In an interview we asked Unitedprint.com, to tell us more about their strategy to distribute across Europe printed products.

What is Unitedprint.co.uk?

Unitedprint.com is a Europe-wide association of online print shops and unitedprint.co.uk is a full subsidiary.

Why did you decide to start an e-commerce business?

The aim of making printed products easily available for the general public. 

When did your shop open?

Unitedprint.co.uk was opened on the 9th of March 2007 and our first shop (print24.co.uk) was launched on the 1st of July, 2006.

How did you start setting up your online shop?

We programmed the system ourselves. This way the conditions perfectly fit our needs and, essentially, the needs of our customers.

What are the advantages of your online shop against a high street store?

Our advantages against a conventional print shop are the easy and straight-forward handling, the price and our employees’ professionalism.

Are you working full time?

We are working full time for our online shop.

Which payment systems do you offer?

We offer Advanced Payment, Cash On Delivery, Credit Card, Paypal and Debit Card.

Where are your customers located?

unitedprint.co.uk primarily appeals to business customers, such as advertising agencies, graphic designers, printers and event organizers. But even if you are not an expert in printing you can use our freedesign tool on the website to create your own flyers, business cards and much more.

What did you do to increase the visibility of your shop?

Our marketing activities are focused on search engines and affiliate marketing. Besides we are conducting a direct marketing campaign at the moment.

What have you done to increase consumer confidence?

We consider the following features in all our actions:

• Top quality - controlled production with up-to-date technology
• Fair price - best price offers inclusive - no hidden costs
• Promptness
• Satisfaction guarantee - trust and security
• Highly recommended helpdesk and service.

What are your plans for the next months?

It is our primary goal to increase our customers’ confidence in us and to deploy the given resources ideally.

Interesting links:

• Trusted Shops Website: http://www.trustedshops.com
• Website: http://www.unitedprint.com/

In an interview we asked Denis Schlesinger from Tailerstore, to tell us more about Tailerstore international developement.

What is Tailerstore.co.uk?

tailorstore.co.uk is the web shop of Tailor Store Sweden AB for our customers from the United Kingdom. The aim of this web shop is to provide a tailor made offer to customers from the UK.

Why did you decide to start an e-commerce business?

The big advantage of doing e-commerce is to be able to reach a huge amount of potential customers. A web shop makes it also easy for the customer to do shopping from a familiar environment like the living room and avoid all the stress that comes along with going shopping in stores like finding a parking space or fighting yourself through a crowd of people in the shopping mall. On the other hand we can offer our products cheaper as we do not have those high costs for rent and clerks. This assures a big competitive advantage.

When did your shop open?

Tailor Store started its online business in the 1st quarter of 2004 but at that time under the name “Tailor Shirts”.

How did you start setting up your online shop?

Our online shop is a self development. The current online shop is the 3rd version with a much better user interface, more choices and flexibility.

What are the advantages of your online shop against a high street store?

As mentioned earlier, our customers can get theit highly individualized shirts from Tailor Store with some clicks from their couch at home. With Tailor Store it’s even fun to spend money online. Just look at the shirt designer interface which is very easy to use. We also try to design the order processing as transparent as possible. The customer can at any time go to our online shop, log in and check the order status to see if the order was approved by us after checking measurements or if the shirts were already produced. The biggest advantage will always be the price. To get a comparable product in a store the customer would have to spend at least double as much money.

Are you working full time?

Everybody employed at Tailor Store is working full time.

Which payment systems do you offer?

Tailor Store proposes credit card payments. When a customer pays by credit card his order is directly marked as paid. This decreases the lead time as we do not need to wait for the payment to arrive. Besides that, Tailor Store does not charge extra for credit card payments. Other payment alternatives for our UK customers are ClickandBuy and PayPal.

Where are your customers located?

Our main target group are people with knowledge about online shopping. We put our focus on males between 20 and 60 who need to wear shirts on the job. Other segments include males who like to wear shirts in their free time and females.

What did you do to increase the visibility of your shop?

We have taken several steps to optimize our online shop for search engines like Google. We are also investing in Google AdWords and try to put more emphasis on banner advertisement.

What have you done to increase consumer confidence?

We believe that giving the customer as much information as possible is crucial to build up confidence. Our online shop contains many pages with information about our products, our service and who we are. Last but not least we are convinced that a short response time on customer inquiries is a must.

What are your plans for the next months?

We are planning to extend our production capacities to be able to deliver our products even faster. Our main product the tailor made shirt will soon get optional embroidery and we will launch a new product: the tailor made piqué shirt.

Interesting links:

• Trusted Shops Website: http://www.trustedshops.com
• Tailerstore Website: http://www.tailorstore.co.uk/

Internet World / 29 April – 1 May 2008 / Earls Court / London

Meet us on our booth E445 and get the £49 one-off application fee for free!

Trusted Shops will be present on booth E445 at Internet World from 29 April to 1 May 2008. Visit us at the booth and request your voucher!

Trusted Shops: Key note speaker on Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 2.30pm

Trusted Shops will hold a 30-minutes seminar in the E-commerce Theatre on Wednesday, 30 April at 2.30pm. We invite you to hear our Case Study where an Internet retailer will present how the Trusted Shops seal, together with the Trusted Shops guarantee, significantly contributed to boosting buyer confidence. You will learn how to increase the daily number of visitors to a shop, how to augment shopping cart value and how to convert shoppers into buyers.

Internet World has a proven track record in e-commerce

Internet World is a top venue for the digital business world. In 2007, it was commended as the best business exhibition. It attracts over 300 exhibitors from various fields of the digital industry (eCommerce, Search, Web 2.0, Online Advertising, …). Internet World is the forum where decision makers can meet suppliers of online solutions and find the right answers for their online strategies. You will be able to evaluate to what extent these solutions are able to boost trust in your shop, increase your sales, strengthen customer loyalty and enhance your presence in European markets.

How to book a meeting in advance

Trusted Shops will be located on booth E445. Please book a meeting. Select „Internet World 2008“ and state your preferred day and time.

Interesting links:

• Trusted Shops Website: http://www.trustedshops.com
• Internet World blog:http://blog.internetworld.co.uk/

Online retailers using ePages software enjoy considerable advantages and special conditions when applying for Trusted Shops accreditation

Trusted Shops has pre-accredited ePages software

Pre-accredited ePages software has built-in quality criteria approved by Trusted Shops. The major advantage for an Internet retailer using ePages software is a much faster accreditation process together with a discounted membership fee.

Retailers using ePages profit from a 30% discount on Trusted Shops membership!

Special application form for Internet retailers using ePages software.

ePages is a leading provider of software for online shops

ePages software powers over 40,000 online shops, making it a leading provider of e-commerce solutions worldwide. A global network of ePages partners tailors e-commerce solutions for small and medium-sized companies, customized precisely to their requirements. Enterprises such as Leonardo, Lindt, Skoda or Encyclopaedia Britannica run their e-commerce activities on ePages Merchant Edition. ePages is based in Hamburg and has offices in San Francisco, London, Barcelona and Jenae.

Come and visit us at “Internet World 2008″

Trusted Shops will be located on booth E445. Please book a meeting. Select the option „Internet World 2008“ and state your preferred day and time.

Interesting links:

• Trusted Shops Website: http://www.trustedshops.com
• ePages Website: http://www.epages.co.uk
• ePages special conditions: More…

In an interview we asked Tom Elliott, Managing Director of bombero.co.uk, to tell us more about his sales strategy.

What is Bombero?

Bombero are retailers of contemporary interior accessories, gifts, furniture and lighting - a collection that includes designs from Europe’s most innovative manufacturers and most talented designers. Our aim is to give our customers the best product design, product quality and customer service available, both in our hight street store in Bangor (Northern Ireland) and online shop. We always try to make shopping with us a completely enjoyable experience.

Why did you decide to start an e-commerce business?

By the end of 2005 we were trading very successfully from our high street shop and we were looking for ways to take us to the next level in our development. To grow, we knew we needed to reach a broader customer base than we could from our high street store alone. We began seriously to consider trading from an online shop.

When did your shop open?

Our high street store opened in November 2003 and our online shop in May 2006.

How did you start setting up your online shop?

We identified the ISP and an online shop software package that we felt met our needs in terms of cost, reliability and ease of use. We didn’t want a huge capital outlay and we wanted software that we could manage ourselves. By May 2006 our online shop based on epages was opened and we were receiving orders.

What are the advantages of your online shop against a high street store?

Together, our online shop and our high street store have been a great success. Many of the costs and skills are shared by both: The same stock and warehouse space service both , the same staff operate both, so skills learned in one can be used in both. The enormous benefit of online trading is 24-hour opening: our online shop is always open. We can receive orders at anytime and process them during normal working hours.

Are you working full time?

Full time.

Which payment systems do you offer?

Our online payments are processed through WorldPay and PayPal.

Where are your customers located?

Our customers are mainly based in the UK and Ireland.

What did you do to increase the visibility of your shop?

We promote our website in local newspapers and magazines. Advertise on search engines and sell on shopping comparison sites. We encourage suppliers and others to create links to our site.

What have you done to increase consumer confidence?

Consumer confidence is fundamental to online trading, which is why we sought Trusted Shops accreditation. We also try to reassure our customers by having clear and constructive terms and conditions.

What are your plans for the next months?

We plan to refine and improve our offer, bringing new and exciting designs to our collection and delivering the best possible customer service.

Interesting links:

• Trusted Shops Website: http://www.trustedshops.com
• Bombero Website: http://www.bombero.co.uk