Audiomania # 2: E-Commerce Overview

1. A little about the history of Audiommania

• The history of Audiomania began in 1997, when several businessmen organized a retail outlet on “Gorbushka”;
• Then, at the Riga Radio Market, the first store of the company appeared, which then had no name;
• Gradually, the main direction of the company shifted towards high-quality audio equipment;
• “But you work for audiomaniacs?”, “Well, it’s not for me to name the company with Audiomania”;
• By 2003, the company already had an office, a warehouse, and a second store in Prague.

• The company has established its own deliveries from abroad, which could not fail to attract the attention of other Russian retailers;
• In 2007, there was a merger of the distribution division of Audiomania with Marvel Distribution;
• In addition to offline sales, it became possible to talk about the development of multi-channel retail;
• At about the same time, the do-it- yourself direction of electronic components was launched;
• By 2008, the offline business went online.

• Initially, the online store was focused mainly on Moscow and the Moscow region;
• The ability to pay for goods with electronic money gave a qualitative leap in the growth of the audience from the regions;
• The company has made a bid to communicate with customers, who engaged people with years of experience in the field of audio;
• We did not focus on a certain communication channel - if it is inconvenient to call, communication is transferred to chat or email;
• It was decided to divide the consultants not by sales channels, but by areas of knowledge.

• The company decided that the buyer should be entitled to listen to the equipment “in action”, even if he had not paid for it yet;
• Next, we introduced a trade-in, when buyers were able to pass the acoustics and, by paying the difference, purchase a new one;
• We have developed a “delivery calculator” - even on the product card, you can find out the cost of delivery to the regions.

Findings:

• The more alternatives for your customer are, the better;
• The same applies to the format of communication with the consultant;
• Consultants should be genuinely interested in what you are selling;
• Communication with a specialist should not require immediate purchase;
• At the place of the client, you can learn a lot about how to make his life better.

2. eCommerce technologies in the service of B2B projects

• It becomes obvious that all business transactions will occur using IT;
• The problem is that many use technology in order to use technology;
• There are not so many modern high-tech solutions that can really give effect immediately;
• Distributors need the capabilities that modern IT tools will provide in the hands of their dealers;
• Unfortunately, eCommerce products for the most part are made by people far from eCommerce.

3. Automation of financial accounting online store

• Standard systems used to automate accounting do not have the required flexibility;
• To create our own financial accounting system, we studied international reporting systems;
• The main task was the need to build a variety of reports on income and expenses;
• A template was created to automatically enter information into the system;
• "Own" system gives a clearer picture of the costs of each of the departments of the company.

• All processes that the employee performed in the pre-computer era should be the same when working with software;
• We rarely fundamentally change business processes, rather we try to adapt the system for people;
• Of course, all accounting is conducted in accordance with the law.

4. eCommerce for newbies

• The first thing you need to do is define your e-commerce goals;
• The best option for you at the very beginning will be the choice of a particular specialization, or niche;
• You will need to find reliable suppliers to trade quality goods;
• To present yourself on the Internet you will need a specialized website for selling goods;
• Your logo and brand design are also important factors.

• When your company becomes more famous, you will not interfere with the unique selling proposition (USP);
• Many firms choose a price as their UTP, and, in most cases, this affects them negatively;
• The most accessible key indicator that will be the easiest to track is the conversion rate;
• Another indicator that deserves attention is the cost of attracting a client (SEC or CAC);
• Customer value during its life cycle (LTV, Lifetime Value) is considered the most important indicator.

5. Unobvious ways to increase conversion: cases of "Audiomania" and "Boffo"

• An important stage is work on increasing the number of calls from the regions to the number 8-800;
• The experiment - free delivery throughout the country with the exception of hard-to-reach regions;
• It is sometimes easier for customers from small towns to come to the regional center and pick up goods from there;
• If you have a well-established work of the courier service, give customers the opportunity to choose the exact time of delivery;
• If there are too many data on a product, organize them by tabs and indicate the conditions of return in the product card.