Retail vs Online Shop

This week, I learnt something interesting.

A good personal friend purchased a bikini from me, for his wife through the website. I delivered it, and they received the package, happy and excited.

The wife loved the bikini. She tried it on. The bikini top fitted perfectly, however the bottom was too small.

I was more than happy to exchange it for a different size, but they decided to give that bikini to a friend and purchase a different style from me. 

As a friend, I am happy and thankful that they are so supportive of me and my business, but on the other hand, I did not feel good about this inconvenience. Ideally, I would have liked it to be the case where they received the bikini, tried it, it fits perfectly and both of us (customer and seller) are happy.

This got me thinking that perhaps introducing the bikinis through an online store might not be the best strategy for now. As a woman myself, garments like bikinis, bras and panties are personal garments that NEEDS to fit like a glove. We should have the option to be able to try it on and be COMPLETELY satisfied, before making the purchase.

Selling them through an online store might work in the future, AFTER my customers have bought a few pieces and are familiar with the styles and designs (and what looks good on them and what does not). 

Therefore, I am going to change my strategy and make my bikinis available through retail stores. I have already pin-pointed 3 locations where I would like to have my stores, one in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Singapore.

The bikinis by Liquido are of excellent quality and the designs are stunning. Although you can already see how cool the designs are via photos, nothing beats the actual retail experience of trying them on and seeing for yourself how great you look in them.

Hrm… I guess for the next few weeks, I will be patrolling the streets/ retail stores/ boutiques of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore AND the beaches of Langkawi to find suitable partners in my quest to bring you the best service and experience for Liquido beach wear.

*Laces up her sneakers* Time to hit the streets and get busy.

Brazilian models, in Brazilian bikinis in a giant fridge

Ever since my last post, I have achieved the following:

1. Built the new Liquido website (ALL BY MYSELF). You can visit my site here: www.liquido.com.my. I am by NO MEANS an IT person, so I spent MANY, many, many weekends pulling my hair out in frustration. Well, it's done now and it's decent.
I'm having some problems with my shipping costs, so for now, it is a default rate of RM10.00 for shipping. And yes, until I fix the problem, I will ship to ANYWHERE for RM10. From Brazil !!! So go visit my website and buy something before I fix the problem and you have to pay the real cost of international shipping from Brazil.

(in the event that you guys really visit my website, appreciate if you can be a friend and give constructive criticism on how I can improve my website. Bear in mind I'm a startup with minimal capital for any fancy solutions)

2. I've started a blog where I write about all the different beaches that I have been to. The purpose of my blog is to create content that is related to bikinis. And then use my blog as a way to drive traffic to my Liquido website. You can visit my blog here: http://beacheaven.wordpress.com
There's only one post about Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro. I plan to update this blog on a bi-weekly basis, so there should be more content in the coming months :)

Internet marketing is hard, but interesting. This week, I launched 2 Facebook ads campaings.

For one campaign, I uploaded a photoshoot from an episode of 'Brazil's Top Model'. Liquido is a sponsor of 'Brazil's Top Model' and the Liquido bikinis were featured on several episodes. In one episode, the models had to do a photoshoot in a bikini... and guess where the photoshoot was held - in a cold storage meat for beef!

You can view the album here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.539357462783605.1073741826.382716408447712&type=1&l=598ddbc715

So I uploaded the album and ran a FB ad campaign. The campaign managed to attract 7,408 album views. Out of the 7,408 views, 18 people 'Liked' the Liquido Malaysia FB page.
In my second campaign, I uploaded pictures of Liquido's fitness wear. Some of the items are already available for sale on my website and other designs are coming soon. ( http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.539819186070766.1073741827.382716408447712&type=1&l=3a27763edb )

My second campaign attracted 1,636 album views. Out of the 1,636 album views, only 1 person liked my Liquido Malaysia FB page. ONLY ONE !!!

So what did I learn from this? People like seeing pictures of Brazilian models in Brazilian bikinis pose next to a piece of meat in a cold storage. Hahahahahahah!

But seriously? 18 likes out of 7,408 album views? That's like, friggin 0.2% which is pathetic. What I'm trying to figure out now is whether these are normal statistics and how I can improve.

My next challenge is to convert my 'Likes' into buying customers. I know that there is probably some science to this... but I haven't quite discovered it yet.

This is gonna be fun :)

Meeting

Yesterday I had a meeting with the Marketing Manager of Liquido to discuss some plans I had for the brand for the next 3 years. Amoung some of the items we discussed were my plans to sell the product in some 5-star resorts in Langkawi.

Naturally she was thrilled and offered to support me in my efforts in any way she can.

I told her that I want to run a competition in 2014, and the winner would win a trip to Brazil to watch a match during the World Cup 2014. She said that she would speak to the owners and see if they can somehow support or sponsor the competition. She loosely promised that they might sponsor the tickets to watch the football matches, which will be of a tremendous help already!

I am thankful for the support and encouragement that I have been receiving from the brand owners of Liquido so far :)