Google becomes Alphabet

So Google has rebranded and become Alphabet, in a surprising move. A open blog post from Larry Page announced the change, after trading of shares closed, he explained it would give greater clarity to investors on the investments and work Alphabet (Google) is doing.

Google will still be wholly owned by Alphabet but it will also show all the other companies it owns and also the investments it is making. Google is still the star performer and of course the driver which pays for all the other investments and experiments.

I have often mooted the point  that Google is actually not great at much else except search, it's only real success, they have tended to of had to buy all the other big hits like Youtube. when Google Video failed. It also has spectacular failures (remember Wave). When the company was just Google I always felt these got lost under the "Google" brand love it has. Now, however it appears to be opening itself up to more scrutiny and showing off the other companies to not only investor scrutiny but also to the public. Will Alphabet thrive and in a few years have quite a few Google's in it's stable? Or still just Google and lots of public failures.

Vendor/Agency Choice for new Website Design & Build

Choosing the best agency of vendor for a new website design and build is one of the biggest and hardest decisions you will make as brand manager. Sometimes the devil you know is hard to leave, especially if you make the wrong decision, you end up with a new website which is just as bad as before, or worse, not as good and just a huge bill.

However, if you do it right, it can be the best decision you make, here are a few tips from 5xThinking. Over the years we have made these decisions many times for a multitude of different brands.

Here are our top 5 tips:

1) Research & planning
Only work with agencies who are the right type for you, make sure they understand your business and have built similar size websites, with the service levels you require. Plan, plan, plan. Make sure the brief or RFP is as detailed as possible and before you start everyone needs to be completely bought in to the objectives and understand the website you are aiming to build, both client and agency.

2) Budget
Sometimes, less is more. If you cannot afford all the bells and whistles, do not cut corners or try and cram more in then you can afford, it will cause more trouble in the long-run and the final result will be a website which has a lot of different features, none of which really work.

3) Timing & Project Management
Websites are complicated and need a lot of project management. make sure you are not going to launch your website in prime selling time (you will always have launch issues) and dedicate a good amount of time, or even better hire a outside project manager, to bring the project to fruition on time and in-budget, a good agency will always have questions and need a lot of input to make sure the project is completed correctly.

4) Designer vs Developer
Don't be afraid to split the project, use great creatives to get the look, feel and concept you want and then hire a hardcore development team in order to integrate into the eCommerce platform of choice. Again project management is key (see point 3).

5) Platform
DO NOT BUILD YOUR OWN ECOMMERCE PLATFORM, unless it needs to be completely bespoke or you are a technology company and intend to support this. Nobody thinks, let's get a company car, I know we will build one!! Choose the right platform (Magento, Shopify, Demandware, Hybris etc) for your site. Think about where you currently are but also future growth plans and then develop for the future, you will have all the benefits of the platform constantly evolving and if you need to you can swap agency or you will have a whole stable of already trained developers to work with you in the future.

Many more decisions to make, with very careful strategic thinking needed before deciding on the change but we hope this helps the process.


5xThinking offers a service to help you choose the right agency and also a project management service for the design and build. Don't hesitate to contact us to discuss it more. info@5xthinking.com. 

Pippa Middleton & Tabitha Webb

We recently launched our latest website for one of our wonderful clients Tabitha Webb. To make it even more exciting, she was also doing a collaboration with Pippa Middleton to raise money for the BHF and to say it went well would be a understatement. Traffic through the roof, extra servers needed and sales extremely strong. We also got some great press, see a small example below.

NYC Digital

It has been a busy few weeks at 5XT HQ, we launched one of our first websites which we designed and built through our collective, Tabitha Webb and at the same time I was off in the USA catching up with some digital folk.

Every time I am in NYC, I am always inspired by the people I meet. The friend who was thinking of leaving her high powered eCommerce job to become a Entrepreneur and start a female focused magazine in India (do it!) to old comrades Stink digital who are doing truly great interactive work with numerous fashion brands.

The energy on the the scene can sometimes make London look a little stale, hopefully though this is just a passing phase and London will storm back with a few of it's own digital starlets (always glass half full).

Just want to drop in a couple of pieces of work Stink have completed recently which inspired me greatly.

Inside Abbey Road Studios, take the interactive tour and see all the information on the project here. It took Stink 14 months to prepare and develop the app for Google, a truly mind blowing and inspiring project.

Ever wanted to control true love? You can now, with this great interactive video stink produced, directed by Jonathan Entwistle for the brand Geox. See it all here.

Start-up

The new series of Start-up is here, series 2!!

We are a start-up but nothing like them..

5 Years Time...

Recently I was having a very interesting conversation with a fellow digital person on what will be big in 5 years time and the perceived answer was that we should already know. If it will be big, it already exists.

This idea could be considered incorrect, especially with the speed that Apps rise and fall (remember chatroulette). However when you look at the biggest of the big, Uber, it was founded in March 2009, over 5 years ago, Instagram was launched 5 years ago, 2010, although you could argue this is already here (& gone).

So what could be big in the next 5 years;  Smart Watches, have been around now for a while and Apple have just joined the market with the Apple-watch, however it does not feel like they are the finished article. Yet is leading the way for smart-tech and new companies like Ringly who just raised 5.1 million US to help take there unique designs of tech-rings to the next level. A lot like a smart-watch but for style conscious ladies, they have made smart jewellery, notifying you of emails, texts, meetings etc all through your jewellery. In the next five years Smart-tech integrated into your outfits and lifestyle.

Of the other areas which are likely to hit big, the sharing economy has huge potential. Sharing has been around for 100's of years (knock, knock, can I borrow some sugar..?) however the online rise of Onefinestay & Airbnb it has only just recently taken off and getting main stream traction (remember couchsufer?). With this success it could be the start of sharing in other areas with companies like Just Park, a app to rent people's parking spaces, Vayable, which lets you book a local expert who can share their knowledge or even Ski, surf and share equipment at Spinster. Who needs to own anything when you can borrow everything....

Music Friday

Songs of (our) week:

Periscope

So now radio 4 Today have covered it, Periscope is official uncool, & so time to take it on to the mainstream. Periscope is a new Twitter app for live streaming, the Meerkat killer, which if you read anything about SXSW had the Tech press going crazy with excitement.

So Periscope, will it be the new Vine or the new ChatRoulette (remember that?).

Realtime reporting by journalists is the ideal use  and they are already starting to make the most of it, The BBC, Sky & The Guardian have already started using it.

Citizen journalists will also start reporting and realtime updates on what is happening before the mainstream press even get close to having a camera truck on the scene.

Quality can be a issue, you are generally streaming on 3/4G but the realtime interaction and link to Twitter with realtime notifications means it has a major audience instantly.


Downsides, what if it turns into the new ChatRoulette, lewd comments, men showing people themselves naked (it is always almost always men) and will it just become another way to Troll (read bully) people online.

If Periscope can avoid the many pitfalls, it could truly change media, giving a voice to the protester on the street, a lot like twitter did in the Arab Spring but this time giving live images of what is happening on the ground.

For brands it can give a live insight behind the scenes, I would be very surprised if this does not appear in the next Burberry London Fashion Show and sure it is only a matter of time before Cara D becomes a advocate of it and starts bringing live updates.

Tidal

Ok, so we all know that over the last few years the music industry has been losing it's mind trying to save itself. Now, Jay-Z and a shed load of his mates have come up with a idea... which seems to simply translate to pay double because Beyonce thinks she needs more money... We are talking about Tidal & they just held the maddest press conference ever.


Ok, so this is Jay-z's new business,  don't get me wrong, I love the Hova and Bee has been the Queen forever but really is this the answer. I have talked before about Spotify and the gripes artists have but this press conference really does not do them any favours. However everyone seems to be putting there eggs into the basket which is high definition sound streaming, Neil young is at it with the crowd funded Pono and now Jay-Z is offering this with Tidal and also exclusives etc. Yet no free version..

Techcrunch have a piece about it being destined to fail here

& Gawker have gone in hard with the boot. Here.

Next time I will do a full review of Tidal.

When your Wifi is down

Great infographic from Glitch Agency via the eConsultancy digital stats roundup here

Four for Friday

Not much on the blog this week, apologise,  a lot going on at the Agency, expect more exciting news next week...

Here are four interesting bits for Friday.

1) The Guardian are reporting on the new concept of "Fashion Trucks", think food trucks but with clothes, they are taking off in the US... Read more here

2) A very interesting article, from Deezen, on a new report by Li Edelkoort. How the fashion industry is exploding with the controversial title "Fashion is Obsolete". Read more about it here

3) Mobile World Congress has been happening in Barcelona and Adweek have 10 amazing stats which have come out from the week long event. Read more here

4) Interesting article entitled "What a Brand learned from becoming a Blogger". The story of a brand marketer becoming a mummy blogger during her maternity leave. Read it at eConsultancy here

That is your Four! Now here is some music to get you through Friday.

Three for Monday

Three of the best pieces of news/views I have seen in the last week.

1) Responsive design, eConsultancy talks about some of the best responsive designs of 2014 (I am still not wholly convinced about responsive but that is another post) read it here

2) Re-designing iconic typefaces for Arabic, interesting article from the always reliable Fast Company website here

3) Inside Apple's design studio's. Prepare yourself as this is from the New Yorker so will be a big one. Enjoy it here

& some music for Monday Morning:

Starting up..

One month in (or just slightly longer), now would be a good time to share my initial thoughts. Like many people, I had romantic ideas of starting my own business (I was even called an inspiration this morning), for years it was my dream and now I have finally plucked up the courage to do it.

Firstly, I had a bit of a head start, I was very lucky to pick up a very talented business partner who has some amazing contacts and is keen to help push forward this business and see it succeed. I then hit up all my old contacts and started forming a network of trusted suppliers I could introduce to companies and use myself.

The most important part; I managed to launch with two great clients, so I actually had some real work to do and keep me busy. This and starting to pitch for new work which, at moments, can be tough and amazing all at the same time!

I have learned two key things when you start start-up. First, people are so supportive and generally keen to help push you forward, even if it does not lead to instant results. We have also been extremely lucky for the support received from friends, former colleagues and contacts which has been overwhelming, people genuinely want you to succeed. At the same time I realised how important it is to open up and try and help other people, hopefully this will all come back-round and support our business in the future.

Finally, I have also spent more time in coffee shops in the last 6 weeks then in my previous 6 years and I have noticed that a lot of my fixed ideas of what I thought the business would be and where it would go are changing constantly, developing in new ways I was not expecting. Exciting.

To Month 2.

The best of eCommerce from around the web

Interesting articles on eCommerce we have spotted over the past week:

A interesting blog post about something close to our hearts, the eCommerce opportunity in China. On the eConsultancy blog, check it out here

Jay Z is taking on Spotify and Apple by buying Scandinavian music streaming company Aspire. Check out the full details on the Guardian

How to become a 1 billion pound company in 2 years, listen to what Slack CEO has to say about it via Fast Company

Even Twitter think they suck at stopping internet Trolls, according to their CEO. Via the Drum

If you are outside of London and trying to build a tech business, you are going to struggle, according to Wired

Superbowl Ads

Here are our top 5 Super Bowl ads..

The Mindy:



The taken it too far:



 The odd:




The Inspiring:



The Winner:

Predictions: 2015

So why would anyone ever write predictions? They are just asking to be proven wrong and worse they are hard to deny in the future, so do not do it. Here are mine (see you in 12 months to review).

Note: Before I start, I just want to say I live by the fact all ideas which are going to be big in the next 5 years already exist in some form at this moment, so really this should be predictions for the next 5 years not just 12 months (the excuses start early...).

Here we go:

1) Virtual Reality, if you have seen anyone wearing a virtual reality headset they look strange, always freaking out (a lot like a silent disco, without the companions) however this is about to hit mainstream, when you can use your iPhone, Google glasses (maybe not, see post) it is easier to forget about Candy Crush and step into an alternate reality. I predict the first viral video of people playing virtual reality games on the tube in 2015

2) This is less a prediction and more just something I think is cool, VNYL is a crowd funded (the Kickstater raised 36K in record time) personal curated Vinyl sharing company. What does that mean? Every month they deliver 3 Vinyl records for you to play, listen and potentially keep (if  you pay extra) or return and receive 3 more the following month. It's a clever idea and I like the sharing/personal curation concept.

3) Sharing/Borrowing, so Airbnb have already made this huge and Uber are revolutionising the taxi industry. So it has already started but now the sharing/borrowing/renting will be huge, whether it is sharing tools, ski equipment or even storage space. The sharing industry is going to come into it's own this year. One of my favourites of the new bread is Roadie a lot like Uber but for delivery/removals, anyone with a car/van can sign up and all payments etc completed through the app, once the item is delivered, just list it on Roadie and anyone going your way can deliver it for a the price you are offering. Brilliant.

4) Baidu will start becoming a bigger player in the west. Currently doing the business in China and fast expanding internationally, the search engine will start eating into Google's dominance of the market and become a even bigger behemoth.

5) WeChat, the Chinese social network (a lot like What's App) will become the norm, it is already 10 times better then What's App and even has a Tinder angle, shake it and see who is close, basically how you hook up in Shanghai.

See you in 12 months to review.

Is Hip Hop saving the music industry?

So everyone knows the music industry is basically screwed (I blame the 90's)  and if not for T-Swizz, defying the mighty Spotify by removing her albums and making people actually physically buy it, 2014 might of been the first year, in a very long time, an album did not sell over a million in the US (Taylor actually ended up doing it in a week!).

So why might hip-hop be saving the music industry (& what does this have to do with eCommerce?). First, Hip hop has always been inventive in finding ways to make money (Drugs anyone?), Jay-Z sold his first album on tape, out of the back of his car, before signing a major label deal and now Hip-Hop artists are trying some new and innovative ways to do the same thing.

The legends that are the American So Solid Crew, Wu Tang Clan, decided they were going to make one copy of their album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and sell it to the highest bidder. Allegedly they have been offered 5 million for it (link) and will be exhibiting it at Art Basel in Miami (how, I don't quite know).

Rapper Nipsey Hustle released his latest album for free online but if you want a physical copy, it will set you back a cool 1K of the Benjamins (sorry, gone all street) with only 100 copies available. So far, according to Mr Hustle, he has already sold 60 of them. It is also not the first time he has tried a innovative way of releasing music and being paid for it. Hustle's last album, 2012's Crenshaw, you could by for $100, with 1000 available. Jay Z loved the idea so much he bought a 100. Nipsey Hustle embraces it as a way of breaking from the usual record label route, keeping creative control and also embracing the new (e.g. free music). 

Of course, Tom Yorke has been trying these ideas for years, new ways, to not only get music to people but also to make money and now Hip Hop artists are giving a second chance to the music industry, even if the Wu idea seems a little extreme!

Google Glasses & why it did not work?

Ok, a little late to the party with this one but here are my thoughts**.

While at Google, I got the chance to try and play with Google glasses and was immediately underwhelmed, sure once we got onto translating road signs it was kind of cool, the photo element worked (just) and directions seemed useful.

So what was wrong:

1) The person who built it, had clearly been watching Terminator and then point blank refused to admit it. I brought this up (on numerous occasions), my point being it would work for police facial recognition technology, just like Arni had, lock on and destroy type stuff. However no one seemed to get this? However for normal people it was just not useful.
2) Not enough apps, they wanted to build it all on the fact you can translate things, use a map and then take a photo, we were all board within about 5 minutes. They needed some fun things, we had a quick brainstorm and this is what we came up with:
Time travel app, be able to flick back in time, so if you are walking along oxford street you can say "Google Glasses dinosaurs" it then immediately changes your outlook to how it would be when dinosaurs roamed the world.
Doom app: a real life game of Doom with other people whereing Google glasses.
Weather: You want it to be sunny, no problem, google glasses has that sorted (same with snow etc).
3) It should not be Google Glasses to start it should be "go go Google glasses" these are basics and I expected better from Google.

Overall though (& being slightly more serious) it was a good idea and the type of things google should be doing (& are) and maybe just one of these days they will be able to make the reality as good as the idea.

**not all of this article is serious.....

Mobile Site vs App

So is it worth developing a App for eCommerce websites?

A difficult argument with lots of questions/debate on either side. First I will start with a story (maybe even two) I was at a start up just as the iPhone came out we all got very excited about building a app for our start-up, as we built the app and were getting ready for launch a new team member started, his reaction was the app is great but do you also have a mobile site? We had spent all our time focusing on the app and neglected to build a mobile version of the app (we rectified this pretty rapidly) the mobile site did very well, the app not so.

It then started to make me think, from a purely eCommerce perspective are Apps actually worth it? Think about the apps you actually use; email, Facebook, Instagram, banking, What's App. Sure I love the BA app but do I use it for booking flights? Now I know some, like Asos, have huge traction and not to mention wish lists overflowing with products but if you had a choice between building a eCommerce App or building a eCommerce website which would it be.

I write all of this and know I will turn around and straightaway say, "actually you do need a eCommerce App", if you have a great mobile site, build a app to complement it, reward your loyal customers with exclusive access, make it a fully integrated part of your multi-channel strategy and most of all; keep it fresh, new content, exclusives, not just sell sell sell.

As a example of a great feature for an app (Stick with the video, it is worth it):
HIJACK - MEAT PACK GUATEMALA - from GranjaCreativa on Vimeo.

The number one goal, when building a App, is to ask yourself why are we doing this? Make sure you understand exactly where the app will sit in your organisation and then how it will be promoted, used, developed and that is how it will become successful.

eCommerce in Russia

Is Russia still open for business? Well, as I write this sitting in a Coffee shop in Moscow the answer is certainly yes.

The Local Market:
Russia is massive, huge, unimaginably big and it would be idiotic to believe that Moscow is the only place in Russia that exists, however, it is the epicentre of business and where the majority of western (& Russian) businesses start.

eCommerce Landscape
eCommerce is growing rapidly as websites, distribution (always notorious in Russia*) and trust in brands improves. Local companies like La Moda (who started in Moscow & on a massive growth curve), have set up their own distribution hubs in key cities all over Russia, offering same day delivery to the top 70 Russian cities. La Moda also helps with the unique "cash" on delivery model which is the main form of payment in Russia (I say cash, normally paid on the door-step by credit card), Unique, as it means a courier turns up on your doorstep with the item and you have a set period (normally 15 minutes) to try it on, if you like it, you pay, if you don't, you return.

This also means you need a call centre, as everyone who makes a order, instead of entering a credit card, enters a telephone number and needs to be called back to arrange the delivery and order, it also has the potential for up-sell, which can help with CRM and lifetime value!

Online Marketing:
Google is just a bit player in Russia, the real playa(sic) in the market is Yandex, in search and VK.ru in Social, Facebook is big but not the largest. Instagram seems to be making a big play for Russia and the Russian mentality of photographing everything helps it's popularity.

Street bloggers are huge and have massive followings, especially in Moscow and St Petersburg, as is normal these bloggers/vloggers carry a hefty price to work with. TV however is still king for advertising alongside experiential marketing to the right target markets (everyone loves going out in Moscow).

However there are drawbacks, moving stock into the country is notoriously difficult,new sanctions both from Western countries and from the Russian government on imports are creating issues. Local partners are now the norm and making sure you work with the right ones, experienced in these key areas can eleviate a lot of the issues. Russia is still a market with huge potential and if targeted in the correct way can be very successful for brands. 



*A few years ago a logistics manager in Russia said to me "trying to deliver outside of Moscow? you may as well throw the parcel out of the window as it has about the same chance of getting there...."

Video.. Christmas Trading (In January)

Here is a video of a talk I did just before Christmas at a #ukeCommerce event discussing Christmas Trading. A little late to post however a lot of the points are relevant at any time of the year (not just Christmas).

PPC is never just local..

Every day try and learn one new thing, even if not very useful. I find in eCommerce you often learn more then one, often simple and unexpected.

While at a a luxury Italian lingerie brand (if not too many clues) I was working with my PPC team and we noticed some interesting effects that occurred when we opened up global bidding on local search networks, specifically Baidu.

For the unaware, Baidu is the main search engine for China and fast looking to takeover from Google in other territories. The campaign, we had running, targeted mainland China (in Chinese) pushing traffic to our local language site (inside the great firewall). We decided to put a small budget into the international version of Baidu, still in Chinese and see if we could drive any traffic... The following results astounded us, our US site received a dramatic increase in traffic and Baidu became our second best performing digital channel!

I just want to clarify, this was Chinese language ads, showing on a Chinese network to US customers. When they clicked a PPC Ad it geo-located them to the local language website. In effect (For the US) Chinese adverts to English language website and then the customers converted! I had never seen this before and have never seen it work the other way (english to French or vise-versa etc).

This all came from the team having a desire to experiment, learn and see what happens if you try the unexpected (In this case a very profitable unexpected).

Out of your comfort zone...

When is it good to be out of your comfort zone? A question, which as the new year rolls in, crosses many a person's mind. I like to think at least once a day, dash out of the comfort zone, ask the girl out, think differently about a problem or just try a new food.

Comfort zones are great, we all need them, you don't feel scared, nothing goes wrong, you don't get yelled at for doing something different and you feel in control. When you jump, it gets scary, it is when the amazing happens; the girl turns out to kiss you back, you discover what you love but never new. It could be the moment your life changers forever, even if you end up failing, you will learn something in the process.

It is a philosophy I like to use in business, the cliched term; fail but fail-fast is true, make sure you have the comfort zone, build the foundations, make sure they are strong and tested (Housekeeping) but once there, it is time to push the line, a new idea, concept, dream it might lead nowhere but until you explore it you will never know.

Over-time and experience you start to realise which ideas are better and can make strategic guesses on which ones to push forward but sometimes you just have to let go and jump..

Good luck in the new year!

It all starts Somewhere

Welcome to my blog about eCommerce, digital marketing and general assorted thoughts. I am Simon Hall one of the founding Partners at 5xThinking. This blog is not meant to be the official news section of 5xThinking (however they will appear) but more of a place for my ideas, occasionally other members of the team will contribute, the most part it will be all my own words.

Feel free to get involved and discuss: simon@5xthinking.com

To start here is the launch info on 5xThinking:

5xThinking is a eCommerce consultancy advising luxury and retail clients on all things digital. Focused on creating solid foundations and using a unique skill set to accelerate performance on a global scale with a specialist division focusing on China and Russia.

The partners consist of the former eCommerce and Digital Director of La Perla, Marketing Director of Net-A-Porter and include a current Board Director of Agent Provocateur.

For more information please contact: Simon Hall (simon@5xthinking.com).