Ross was recently featured on A Current Affair and his traffic sky-rocketted. Read his interview for some tips.
1. Who are you and how did you get into online marketing?
Ross Kilpatrick - CEO & Founder of StreetSmartShopper.com.au - Australia’s No1 Online Appliance and TV SuperStore.
I have been running my own advertising and marketing agency Huntingdales Brand Builders and Advertising for the past 19 years.
Prior to this, I worked on the client side of marketing in senior creative and marketing roles for leading retailers like Grace Bros,
Angus & Coote Jewellers and Traveland as General Manager of retail. So I have done the hard yards in marketing and retail.
At Huntingdales we have built a number of websites for clients and we decided why not have our own online shop to join the revolution.
I felt in the late 1990’s that the web was way too slow a beast to even entertain promoting. Thankfully the speed has picked up.
Believe it all not, I did predict the first collapse in 2000 because of the internet speed issues.
2. If you run more than one website. What is the name and URL of your primary website?
Our key focus is www.StreetSmartShopper.com.au
Our tagline is “Never Pay Retail Again.”
We sell only top branded quality fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers, ovens,
stoves, vacuum cleaners and big screen plasmas and LCD televisions. Our USP is selling at lower prices
than any bricks and mortar stores. We provide killer service on a very secure shopping site nationally.
We have been voted in the top 5 shopping sites by The Daily Telegraph only 3 months after we kick off in 2006.
A Current Affair recommended Street Smart Shopper as a Gold Metal Winner as one of Australia best Shopping sites in August
2008 and devoted a whole segment to Street Smart Shoppers. We gained over 30,000 unique
visitors to the site that week.
Ultimately, we are waiting until more than the current 6% of people buy online in Australia.
So our site is a long term strategy where we are working on referral business from delighted customers
who are keen to tell their friends they save their pressure time, fuel and money by shopping with Street Smart Shopper.
Sure, it is a basic marketing strategy, but most great ideas are very basic.
I don’t have the brain power to come up with Google. I wish I had. Google currently makes half of all income online globally.
We also run Sullivan Dewing - Buisiness Builders & Chartered Accountants site to grow their new client prospect leads.
www.sullivandewing.com.au and Huntingdales site www.huntingdales.com.au really as a colour brochure online to advise prospect clients of our credentials.
3. The internet provides access to global audiences and markets. Where are you located and is your market influenced by your location?
We are located in Sylvania Waters in Sydney’s south, you could say we are located in the suburbs where the customers are.
Currently we are mastering our online marketing skills in Australia before we launch in the USA, China and India.
I have a number of other online ideas we wish to launch globally so starting here in Australia is a great way to micro manage our online
marketing. Sorry, I can’t tell you about the other ideas, I may have to kill you. My stock and trade is ideas and people could copy my ideas online
in a heart beat.
4. What were the circumstances that led you to start your site/online business?
A retail client of ours had a hobby appliance online site and it was very badly designed, marketed and thought out.
So I invented the name Street Smart Shopper from another idea I had regarding Australia’s largest letterbox catalogue and we joined forces to work together.
But, like a lot of partnerships his contribution was very low and unfortunately his commitment was not there. He eventually bailed out altogether. We now have a better buying supply chain and can provide our customers with even better savings and service.
5. Are you a full time web business person or do you have other income as well?
I work the site 50% of my time and sometimes it goes to 100% like it has been over the last few months as we reinvigorate the product range, design and marketing. I still run Huntingdales Brand Builders and Designers and work on a handful of clients that I like assisting growing their sales and brand awareness.
6. There are many methods of promotion for website. What do you do and which do you think are the most effective?
PR is by far the best way to gain attention. Google Adwords is far too expensive and does not provide a good ROI. SEO is a longer term proposition and needs to
be constantly monitored to gain maximum returns. We also do main stream marketing and advertising on radio, press and outdoor billboards.
7. What techniques did you use in the beginning to launch the site?
Working my initial database really kicked us off to a flying start. As I say, a quality database is a “RIVER OF GOLD”.
You just need to constantly keep mining it.
8. What are your main sources of revenue from the site?
Selling products only. We had a real learning curve when we had affiliate sites linked to Street Smart Shopper to gain
additional revenue. It did not work. Ultimately the commission was too low and we were sending our hard won customers
to other sites. They don’t bother coming back once they start surfing the net. Big lesson learnt.
9. Where do you see key opportunities in the future for revenue?
I wish I knew. In July 2008 I had a trip to Silicon Valley in the USA to attend a week long seminar to see if I could find some other
lucrative ways to earn revenue online. Most rely on advertising. I don’t see this as a long term option.
And for a advertising man that is saying something. So I am still looking for other ways to make money online. Any ideas?
10. Where do you see yourself in a few years time?
I see tons and tons of opportunity online in the future as the online media matures and blossoms.
Currently the net is like an old fashion western movie. We are all pioneers searching for GOLD.
It will only come to a few who are persistent, patient and willing to look for new opportunities.
11. If you could give two pieces of advice to aspiring or new webmasters/internet business owners, what would they be?
- Don’t do it. Your chances of failure are higher than starting any other business and the learning curve is massive. You’ll need deep pockets and a number of years to become an overnight success. I predict 99.98% will fail online in the next 10 years. Don’t go into a partnership for the safety factor, 99% of business partnerships fail and your ideas will be compromised. If you are game enough go it alone, use your contacts for free advice. But remember it is just that FREE, so only listen to half of it.
- If you don’t do take my advice to point one. You must devise what is the “One point of Difference” that will make your online idea work over your competitors. Or come up with a low cost Google search engine model that has more grunt and options than Google. Then you will become the second richest person on the planet.
December 22nd, 2008 by Tim Burrowes
Hi Ross,
I’d challenge the 99.98% figure (and I realise you were being slightly tongue-in-cheek). Perhaps you are thinking of mainstream, consumer-facing sites. of course these take a lot of marketing firepower and investment, along with a spot of luck to find a niche.
But many sites spring out of existing busiensses who already have a relationship with a finite group of consumers or customers. And in the vast majority they are lookign to target an identifiable (and relatively easily) reachable niche.
There’s no reason these shouldn’t succeed at the same proprtion as any offline business.
Indeed, the web probably has fewer barriers to entry than any other form of business.
Cheers,
Tim
December 22nd, 2008 by admin
I am going to have to agree with you Tim. I am a little more optimistic than Ross on this one.
Perhaps that is why we both use twitter!
December 23rd, 2008 by Paul
Sorry to be negative, but “selling at lower prices than any bricks and mortar stores” is not a USP. A quick check of some comparison shopping sites and there are cheaper online sources for these products.
Getting a slot on “A Current Affair” and featuring in the Daily Telegraph will give a quick boost to traffic, but you cannot market on price alone because it’s just a matter of time before someone undercuts you. I wonder whether the site saw a boost in sales conversion, too, though I suspect not.
Also, it appears that Ross relies on other businesses to store/pick/pack the stock. This creates a very lean business model, but also leaves him exposed. What happens, for example, when one of his suppliers decides to launch their own website?
I think Ross needs to take a look at what he’s offering and sharpen his proposition before he puts his [apparently very good] marketing machine to any more work and potentially puts people off for the long term.
Ross’s own “RIVER OF GOLD” is more likely to come from marketing other people’s websites than creating his own, in my opinion.
My recommendation - sell to a competitor now.
Paul
December 24th, 2008 by Mike
To be honest, I think Ross’s pessimism in ” I predict 99.98% will fail online in the next 10 years. Don’t go into a partnership for the safety factor, 99% of business partnerships fail and your ideas will be compromised.” is about as accurate as his prediction that the web would be too slow for business to ever pick up.
Also, you claimed that “It (finding goldmines online) will only come to a few who are persistent, patient and willing to look for new opportunities.” then shut down the aspirations of any hopefuls in the next question.
More than 0.02% of people who get into online marketing are persistent, patient and willing. Many current, and future success’s won’t even have any years of marketing and advertising experience, let alone 19 years.