Question re online sales processing
Discussion
First of all some background on me. I earn my living by talking to people. I enjoy talking to people. Most of my customers I have known for years. My entire industry is now online. No talking and very few customers out there who you want to talk to as it’s all plummeted to lowest common denominator stuff in the last decade. I still have my clients that I enjoy working with but everything else is social media marketing rubbish which I simply cannot stand.
During lockdown I have been sending food parcels to mates for fun. A friend of mine has a warehouse of high end Italian deli produce and most of his clients are currently closed so I’ve started buying stuff off him, sticking it in boxes and sending it to friends in lockdown as little gifts.
What’s happened is that they’ve come back to me with orders for their friends and also requests to set up regular monthly deliveries to their parents going forward.
To simplify things the food parcels are broken down into price bands. I can’t be bothered with individual orders and I don’t really want one offs. That’s too much work for no money and is well catered for by people who want to do that. The parcels range from £30-£100 and what I want to do is either bring it to an end or find a way to streamline it very simply.
What’s needed is a mechanism where I can contact the client base instantly and efficiently and my usual route for this is via an app which they would download. The app then needs to store the client’s addresses, uploadable from their phone contacts etc and in as seemless a way as possible, basically allow me to send out an alert detailing a new package and for recipients to simply one click to buy and tick where they are to go to and then process payment via PayPal. That way within 48 hours of sending a meaaage we have the address labels printed and stuck on the parcels.
I am extremely good at inventing stuff that has already been invented. I have post invented some incredible successful products. So I am assuming that this process has already been invented and that there is an off the shelf solution for managing the plan? I don’t want to oversee the building of any IT as Inwork extremely hard to avoid IT as much as possible but if I can fit the plan into an existing product then I might consider rolling it out asbits actually enjoyable.
During lockdown I have been sending food parcels to mates for fun. A friend of mine has a warehouse of high end Italian deli produce and most of his clients are currently closed so I’ve started buying stuff off him, sticking it in boxes and sending it to friends in lockdown as little gifts.
What’s happened is that they’ve come back to me with orders for their friends and also requests to set up regular monthly deliveries to their parents going forward.
To simplify things the food parcels are broken down into price bands. I can’t be bothered with individual orders and I don’t really want one offs. That’s too much work for no money and is well catered for by people who want to do that. The parcels range from £30-£100 and what I want to do is either bring it to an end or find a way to streamline it very simply.
What’s needed is a mechanism where I can contact the client base instantly and efficiently and my usual route for this is via an app which they would download. The app then needs to store the client’s addresses, uploadable from their phone contacts etc and in as seemless a way as possible, basically allow me to send out an alert detailing a new package and for recipients to simply one click to buy and tick where they are to go to and then process payment via PayPal. That way within 48 hours of sending a meaaage we have the address labels printed and stuck on the parcels.
I am extremely good at inventing stuff that has already been invented. I have post invented some incredible successful products. So I am assuming that this process has already been invented and that there is an off the shelf solution for managing the plan? I don’t want to oversee the building of any IT as Inwork extremely hard to avoid IT as much as possible but if I can fit the plan into an existing product then I might consider rolling it out asbits actually enjoyable.
Do you really want to dev an app / want to spend more than necessary?
This can be done to perfection and take the concept further with klaviyo, Shopify flow and a Shopify site at very little cost. It would be scaleable and more flexible than specifying and app on your initial experiences / ideas that might significantly change going forward.
You’ve established a demand for something you can obtain, that’s the hardest part.
This can be done to perfection and take the concept further with klaviyo, Shopify flow and a Shopify site at very little cost. It would be scaleable and more flexible than specifying and app on your initial experiences / ideas that might significantly change going forward.
You’ve established a demand for something you can obtain, that’s the hardest part.
DSLiverpool said:
Do you really want to dev an app / want to spend more than necessary?
This can be done to perfection and take the concept further with klaviyo, Shopify flow and a Shopify site at very little cost. It would be scaleable and more flexible than specifying and app on your initial experiences / ideas that might significantly change going forward.
You’ve established a demand for something you can obtain, that’s the hardest part.
Agree with all of this! This can be done to perfection and take the concept further with klaviyo, Shopify flow and a Shopify site at very little cost. It would be scaleable and more flexible than specifying and app on your initial experiences / ideas that might significantly change going forward.
You’ve established a demand for something you can obtain, that’s the hardest part.
DSLiverpool said:
Do you really want to dev an app / want to spend more than necessary?
This can be done to perfection and take the concept further with klaviyo, Shopify flow and a Shopify site at very little cost. It would be scaleable and more flexible than specifying and app on your initial experiences / ideas that might significantly change going forward.
You’ve established a demand for something you can obtain, that’s the hardest part.
That’s precisely what I’m saying. I don’t want to develop anything but if there is an existing product which meets the criteria then I’ll invest the time in it. Arguably the key is in the communication side as I want nothing to do with social media and I don’t think emails work any more and SMS is too invasive. With push notifications on apps we get extremely high response rates that make it worth while writing and sending a message. This can be done to perfection and take the concept further with klaviyo, Shopify flow and a Shopify site at very little cost. It would be scaleable and more flexible than specifying and app on your initial experiences / ideas that might significantly change going forward.
You’ve established a demand for something you can obtain, that’s the hardest part.
Having looked around for a software solution what I found was that they all seem to focus on using social media and I will pay money to have nothing to do with that. It’s something that I do feel very strongly about, I don’t want Twitter, Facebook or IG in my life as they detract from my quality of life not enhance it.
For the last 10 years people have been saying email is dead /dying.
Certainly not true, clients are seeing 100% YoY growth from the channel at the moment.
That being said it can take time to grow lists.
Most of the time our clients run a wide mix of activity. Social tends to get lots of engagement but lags behind email for sales.
Check out SMSBump that integrates with klaviyo/shopify (Klaviyo don't currently run SMS directly in Europe)
Certainly not true, clients are seeing 100% YoY growth from the channel at the moment.
That being said it can take time to grow lists.
Most of the time our clients run a wide mix of activity. Social tends to get lots of engagement but lags behind email for sales.
Check out SMSBump that integrates with klaviyo/shopify (Klaviyo don't currently run SMS directly in Europe)
pmanson said:
For the last 10 years people have been saying email is dead /dying.
Certainly not true, clients are seeing 100% YoY growth from the channel at the moment.
That being said it can take time to grow lists.
Most of the time our clients run a wide mix of activity. Social tends to get lots of engagement but lags behind email for sales.
Check out SMSBump that integrates with klaviyo/shopify (Klaviyo don't currently run SMS directly in Europe)
Certainly not true, clients are seeing 100% YoY growth from the channel at the moment.
That being said it can take time to grow lists.
Most of the time our clients run a wide mix of activity. Social tends to get lots of engagement but lags behind email for sales.
Check out SMSBump that integrates with klaviyo/shopify (Klaviyo don't currently run SMS directly in Europe)
pmanson said:
For the last 10 years people have been saying email is dead /dying.
Certainly not true, clients are seeing 100% YoY growth from the channel at the moment.
That being said it can take time to grow lists.
Most of the time our clients run a wide mix of activity. Social tends to get lots of engagement but lags behind email for sales.
Check out SMSBump that integrates with klaviyo/shopify (Klaviyo don't currently run SMS directly in Europe)
You need massive lists and the open rates are tiny as are the response rates. SMS is too invasive. It’s fone for telling a customer that their product is on its way etc but not for an initial contact. Certainly not true, clients are seeing 100% YoY growth from the channel at the moment.
That being said it can take time to grow lists.
Most of the time our clients run a wide mix of activity. Social tends to get lots of engagement but lags behind email for sales.
Check out SMSBump that integrates with klaviyo/shopify (Klaviyo don't currently run SMS directly in Europe)
Klaviyo is a broad church, also your feelings on email / types of comms might not be the general consensus.
I know from experience owner operators generally see themselves as the client abd it’s seldom the case.
Have a look to https://www.klaviyo.com/features/sms-marketing
One way or another Shopify abd Klaviyo should be your foundation to build on. If you Still want an app it’ll integrate into the site.
I know from experience owner operators generally see themselves as the client abd it’s seldom the case.
Have a look to https://www.klaviyo.com/features/sms-marketing
One way or another Shopify abd Klaviyo should be your foundation to build on. If you Still want an app it’ll integrate into the site.
Why not just do it as a paypal subscription? It is geared towards excatly this sort of thing
https://developer.paypal.com/docs/subscriptions/
Extract
The key to subscription models is that whilst you do, of course, make it easy to opt out if someone wants to, the default is that unless they do something, they are buying the current box. So rather than messing about sending someone a message (push or otherwise) to say that they have a chance to buy this month's / fortnight's box , just send them a message saying that the next box in their subscription is on the way unless they opt out now. If they do nothing, you get the money and they get the box of goodies.
https://developer.paypal.com/docs/subscriptions/
Extract
The key to subscription models is that whilst you do, of course, make it easy to opt out if someone wants to, the default is that unless they do something, they are buying the current box. So rather than messing about sending someone a message (push or otherwise) to say that they have a chance to buy this month's / fortnight's box , just send them a message saying that the next box in their subscription is on the way unless they opt out now. If they do nothing, you get the money and they get the box of goodies.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 17th May 14:56
JPJPJP said:
Why not just do it as a paypal subscription? It is geared towards excatly this sort of thing
https://developer.paypal.com/docs/subscriptions/
Extract
The key to subscription models is that whilst you do, of course, make it easy to opt out if someone wants to, the default is that unless they do something, they are buying the current box. So rather than messing about sending someone a message (push or otherwise) to say that they have a chance to buy this month's / fortnight's box , just send them a message saying that the next box in their subscription is on the way unless they opt out now. If they do nothing, you get the money and they get the box of goodies.
Yup. The general idea is that it will be a ‘club’ so you’re right. The mainstay will be someone selecting a monthly subscription value and receiving a food parcel each month. The premium being from offering one off offers plus allowing people to batch send parcels to their friends. https://developer.paypal.com/docs/subscriptions/
Extract
The key to subscription models is that whilst you do, of course, make it easy to opt out if someone wants to, the default is that unless they do something, they are buying the current box. So rather than messing about sending someone a message (push or otherwise) to say that they have a chance to buy this month's / fortnight's box , just send them a message saying that the next box in their subscription is on the way unless they opt out now. If they do nothing, you get the money and they get the box of goodies.
Edited by JPJPJP on Sunday 17th May 14:56
For example, my father sends a Stilton every Christmas to a group of friends. The cheese company holds the posting list and just takes care of it each December. I do the same sort of thing with a port and friends do the same with hams and salmons.
It’s only going to be fun if it can be relatively easily automated and a paypal subscription, phone calls and just doing it a la 2001 is fine but I wondered if there was a more up to date package that did it all but I’m not sure there is.
For what it’s worth, all the apps I have to have on my phone drive me nuts. Even my self storage location just moved to an app based system (which never works!!).
For me, having to install an app would be a turn-off. I’d much rather receive a text message and have a personalized link to click on for my account and then make payment with Apple Pay.
Remove all the friction you can...and making someone install an app is adding friction.
You could even make it so that it’s subscription based unless they click the link in the sms to skip the next box...which most wouldn’t.
For me, having to install an app would be a turn-off. I’d much rather receive a text message and have a personalized link to click on for my account and then make payment with Apple Pay.
Remove all the friction you can...and making someone install an app is adding friction.
You could even make it so that it’s subscription based unless they click the link in the sms to skip the next box...which most wouldn’t.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff