Tony Sarno20 February 2007, 8:55 PM
A big decision which also proved to be just about the toughest we had to make: deciding what products to sell.
Selecting stock for the Geek Gear online store was easily the most difficult part of the entire exercise. We had to make our selections from thousands of possible products.
The T-shirts were straightforward: once we found the T-shirt supplier, Gildan, we just needed some slogans to put on them. But the gadgets were harder to narrow down. We pored over countless catalogues looking for the gadgets we felt would strike a chord with our readers and be available at the right price. We looked at samples that were sent by the suppliers to the NetMerchant offices.
In most cases, we rejected the offerings. It was only after a long period of searching and testing that we found the ones we liked, such as the Geek Gear backpack. In addition to having iPod earphone attachments which allow the iPod to be carried securely inside, it has lots of compartments, for a notebook computer, PDAs, tools, books and whatever other bits and piecess a techie would carry around.
It was also robust and comfortable. I received a sample which needed photographing, so I used it for a couple of days. The "Geek Gear" label on the back of the backpack attracted a few puzzled looks from schoolboys on the train, who were obviously trying to figure out whether this was a new cool brand they'd somehow not heard about.
Both the APC and NetMerchant teams instantly loved the idea of a USB-powered night light for laptops. I can't tell you how many times I've had to work on a notebook in the dark with others asleep in the same room and been unable to see the keypad properly. The night light solves the problem. At APC the night light was immediately seized by our DVD editor, Lachlan Grant, who also runs dance club electronic light shows on weekends and complains he often finds it difficult to use the keyboards in the dark.
The binary clock that can be read only by someone who understands binary was an instant hit. It was pure geek and just had to be on our online store.
A complication that led to delays in the delivery of some of the gear was our decision to customise them with screen prints or applications of logos. Some products came in a week after the site launched. Anybody who made an order in that time were not charged freight costs because of the delay (several people had selected the express post 3-5 day option).
Additionally we kept all the customers informed and didn't process any credit cards until the day the orders were actually shipped. We could do this as the e-commerce solution supported a mode of operation that didn't transfer funds as the customer placed the order, waiting instead until the merchant processed the payment in the transaction management backend application.
In business it is rare for things to go smoothly - how you react to problems is sometimes the best way to differentiate yourself further in the market.
Earlier in the process, we also had to figure out figure out the pricing of the final list of products.
Next: The pricing