s.mueller

Etsy – the social marketplace for handcrafted goods

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Do you know Etsy?
Well, if you are into handcrafted items that reflect your personal style and can barely be found among the mainstream retailers, this is your place – as a seller and as a consumer. Or simply to get inspiration.
Etsy was launched in 2005 as an e-commerce website that focused on handcrafted items. A clear opponent to the shiny, fast-paced online fashion shops, etsy focused on the products with a more personal note, handcrafted by people like me and you. Etsy quickly became the place for all those undiscovered artisans who so far only had three possibilities to merchandise their goods:
1) open up a local shop – which often times was too big a step in terms of the fix costs or
2) sell their stuff on ebay. Well yes, you surely reach a big audience on ebay, but only if they find you. And often times ebay was not the appropriate platform for such goods since these were not yet brands that gave you a certain reference of quality but instead you simply had to hope the product is as good as it looked on the photos. However, the advantage of ebay is that it offers a gigantic marketplace and you are only charged if you sell anything.
3) open up your own online shop. This may make a lot of sense and costs should today be quite easy to control. However, here again, you may also have to invest into ad spending in order to assure people will find you. The web is huge and confusing.

I remember speaking to friends about the problems young German designers have when they try to sell their dresses, costumes, etc they had to design and create as part of their fashion design university curriculum. It takes a lot of effort and then in the end they ended up without an adequate marketplace to sell it. After some research, I found dawanda which does exactly this: sell unique products from small-scale producers, very often handcrafted. So there was no need to come up with such a marketplace since it already existed. And since Etsy was founded in 2005 it soon also entered the German market of course supported by what had by then already become a strong brand and the synonym of a marketplace for handcrafted uniques.

Today, 7 years since its foundation, Etsy has more than 15 million registered members and more than 875,000 registered sellers who have found on Etsy their personal storefront to sell their goods. And customers found an online marketplace where they can spend hours browsing through unexpected products from all over the world and also sharing them with their friends via facebook, twitter or pinterest. Since e-commerce projects can easily (well compared to traditional business models, I do know what an online rollout means!) be rolled out in numerous markets, Etsy is today present in more than 150 countries. That’s what you call a head start.

One thing I’d like to add: Since Etsy not only sells handcrafted items but also antiques or vintage products, this marketplace also profits from the current trend to invest in such goods. In a different product category such as cars we do see a very strong trend towards youngtimers and oldtimers which is clearly reflected in price increases of up to 10% per year.

Here is some insight into the technical side of Etsy and how it harnesses SlideShare (a little bit promotional though):

SlideShare: Etsy, Sharing their Experiences for the Greater Good

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s.mueller

Social Media Einsatz im deutschen Mittelstand

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Laut der aktuellen Ausgabe der „wirtschaft konkret“, herausgegeben von der IHK Regensburg, ist Social Media „ein relevanter Kommunikationskanal für mittelständische Unternehmen. Basierend auf einer Umfrage unter 2800 deutschen Unternehmen nutzt bereits jedes zweite Unternehmen diesen neuen Kanal um auf sich selbst als Arbeitgeber hinzuweisen und um Konsumenten anzusprechen und idealerweise gar den Dialog aufzunehmen.

Dass 80% der Unternehmen Facebook nutzen verwundert nicht, ist es doch der Kanal über den man über mittlerweile gelernte und etablierte Techniken eine sehr große potentielle Zielgruppe ansprechen kann.
An zweiter Stelle folgt dann Xing, das ein exzellentes Werkzeug sein kann, um sich mit Geschäftspartnern zu vernetzen und um neue Mitarbeiter zu rekrutieren.

An dritter und vierter Stelle folgen dann mit fast identischer Relevanz YouTube und Twitter. Der zentrale Grund, warum Twitter hier ebenbürtig mit YouTube auftritt, dürfte an der Einfachheit der Bedienung und der Begrenzung auf 140 Zeichen liegen. Und: Tweets können auch im stark wachsenden Mobile Segment superschnell abgerufen werden, was Experten zu der Einschätzung führt, dass gerade im mobilen Bereich Twitter mehr Einfluss haben könnte als Facebook (Link). Simplicity ist hier der klare Vorteil gegenüber YouTube. Warum? Auf YouTube lassen sich zwar wunderbar Videobotschaften oder PR-Filme integrieren – diese wollen aber auch erstmal produziert sein. Eine finanzielle Hürde vorallem für kleinere Unternehmen. Daneben ist YouTube auch eher ein statischer one way Kanal über den Inhalte für die Allgemeinheit bereitgestellt und aber auch geshared werden können. Der Rückkanal beschränkt sich meist auf Kommentare.
Mit einer der größten Vorteile, einen YouTube Kanal zu haben und auch zu pflegen liegt darin, dass sich diese Inhalte kinderleicht auf anderen Websites oder Social Media Plattformen in beliebigen Größen einbetten lassen, also nicht lokal auf dem jeweiligen Firmenserver liegen müssen.
Auch wenn Twitter deutlich leichter zu bedienen ist, stellt sich hier natürlich noch immer die Frage der Reichweite. Gerade aber in letzter Zeit scheinen immer mehr Menschen an der Einfachheit von Twitter gefallen zu finden. Während facebook mit immer neuen Funktion versucht zu verjüngen, reagieren immer mehr User mit Verärgerung darauf, dass gelernte Verhaltensweisen immer wieder an neue Funktionen angepasst werden müssen.

Aus dem oben genannten ergibt sich dann auch wofür Unternehmen Social Media vornehmlich nutzen: Kommunikation (nach außen) um neue Zielgruppen zu erreichen und die eigene Bekanntheit zu steigern. Social Commerce, also die Nutzung von Social Media als Verkaufskanal über den tatsächlich Sales abgewickelt werden können, erweist sich für die meisten Unternehmen noch als Hürde – keine Frage, hier wirds technisch und komplex und nicht jede Zielgruppe ist dafür offen.

Die Hinderungsgründe für den Einstieg in Social Media sind nach wie vor die selben: der korrekt eingeschätze oft hohe Zeitaufwand (insbesondere wenn man einen Dialog zu den Konsumenten sucht), das Verhältnis von Kosten und Nutzen sowie die große Unsicherheit bei der Auswertung der Investments, also die schon fast klassische Frage nach Social Media ROI.

Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der deutsche Mittelstand dem Thema Social Media durchaus offen gegenübersteht, aber hier auch eine gesunde Skepsis mitbringt und sich dem Thema oft Schritt für Schritt annähert, um erste Erfahrungen zu sammeln und darauf aufzubauen. Je nach Situation sollte auch ein Berater im ersten Schritt zu kleinen Testprojekten raten anstatt gleich Budgets aus anderen Bereichen abzuziehen und in eine große Social Media Aktion zu stecken.

Hinweis: Dieser Artikel lehnt sich an die aktuelle Ausgabe der wirtschaft konkret, 66. Jahrgang, November 2011 herausgegeben von der IHK Regensburg für Oberpfalz/Kelheim an.

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s.mueller

Then & Now: 100 Years of Chevrolet

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Chevy turned 100.
Reason enough to come out with a nostalgic tribute to the history of Chevrolet which accompanied the lives of so many Americans in the last century. Through good times and bad times just like the brand itself had its ups and downs. Or to say it in the words of a 1991 Chevrolet „Heartbeat of America“ TVC, „the best things have always been those that last“.
For more than 100 years Chevorlet has made use of patriotic and nostalgic imagery to connect with the customers and to persuade them to only buy a true American brand as is Chevrolet (more or less as we all know). But after 100 years one can say this really pulls or as this recent commercials says, „Chevy runs deep.“

Oh one thing to add: As this current campaign proves, „Chevy“ is still being used in communications, other than rumor had it in 2010. –> Link

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s.mueller

Thanks, Steve

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Last Sunday I came across an article in the September edition of Fortune magazine which my girlfriend brought along from Chicago. In the very end after all the business talk Stanley Bling, Fortune columnist, was given his space to say thank you to the man who in many way changed the lives of so many of us.

In the context of Steve Job’s sudden death, this article becomes even more touching.

But read for yourself. Don’t rush through it, but take your time:

We’ve all been lucky to live in a world where there was a person with such an imagination.

I want to take this opportunuity, before time and our common mortality rob me of the chance to do so, to thank you, Steve Jobs, for all that you have done for me. No, I never had the privilege of meeting you, or had a chance to get yelled at by you in a business meeting, or even watch your charisma transform an audience into acolytes. But I feel as if I know you well enough to express, as you ascend to your new role as chairman, the sadness I feel and my gratitude for so many of the good things that you have brought to my life. It’s not business. It’s personal.

I want to thank you for my graphical interface. There were computers, of course, before you made that first Mac. They could run only one program at a time. They had no graphics. You knew that was lame. You imagined the alternative — multiple programs, launched by clicks, running concurrently in a windowed field. Last night I watched a movie, printed photos, harvested e-mail, and bought a bunch of business socks, all at the same time. So thanks for my GUI.

I want to thank you for my mouse. Can you imagine a world without mouses? I can’t. Before you bred them for commercial use, a person needed a host of keyboard commands to get anything done, and a lot of programming code to produce words and numbers on paper. I read somewhere that you got the vision after you visited Xerox’s PARC. They showed you what they were up to, but they sort of didn’t know what they had. You ran with it. Because that’s the way you did everything. All in. Feet first.

I want to thank you for all Macs, great and small. I went to your Apple Store (AAPL) the other day and saw a tidy row of new machines, from the slender new Airs to the massive towers of power. I wanted every one. They’re pretty and shiny, unlike my big old black rubberized clunker the corporation gave me, and the last time I got a virus was just before I put my Windows PC into the closet. That was when I sent the phrase „I love you“ to 22,000 fellow employees and the CEO. „I love you too, Bing, but let’s not let anybody know,“ he e-mailed back.

I want to thank you for my Airport Extreme, the small white box through which I get my Internet. Before it, I used to have to plug in and configure this horrible router. It never worked. I often ended up screaming and crying and throwing hardware at the wall. This thing? You just plug it in and use it. Sometimes as I fall asleep I watch the little fellow, with its round eye glowing green in the darkness, a beacon of easy functionality.

Thanks for my iPod, which pretty much defined how I listen to music now. And for iTunes, which you made too easy not to understand. And for my iPad too, which despite all protestations is really nothing more than an Angry Birds machine. No, you can’t work on it. So what? Work isn’t everything.

And thanks for my new iPhone, which channels a million apps and does everything well except the phone part. A pompous Silicon Valley dude I know used to say, with a weary grin, „Every year is the year for mobile.“ Until you decided it was, Steve. And so I never have to generate a single unaided thought for the rest of my life. What a relief!

And oh, yeah. Thanks for Toy Story too. And Up. Really loved Up.

It’s been your world, Steve. And we’ve been lucky enough to run along behind you, picking up goodies as you dropped them in our path. It’s a little scary to think that one day you’ll go off to your famous mountaintop and not return with the next big thing. But at least we can all say we lived in a time when there was a person with such an imagination, and offer thanks in whatever digital or analog format we choose, wherever on earth we may be. We can do that now.

This article is from the September 26, 2011 issue of Fortune. You can access it online here

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s.mueller

It's a branded world we live in…

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Here’s a very nice work I came across. May be stunning at first but is not so far-fetched. Brands are all around us and most brands do have their own characteristics, almost like humans. Which does not mean Ronald McDonald is a thievery brother… So don’t take this one too serious and enjoy!

Here’s some background info:
This is a short film that was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short.

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s.mueller

Nissan/Renault eMobility: one idea two TVCs

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Just recently I saw a really nice Renault commercial for their electric vehicle model range:

To be honest, it is a very creative approach which really opens our minds to the fact that in every aspect of our daily life things are being run electric, except for the car. And it is exactly here that it takes a lot of marketing dollars to persuade and convince us that the future of driving will be electric.

Now it is no secret that Renault Nissan are cooperating. Still I was surprise to see this Nissan TVC here which closely draws on the Renault spot. I can only guess that maybe the Nissan spot was there first, but maybe it is no coincidence but a shared marketing campaign to promote electric vehicles for both brands…

Here is the Nissan version (for the US market and also showing the Chevy Volt which is being blamed for not being 100% electric:

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s.mueller

RTT Excite 2011, Munich

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The Munich-based RTT AG is a pioneer in 3D visualization and maintains offices around the world and employs more than 450 experts. Each year RTT invites its clients and prospects to the RTT Excite, a standout event which showcases the latest technologies across the industry and their diverse areas of application in the world of 3D realtime visualization.


The lectures and breakout sessions included speakers from companies such as Siemens, Adidas, McKinsey, Opel, Ford, Porsche, Pixar and of course RTT.

3D visualization offers huge possibilities to reduce costs and increase time-to-market in a number of industries. Up front of course is the automotive sector which still has some of the biggest expenditures when it comes to developing new parts or even entire vehicles. This became obvious when looking around in the audience. Almost every major automaker had sent staff to the RTT Excite to learn about the latest trends and the new opportunities in this fast developing field.


The case studies nicely explained the strong need for 3D visualization, the various usages and the cost effect visualization has compared to producing real models – whether of cars, Atomic ski boots or fashion. In the product development process visualization enables to quickly change product features and immediately send a new model to team members all around the world in order to decide how the next car, shoe or connector should look like.

Once a product has been finalized, 3D visualization makes it available to a gigantic audience – for example online in a car configurator, a virtual online shop, or at the POS. We live in times of huge product ranges. Premium brands such as BMW or Audi fill up every product niche out there which makes it harder every day for the consumer to decide what product fits best. At the same time this is also a challenge to the POS: The model range of an automaker often grows faster than the showroom capacity and the number of possible configurations are enormous. Thus auto showrooms increasingly rely on visualizers to show the customer in a most realisitic way, how his dream car would look like. CGI materials are often faster to produce and cheaper than entire photo shootings for a new campaign.

3D visualization increases time-to-market, allows to react faster to changing customer needs, supports the customer purchasing process and make shopping more interactive and more exciting.

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s.mueller

How Amazon controls the World..umm Ecommerce I mean

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Amazon is a good friend just like Google. They brought to us a totally new level of shopping ecommerce and access to information in an instant and operating systems that can compete with those of Apple. At the same time they receive a lot of critique for being too dominant and gathering too much personal information.
I am one of those who rather praise the enormous success and the numerous benefits these giants brought to us customers. But as we all know marketing messages are only one side of the story. Please go through these slides to get an impression of what all Amazon is today. And everytime you are surprised about facts you did not know, keep in mind that aside from all the records, Amazon is still very often being criticized for not being successful enough by analysts…

Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire

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s.mueller

Marketing fängt bei einem selbst an

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Man soll Menschen ja als Menschen wahrnehmen und respektieren. Und loben soll man sie für das was sie leisten. Nun, im Arbeitsleben trifft das nicht immer zu. Kollegialität wird oft nicht als Erfolgsfaktor gesehen und oft wird nicht die Leistung desjenigen gewürdigt, der sie tatsächlich erbracht hat sondern die Lorbeeren bekommt oft der, der die erbachte Leistung am besten „verkauft“. Das ist schade, aber impliziert, dass ein Arbeitnehmer heute nicht mehr nur seine „Arbeit gut machen“ sollte, er sollte sich auch selbst als Marke begreifen und entsprechen vermarkten (iin vernünftigem Maße versteht sich). Das Problem dabei: es fällt vielen schwer, sich selbst zu promoten. Dabei ist das gar nicht so schwer und man kann sich vieler Parallelen zu Produkten oder Marken bedienen:

Du bist eine Marke! Wie das Social Web schon jetzt unseren Arbeitsalltag verändert.

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Wichtig hierbei: das Gesamtbild. Es sollte stimmig sein, glaubwürdig und nicht aufgesetzt. Sprich: Man muss nicht vorgeben auf jeder Party zu tanzen. Machen sie weiterhin nur dass, was Ihnen Spass macht und was Sie gut können aber reden Sie drüber. Bei der galoppierenden Inflation an Informationen, der wir täglich ausgesetzt sind, sind Authentizität und Glaubwürdigkeit Gold wert. Gleiches gilt für Menschlichkeit.

Also: Sehen Sie sich selbst einmal als Marke und überlegen Sie ob die „Marketingabteilung“ einen guten Job macht, oder ob sie ungenutztes Potential sehen. Überlegen Sie sich, wie sie dieses Potential besser nutzen können, starten Sie einen Testballon und vergleichen Sie ob die gewünschte Wirkung eintritt.

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