Suggestions for 1388 E-shop |
How this thread started:
(7 Nov 2000)
 Abstracted from Joe Lee's letter to all members on 7th Nov, 2000:
"...Very soon I will start writing CD reviews and our 1388 E-shop is almost ready to launch. Frankly, I have no idea how the respond will be like…I mean purchasing CDs online. First, we will only recommend those CDs that are available in the market, which means you can buy them either from us or from any other shops. Even if some shops don’t stock up the particular items they will after our recommendations are published. Second, we provide free delivery. We appointed a local delivery company to do the job for us and every trip cost S$6~8 depending on districts. In order to cover this delivery charge we have to encourage you to buy up to at least 5 CDs at one go, otherwise we shall have no profit at all. Third, even worse…we have decided not to accept credit cards because we are using a third party service and for every transaction they will charge us 10% of the turnover. We don’t even earn 10% after deducting the delivery cost and GST. With all these factors taken into account, I don’t think our E-shop will work! But again, who knows…whether or not it is going to work we still have to do it as part of our services to our members. At least, I hope, my recommendations will be beneficial to all music-lovers and the music industry as a whole…who knows? Furthermore, with the setting up of our E-shop we had also decided to change our ISP. I hope we can enjoy faster download speed and lesser server down problems, lesser complaints, etc in the future…" |
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Sam Lai responded:
(8 Nov 2000)
 Hi Joe,
Read your 1388 letter. Just thought of giving you suggestion, maybe is already on your mind, but never mind. More on e-shop: Instead of sending it to our house, could we collect it ourselve and save you the 10% as well as passing the saving from courier service to us? Collection point can be at Adelphi say Audio 88, this is the most common place we visit and is near to city where most people would work. Of course, paying Audio 88 some form of administrative charges is fair. Good for Audio 88 to market their products, show their excellent service and latest offering. They should thank you too. If not for your Auric (I got it from Audio 88), I won't know they are the distributor for Audio Space. If this could work out, extending to the different zone might be a good idea too. I think sending just a CD to my doorstep is good service but very hard to sustain for long, once the shop stocks the CDs, wouldn't it be cheaper to get it from shops without paying the S$5-7 courier for one trip. Of course if the response of people buying 5 CDs at one time is positive, then this arrangement is fine. There must be a way that e-shop can work and will work. Good service, competitive price, high quality CDs and only few shops stock them. People are always giving you moral support, but when you are in business and require some action from them, your call will mostly be in vain, giving support is fine but if someone can bring in a bottle of Auric at S$40, so you think this people will still give you support ? It still boils down to the fact of pricing. Again, people don't mind paying a little more for quality service but really not too much. That's why parallel importers are surviving, and well too. Let me see if I can think of some more to write. (Abstracted) |
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Lok’s Suggestions:
(7 Nov 2000)
Hi Joe! I read with interest your concerns about the viability of your impending e-shop. Here are some thoughts of mine: You have a loyal following and a very niche audience: why not tap into this by making1388 members commit to buying a fixed number of CDs from your e-shop per year? e.g. If members commit to buying a minimum of 15 CDs from you per year (at average cost of S$20 each for better quality recordings), instead of paying $300, they pay only, say $250. Members can choose to pay the $250 in one lump sum at the beginning (which is preferred as it gives you liquid cash to play with) and get special privileges no one else gets (e.g. equipment discounts, interest-free short-term credit purchase of Power Govenor, etc.), plus another 3 CDs free.
Additional bonuses and benefits schemes can be invented to reward those who exceed their 15-cd buying commitment, while those who do not meet their year-end quota can negotiate for other purchases to make up for the shortfall. Finally, your e-shop must have a guarantor of some sort to convince people that their advance payment is safe and refundable in case they think your site/e-shop may not last long! Ouch!
If possible, try to make sure all recommended titles can be previewed by listeners via Real Audio. To save yourself some trouble, the really well-known titles probably have real audio samples in the popular online music stores anyway, so you can point listeners to those sites... but esoteric and non-international titles will probably still need to be sampled online by listeners. Not for listening to the recording quality, but to let potential buyers preview the melodic content and style and see if they like it.
Why not tie up with a music retailer or audio shop (e.g. Audio 88 or CD Acoustics) to let customers collect from? The kind of customers you attract will also be the kind of customer who may want to buy something from the audio shop as well, and it attracts more crowds to such a shop, which in turn attracts more curious people to go in and see why the business is so good there. Tying up with an established business premises also makes many other future administrative tasks (e.g. special CD promotions, lucky draw prize collections) easier.
Don't just be an e-shop/CD recommendations page! Be a hub of trading activity! Even well-heeled audiophiles don't mind saving a buck or two, and getting rid of unwanted CDs! Ensure that your e-shop has a trading page for people to trade CDs among themselves, and a section where 1388 members share their own music recommendations! Refer-a-friend award schemes can bring in more page views and widen your net. Members with the most useful and active contribution to the enjoyment of all other members stand to win prizes or bonus CDs or etc. By the way, please include DVDs in the list of recommendations that your e-shop will provide - helps draw in more niche audiences and increases your scope of business!
To be successful, you gotta go regional, so don't ever limit yourself to Singapore customers, I hope. Free local delivery is a good luxury option, but not absolutely necessary for Singaporeans, so please make it optional. But for overseas customers who like Asian audiophile recordings, prompt and safe delivery is crucial.
One of the most frustrating tasks for a true music lover is not being able to find a particular out-of-print recording locally or internationally via online searches. If you want to provide top notch service, offer a search service where you use your wide network of worldwide audiophiles, dealers, distributors, etc, to help fanatic audiophiles get a hold of a rare CD or record. For example, I was looking for the Mobile Fidelity pressing of TOTO IV high and low and it simply cannot be found! Finally got a Sony SBM version through Pacific Internet's now braindead ClassAds!
(Abstracted) |
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Nagasena’s view:
(8 Nov 2000)
Collect direct from 1388 office in Jurong. By-pass all middle man and save the cost to pass onto buyer. |
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Joseph Goh’s response:
(8 Nov 2000)
Hello Joe, Very happy to hear that the 'e-shop' is going to start soon. I have been waiting patiently all these while as I do not have the time to go shopping for CDs. My wife is expected to deliver in a couple of months and I really could not afford the time. Some of the CD recommended by your website is not easy to get. e.g. The Late Night Music by Earl Klugh could not be found in most of the CD shops. Hopefully, with the setting up of the 'e-shop', things shall be more convenient to me. Last but not least, keep up the wonderful work at 1388.com, it is really fabulous. Hope to hear from you soon. |
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Ah Fai’s view:
(8 Nov 2000)
THANKS Joe, You're still as kind and helpful as the time when Hi-Fi Corner was around, directing potential customers to competitors, even though it does you no benefit in sales. But I bet it must have given you one of the best reputation in Adelphi. Regarding your CD Review column, you were saying that you may try to recommend cds that are easier to find for the benefit of readers and you also added that, that way readers can choose to buy from you or other retailers. But I do hope that you will do what you did at Hi-Fi Corner, bring in some not so easy to find disc. Then recommend them to us (we will then buy it from you, lah). That way most of us don't have to mail order from the States, Britain or whatever countries they are from. |
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