipped, the customer is sent the tracking number. You also have to remember to take the item out of stock on the back end of the store.

On the bright side, I do love vintage clothing and textiles. The most photogenic items are the ones with the most detailed patterns. Bright and colourful silk scarves, and hand painted antique porcelain are the most vibrant. As a secondary benefit, the photography helps train your eye. I used to have to go through a hundred or more scarves one by one, to find the designer scarf. Now I can spot a Gucci scarf from three hundred yards away. You will be amazed at what you learn to recognize, as a byproduct of taking ten thousand pictures!

P.S. Always use a tripod 🙂

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2021). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.