Guest User

Shopablogic

Sober IT truths from the island-state

by Suzanna Low, Singapore

Subscribe to this blog

Is there a need for online malls to be accredited?

Apr 13, 2007 00:12

Since the great Chinese New Year festive shopping spree, the online shopping front has been very quiet. And with only a handful of orders on my online store in the month of April, I swear I am starting to see cobwebs on my Web site.

As a merchant, we usually call this the lull period. It's not just the online business suffering. Offline retail sales have been much slower as well. I've been looking through my checklist and doublechecking my "To-dos to rev up sales".
1) New product updates--checked
2) EDM broadcast--checked

Still no high click rates or massive orders. Bummer.

This got me to wondering what Trust SG has been doing lately. Since the massive Christmas campaign last year, nothing much has been happening from the direction of our nationwide trust mark initiative by the National Trust Council to boost the electronic commerce environment in Singapore. I haven't seen any print ads, ad banners or email blasts in MSN (maybe IDA, our local Infocomm Development Authority, should start placing more banner ads in sites other than MSN. Anyway, who goes to MSN these days? It's almost a dead site.).

The Chinese New Year campaign was very small and didn't do much for publicity. Therefore, before the go-getter that I am, I called the lovely folks at iHub to check on the situation. I was told that a campaign plan is being drawn up for the upcoming Great Singapore Sale (a.k.a. GSS). But the news will be announced to the merchants only closer to GSS, and that's some time in end May. Which may explain why the shopping front is currently quiet since customers would be getting ready for the upcoming GSS. That's when consumers can really stretch their dollars and get great bargains.

To be honest, I am also looking forward to Singapore's annual GSS. Both my television set and washing machine have decided to kick the bucket at the same time, leaving me with quiet nights and no American Idol or Desperate Housewives. But like other consumers, I decided to hang in there for the Great Sale even though there are other ongoing promotions and discounts in various electronic shops. Yup, I am also guilty of causing the lag in the current retail season.

Anyway, back to my online site and its miserable earnings for the month. With all that I have done to promote my site and products, I decided to do a bit of networking on my own with some folks who are also in the ecommerce business. I met up a fellow designer and ecommerce entrepreneur for coffee at our nearest Starbucks. Apart from making new friends and getting an insight into each other's business, we shared some ideas and even started discussing about Trust SG.

After trying out Trust SG for a few years, my friend decided to discontinue with her membership as an accredited Trust SG member. Its seems there's a love-hate relationship with Trust SG. To be honest, it isn't too expensive being accredited as a Trust SG member. However, it is the "barely there" value-added services that made her decide to discontinue her membership.

As an online mall that reaches out to international customers, she felt the seal makes no sense to her customers.And judging by her hit rates, it doesn't look like Trust SG is drawing in the major crowds. I know of a few other local online malls that have done the same thing as they felt the same way, too.

For me, I have been reconsidering my renewal with Trust SG. Judging from my hit rates, my customers found my site via various search engines, blogs, my mailing lists and those who are my regulars. However, my membership expiry date also coincides with the annual Great Singapore Sale. So that's a dilemma I'm facing.

If I discontinue my membership during this period, I might miss out on the benefits from the campaign. But to continue means I will have to pay for the renewal fee which will come in handy for other things. This said, I am hoping that IDA and Trust SG will come up with a brilliant campaign for the upcoming GSS which will blow me away and attract loads of traffic to my site.

Decisions, decisions.

Therefore, my question is: Is there really a need for online malls to get accredited by Trust SG or to obtain any other kind of online trust seal when we have a secure shopping cart and payment gateway? For me, the bonus from Trust SG is its offline campaigns. Other than that, I can say that my site is doing pretty well on its own.

« Prev

Report offensive

Talkback

coolsmurf

View profile

Send mail

coolsmurf says...
i don't think there is really a need. online shopping in singapore i think relies on word-of-mouth more than anything else...

Apr 17, 2007 16:35

Comment

Report offensive

suzzinc

View profile

Send mail

suzzinc says...
Hi CoolSmurf!

You are right. Word of mouth is beginning to be the new marketing strategy for online malls and even niche boutiques all over the world.

Thanks for your feedback and keep tham coming in.

cheers,
Suzz

Apr 27, 2007 18:16

Report offensive

About Suzanna Low

Suzanna Low has more than a decade of hands-on in interactive and graphics design, e-commerce and online marketing. In fact, true to the Singapore culture, she's a diehard shopaholic and fancies herself a pioneering e-retailer who learned the painful way how to set up store back when ecommerce emerged on the Internet landscape. Low also claims to speak feline language and sometimes seeks approval for her blog topics with her two house cats.