The Joy and Beauty of Sarees

There’s something magical about sarees—they are a source of pleasure and pride. Each saree in my collection tells a story, a piece of wearable art imbued with tradition, culture, and unparalleled craftsmanship. From the intricate ikats of Patola, hand painted Kalamkari, the precise resist-dyeing of Ajrakh, the shine of Banarsi (I could go on…), every handloom saree is a masterpiece. It embodies countless hours of labor, dedication, and skill of the weavers, transforming threads into six yards of pure elegance.

Single Ikat Ambadi Hati Design Saree

Single Ikat Ambadi Hati Design Saree

Wearing a saree is more than just donning an outfit. It’s a celebration of beauty, history, and artistry. The fabric’s texture, the vibrant hues, and the graceful way it drapes over the body make me feel most beautiful. It fascinates me that an unstitched piece of cloth can transform into an elegant garment that flatters every shape and size—a testament to its timeless versatility.

Yet, being a saree enthusiast comes with its quirks. With a collection, playing hide-and-seek with my sarees is almost a ritual. Sometimes, it’s the hunt for a particular saree; other times, it’s the elusive matching blouse that tests my patience. While sarees are wonderfully accommodating as “one size fits all,” their blouses often have a mischievous way of shrinking over the years. An ill-fitting blouse can compromise even the most exquisite drape, and as I age, comfort takes precedence over daring cuts. Sleeveless blouses, once a staple, have made way for those with short or long sleeves to graciously accommodate sagging arms.

Petticoats, thankfully, are less demanding. I remain loyal to sturdy cotton ones—simple, functional, and comfortable. The newer shapewear petticoats, though trendy, often feel restrictive and fall short in length for my liking. For someone who treasures the fluidity of a saree, I prefer no such constraints.

Despite these small challenges, my love for sarees has only deepened with time. Over the years, I’ve mastered the art of draping. With just five minutes and two trusty safety pins, I can wrap myself in elegance, ready to conquer the day. Office attire gets a creative twist when I pair sarees with crisp blouses, experimenting with unconventional styles that bring a fresh perspective to traditional wear. Paired with comfortable footwear, a saree becomes not just a statement of style but also a symbol of freedom and confidence.

Sarees are more than garments—they are an extension of who I am. Each drape reminds me of the stories woven into its threads and the heritage it represents. And as long as I can drape six yards around me, I’ll continue to celebrate their beauty, grace, and timeless appeal.

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Lessons From Lighting a Lamp

Lessons From Lighting a Lamp

Every morning, as part of my daily ritual, I light a brass diya or oil lamp and say a prayer after my shower to start the day. It’s a simple yet profound act that never fails to fill me with a sense of peace and purpose. Today, as I went through the familiar steps of preparing the diya, I couldn’t help but find deep meaning in the process.

I carefully crafted the wick from soft cotton, ensuring its shape and placement in the brass lamp were just right. Then, I poured the fragrant oil into the lamp, forming a small pool around the wick. With anticipation, I struck the matchstick, eagerly awaiting the gentle flame to move to the wick.

Most days, the cotton wick catches the flame effortlessly, to illuminate the space around it. But occasionally, the matchstick sputters, refusing to ignite the wick in a single attempt. In those moments, I’ve learned the art of patience. I hold the matchstick close to the wick, allowing the tiniest hint of flame to touch it gently, coaxing the fire to life. And when the wick falls into the oil, requiring rescue and careful repositioning, I’m reminded of the resilience that comes with perseverance.

Reflecting on this simple act, I find myself drawing parallels to our own journeys of learning and growth. The diya represents the nurturing environment, the oil symbolizes the vast knowledge and wisdom available to us, and the wick embodies our minds, ready to be ignited. The matchstick, the catalyst of transformation, represents the light of knowledge, while the person lighting the lamp stands as a teacher or guide.

Our minds, like the wicks, have the incredible potential to grasp concepts and ideas quickly, sparking illumination and understanding. Yet, there are times when the flame of knowledge requires more effort and time to ignite fully. In those instances, we must remain steadfast, holding the light of knowledge close to our minds until it takes hold, allowing the brilliance of understanding to shine through.

This act of lighting the diya serves as a beautiful reminder that our journey of learning is not always instantaneous. It requires patience, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to growth. Like the perfectly shaped wick, we must mold our minds, creating a receptive space that can readily absorb the light of knowledge.

So, let us approach each day with a sense of wonder and openness, ready to embrace the process of learning. May we be inspired by the diya, with its gentle flame casting a warm glow, to illuminate not only our own lives but also the lives of those around us. And in our pursuit of knowledge, may we find joy in the dance of the flickering flames, as they guide us on our never-ending quest for wisdom and understanding.

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Spicy Sambal and Crispy Krupuk

Indonesian Sambal and Krupuk

Sambal and Krupuk

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Coffee, Tea or Mie

Coffee Tea or Mie

Cafe on Wheels

This is a common sight in Jakarta with hundreds of these cafe’s on wheels providing hot tea, coffee, juice, water and even instant noodles (Mie) to workers.

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The Digital Edge to Faster Food

food ordering appBusy executives living in large cities such as Jakarta have little time to shop for food, let alone cook it. So getting groceries delivered to your house or just ordering food from your favorite restaurant makes perfect sense.

Technology has revolutionized the way people shop for clothing, find vacation rentals and flag down taxis or even an ojek. Now it is shaking up the world of eating.

Food delivery apps for smart phones have transformed the food ordering concept. Anybody can now order a Domino’s pizza in minutes with their favorite toppings through the mobile app or website and then track the order till it arrives hot to your doorstep. In fact the online and mobile ordering comprises the most significant growth factor for such fast food businesses.

Online and mobile ordering is a win-win for consumers and for the company with better customer experience. Online is where people are and can view the entire menu, discounts and specials in front of them. They can take their time in ordering and the accuracy of the orders is higher, leading to significantly higher customer satisfaction.

Logistics companies like Foodpanda.com are further helping fuel this change by providing outsourced delivery services that carry piping-hot meals to homes or offices from fancy restaurants that normally don’t deliver. These have been very successful and the restaurants have benefited greatly by extending their reach without investing in riders and sophisticated tracking systems. Restaurants, ideally, would want to work with such companies because they could pay a fixed fee for a guaranteed level of service instead of spending money on running delivery services — including the hiring and coordinating of that kind of work — themselves.

The delivery companies rely on algorithms that calculate factors including road conditions, customer location, how busy restaurants are, driver performance and the desired temperature of the food (cold sushi versus hot pizza), pinpointing the right driver and the optimal delivery route. One of the biggest advantages is developing quality standards for delivery.

A new crop of start-ups are popping up like berrykitchen.com and blackgarlic.id will cater, deliver meals and even ready to cook pre-sliced ingredients for a gourmet meal to your doorstep. Others aggregate local chefs in an easy-to-search website to deliver food to you such as kuliner.id

Specialized food delivery plans are a boon for athletes and weight watchers who are on a rigid calorie meal plans. Even diet specific plans such as the ‘Mayo Diet’ or ‘Atkins Diet’ plan are on offer. Services are also available for new mothers, convalescents and even diabetic or other nutritionally specific diet plans that can be selected online to be delivered to you.

Yet another facet of technology apps in the online food market in Indonesia are dining apps such as Zomato or Qraved that have restaurant listings and customer review posts. Makanluar.com offer reservation bookings and in some instances, they’ve even tied up with online-cab companies like Uber to offer rides to customers to and fro the restaurant.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are currently being delivered by supermarkets but soon you will be able to access more services that will connect you directly to the farmers to get farm fresh food directly. The convergence of easy to build online shops with payment gateways and delivery systems empowers this growth.

It is a whole new world waiting to unfold with the estimated that food based eCommerce growing tenfold by 2020 as people grow more comfortable with buying things online, aided by discounts and customer reviews that keep them shopping. At every point with every new wave, consumers are opening themselves up for the next level. The mental block of transacting online is going away.

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Wearables: Technology That Fits

Fitness Tracker ReadoutDid you sleep well last night? Your handy dandy fitness tracker can tell you precisely the time in deep sleep, light sleep and even the minutes that you lay awake in bed. Sensors will detect walking, twitches during sleep, heart rate, calories and even grams of fat burned. Data is transmitted to a smart phone usually via Bluetooth. Whether you’re interested in your sleep quality or the number of calories burned on the treadmill, this information is literally at your fingertips.

Interactive technology that provides biofeedback is now a trend making waves, its users, according to The Economist, “are an eclectic mix of early adopters, fitness freaks, technology evangelists, personal-development junkies, hackers and patients suffering from a wide variety of health problems. What they share is a belief that gathering and analysing data about their everyday activities can help them improve their lives – an approach known as self-tracking, body hacking or self-quantifying.”

Technology is now no longer confined to your office table or pocket; it is now wearable as fitness trackers, smart watches, smart glasses, smart jewelry, smart shoes and even clothing. “As we have more and more sophisticated wearables that can continuously measure things ranging from your physical activity to your stress levels to your emotional state, we can begin to cross-correlate and understand how each aspect of our life consciously and unconsciously impacts one another,” says Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Micro and investor in mobile health startups.

Until three years ago it was nearly impossible for ordinary people to get a read-out about the state of their bodies. Now dozens of wearable technology products have exploited the miniaturisation of computer components and the ubiquity of smart phones to create an industry that is expected to reach $50bn in sales by 2018, according to an estimate by Credit Suisse.

Wearable technology is the vision of interweaving technology into the everyday life, of making technology pervasive and interaction seamless. These devices are part of a new wave called the Internet of Things (IOT) or “Smart Everything,” referring to the increasing connectivity between humans and information from objects around us. It is thought that technology like phones or cameras might even get integrated into garments that fit personal style and the functionality that fits your lifestyle.

wearable technologyCalculator watches in the late 1970’s to digital hearing aids in 1987 and the Bluetooth headsets were the pioneers of wearables. Other memorable devices were the tie pin with a video camera and earrings with hidden microphones. As wearables such as Apple Watches and Fitbits gain traction, a rising number of startups are driving innovation in this space by incorporating clothes and accessories with super-smart technology.

The four major technical challenges that have to be addressed before truly flexible touch-enabled wearable products are commonplace are the display, the battery, the touch, and their integration.

If you are in the market for a wearable technology device, be it a fitness tracker, smart watch etc, here are some points to check before you empty your wallets:

  1. Battery life: How long will a charge last you? This is dependent on the sophistication of the technology, how much power it requires, battery type, and how you use the device.
  2. Screen type: Is it monochrome of full-color LED touch-screen displays.
  3. Water resistance: Make sure to check a smart the specs if this is important to you.
  4. Case and strap materials: Look out for hypo allergic materials in a variety colors for customisability.
  5. Apps: Before you make a buying decision, check out the available apps for the smart device you’re considering. Apps can add a lot to what you can do with your fitness tracker, smart watch or wearable camera.
  6. Most importantly check out whether your smart device is compatible with your android or iOS smartphone.
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WhatsApptitude: 7 Etiquette Tips

WhatsApp has become the number one instant messaging application for smartphones, thanks to its simple yet effective and free (when used over WiFi) platform. In addition to basic messaging, WhatsApp Messenger users can send each other images, video and audio media messages and now even calls.

The broadcast and group chat functions are also becoming more popular amongst users and proving to be very effective for lots of friends and even for marketing purposes.

It’s easy to organize an event with WhatsApp, you start a group with those you want to invite (as long as they’re on the app), send out the info, so that every member can see the responses and get involved with the conversation/arrangements/dates etc.

As with any social activity, there are etiquette tips to keep in mind. Here are our 7 tips that apply to virtual communication, especially on a Whatsapp group.

  1. Be selective

One of the not so useful features on this application, which I am sure will be addressed soon is the lack control to decline a group invite and then to leave a group quietly.

Also, groups can soon become noisy. You can look down at your boring, blank phone one minute, and the next, you have 50 WhatsApp messages awaiting your input. It can be overwhelming if you have lots of groups on the go, so be selective about when to start a new group and with whom.

  1. Leave a group – without offending anybody 

If you leave a WhatsApp group, the other members get a message saying ‘So and so has left the group’. Best to politely inform the group and exit.

  1. Update your profile

Change your profile – ‘Hey there! I am using WhatsApp’ is impersonal. Add your name and a fun quote as your status

  1. Be wary when reading a message and NOT replying

Be it an advantage or a curse, if you’re in a conversation with just one other person, they can see the time you read their last message. So if you opt to read and not reply, friends may feel snubbed. It is better to wait till you have time to read AND reply, even if it to tell them that you will respond soon.

On the flip side, Be patient

If your friends take an extra five minutes to answer you, don’t panic. They could be in a meeting, driving, having lunch, in the movies etc… Even if they were “last seen” a while ago, this doesn’t mean they should answer you at once!

5. Manage your notifications

Turn off your notifications so your phone doesn’t wake you in the middle of the night. Also if you are part of a large group, you can even choose to mute the notifications and check out the conversations at your leisure.

  1. Watch your posts

Bombarding fellow members of a group with pictures, videos and audio also goes against the unwritten set of rules. Unless you’re clever with the settings, all the images received are automatically saved to the phone’s image gallery taking up valuable space.

Remember a group chat is not the place for a one on one conversation.

  1. Contribute But Don’t Spam

If you are a group member, contribute to the conversation. Don’t spam with unnecessary chains and forward messages. Do not just lurk in the background. If it is irrelevant, politely inform and leave the group.

What other things do people do that bother you in your group chats?

Once you get the hang of it, WhatsApp is a convenient and economical tool used to communicate with loved ones and friends around the world. You can instantly share photos, videos and links and generally just take advantage of the fact it’s free to use.

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Simple GREEN Solutions to E-Waste

‘e-Waste’ is generally applied to consumer electronic devices and gadgets that are near or at the end of its immediate useful life.‘e-Waste’ is a term generally applied to consumer electronic devices and gadgets that are near or at the end of its immediate useful life.

In the midst e-revolution, we change our gadgets almost as often as we buy new clothes. Electronic equipment, especially computers, are often discarded by households and businesses not because they are broken but simply because new technology has rendered them obsolete and undesirable. Sometimes, the new software is incompatible with the older hardware leaving customers with no option but to buy new ones. Data from a single-day recycling collection event revealed that more than 50 per cent of rejected computers are in good working order, but they are discarded nonetheless to make way for the latest technology.

Some of the consumer products like refrigerators, televisions and so on were once a lifetime purchase. These days it’s cheaper to throw that broken appliance, mobile device or TV out and buy a new one leading to ‘replace-rather-than-repair’ mentality.

So what happens to these outmoded appliances when you replace it with the latest model? Or where a battery goes when it is tossed in the trash? Around the world, end-of-life electronics or discarded obsolete cell phones, computers, notebooks, computer game consoles and other electronic devices also known as e-waste, present a significant challenge for our environment and our health.

In Indonesia, with the growth in economy and fast development in technology, the total estimated accumulation of generated e-waste from just households from 2015 to 2025 will triple.

Some e-waste facts:

  1. Most of the home appliances, computers and mobile phones tossed out are never recycled.
  2. By 2017, the volume of discarded e-products worldwide is expected to be 33 per cent higher than in 2012 and weigh the equivalent of eight of the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
  3. 300 million computers and 1 BILLION cell phones are put into production each year. This global mountain of waste is expected to continue growing 8% per year, indefinitely
  4. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20% of e-waste is recycled, the rest of these electronics go directly into landfills and incinerators
  5. It foresees in 2030 developing countries discarding 400 million — 700 million obsolete personal computers per year compared to 200 million — 300 million in developed countries.
  6. For every 1 million cell phones that are recycled, 15000kg of copper, 350kg of silver, 20kg of gold, and 10kg of palladium can be recovered.
  7. It takes 250kg of fossil fuel, 20kg of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor.

What can you to reduce your e-waste? How to begin?

Awareness is the key to being GREEN. Becoming aware of the effects of e-Waste is the first step in arresting this problem. We tend to forget that properly disposing of or reusing electronics can help prevent health problems, create jobs, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The single most effective way to cut down on your e-waste is to stop buying electronics. Ask yourself: Do I need this or just want a new toy?

Some conscious actions can extend your current electronics’ lifespan, especially your computers. Here are six some simple tips:

  1. Add memory to computers.
  2. Perform a ‘clean install’ of operating systems every three years to keep computers running quickly.
  3. Old computers generally run best with old software, so avoid upgrading to latest software unless you need to do so.
  4. De fragment hard drives monthly. Most computers have built-in utilities that can be set to defragment the hard drives regularly.
  5. Keep computers out of direct sunlight. If they overheat, their internal components could be irreparably damaged Reboot computer as needed.
  6. As you open and close applications, fragments of memory can build and slow down a computer. A reboot cleans out these fragments.
  7. Dust around your computer can trap heat inside the machine, causing cooling fan to run longer. Clean the fan on the power supply and blow out the dust from inside the computer to prevent the computer from wearing out.

Be a part of the solution is to minimize the impact your home or office e-waste has on the environment. Do not just throw away your old computer monitor or a broken phone in trash; take time to research how you can discard those in the most environmentally friendly way. Electronics that are in working condition can be donated to the less fortunate, to schools and to those who can reuse them. A simple phone call or online search can prevent your computer from becoming part of a landfill and you an environmentally conscious responsible citizen.

composition of ewasteIn addition to following the general 3Rs rule; Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, there are 2 additional steps – Avoid and Evaluate.

Avoid

  • Buying new equipment if you can get it fixed.
  • Avoid disposable products. Only buy products that are durable, repairable and have a good warranty.
  • Consider leasing equipment that can be returned to the manufacturer when it is no longer needed.
  • Engage service providers who replace and refill components of leased equipment when they have been used.
  • Toners and some inks are now being produced with biodegradable oils such as soybean oil, which are much less toxic than petroleum based toners and inks.

Evaluate

Evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on environmental attributes such as:

  • Energy use. Look out for the energy star rating
  • Lifespan
  • Level of toxic materials
  • Ease of recyclability

Reduce

  • Where economically feasible, repair machinery, appliances and equipment in preference to purchasing new equipment.
  • Regularly service and maintain equipment to prolong lifespan of the products.

Re-use

  • Check around local schools/charities to see if they can use your surplus appliances.
  • There are many companies that will refurbish your old computer equipment for use by those who cannot afford new items.
  • Many ink cartridges can be refilled with ink for reuse using toner refill kits.
  • Alkaline batteries can be recharged.

Recycle

  • If you decide to buy any new equipment, check with the manufacturer about reuse and recycling options. Often these programs will take older computer parts in exchange for credits towards the purchase of new equipment from the manufacturer.
  • Take electrical goods and scrap such as copper wiring to electronic recyclers.
  • Cathode ray tubes of televisions and computer screens can be recycled.

Being GREEN is a mindset. Technology is often seen as a solution to all problems and the negative aspects are underplayed or ignored. Simple actions can decrease your environmental footprint significantly. Look beyond the marketing for the latest device and make conscious choices as a responsible resident on planet Earth.

e-waste dump

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Protect Yourselves From Scam & Fraudulent Emails

Email-FraudWe are now live our lives both online and offline. The question is, are we aware of the dangers online?

The online world is teeming with scammers and con artists and it is up to each one of us to understand and secure ourselves against this growing criminal activity. Emails, a convenient and powerful communications tool is unfortunately a vulnerable target and provides online malicious individuals an easy means for luring potential victims.

A recent article in the Jakarta Post highlighted the modus operandi of the cyber criminals who ‘illegally monitoring and hacking the emails and asked the two American companies to transfer money to an Indonesian account by saying that bank accounts were undergoing an audit.’

Some other businesses have lost large amounts through email fraud. The scams they attempt run from old-fashioned bait-and-switch operations, phishing schemes and increasingly sophisticated social engineering and identity theft, using a combination of email and bogus web sites to trick victims into divulging sensitive information.

  1. Phishing is essentially an online con game and phishers are nothing more than tech-savvy con artists and identity thieves. They use SPAM, malicious web sites, email messages and instant messages to trick people into divulging sensitive information, such as bank and credit card accounts, usernames and passwords.
  2. Spear phishing is highly specialized attacks against a specific target or small group of targets to collect information or gain access to systems. For example, a cyber-criminal may launch a spear phishing attack against a business to gain credentials to access a list of customers. From that attack, they may launch a phishing attack against the customers of the business. Since they have gained access to the network, the email they send may look even more authentic and because the recipient is already customer of the business, the email may more easily make it through filters and the recipient maybe more likely to open the email.
  3. Social engineering is a strategy for obtaining information people wouldn’t normally divulge, or prompting an action people normally wouldn’t perform, by preying on their natural curiosity and/or willingness to trust. Perpetrators of scams and other malicious individuals combine social engineering with email in a number of ways.
  4. Identity theft is a two-step process. First, someone steals your personal information. Second, the thief uses that information to impersonate you and commit fraud. It’s important to understand this two-step approach, because your defenses also must work on both levels. Stealing your identity information isn’t the worst of the crime; it’s what the criminal does with the information that’s damaging: credit card fraud, mortgage and utilities scams; and emptied bank accounts
  5. Trojan Horse Email offers the promise of something you might be interested in—an attachment containing a joke, a photograph, or a patch for software vulnerability. When opened, however, the attachment may create security vulnerability on your computer or even install software that can remotely monitor and collect your information.

Some recommendations that minimize chances of falling victim to an email scam by understanding what they are, what they look like, how they work, and what you can do to avoid them:

  • Filter spam.
  • Don’t trust unsolicited email.
  • Treat email attachments with caution.
  • Don’t click links in email messages.
  • Install antivirus software and keep it up to date.
  • Install a personal firewall and keep it up to date.
  • Configure your email client for security.
  • Be careful about what personal information you divulge via social networks. Scammers can gather a lot of information about you when accessing these networks. Social networks can display personal information such as your full name, birthdate and city that you live in. Be sure to check your privacy settings on your social accounts to be sure that information is only visible to trusted friends and family.
  • Watch out for “shoulder surfers” that are looking over your shoulder while you are on your computer or phone in a public place.
  • Don’t store any sensitive information about yourself or your bank accounts on your computer.
  • When disposing of old technology, be sure to completely wipe all information from the device. The best thing you can do is restore the device to factory settings if it is a mobile phone or tablet, or erase the hard drive if it is a computer by installing a clean version of the operating system on the hard drive.
  • Use unique secure passwords for each site you visit.

Email scams have been around practically since the inception of the Internet, and it doesn’t look like they are going away any time soon. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid becoming a victim yourself.

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Riding The E-commerce Wave

ecommerce sites in IndonesiaE-commerce is a waking giant in Indonesia today, with a multimillion-dollar future, according to the Indonesia Internet Association. The number of domestic Internet users is around 80 million and this number is expected to double in just three years. A big driver of this growth is cell phones and smart devices, with many having their first Internet interaction via these devices rather than PCs or laptop computers.

With 220 million mobile phone subscriptions in a population of 240 million people, and Internet penetration currently at around 30 percent, the market is spurring the triple-digit growth of various e-commerce sites.

For many companies, defining an online strategy is still very challenging. In order to be successful they need to fully understand how their businesses can benefit from e-commerce and to be able to assess the financial and organizational implications of what it takes to implement their online strategy.

Implementing an online store is not like buying a new piece of equipment or investing in an advertising campaign. It is more like opening a new store. As in a bricks and mortar store, where a customer can browse through the merchandise, ask the staff questions and then eventually buy something, it is the same for an e-commerce website. In order to make products and services available online, to enable your customers to pay for them, and then for you to deliver them, there has to be more than just designing an attractive website.

What you see of an e-commerce website is often the end result of a complex process to deliver products or services to you over the Internet. In fact, it could be compared to an iceberg. The 10% that you can see is merely the Web Design and Online Marketing, and the remaining 90% comprises of the backend processes which include Fulfillment, Customer Relationship, Inventory Management, Warehouse Management, Supply Chain, Shipping, Manufacturing, and Outsourcing.

 

Ecommerce Iceberg

The Commerce Iceberg

Think, Plan, Do, Review: Planning is key. The online store may be an extension of an existing business or it may be an entirely fresh venture – either way, having a plan with Goals, Targets and costs is key to success – as the old adage goes – ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’.

An e-commerce technology partner can be invaluable and can accelerate your project by providing blueprints, strategy and components. But what exactly goes into an e-Commerce website plan?

 

omponents of Ecommerce

Components of Ecommerce

E-Commerce is driven by the software, so the exact way it works depends on the shopping cart software selected and the business processes around it. There are several components, however, that make up any online shopping cart solution:

  • Domain Name – The starting point which reflects your brand or business and needs to be easy to remember and find online.
  • Web Hosting – a good online store is dependent on secure and scalable hosting servers. Determining factors include support, reliability, bandwidth, features, and cost.
  • Merchant Dashboard – The dashboard is the tool to manage the online store and to set up your products, sales orders, customer data and reports. It’s the brain of the store.
  • Product Catalog – This is what the customers see on your site find out about the products sold.
  • Shopping Cart – The shopping cart is used by the customers to place orders. Customers add the products they want to purchase to the cart, provide information about shipping and payment, then submit the order
  • Payment Processing – Accepting payments with a payment gateway is the backbone of any online store; without it, customers can’t place orders. The shopping cart integrates seamlessly with the payment gateway and merchant account providers, as well as online payment services such as PayPal and Google Checkout.
  • Shipping – Once the order process is completed, the products need to picked and prepared for shipping to the customer for order fulfillment and even returns.
  • Tax Calculation – Calculating, collecting, and paying appropriate sales tax is another consideration and dependent on the laws where the business is.
  • Customer Service – In the virtual online space, customer service is the key to success through focus on delivering on basic promises and meeting expectations.
  • Search Engine Optimisation and Advertising – Bringing customers to online store is a critical for sales. Search Engine Optimisation is making sure that the site and its products show up in the popular search engines, such as Google, Ask, and Yahoo!. E-mail marketing, particularly to customers who’ve bought from you before is an excellent advertising tool.

The world of e-commerce is constantly evolving, and fast. Customer expectations have increased dramatically, thanks to the rise of social and mobile, and many online retailers are scrambling to keep up. Consumers can now shop anywhere at any time, whether from their PC or mobile devices.

Emerging web technologies allow the retailer to interact with customers in much the same way as they would in a store. By becoming better acquainted with the customer and tailoring the experience to the shopper’s personal taste, retailers can present products of interest. Websites will already ‘know’ what customers are looking for, even before they browse. Sites will eventually become so honed to the personal taste of the individual that everywhere a person shops will be a next-generation experience, built just for them.

The day is not far off when the online shopping experience will surpass any service or offering that is available in a store. The possibilities with e-commerce are endless.

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