Ask Raru founder Neil Smith anything about eCommerce

[PhireSide]

Hypothetical:

If an item is advertised at a heavily discounted price by mistake (say 50% off the price of a R1000 item for the sake of the argument) and ten people order said item, would you honour the agreements and sell it to these ten people at the discounted price or would you apologize for the pricing error and cancel their orders? Do you believe in taking the knock to satisfy those ten people and hopefully turn them into repeat customers, or would you rather not make those ten sales at all?

 

[Musiclover08]

What would your advice be to someone intending to open an online store if they were to start today

 

[Musiclover08]

What tips would you recommend for purchasing stock when starting out

 

[SauRoNZA]

Hypothetical:

If an item is advertised at a heavily discounted price by mistake (say 50% off the price of a R1000 item for the sake of the argument) and ten people order said item, would you honour the agreements and sell it to these ten people at the discounted price or would you apologize for the pricing error and cancel their orders? Do you believe in taking the knock to satisfy those ten people and hopefully turn them into repeat customers, or would you rather not make those ten sales at all?

No they'll cancel it and maybe give you a little consolation prize voucher for your next order.

I say this because I've bought a mistake before.

 

[Kosmik]

What is the most difficult but unknown challenge to starting a successful store?

 

[Johnatan56]

What's the most important requirement in creating an e-commerce?
Would you consider it to be capital -> stock or for advertising? Would it be first to market?

Why do you think you succeeded where others failed?

 

[beans100]

Is the market for ecommerce business still growing an making money in South Africa?

 

[bokka1]

When do you think will you be able to sell digital codes for games instead of hard copies, especially in the console realm?

 

[Max Headroom]

South Africans are pessimistic at most. They don't trust other people easily and it takes a long time for any e-commerce site to get their trust.
How would you approach the South African market that is different from other e-commerce sites (like Amazon, etc.) and make a mark?

 

[Techrat]

Where do you think a small online retail store would get the most cost effective marketing for their site or products?

 

[XeonRSA]

Do you believe that real shops will cease to exist one day, being completely replaced by online retailers?

 

[XeonRSA]

What is your opinion of "Virtual Reality" (VR) and do you believe that E-Commerce will soon pave a gateway for Virtual online shops?

 

[kanzen]

How do you think Raru will fare in the next Black Friday sale?

 

[CartoonFan]

How important do you think having a good affiliate marketing program is? Do you think takealot would be more successful if they had an affiliate program like raru, who manages to do quite well without spending a lot on conventional advertising?

 

[creeper]

How much money did you make selling take2?

 

[koeks525]

Does Raru have plans of launching mobile eCommerce apps for the Android and iOS platforms?

 

[Spaniel101]

Any plans on partnering with FNB eBucks in the future?

 

[Spaniel101]

What was the reason for removing the UK imports from Raru but keeping those from the US?

 

[Bighit]

Seeing that Black Friday has been incredibly popular over the last 2 years at Raru (especially since your site didn't crash), why not have a "Christmas in July" or a "May Madness" special on a random day during the year with specials on the same scale as Black Friday?

 

[tirab]

Do you think that takealot, raru and the other e-commerce sites would survive if amazon had to suddenly enter the South African market?