Tag: ecommerce

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Written Interviews

Interview with Adam Reyez of Expressions Realia

Today I am presenting a 2nd interview with Adam Reyez of Expressions Realia website_homepage

Checkout the interview:

1. What got you interested in starting a shop offering men’s footwear? Share your story.

I’m from the UK. I got the entrepreneurial bug when I was 13.

I used to import mp3 player and mobile phones from China when I was back in school and even though phones weren’t allowed in school, many times my own teachers would buy from me.

Six months into it, in 2008 I dropped out of University it to setup a high-end supply and fit bathroom business. We setup a physical location as well as online store and this was my first real exposure to ecommerce. The recession kicked in and the business suffered. A lot of homeowners couldn’t pay us for the work we’d done, so we had to fold the business.

I fancied a change of scenery and also wanted an adventure so I went to West Africa for a vacation but after witnessing the vast opportunity there, a few friends and me decided to setup a company. I borrowed some funds from friends and family and we eventually setup a commodity trading business, importing food products and clothing from the Middle East to Africa. The business took off very well. But doing business in Africa was very tough. Much more than we had anticipated. Stuff that takes one day to do in Europe or US takes a few weeks or even months in Africa, which can be pretty brutal.

All this time I was following the major blogs in the tech and online marketing space and was fascinated by the mere idea of location independent businesses that can potentially be run from any place on the globe, so I dabbled in niche sites adsense on the side. This was a frustrating affair due to the poor internet connectivity in rural Africa.

Although the trading business was doing really well, I had had enough of Africa and decided to call it a day. I got one of my partners buy me out.

I decided to visit Dubai again on vacation, and loved the place so much I decided to move there (Bit of a recurring theme).

The idea to setup a fashion blog/ecommerce site came up a few months ago when I was brainstorming for niches. I figured I had to choose something that I’d like writing about and had some exposure to. So I chose to go with men’s footwear.

I started Expressions Realia few months ago. It initially started as a different name but then got the opportunity to buy an existing fashion blog that fitted well with what I planned to do. (Plus the blog had some awesome backlinks)

2. Do you dropship or buy your products wholesale? How do you acquire and fulfill most merchandise?

Expressions Realia is currently run as an affiliate website targeting UK consumers, so we don’t hold any inventory at all. However, we are exploring opportunities to integrate dropshipping into our business model. Once we achieve critical mass we may even look into private labelling of products.

3. How have you gone about marketing your site and what’s working for you today?

As you know, nowadays social marketing is a big part of SEO and that’s where most of our target consumers hang out so we are in the process of launching social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

On Expressions Realia we also aim to provide exciting and compelling content and reviews on mens footwear brands such as Vans, Timberland, Ted Baker etc. and differentiate ourselves from the typical churn and burn affiliate sites and position ourselves as an authority in the mens footwear fashion space.

In the very near future we have some amazing new giveaways and competitions planned for fashion conscious guys that we are extremely excited about. So Watch this space!

4. What are 2-3 tools you use in your business that you can’t live without?

– Long Tail Pro for keyword research. By far the best keyword research tool I have used. It’s simple and no nonsense, but gets the job done. I highly recommend it to all blog owners, content writers, marketers etc out there.

– DropBox for the ability to work from any device from anywhere in the world

– I’m an Avid fan of the Pomodoro method. Pomodoro One for Mac is a simple app I use. A very simple productivity tool that real helps me crank out those menial tasks.

5. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?

We plan to integrate dropshipping in the near future.

Explore Private labeling for men’s shoes.

Move into other verticals in men’s fashion such as sunglasses, watches etc

Host exciting contests and giveaways

Adam Reyez – Founder
Expressions Realia UK

Twitter : @expressrealia

Categories
Written Interviews

Interview with Candice Galek of BikiniLuxe.com

Today I am presenting a 2nd interview with Candice Galek of Bikini Luxe, a swimwear and clothing store. bikiniluxe_wordpress_header

Check out the interview:

1. What gave you the idea to start Bikini Luxe? Share your story.

Bikini Luxe has been a long time dream of mine, it encompasses both my love for the beach lifestyle and for swimwear. I am an avid window shopper, and online shopper. Working hard is my hobby, and what I want is an online shop with it’s own personality. I want women to feel comfortable shopping from Bikini Luxe, knowing that they will be getting great customer service and purchasing quality items for a good price.

2. How did you go about having products manufactured and designed, did you hire a designer or work with companies that specialize in clothing manufacturing to create something you wanted?

We started out focusing on South Florida based brands from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. We love a good face to face meeting. This allowed us to truly get a feel for the brands we were carrying, and they understood what we aiming for. We have recently included some West Coast brands into the mix, and are quickly expanding to feature brands from all over the U.S. and beyond. Our own brand, Bikini Luxe, is an ever expanding name which now includes clothing, cover ups, and jewelry.

3. How have you gone about promoting and marketing your site? What’s working for you?

These days it’s all about Social Media Marketing. SEO is always changing, but we try to keep with the times and change our game plan frequently.

4. Beyond your website, do you sell on other channels such as eBay, Amazon or Etsy? What are your thoughts on selling on multiple sales channels?

We do sell on many shopping websites such as Wanelo, Keep, Fashiolista, Bestie, Socialbliss, the list goes on and on, honestly we have a full time team dedicated to just shopping websites. And a separate in house team that takes care of our social media and SEO. Online shopping is really a numbers game, creating a buzz is something that takes a lot of hard work!

We try to make ourselves available wherever there’s an opportunity. Etsy is great for handmade jewelry and there is a fantastic and supportive community there. Lately we have been focusing our attention on Instagram (www.instagram.com/bikiniluxe) and twitter (www.twitter.com/bikiniluxeswim) to drive our social media. We only recently started with Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/bikiniluxe) but have been getting some decent results.

5. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?

As this year ends, we are looking forward to celebrating an amazing first year, which went above and beyond our expectations. In 2015 we plan on expanding to feature many new brands and types of items offered, as well as enhancing our own brand name. I think we will be working on more Guerrilla tactics with social Media, Pop up shops at the local Miami Beach Parties and so on, overall it is a truly exciting job. Every day there is a new challenge and goal!

Thanks for the Interview (insert name of interviewer) please visit our store to see our constantly changing and evolving boutique!

Candice Galek
CEO www.bikiniluxe.com

Categories
Written Interviews

Interview with Neo of MageBuzz.com – Magento Developers

Today I am presenting another written interview with Neo of Magebuzz.com. They have been working with Magento for more than 2 years, developed 40 quality extensions and hundreds of Magento websites for nearly 10,000 clients around the world.

MageBuzz extensions are developed based on the client requirement, keep it work well with almost ecommerce website and follow Magento programming standard strictly.

Check out the interview:

1. What got you started with creating Magento extensions? Share your story.

We started working with Magento in the beginning of 2012 and then we started Magebuzz in May 2012. After 2 years, we now have 40 extensions, both commercial and free. All extensions are developed based on customer requirement. It means that they are really helpful, really What you need for your ecommerce website. Till the end of this year, we can reach the 10k client around the world. We also have partners in many countries: US, UK, Spain, Australia, Thailand, Singapore…

2. Why develop for Magento as opposed to other platforms such as WordPress?
Magento is an open source platform that is really strong for ecommerce website. In comparison to other platforms, Magento can support systems with big data, up to hundreds of thousand products. Its wide collection of themes and extensions is also an important factor for businesses to choose for building their websites.


3. What are some of your most popular plugins and how have them helped eCommerce business owners?

I can list some useful extensions developed by us: Events Calendar, Daily Deals, Newsletter popup, Store Locator, Private sales… Some extensions are just new features that people can add and improve their websites. They improve customer experience or look and feel that directly help store owners sell more products. Some extensions like Daily Deal or Private Sales can be perfect choice if you want to start building websites with special functions like groupon or private sales.

4. How have you gone about marketing your extensions and increasing sales?

The most important thing we are focusing is products’ quality and their cost. We want to delivery high quality extensions at a reasonable cost. Onsite SEO optimization help customers find us through Search engines. And our quality helps us spread out. We also get references from our partners around the world.

5. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?

We are now working on some big ideas for Magento. They will be sure very helpful for our customers who are using Magento. One or two great extensions will be ready by the end of this year. We are also looking forward to bring more services for our customers next year. And we also look for marketing partners / resellers for improving our brand.

Find more info at http://www.magebuzz.com

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