Secret shopping sounds mysterious and fun and well, shopping is great no matter what. Secret shopping in its basic form is shopping someone or someplace without the person or business knowing it. Shopping secretly seems to draw on this fantasy of part detective, part spy, and part shopaholic. In the best scenario you receive your “mission” and then go to the location and pretend to be a real customer all while noticing all the things going on around you. Some secret shopping companies will have the shopper actually purchase something so that the whole shopping encounter seems more realistic. If you search the words, “secret shopping” on the Internet you will get over 4 million hits on websites that have something to do with secret shopping.

There are all types of secret shopping businesses out there. There are businesses, corporations and large chains that have their own department or group of people that travel around and try to shop the stores. Sometimes this is part of the internal security team that helps reduce shrinkage or loss prevention specialists. Then there are the companies and stores that will choose to hire a secret shopping company who specializes in secret shopping that specific industry.

Some of the things that in person secret shops might uncover are:

How many customers in the store when entering?

Did anyone greet you when entering the store or how long did it take for someone to greet you after walking in the door?

Was the store neat and clean?

Did anyone offer to help you find an item or offer to help you?

Was the associate dressed appropriately?

Was the bathroom clean?

Was the associate using their time wisely?

Did an associate offer to get you a shopping bag, shopping cart, or basket or to start a dressing room for you?

Did the associate let you know of any specials or promotions going on in the store

Was it easy to navigate through the store?

How long did you have to wait to check out?

Was the cashier friendly?

Were your items rang in correctly?

Did the associate offer to open a store credit account?

Did the cashier thank you for coming in?

These are just a few questions that a secret shopper might have to fill out when doing a report on how the shop went. Of course depending on the company, different key areas would be listed and other items of interest that would be specific to that company. Besides a person going into a store and shopping them, some companies are having their shoppers wired for sound and or video. While a person can go to a place and shop and come up with their opinions, sound and video are hard to ignore. Often sound and video are used in extreme circumstances where sound and video would implicate a person or business of a wrongdoing.

There is a show on television right now that shows all kinds of hidden video of stealing, people acting stupid, intoxicated, fighting, driving recklessly, and more. It just goes to show you what people will watch on television. But is proves a powerful tool for incrimination or reprimanding employees.

What kind of business would use a secret shopping service? Lots of businesses use a secret shopping service whether it is an internal monitoring or hired out by a company that specializes in secret shopping. Corporate businesses would use a secret shopping service to make sure that the individual franchise or store is keeping up with the company’s rules and regulations. While some franchises are individually owned they still have to sign a contract with the home office that they will uphold the standards, appearances, and make sure that all the stores are virtually the same. Smaller businesses might use a secret shopping service for a number of things like monitoring, training, compliance, or incentive based information. Monitoring is just that, a basic service that gives the manager or owner a simple description of the secret shop. On going training is essential to any business so companies can use secret shopping to help with continued training. Compliance goes a little further with specific areas of sales, customer service, safety, and rules being covered. Incentive based secret shopping is when the person or business being shopped and that said person or business doing a great job would get a reward. The reward could be monetary, time off, bonus, lunch, or other items that the owner or manager will choose.

Some companies choose to do telephone secret shopping instead of or in addition to the in person secret shop. Telephone secret shopping uses the same principles as above except the whole interaction is done over the telephone. Modern software and telephone equipment have made this type of secret shopping easier and more secretive. But with technology comes the backlash of trying to be secretive, the arch nemesis of the telephone secret shopping world, caller id. There are ways around caller id and they will not be shared in this essay, but if you need to bypass a caller id there are systems that can do it, just check out the Internet. So the basic telephone secret shops goes like this:

Store-”Hi, thanks for calling XYZ business, this is Bob, how can I help you today?”

Shopper- “Hello Bob, I was wondering if you could give me some information about your….”

Store- “Sure, I can help you with that. You see here at XYZ business we have…”

You can see where this is going.

The telephone secret shop is typically recorded to an audio system or to the Internet where the call can be retrieved at a later date. Different software systems allow the secret shopping calls to be listened to online in real time or saved and sent via email when the audio format is in MP3. This software also allows its user to edit the call. Trimming the call in the beginning before the rings start and after both parties have hung up allow the call to remain in a manageable length. Some companies record the call and then send it to their clients on a CD. The CD allows the manager or owner to listen and share the call with the employee.

Are you looking for a secret shopping job? There are many established secret shopping companies out there that are looking for shoppers, but how do you know which ones to trust. First of all, like the old saying goes, “if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is” so don’t fall for all the Internet hype about secret shopping. Could you in reality find a reputable secret shopping company and make some money, yes, if you do your homework. This is such a serious issue that the Federal Trade Commission has advice on how to avoid being scammed by fake secret shopping companies. Here is some advice on how to avoid bogus secret shopping companies:

Do your homework; check out the company BEFORE you give them any personal information

Beware of catchy banners and click me sites that offer to hire secret shoppers off of the Internet. This is a “sounds too good to be true” situation.

Check with the Better Business Bureau about background information on the company before you jump in with both feet.

Many fake secret shopping sites want you to complete “offers” before you are assigned any jobs. These offers are actually ways for that site to gather information about you like your name and email. Offers like; try these magazines or a free trial offer for who knows what, and all you have to give them is your information and sometimes a credit card number. These sites are known to sell or use your email to spam sites that will then riddle your inbox with tons of junk email.

If you know someone who is a secret shopper ask them how they got into the business and I bet they will have some advice of their own to share.

It’s not as easy as it seems, there is often some travel involved and reports have to be written in detail, called in, typed or emailed for you to be able to get paid per job.

So if you are looking for a secret shopping company or a secret shopping job, the bottom line is check the company out before doing business with them. Ask for business references (and call them, just giving a sheet a references won’t do you any good if you don’t call them), check with the better business bureau and ask around. The time you spend doing your homework before you hire or look for a secret shopping job will pay off in the end. There are some great secret shopping companies out there that offer secret shopping services and your business will prosper from the knowledge and training that a reputable secret shopping business can provide for you.

Getting the best value available should be your main objective when searching for a Jan Marini skincare sale on the net.  For savvy shoppers, it is the recommended method to get the most for your money.

Retail department stores and specialty shops are an excellent way to view beauty products, however the internet offers a greater variety at prices that are way cheaper than you will find locally.

I strongly suggest that you search on the web & find out what is being offered before you make a final purchasing decision.

Compare Prices

Web surfing allows you an opportunity to easily check prices at many different shops quickly.

You can be pretty much confident that you are getting the best value for your money when you make use of the comparison shopping feature that the internet provides.

It is often said that the opportunity to save as much money as possible for the goods we desire is the true joy of shopping.

Getting All The Facts

Highly rated online outlets offer a great amount of details regarding skincare, such as detailed product reviews & allowing for customers to leave comments and feedback about their purchase.

Because of these features, you can have access to much more details about the item than you could expect to get by speaking with the sales staff at a conventional retail store.

Convent For Shoppers

Regular shops are often times inconvenient as they are open during set operating times.  However, net shops are always open, so you can make purchases when you want to.

So, there are no concerns about your schedule as you can research and discover goods at an hour that is best for your lifestyle.

Discovering Bargains

Shopping on the web has many advantages, including being able to discover rare or hard to find skincare products that is not available in your town or is no longer for sale.

When I am trying to find deals and specials, checking out the eBay website and viewing what is for sale is a high priority for me.

I enjoy visiting their site as I can normally find the exact items I am looking for at cheap prices.

In addition to the great prices, you can even locate values for items that are free of shipping & handling charges.

Secure Transactions

Shopping safety & security is the main priority on their website.  So, there is no need to worry when using your credit card to make a purchase.  They have taken all of the necessary steps to protect your personal details.

Overall Savings

Depending upon the item, the average prices will be somewhere between $17 and $57 for Jan Marini products that are sold locally in department stores & specialty boutiques.

Saving up to 54% off of the listed retail price is common when shopping for values online.

One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Bangkok is also the most fabulous shopping destination in Asia. In fact, shopping in Bangkok is truly fun as well as a great experience, with an array of shopping locations, ranging from glitzy modern shopping malls to traditional bustling street markets selling antiquities and designer and traditional jewelry.

In short, Bangkok is a mecca for shopping enthusiasts, and everything including electronic items, computer software and hardware, art and craft items, Chinese specialties, textiles, jewelry, and much more can be shopped here.

Perhaps most popular among the shopping highlights in Bangkok is the Siam Square, which is strategically positioned at Central Station on the BTS Sky Train route. This area is dotted with hundreds of high-end shopping malls, among which one of the most sought after is Siam Center and Siam Discovery Center, within which one can find a number of shops selling branded items.

There is also an elegant cinema complex on the top floor of Siam Discovery Center, with comfortable seats. This is a great place to relax after a day of tired shopping. Located just ten minutes walk from the Siam Square is another much famed shopping spot in Bangkok, namely, Mahboonkrong Shopping Center, dotted with a large number of shops selling quality clothing and electronic items at knock-down prices.

One can also find a couple of shopping malls and department stores, close to the Chit Lom BTS Sky Train station. Among which, perhaps the most significant is the eight-storied World Trade Center, attached with a number of duty free shops. Found on the top floor of the World Trade Center is an ice skating rink. The Central Group’s flagship store, Central Chit Lom Department Store, is also located here. Such shopping centers as Gaysorn Plaza, Maneya Centre, Sogo, and Narayana Phand, a great spot to shop handicraft items, are also situated in this area.

For those who want to shop computer-related items and peripherals at cheap prices, a great way would be to head to Pantip Plaza on the Phetburi Road. This is a paradise for shopping computer items. Every floor within the plaza has a number of shops selling both original and pirated software and hardware items. One could buy copy of VCD movies for a price as low as 100 baht.

A good number of small as well as large shopping malls can also be found along the Ploenchit Road and Sukhumvit Road, such as, Robinson, Ploenchit Plaza, Times Square, Emporium, and Landmark.

Popular shopping areas in Bangkok also include Silom Road, located to the south of the Siam Square. Just few among the shopping malls in this area are Silom Center, Central department stores, Silom Plaza, Thaniya Plaza, Silom Village, and Holiday Inn Crown Plaza.

Shopping at Bangkok would not be complete without taking a tour to Chatuchak market, which becomes alive in the city every weekend. Located near the Mo Chit BTS Sky Train station, Chatuchak market is an incredible outdoor market, from where everything from handicraft items and livestock items could be shopped and that too at bargain prices. Further, you can also find a large number of food stalls in the market, selling delicious Thai food items such as fried noodles, noodle curry, and barbequed satays.

Other popular shopping areas in the city are Bangrak Market, a bustling area which is famed for its flower stalls, engage in selling enormous variety of cut flowers, jasmines, and orchids; China Town, with alleys packed with outlets dealing in almost all types of goods; Pratunam Market, which is a great place to relish hygiene as well as delicious food items; Woeng Nakhon Kasem – a popular spot to shop items such as brassware, old fashioned furniture, industrial items, antiques, and Chinese porcelains.

Above all, for a unique shopping experience, take a tour to some of the most fabulous night markets in the area. Most prominent among the night markets in the city are the Suan Luam Night Bazaar, whose specialty is stalls that sell products brought from every corner of the country.

Pratunam Market Complex, which is a great spot to shop fashion accessories such as handbags, purses, trendy apparels, and designer accessories; Patpong Night Market, which is not only popular for stalls selling designer good at cheap prices but also for night clubs and other establishments conducting sex shows; Buanglamphu Market, a descent place to shop clothing and food items; and the Memorial Bridge Night Market.

So you think you want to buy a body shop? A body shop can be a great investment if you have the skills necessary to make it work, and are willing to do the business actions necessary to bring in the business and keep the business profitable. I would like to help you work out if you really want to buy a body shop and, if you do, what kind of shop would be best for you.

Do you have the skills to buy a body Shop?

Most successful body shop owners come from inside the industry. They are occasionally body and/or paint men who worked in the production area as a teenager or as a young adult. This education is extremely valuable and, if you are buying a shop doing less than $1,000,000 in sales per year, is an absolute necessity.

Some owners learned the business as an estimator, working for a body shop or as an insurance adjuster out in the field for an insurance company. Another group of buyers have had no body shop experience but they grew up around cars and love them. This buyer should only buy a shop where he has a family member with experience, in the business that will be working with him or where the seller agrees to stay for 1 year and teach the buyer every part of the business.

Towing company owners sometimes want to expand into a body shop. This type of buyer has a lot of understanding about the business but needs a shop where experienced staff is staying with the company. The last group is composed of business people who figure they can run any kind of business. This type of buyer can make if he has at least one family member with experience and the buyer is a very good sales person.

Are you willing to do the business actions necessary to do the business?

In this section I would like to discuss which actions are absolutely necessary to be successful in running a body shop and if not done will guarantee failure.

The single most important action that must be taken by any new body shop owner is to bring in new business. This is twofold. 1. Everyone wants more volume and you bought the shop based on your belief you can do more volume than the last owner. 2. You must replace the volume that will be lost by the transfer to you the new owner.

You get this new volume from several sources:

1. One of them is not DRP Contracts. DO NOT BUY A SHOP BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT YOU WILL GET DRP CONTRACTS IN THE SHOP UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AGREEMENT BEFORE THE PURCHASE TO GIVE YOU SUCH BUSINESS.

2. Rental car companies. This business is relatively easy to get but you do not want to rely on this business over the long term. It is not profitable enough to cover all your fixed costs, even though it will contribute to covering the rent.

3. New Car Dealerships. This is full retail price business but the dealership will expect you to buy their business by giving them a few thousands of dollars a month or some other compensation. Remember if you can steal the business from someone else, then someone else can steal the business from you.

4. Used car dealers and auction cars. This is a good source of business with most of the money being made on buying and selling cars. This tends to be stable business if you like this kind of work.

5. Referral business. These are national body shop groups that make national deals and for 10-15% of the income will send you car work. This is a very expensive way to get business and in the end is not profitable.

6. Corporation Accounts/Fleet Accounts. This is one of the two best ways to get business. Some companies do self-insurance. Others have insurance. Regardless, a salesman can get them to send you all their business by offering good service or other remuneration (Compensation.) Corporation accounts are quite often at full price or some reasonable discount. Some people offer to drop the deductible or give some other kind of a discount.

7. Off the street. This is the best business is the whole world if you can get them in the door and keep them in the door. This is where location plays an important part in getting the business. Visiting all the businesses in the neighborhood and offering discounts to their employees or other employee benefit for coming to you can get this business. This type of business is what a good salesperson dreams of. Most established businesses tell me they did this originally but stopped going out and selling when they got busy. Funny isn’t it? The action that made you busy cannot be done any more because you are too busy. This is how you build a shop’s volume without DRP contracts. This is a profitable business for the man who doesn’t mind selling and making friends with people.

Do I really want to buy a body shop?

If you are an adjustor and feel that your employer insurance company will give you a DRP contract in a specific area, you might have a high motivation to buy a shop in that area, even if its current volume is low. If you are expecting the existing clients to stay with you, after the sale, you have to do some research on this. If the clients are from corporate accounts, car rental companies, or just off the street, you are probably correct. If the clients come from personal relationships of the seller then forget it. People of like nationality have a greater chance of turning over personal relationships.

If you are buying a shop with DRP contracts currently, do not assume that you can keep them. In fact, you must assume you will loose them the day escrow closes. Do not buy a shop that has DRP contracts unless you already have a relationship with those same insurance companies at another shop you currently own. If you are reading my article, I can safely assume you are not a multiple shop owner currently. There are a few ways to buy a DRP shop and not loose the contracts but I cannot publish this information, in as much as the insurance companies will prevent my approach from working in the future.

If you do not want to do the marketing, then do not buy a body shop. PERIOD!

What kind of shop would works best for you?

Of course you want to decide based on the estimated volume that you expect to do, what size shop you need. If you expect the volume to remain the same then you figure the rent and profit based on that number. If you know you can bring in corporate accounts, dealerships and other business then you can use a bigger shop. If you expect to only have new business that you yourself bring in then a smaller shop may work perfectly.

If you get too big a shop the rent will kill you. If you get too small you will limit your possible volume unless you put in a second shift and keep an eye on that 2nd shift. There are larger capacity shops doing small volume that can be bought very cheap or reasonably.

There are smaller, very inexpensive shops available to use as a first time shop. Then after you learn the business and prove you can bring in volume, you can buy a bigger shop and sell off the smaller one. The best guarantee of success is to start small and grow bigger.

What you do not want is to buy a large shop that you cannot fill, thereby working for the landlord.

Conclusion

Keeping all of the above in mind and to not take on more than you can chew. Buy a shop that fits your personality and ability and then move up to the bigger shop when you have proven to yourself that you have done it and can do it again. If I can be of any assistance, I am here to help.

Guide 4 Shopping UK

Guide 4 Shopping as an interactive shopping directory that offers 100% cashback to online customers. Guide 4 Shopping has more than 2000 online stores with special offers, voucher and discount codes.

What is 100% cashback?

Guide 4 shoppers offers 100% cashback to online shoppers that means every time you shop from the listed stores on Guide 4 shopping, the merchant pays some money back to Guide 4 Shopping for referring that customer. Guide 4 Shopping pays that money to the customer as cashback in full. The aim of the service is to offer discount codes to online customers and also offer them cashback on the shopping through Guide 4 Shopping which they would not earn it by shopping directly from the store.

How Cashback work?

Guide 4 Shopping interactive system offers easy and absolutely Free registration to access thousands of retailers ie Boots, BHS, Next, Dabs, M&S, Tesco, Asda, Harrods and more to earn cashback on each purchase. Guide 4 Shopping has been working with these retailers to bring special offers, deals, voucher codes and cashback that are offered freely to online shoppers.

How much can I earn?

There is no limit on how much you can earn. The cashback earnings are based on your shopping budget. A typical home user could save up to £1000 per year on food, home accessories, mobile, electronics, clothes, jewellery, dvds, books, travel, hotel or car booking, insurance, loans, credit cards, gifts and much more. Simply login to Guide 4 Shopping and click on the store link, make the purchase and view your cashback in your Guide 4 Shopping account.

Earn Free Cashback

Customers can also earn Free cashback. Yes without spending a penny you can earn hundreds in Free cashback. Guide 4 Shopping pays £2.50 when you refer a friend that will register with Guide 4 Shopping. Your friend will register Free with us and start earning cashback from our services and you will be credited £2.50 in your account for referring him. It’s easy and quick to earn Free cashback. Please visit our Daily Clicks, Freebies, Draws, Competition and blog to earn unlimited Free cashback.

How can I register?

Simply go to www.guide4shopping.co.uk and click on register at the top of the page. Registration is Free and you can also bookmark your favourite stores in by clicking on Add to Wishlist. So sit back and wait. Register with Guide 4 Shopping UK today and start earning 100% cashback on all your online shopping.

Guide 4 Shopping Team

www.guide4shopping.co.uk

When looking to buy a new tablecloth it is important to ensure you know the dimensions of the table you wish to cover. After all, what would be worse than finding the perfect tablecloth only to discover that you didn’t know what size to buy? This would leave you with the following dilemma: Do you buy it anyway and hope for the best or decide to leave it and go away empty handed.

Making sure you are properly prepared before you start your shopping trip will help to solve this problem before it starts. Doing your homework first ensures that when you do find the right tablecloth, you will have all the necessary data at your disposal to make an informed choice. This will help to reduce the element of risk in terms of sizing.

Measuring your tablecloth is of course, not the only consideration. It is equally important to know how much fabric should be left at each end in order to create an overhang. Doing so will make sure that once you have got your carefully measured tablecloth home, it fits perfectly and creates the right impression.

There are two basic steps involved when it comes to measuring your table in order to get the right tablecloth measurements. As part of this guide, we will walk and talk you through them to make sure you get the perfect size for your table.

Step One

The first thing to do is measure the width of your table making sure that allow for an extra 40mm (20mm on each side) to overhang the sides of the table. Always remember to check the width of the tablecloth fabric against the width of your table. Providing it is wider, the material can be trimmed accordingly. If it is too narrow, then it will not cover the table adequately.

Step Two

Repeat step one but this time measure the table length. Remember to leave the same 40mm (20mm each side) overhang to make sure that the tablecloth has an equal drop on each side.

For instance, if you had a table that measured 2 metres by 1 metre, the amount of fabric you would require for your tablecloth would be approximately 2.5 metres.

By following these simple steps, it will help to make sure that when you buy your next tablecloth, the chances of getting it wrong are greatly minimised.

So, what are you waiting for? Why don’t you give it a try now and take a look through some of the excellent table covers on offer here at the Tablecloth Shop. All you need to do is find the tablecloth you desire from our excellent range and use your newly created measurements to find one that will look amazing on your table.

Japan is the most treasured place for the visitors due to its various shops offering diversified range of products. Shopping in Japan is always a unique experience as one can avail many exclusive products from different Japanese shops that have some rarest collection. Moreover these shops are well organized and maintained that provide a never to forget experience to the customers. Japanese shops have well behaved and patient staff, which intelligently handle all the customers and help them to buy products according to their choice. They treat the customers with due respect and understand the importance of customers in the shop. 

From high-tech electronics products to vital daily products, all can be safely and conveniently bought from the shops of Japan. Authorised tax free Japanese shops provide exemption from 5% consumption tax on the shopping of over ¥10,000 on selected items. Only Japanese international shop offers duty-free shopping. Apart from high technology based products, one can also buy many unique gift and souvenirs items from the Japanese shop which are not available outside of Japan.

Some of the most common shops, which can be easily found in all the markets of Japan,   are clothing shops offering new trendy clothes at competitive rates. Numbers of shops are available through which one can avail various attractive and designer clothes. Apart from this one can also find electronics shops, toys shops, auto spare parts shop etc. Most of the shops in Japan are usually open from 10am to 7pm. These shops are opened on weekends and holidays except some specialty stores. In Japan, one needs to pay 5% consumption tax in addition to the price. Japanese department stores are fun places to shop as they carry different kinds of traditional Japanese goods as well as the latest products.

Japan provides extraordinary shopping experience to people of every budget as this country has shops and market for every class and status. From shops equipped with latest facilities of reputed shopping complex to the ordinary shops of flea market, Japan has something to offer for each category of people. One just needs knowledge and understanding of every type of market and their shops to go for shopping at the right place. Japan also offers shopping experience to those who do not have enough money for shopping. Such people can make their visits to the shop of Japanese flea market where the products are available at quite reasonable price. Shops of flea market provide ease and convenience to the shoppers, as wide variety of products can be found here from electronic goods to clothing and cosmetics.

Hong Kong is probably the best shopping destinations in the world that offer various types of goods and services at reasonable costs. Hong Kong is also one of the world’s leading destinations that thrive in shopping mall tourism as well as retail therapy. In fact, Hong Kong is a shoppers’ paradise. For tourists visiting Hong Kong, shopping is not only a process of buying several exciting stuffs but also an important recreational as well as fun filled activity.

Since Hong Kong is a free international port, it keeps abreast with the world’s latest fashion trends and provides opportunities for the tourists to buy custom-free products that have been brought from across the world. No matter you want to shop fashion accessories, apparels, or electronic items, Hong Kong has superb options for all. Discussed further in this article are some of the most popular shopping areas in Hong Kong that are spread across its three major sections such as the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, and New Territories.

One of the most prominent shopping areas in the Hong Kong Island is the Central District, which is also the economic and financial hub of Hong Kong. With a fusion of designer outlets, high-end shopping malls, and old markets, shopping in the Central District is truly an enjoyable experience. For antique collectors, Central District’s such areas as the Cat Street and the Hollywood Road are a great choice, both of which are lined with a number of antique shops.

Likewise, if you want to shop fabrics, souvenirs, handbags, and other fashion accessories at bargain prices, then Des Voeux Road and Queens Road in Central District are some of the popular choices. Further, the Central District is home to the world’s longest outdoor covered escalator system, the Midlevel Escalator and Walkway System.

Another popular shopping area in the island is Causeway Bay, otherwise known as East Point. This significant shopping district is a great place to shop locally made as well as fashionable items from Japan, with an array of Japanese malls, prominent being the 13-storey Sogo Japanese department store, World Trade Center, Fashion Walk, and Lee Gardens.

Apart from these, Causeway Bay also contains such shopping options as Jardine’s Crescent, a popular open market, from where fashionable clothes and items can be bought at great prices. Many of the large scale department stores offer great shopping as well as dining experiences.

Prominent shopping areas in the island also include Admirality, which comes with a great number of shopping malls, departmental stores, upscale hotels, and recreational areas. Few among the shopping options available here are Pacific Place and Queensway Plaza. The Admirality stations link Hong Kong Island’s MTR Line with the Kowloon Tsuen Wan Line.

Among the significant shopping destinations in Kowloon are Mong Kok, which is a great place for shopping electronic items at bargain rates; Tsim Sha Tsui, an area designed especially for those who want to shop high-end fashion accessories; and Kowloon Tong, whose focal point is the mall Festival Walk, with more than 200 shops. When comes to New Territories, perhaps its most prominent shopping area is Tsing Yi, with a number of glitzy shopping malls.

With these scores of options, visitors touring Hong Kong can shop from morning to late night. But, certain important things have to be considered while shopping in Hong Kong. First of all, don’t get swayed away by illegal products. Since Hong Kong consists of a large number of stores selling same products at various prices, a smart shopper must shop around to compare prices and to buy a product at the possible least price. Likewise, it is advisable for the buyers to shop from stores or malls with membership of the Hong Kong Tourist Association.

Additionally, it would be better to shop an electronic item that carries some kind of guarantee or warranty. One can also approach night markets in order to shop several items at exceptionally cheap rates; however, these may not be attached with any kind of guarantee. Above all, do practice bargaining to buy a product in Hong Kong.

In case if you are convinced that you are deceived on purchasing a particular item in Hong Kong, then you could complaint it regarding by contacting the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) or via calling the Consumer Council Hotline at 2929 2222.

As EVP at MerchantAdvantage, one of my responsibilities is to analyze multiple shopping cart technologies before integrating storefront data into our Channel Management system.

This is an essential process as it ensures that an online merchant’s data is compliant with our data transport system from which we easily distribute data into various marketing channels, such as shopping comparison sites, comparison shopping engines, marketplaces, such as Amazon, Shop.com and Underbid, and other unique marketing channels such as m-commerce sites, such as iSave.com, mPoria.com, mShopper.com, and review and coupon sites, such as PowerReviews.com and MyCoupons.com.

As I do this, I have established 3 points of analysis to make the process as reliable as possible. As technology changes, and new marketing outlets emerge, I think it is important for each merchant to look at their shopping cart infrastructure and analyze the ease of portability of their data into other systems in order to keep ongoing marketing integration “surprise-less”.

Merchants should perform this type of analysis in between the busy season; let’s say before or after March – ergo after the holiday season and before the summer rush. My suggestion is that a technical person should compile a list of questions to ask their shopping cart vendor, in order to ensure that the online merchant fully understands the “power” and “limitations” of their shopping cart technology and how it allows the online merchant to utilize many other software technologies to help the online merchant grow their business.

To begin, here are some definitions to consider – just so we understand each other.

Portability: A shopping cart’s capacity to integrate into a totally disparate system without losing product data impact.

Data Impact: The scale of impact that product data has functioning independently within an online merchant’s or marketed outside of an online merchant’s website. Product data contained within a an individual shopping cart, and website, may have “high impact” on marketing — as product descriptions, manufacturing names, pictures, pricing, and general marketing is robust and current.

However, if incorrectly formatted and mapped to an outside “software system”, the robust product data will have a “low impact” if it is taken out of its current shopping cart technology infrastructure and put on/within a marketing. In order to maintain product data’s “high impact” it is essential to ensure that the original data is mapped to correspond to the required elements of a marketing channel. This might include updating and creating: varied coding requirements, dropping/eliminating symbols, dropping/eliminating line breaks, adding varied prices and inventories levels, changing pictures and product names, and updating marketing descriptions.

An example of something that can cause “low impact” data on marketing channels is a shopping cart’s capacity to output a “new” product file on a scheduled basis, without encoding or symbols. This type of “new and daily export” yields usable data and not blank columns, or duplicate columns, in a data feed to marketing feed, that then will be rejected.

Marketing Outlet or Channel: A separate system used to market product data and drive sales into an online merchant’s site or on another site on behalf of the online merchant.

Marketplace: A marketing channel where the purchase is made outside of the cart and orders are fulfilled by the merchant. The order may be processed by the marketplace or the merchant, but the merchant is somewhat invisible during the view and ordering process. Examples would be Amazon.com, Shop.com, and Underbid.com.

CSE: Comparison Shopping Engine, a.k.a. Comparison Shopping site. This is a marketing channel where the goal is to drive a consumer back to your shopping cart to complete the purchase there. CSEs may charge the merchant a pay-per-click pay-per-lead or commission from all sales referred by the CSE to the online merchant, such as couparison shopping sites do.

Parent /Child Relationship, Options: Many products have options associate with the product before a final purchase is made, i.e., size, color, etc. This is especially true with clothing. These options show up on web pages and the website directs the consumer to select certain options related to a product before the consumer proceeds to checkout. This is great when the purchase happens on the merchant’s website, but how does an online merchant handle all of these options when exporting data to marketing channels and having to deal with a myriad of taxonomy and mapping issues as they relate to each marketing channel?

To answer this, the online merchant must assess:

1. the origination point of the data within their shopping cart technology

2. the options available to access the date therein

3. portability issues (i.e. ease of output and export)

…ultimately forcing the online merchant to analyze how the data is stored in its rawest form in the original database.

Just because a shopping cart technology can export data does not mean that that data is exported in the “form” that you need it exported. For instance, some shopping cart technologies export feature creates new line items for each option; some may create a field with every possible color/size possibility, while others do not.

Essentially shopping cart technologies, while trying to “play well with other,” simply do not and export features inherent in many shopping cart technologies are not designed to sync easily with the many requirements that are essential to working with marketing channels.

This lack of syncing of data is why we created MerchantAdvantage – to make the communication between systems seamless – and is the NUMBER ONE BREAKING POINT for online merchants to work with, and integrate with, systems and marketing channels out side of the their shopping cart technology.

So what should an online merchant be asking themselves to work effectively and efficiently with marketing channels and other systems out side of their shopping cart technology?

Remembering the definitions I outlined above, here are the questions I ask of online merchants about their shopping cart technology before transporting their data to ensure that we have the same “highest impact” data on/within marketing channels. I would be glad to do it with any online merchant, just give us a call at MerchantAdvantage, or you can do it on your own.

5 Questions to ask about your company data & company to see if your shopping cart is portable:

1. Where will this data be used to market? Marketplaces, CSEs, other marketing channels?

2. Is there a unique identifier for each product that stays the same all of the time?

a. Is that unique number for joined products (options) referenced in all joined products (i.e., do child products reference parent – see definition above)?

3. Are there Product URLs and Image URLs? And do they work?

4. Are there encoded characters, ASCII Characters, Line-breaks, or data anomalies?

5. Can any product data export process be automated?

a. Is the location to where exports are updated and pushed to always available on the internet

b. Is the location updated on a scheduled basis that parallels your shopping cart technology cart updates and changes?

5 Questions to ask to see if your portability is optimized:

1. Is each piece of necessary data stored in separate fields or columns, i.e., manufacturer, manufacturer part number, or availability, and not all clumped together in one general description.

Special Note: Some marketing channels require this data in different orders and formatting unique to their marketing channel.

2. Are the marketing descriptions sensible and concise, containing all important data at the front of the description (within first 100 characters)?

Special Note: descriptions can be indexed/searchable and are usually trimmed to the first set of 100 characters.

3. Is the “Cost Field” present in the export?

Special Note: Adjustments to the “Pricing” and “Marketing” fields may be made at any time of the product data dispersion process.

4. Do the unique identifiers match competitors’ unique identifiers?

Special Note: Consumers will and can see your items when viewing competitors’ products on CSEs.

5. Does my data meet all of the requirements of each requested marking channel that I am trying to get/feed to?

Special Note: Each marketing channel requires different types and formats of data delivery.

Okay, now what?

My suggestions:

1. after each question has been answered and each possible point-of-failure has been addressed then you can move onto the planning and process of into which marketing channels you want to work with and feed your product catalog data.

2. You have taken the most important step of data feed integration and marketing, namely understanding what your shopping cart technology allows you to do and not to do and, most important, understanding what you need to do to make sure that you create and market the “highest impact” data to your marketing channels.

3. Integration is ready to be achieved.

Good luck and if you would like to make your life a lot simpler, give us a shout at MerchantAdvantage, we would be glad to work with you, and start feeding and having fun with over 100 marketing channels, cost effectively, with the most uptime, least surprises and zero technician’s heart attacks!!

Happy Holidays!

– Chip Arndt

chip@eTaildTail.com

chip@merchantadvantage.com

In the past, internet shopping was just a thing of science fiction. Shopping would usually mean strolling around for hours in shopping malls that seemed to never have exactly what you are looking for. If you wanted to shop at home, you would need to go through the thick mailed catalogs to locate the items you need.

Presently, everything that you need to do from communicating to banking can be conveniently and effortlessly done on your own computer at home. Shopping online has also become the best and easiest way to buy the rare and the not so rare merchandise.

However, for most people who are not yet very knowledgeable about the concept of online shopping and ecommerce, the use of credit cards for internet transactions could be a bit scary.

From the early days of the internet, a lot of companies offering online shopping have made great developments to make sure that they are able to maintain the excellent availability of their merchandise, proper shipping along with secure and convenient payment transactions.

Of course, online shoppers still need to be very vigilant and cautious particularly in giving out their personal details. With the right knowledge though, online shopping would prove to be more beneficial for modern consumers compared to conventional shopping.

As an online consumer, you would need to look for websites that offer comprehensive knowledge on setting up PayPal and Google checkout accounts, which would allow the storage of credit card information with a company that can then be used for future transactions with the other companies. There are also a lot of websites that teach consumers on making purchases on eBay and Amazon, as well as comparing prices and items on websites like PriceGrabber, BizRate and MSN Shopping.