Stay up-to date with the LocalBlindShop.com blog written by the Swift team.

Where is the Swift IT Team?

11th October 2010 by Anup Zaver

We're here making improvements to help our customers.

We recently began a new initiative to expand our focus on technology and drive our dedication to customer service by introducing "Blue Bird" - an internal system to allow orders to freely process through all areas of our business.

Initially we have revamped our order processing database and manufacturing setup. We are now looking to develop a much faster and much more efficient online purchasing, despatch and customer services work flow.

We see technology as a big part of our business and a key to our growth and commitment to you. We have recently invested in new hardware, accountancy software and now new resources which we hope will enable Swift to emerge as a key technology-driven player in the blinds industry.

Our white label service, LocalBlindShop.com will encompass all these areas of recent investment prior to going to market.

We need to ensure that when you want to go live, Swift can go live with you.

Swift's recent IT aquisition, Ibrar Mumtaz.

Ibrar joined the business recently as a Software Developer to update our internal ecommerce and manufacturing systems. Ibrar has a background in large-scale server environments, build engineering, software deployment and configuration management.

Any technical issues should be directed to him through our trade site address: trade@swiftblinds.co.uk.

Importance of Website Design in Successful Ecommerce Packages

26th July 2010 by Benjamin Norman

Effective website design is critical to the success of electronic commerce. Considerable efforts have been undertaken to evaluate and improve website designs, generating a host of design guidance, methods and modelling tools.

There are four features of website design which are proven to be the decisive factors determining the success of an ecommerce website. These features are consistency, graphical design, legibility and the layout of the webpage. These are all things that entice users onto the website, and once there, make them want to stay.

In implementing the factors listed above a consumer gains trust towards an online store, making them more likely to stay on the website for longer periods of time. Consequently the longer the customer is browsing through the website, the greater the possibility they will purchase what they came to the site for, or find something else that catches their eye.

Localblindshop.com will utilize the four areas discussed above to ensure customers find your website consistent, easy-to-use and attractive. In implementing these features users will be encouraging to spend more time on your website, hence increasing likelihood of a sale dramatically.

Direct Customer Interaction: Email Marketing

14th July 2010 by Anup Zaver

If you are looking to reach people faster, quicker and more direct, email marketing can provide this for you. Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of online marketing and still plays a very powerful role in the most successful of online businesses.

LocalBlindShop.com will offer you a complete and flexible service to add power to your email marketing for broadcasts of all sizes.

Email marketing tools as provided by LocalBlindShop.com will ensure that you receive the highest send rates and lowest number of opt-outs all at the lowest possible price. All of this will be backed up by a full range of support services and advice - as provided by the Swift team as part of the LocalBlindShop.com service.

Here at Swift we use email marketing methods to successfully, both stay in touch with our current customers as well as target new potential customers. We do this through monthly newsletters and special advertisements providing any information about any offers currently on-going on our trade website.

If you would like any further information on email marketing then please do not hesitate to contact us or visit our trade blinds website.

Modelling Your Customers for Effective Communications

1st July 2010 by Anup Zaver

An RFM segmentation on a customer base is commonly used in retail and is an extremely cost efficient method of identifying market segments. It is based on the age, frequency and value of customer orders.

Once you have the market segments you can begin adding additional information which you will already have such as which products were purchased and the customer demographic including how affluent they are or in which area they live. This can effectively create powerful models of customers which can be applied across the base and followed up with targeted opt-in email or direct marketing campaign which will achieve a genuine return provided you get the content of the creative right.

The first step would be to take a look at the customer base and create the segments and work out how each segment works and who from the segment could be targeted. Give them a rating from 1-10 of how they score against your different models such as likely to purchase within 3 months, likely to have an order value of more than x amount etc. After you've decided who scores best (remember you can give customer and customer types multiple scores) get communicating with a structured telephone call, email drop or direct mail campaign.

Remember to produce only imaginative email and mail content and look at your initial broadcast date remembering to get your campaign success tracking and reporting nailed.

The data you will get off the back of the campaigns must be imported back into your initial pot to help study your customers responses to make future communications more efficient.

Keep repeating the cycle and before you know it your customer intelligence will be the main strategic driving force in your business.

The Benefits of Moving your Business ONLINE

25th May 2010 by Benjamin Norman

When it comes to shopping more and more of us are moving online to purchase our goods each year. In 2009 UK online shoppers spent a total of £38bn, compared to £30bn in 2006. This demonstrates the increasing popularity of online shopping, and many experts predict these figures will only continue to grow.

Selling online has a number of advantages over selling by conventional methods, including:

• Savings
  Makes savings in set-up and operational costs. You don't need to pay shop assistants, rent high street premises, or answer a lot of pre-sales queries.
• Audience
  Online stores provide you with a global audience, thereby increasing sales opportunities.
• Opening Hours
  Online stores are open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!
• Fewer Expenses
  The on-going costs of running a high-street store and employing staff are taken away.

LocalBlindshop.com will provide you with all the advantages listed above, alongside the fact we do all the hard work for you in setting up your online store. So don’t get left behind, move your business into the 21st century today with LocalBlindShop.com.

Google Analytics: Getting the MOST out of YOUR Website

16th April 2010 by Benjamin Norman

As part of the LocalBlindShop.com service we will now provide customers with full website reporting through the ever popular and powerful Google analytics.

Using a combination of our own proprietary web interface and the Google metric system partners will be able to view multiple elements of data with regards to website performance including traffic sources, visitor information, content reports and goal tracking and conversions.

Here at Swift we have used Google Analytics since day one on our various websites. The information gathered has proved essential to us in reviewing the success of our websites, and provides us with the capability of identifying areas of strength and weakness within our websites which can then be actioned accordingly to maximise profitability and return on investment.

If you would like any further information on Google Analytics, getting the most out of your website or the LocalBlindShop.com service then please do not hesitate to contact us or visit our trade blinds website.

What is LocalBlindShop.com?

31st March 2010 by Anup Zaver

The LocalBlindShop.com is a fully-white-labelled solution offering our trade customers a unique opportunity to sell great-quality Swift blinds through their own online outlet.

The offering comprises of the technology and technical management of the e-commerce application and the “drop-shipment” service of the actual blinds and products. This is a project we have had great response from in the trade and we are now looking to have live beta releases available in the next 6-8 weeks.

Until then in order to keep up to date with the latest news and information please ensure you are on our trade email newsletter list. If you would like to subscribe or formally register your interest please drop us an email (information on the contact page) or visit our trade blinds website.

Any customer who has registered their interest will be invited to join us in an online WebEx around the time the beta releases are available.

Fancy Selling Blinds Online?

26th February 2010 by Anup Zaver

Want to sell your blinds online? Well now you can! 2010 will see Swift launch a brand new product, LocalBlindShop.com - a fantastic way to bring your shop online!

You will have hopefully spoken to a member of our team about this fantastic new service looking to go live this Spring. Swifts in house team of experts are currently completing specifications and will be keeping you informed of their progress via the SwiftTradeBlinds.com monthly newsletter.

With a low set-up cost and super-fast Swift-Track implementation times you simply mark-up, re-sell and profit on great quality Swift products.

LocalBlindShop.com is a fully re-brand-able white label solution built on the powerful new SwiftTradeBlinds.com platform which was unveiled at the BBSA 2010 showcase and due for launch on March the 1st.

Interested? Email trade@swiftblinds.co.uk for more information.