Social commerce for Australian small business

Changing the way we do business

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Small business and the internet“The internet has become a major place for trade and we need to

ensure that it is a fair place and does not become a place where big

business can use their power to unfairly dominate sales.”

~ Peter Strong, Council for Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA)

community engine and the internetWe build software with a purpose.

We’re Australian made, have strong roots in the community, and we

have built a place where the local store has equal footing with the big

brands. A place where everyone can be heard.


Small business and the internet

60 to 80% of australian businesses still don’t have a website - but Australian consumers will spend $33B online this year.

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

$22b $24b $27b $30b $33b $37b

Source: Forrester Research


Small business and the internet

62% of the population use social media...but only 14% of small businesses use it to talk to them.

Source: Sensis, May 2011


Problem: The internet is full of noise, vying for ATTENTION


BUT the average small business owner has too many responsibilities to know how to break through the noise.

Business owner and member of the local community

Marketing

Accountant

Labourer HR

Receptionist

Sales

Project Manager

Estimator

Cleaner

Manager

Courier

I just want some tools ‘off the shelf’ to:• communicate with my customers• buy and sell stuff

Make it affordable, with ways that I can find new customers too. So I have time to see my family at the end of the day.


Small business marketing on the internet

ADVERTISING eCOMMERCE SOCIAL MEDIA

GROUP BUYING

SOCIALCOMMERCE

• Pay for ‘share of attention’ (mass audience, or ‘pay per click’ etc)

• No customer relationship

• No guarantee of transaction

• High cost to acquire new customers

• You pay for cost of website design, build, ongoing maintenance

• You still need to advertise and promote your site

• You receive direct transactions and customer relationships.

• You can build customer relationships online

• The data does not belong to you

• No transactions occur

• You need to promote and advertise your social presence

• social media is still considered a ‘personal space’ where businesses may not be welcome

• Sell high volumes of prepaid inventory online

• Reliant on discounting

• Low sales margins

• No ongoing customer relationships (the data does not belong to you)

• Reliant on the group buying site advertising and promoting their brand

• Capacity to handle sales volume can be an issue

• Pay only for transactions

• Self-serve offers

• Own and manage your customer/ member data.

• Your business and offers are ‘recommended’ to potential customers

• No advertising costs


Why is ‘social commerce’ different?

Social Commerce is about connecting people only to the things that we know they might be interested in and nothing more.

That means no advertising, and less noise.

We provide these ‘recommendations’ based on our knowledge of things they like, things they purchase, and what other people ‘just like them’ have in common.

Stuff I like Things I buy

Stuff that 'people like me' like and buy

SOCIAL COMMERCE:

Recommending more of this to the

individual


The noticeboard

Connect

Invite both new and existing customers to interact with you online.

Communicate

Communicate in real-time with your customer or member database via their personalised community noticeboard.

Transact

Sell memberships, create customised offers, accept payment online without complex merchant account paperwork.


The noticeboard

Businesses you follow, or ones that might be of interest.

Public notices you might be interested in (events, lost/found,

FREE,For Sale etc)

Offers you might be interested in purchasing (one click to buy)


A business profile

Information about the business, association, or community group.

Post updates, comments, photos

Recommend member events, businesses, offers to your own

audience

Collect membership fees

Notices relevant to your organisation appear here


community engine is the place online where you will do business, run errands and purchase as simply as you would at your local shops. Because you'll be dealing with the businesses and community organisations that mean the most to you.


How it worksYour personal noticeboard

Your organisation Invite your members and other contacts.

CommunicateCollaborate

Collect membership fees

Your members upload their customer lists, then

communicate with them and send special offers

Each individual receives recommended businesses, offers, and notices based on their likes, interests, location

and what other people "just like them" are doing

Businesses find new customersAssociations find new members

The community as a whole becomes connected

YOU MEMBERS CUSTOMERS RECOMMENDATIONS


To get started, visit www.communityengine.com.au

For more information, call 1300 COMMUNITY

or email [email protected]


http://www.communityengine.com.au

http://www.communityengine.com.au

Social commerce for Australian small business

Business

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