I’m not a coffee addict in the purest sense and I certainly don’t rush for a caffeine hit when I need to be awake or the first thing in the morning at the office.

It’s not uncommon for me to make a cup at home around 10pm when I clearly should be avoiding stimulants. And as much as I drink and wholeheartedly prefer instant coffee to alleged ‘gourmet’ coffee from outside vendors, I actually know when my coffee is rubbish, regardless of where it’s made.

I’m not a coffee snob so spare me the ridicule, I’m actually going somewhere with this.

You see, I have a few close friends who own coffee machines at home (not of the pod variety) and they always freshly grind their beans before making a cup – and their coffee tastes amazing (this is a short sell but the point is made), whereas much of the stuff I get from indepenent vendors and even Starbucks and Gloria Jeans tastes burnt and undrinkable many a time.

I see coffee vendors claiming they only use 100% Arabica beans, they are constantly coming up with fresh grinds and they want to be there to share a special moment in my life by brewing the perfect cup of coffee.

My friends also use 100% Arabica beans, freshly grind their coffee and they’re definitely there sharing moments in my life, special or otherwise.

So how is it that in both instances, where it’s all ‘freshly ground’ and all that jazz, that there’s heinous differences in quality?

It’s about the person involved and how they make it (and why).

No doubt, many baristas definitely have a love for coffee and get much joy in making coffee for others. However a love for coffee doesn’t automatically translate into the ability to make great coffee.

Yes, bean quality matters but only so much. I believe companies would be better off training staff to truly make really great coffee and using this as their USP, not the quality of their beans.

I mean, if you look at Starbucks or Gloria Jeans or even McCafe and Michel’s Patisserie, they all go on about their bean quality but never about their awesome baristas who have a clue.

I think if you focused more on the ‘people’ and ‘service’ part of the coffee making process, you can start using a different catchphrase…. “Awesome coffee, made with 100% Arabica beans and 100% awesomeness”.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Like me, many folks missed out on Online Retailer this year (yet again!) but thanks to Twitter and the #orec hashtag, it’s almost as if we were there!

To make it a bit easier to catch up, I’ve collected some of the better tweets about #orec for your convenience.

It has been a bit of a rush but I’m sure you’ll get what it’s about. Please do enjoy!

great online retailer = service

cheaper and easier to update mobile site than app

95% research on web before buying

65% of instore sales started on the web

65% of users of daily deals return to the merchant, 42% say they wouldn’t use a deal service again

19% of tweets mention a brand says google

google’s focus: browsing experiences, geo and local places, mobile commerce

85% of Oz retailers don’t have smartphone-friendly website

79% those w/smartphones use for online shopping! And check 40x a day! Huge opp

Small Australian retailers are leading the pack in online retail

in Australia avg conv rate in AU 4.9% in US 2.9%

29% growth prediction by Aussie online retailers over the next 12 months

Then longer you have been online as a customer, the more you will spend.. A customer who has been online 5 years spends more than one who has been online 2 years

49% of Australian online retailers provide in-store pick up

australian multichannel retailers don’t feel that they are providing a seamless cross channel experience to customers.

Search still the best source of customers for Aussie retailers

The most popular places to use a smartphone are at home and work.

Mobile customers are looking for great cross channel experiences

Australians focusing too much on social media

Only 20% of online retailers say that social media has been an effective customer acquisiton tactic But 70% of online retailers will use #social as a marketing focus in the coming year

social provides ‘soft ROI’ – first #marketingjargon of the day at #orec

What haven’t aussies gotten into affiliate marketing? What barriers to entry?

9% of Australian online retailers say affiliate marketing programs is an effective customer acq. channel vs 49% in the US

Only 9% of Australians use affiliate marketing v USA 49%

Affiliate marketing looks set to boom in Australia over the coming years

Why don’t you have a mobile optimised site? How to get one or build one. Slides from #orec 2011 :http://slidesha.re/oeqjbK

Don’t let perfect get in the way of better – Gabby Leibovich, Co-founder Catch of the Day

45,000 people join Catch of the Day and Scoopon each day – just due to word of mouth, no marketing… very impressive

Catch Of The Day ship 6/7 semi trailers of orders per day with Australia Post!

Catch of the Day guy is fiercely entertaining and insightful.

Huge growth with no marketing budget

Stats on Catch of the Day: 100% growth yearly since launch, 150,000 daily visitors

Catch of the day sell 10k shoes in a 24 hour sale – Old school footwear retailers cannot compete with this

catch of the day set to grow by 250 percent

run Scoopon with no marketing budget. All word of mouth. Unbelievable Interesting.

Scoopon started with catch of the day database to start offering its services

Clicktale for conversion optimization for checkout! you’ve got 2 seconds before you lose your mobile customer!

get started , click here, fix my glass.. focus people on the goals and outcomes when you’re using call to action buttons!

We used a strategy called Growth By Experimentation – or in normal terms trial and error’ Grays Online

Just because a certain activity is not driving sales online, doesn’t mean it won’t drive sales instore.

What is driving your conversion rate? Is it the day, channel or promotion?

Nike stormed market in ’72 – v exciting but created bad habits. Now a radical re-think re running shoes… just like e-tailing

Online retail started as small movement but now 5% of market shopping online and there’s not turning back

Three biggest challenges etailers face: building without a plan, price wars and technology challenges

Only 35% of retailers have a documented strategic plan ~ BRW & AMP Capitol report ‘Business of retail 2011′

Should be about showing your customers greater value not discounting

Get to know your customers so you can drive relevance Give your high value clients VIP experiences.

Know your top 50 customers intimately

Give your lower value customers repeat purchase stimulation

We don’t see our sites with our customers eyes – they just want the site to work for them – we see ‘tree stumps’

Enhance the value of your brand from day one until customers are your advocates – unlocking the power of permission

Flirt with your prospects; drive them to your site with engaging methods

Be specific in error messages on your site to provide better customer experience

Parklife know their customers – Facebook competition 2 for world’s most ridiculously expensive ticket.

All about value Zappos all about value and not price.

Tell customers they’re not the cheapest but focus on customer service

Integrated email one of most impactful and under-utilised method of successful marketing

Personalised welcome email within 30 days of registration followed by program of comms

Cart abandonment programs are important; anywhere from 30-70% shoppers abandon their shopping cart

Three types of cart abandonners: One-time abandoner, Serial abandoner & recent goal abandoner – can recover sales

Only 17% of top 500 online retailers run cart abandonment programs! ~ Silverpop

Merch solutions produce more relevant offers 2 increase conversion rates, average order value & improve overall user experience

Online shoe browsing is longer and more important than other apparel

Twitter can work if you have a proper strategy

Multiple comms w targeted content can have direct impact on purchase intent

Purchased an iPad2 from @JBHiFi in-store today – only $9 more than @Kogan but I didn’t have to wait. We consumers are a fickle bunch.

Onsite Search customers convert better so make sure that you optimize your search experience

Easier to deliver service to customers when working to a plan

Utilise email – low cost and you can deal one-to-one.

Do it right. Have a plan.

Best examples used for cross selling websites from IBM: westfields, Surfstitch & oo.com.au Good to see 2 out of 3 use ChannelAdvisor

Wai Hong Fong from OZhut – 80% of his customers start from search

‘Sale’ keyword is higher than ‘cheap’ keyword. Bargain hunters and tight arses have updated their vocabulary

http://www.ozhut.com.au/toolstogatherdata – tools to gather data c/o OzHut

Your first brand customer touchpoint can be your google adwords; do they represent your brand?

Customer service is the number one value customers look for online. Low price is 5th

Download Permission White Paper “Top 10 tips to online retailing success” at wp.permission.com.au

Gaming lifts the level of shopper engagement. Eg – sneakpeeq

Exclusivity also lifts the level of customer engagement eg. BrandsExclusive

56% of people start shopping process with a search engine – google

44% of online purchases in Australia are for overseas retailers

Q4 2010 more smartphones sold than PCs for first time ever

Social is about the conversation. Email is about the conversion

Love it – marketing acronym gone nuts ‘mocial’ = mobile + social + local + email

Takes 15 mins to set up email optin forms on Facebook Social sign in for web forms increase form conversion by 10-50%

71% of US top 500 retailers only use Facebook like buttons in emails moving from share to social and find us on FB

Email content needs to be shareworthy for share to social to work.

Brandsexclusive.com.au photograph and catalogue 12,000 products a month, and each is online for only 2 days!

Positive surprise is the single most important driver of word of mouth

Google guy: “1 in 4 people use iPhones in the toilets.” I say that’s crap- it’s 4 out of 4. (Gabby of COTD)

my fav quote from the day “be impatient for profit and patient for growth” #BrandsExclusive

I was recently playing with an app on the iPad made by Nissan called the Nissan Juke.

It’s a very cool music making app (albeit simple in structure) with lovely visuals and equally impressive samples to mix with. It was made and launched to promote Nissan’s latest vehicle, the Juke.

With the mixes you make, you can record them and send it to Nissan where it gets converted to a ringtone which is then emailed back to you. The cute part is where the ‘deck’ is on top of a building and the dials are mini versions of the Juke.

I haven’t tried that yet but I did have some observations of the app which I think others (and Nissan) can learn from:

1. Apps are the future (or at least the forseeable future) – they are proving to be amazing marketing tools which can be used for almost anything.

2. It’s all about quality. The app has clean, clear graphics and plenty of high res images of the Juke. The sounds are top notch and usability is ace. Overall, it’s a well made app with a fairly limited purpose.

3. It doesn’t have long replay value. There aren’t too many samples to choose from and apart from choosing when to stop/start a sample and how loud/soft it will be, that’s about it. What will make me pick it up and play with it again? Not much at all.

4. It would be good to use it as a tool to capture email addresses and keep people informed about the Juke and other Nissan news.

Now, the Juke isn’t available in Australia and this is also why I hadn’t heard of it (only found the app because I was looking for music making apps) but I wonder what sort of promotion went on in places where the Juke was available? How did they promote the app at dealerships? how about TV and Radio? Let’s not forget online..

This interesting article on the Guardian’s website talked about why most branded apps are a flop – and this is a statement coming from Deloitte. Citing poor quality, failure to establish themselves and a heinous lack of promotion are just some of the reasons why many branded apps fail in the app market place.

Brands get complacent. They feel like their name is enough to warrant a download. I don’t drive a Nissan and have never driven one but was curious as to what the app was about and its music making abilities. I don’t plan on buying a Nissan anytime soon even after playing the app. So to me, this is a weak spot for Nissan in its promotion of the Juke. Nevermind its non-availability in Australia – where were the selling points? Where were the reasons why I should sell my Toyota Camry and opt for a Nissan equivalent? Totally invisible. If the Juke was an amazing music making car then perhaps the app has worked well but I highly doubt it.

It’s left me agreeing with all of the points in the article above and once again, wondering why more and more companies don’t hop onto the app bandwagon with more preparation and foresight.

I’ve talked about the potential of apps by peope like Bunnings and Super A-Mart but I know it’s falling on deaf ears. We have so few apps dedicated to Australian business/corporations, it’s obscene.

I plan to write more about it as it’s certainly the way of the future.