Ask Raru founder Neil Smith anything about eCommerce

[Kaito]

I have always had a good customer experience from Take2 to Raru.
What is your secret in selecting the right people for the job ?

 

[BrokenRSA]

Forums does help you gain insight into what people’s concerns are, what elements of the site can be improved with direct communication, what products they are looking for and so on. In truth though only a very small but vocal group will ever participate in a forum. So you have to weigh up the pro’s and con’s of having another channel to watch for customer interaction. For now SA Gamer is a sort of stop gap for this, as gamers are some of the more vocal customers you are ever likely to have.

Thanks for answering, for me the forums and the interaction there turned me into a very loyal customer, and I've been following the TSM team since then, although I don't spend nearly as much money anymore these days as I'd like to!

 

[rpm]

Thank you Neil Smith

This concludes the official “Ask Raru founder Neil Smith anything about eCommerce” discussion. The ten people whose questions were selected will receive their R200 Raru Vouchers today.

Neil may continue to answer a few questions. These will, unfortunately, not qualify for prizes.

 

[Druss35]

I have always had a good customer experience from Take2 to Raru.
What is your secret in selecting the right people for the job ?

I'll jump into that one, there is no secret, other than being open minded during the hiring process. We also like to promote from within where possible, and hire people at the most junior level. These are often people who have the capabilities, but not the experience or qualifications. Training them from the start on our values, means those values move up the ladder as well.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Our point of view on pricing is to offer the most fair pricing that we can, and be as transparent as possible. Our Was price is always the last price a customer could have bought the item for. This may mean we aren’t always the cheapest. The beauty of the Internet is that the consumer does have the freedom of choice to make up their own mind where they want to make their purchase from.

Your transparency is much appreciated - scores you a lot of brownie points in my books.

 

[Spenelo]

Awesome advice, thanks!

 

[wavesailor]

My question:

What you your opinion is the best / fastest way to attract people to your new e-commerce site?

Thanks,

JJ

 

[Conradjg]

Hi Niel, What did mistake did you make at Take 2 that you will not repeat at RARU with regards to e-commerce?

 

[Nolan_Naidu]

What would you define as the ultimate online client experience and would this compromise site and operational functionality ?

 

[ichigo]

We don’t expect to bring the UK Imports back again. We had some major logistical issues with our UK fulfilment partners.

Oh ok as long as you keep improving your local product support which seems to be doing well.

 

[Neil Smith]

My question:

What you your opinion is the best / fastest way to attract people to your new e-commerce site?

Thanks,

JJ

That is a question with no easy answer when you don't have loads of money to spend on marketing which might not even be effective. We have tried various platforms but for the moment prefer to stick to online advertising mediums only. The online benefits being that you can track how well it is working much faster than say a magazine ad.

 

[Neil Smith]

How did eCommerce change from the time when you launched Take2 to when you launched Raru - if at all?

From dealing with the local suppliers I would say not much has really changed at all. A lot of the same problems for the past 20 years still remain in place. Some companies to their credit do have a stronger focus of dealing with online companies which helps.

Overall only a really small number of the local suppliers that I know of, have any form of online ordering and tracking. So there is huge room for improvements there.

The local ecommerce market is also a much more competitive place than ever before as more of the bigger B & M retailers improve the online offerings.

All the eCommerce activity does mean more SA consumers are being exposed to online shopping, meaning the total customer base will keep growing.

 

[Neil Smith]

Can we expect daily deals similar to Takealot, loot and other retailers ?

Is there benefit to this ?

With Daily Deals there is the pressure to every day come up with a new and well priced offering which isn't stale. This could be a challenge after a while.

We prefer to have discount offers running over longer periods. We also have some really well priced Stock Clearance sales from time to time.

But never say never.

 

[ichigo]

This concludes the official “Ask Raru founder Neil Smith anything about eCommerce” discussion. The ten people whose questions were selected will receive their R200 Raru Vouchers today.

Neil may continue to answer a few questions. These will, unfortunately, not qualify for prizes.

Thanks so much to RPM and Neil for the voucher.

 

[Icemanbrfc]

Hi Neil

With so many e commerce companies around, what makes Raru special from the rest, and do you feel that going forward, that you will be able to outshine the competition?

Thank You

 

[wavesailor]

That is a question with no easy answer when you don't have loads of money to spend on marketing which might not even be effective. We have tried various platforms but for the moment prefer to stick to online advertising mediums only. The online benefits being that you can track how well it is working much faster than say a magazine ad.

Thanks Neil for taking the time to answer our /my questions.

-jj