The Web is a remarkably personal place. In an ecommerce environment, the personal touch can make a sale. It can be the difference between a one-time visit and repeat business. And it can help lone entrepreneurs market themselves just as effectively as bigger operations.
The ability to connect with customers is why Deb Whitten started Babylon Mall, which specializes in vintage clothing and items related to it. It's the best part of running her own online marketplace.
"I love the customer support aspect of running the mall," says the wife and mother of two teenagers from Ottawa, Canada. "In my experience, customer support on the Internet is practically nonexistent. It's a small thing, but it makes a huge difference. People are usually very surprised to hear from a real live person and not a canned e-mail response."
Whitten has been a computer programmer since 1986. When her career was sidetracked by the tech downtown in 2001, she started selling vintage clothing on eBay in 2002. She later returned to programming, but kept hearing complaints from other members of the vintage clothing discussion group that led her to create Babylon Mall. The site provides a good example of how a single person can stand out from the crowd in the field of ecommerce: find a niche; provide good service; focus on cost-effective marketing; and add features that sellers and buyers both want.
"The sellers in the vintage clothing group were looking for a venue with fixed-price store formats instead of auctions, and fields that were specific to vintage clothing," she explains. "They also wanted to be able to customize the look and feel of their stores. My own biggest desire was to provide really good customer service for both sellers and buyers. Other online services take days to reply to emails because they are so large and you can't get personalized service."
Babylon Mall first went online January 27, 2004. The site charges sellers a flat monthly fee of $15 for operating a store. There are no listing or sales fees. "There are no surprises for sellers," says Whitten.
The fact that it's a specialty marketplace serving a niche market is only one thing that distinguishes Babylon Mall. Another is marketing. Whitten spends a good deal of time advertising the site through her blog, RSS feeds, Google AdWords, and other means. Each storeowner gets to exchange a free banner ad with the vintage clothing site evintagesociety.com. A monthly newsletter is sent out to all buyers. Item listings are submitted on a daily basis to Google's shopping index Froogle. And RSS feeds are sent out to each store as well.
The biggest challenge for Whitten has been simply keeping up with new ways to advertise and new technologies to keep the site running smoothly. "There are new things that come along all the time, such as Ajax and RSS feeds and blogs, so keeping up and making the technology relevant to an e-commerce site is a constant challenge but also lots of fun."
Although Whitten's husband occasionally helps with customer support, marketing Babylon Mall to the rest of the family hasn't met with complete success. "I am trying to persuade my daughter to open a store because she makes jewelry, but so far my kids are not sold on the site," she admits.
Plenty of others are sold on Babylon Mall, however. Sales doubled in 2008 compared to 2007. But Whitten admits that the economic slowdown should make 2009 "interesting." Currently, Babylon Mall has 36 shops operated by 30 sellers. The fact that sellers offer one-of-a-kind items means they aren't competing with one another, so sellers cooperate.
Unique features like the "Fab Scoop" help distinguish the mall from others. Submit a few keywords describing what you're looking for, and you will be notified by email when the item is listed.
Such features make running the mall a labor of love for Whitten. "I have shopped Babylon Mall myself," she says. "I got a great Louis Vuitton knapsack that I use all the time, a 1960s little black party dress, and once I went on a "bling" buying spree and got some great vintage jewelry. I love everything about running the site. From customer support to advertising, it's been a real education."
