Business inspiration: CrazySales - Australia Post Business Lounge

Australian e-commerce retailer CrazySales has been operating for five years.

David Yin and his business partners started their eBay store, Oz-Auction, fresh out of university. They launched e-commerce retailer CrazySales in 2007 to complement Oz-Auction and now offer more than 8,000 lines online.

1. You set up Oz-Auction in 2004, straight out of university. What was
the thinking behind it?

My business partners and I were classmates at Monash University. We read Rich Dad Poor Dad [by Robert Kiyosaki] and decided that we didn?t want to work for someone else ? we wanted to create our own business. Our first product on our eBay store, Oz-Auction, was an MP3 player. We slowly built up to 200 to 300 products, importing goods from China.

2. How did this lead to opening CrazySales in 2007?

As Oz-Auction grew, we wanted more independence and control over our online presence. We also thought that if we wanted to sell the business down the line, we couldn?t sell an eBay store. In the US, we saw that everyone was creating their own e-commerce website, Amazon being a case in point, so we decided to set up CrazySales.

3. How did you come up with the concept?

While Oz-Auction offered auctions on eBay, CrazySales was the ?Buy It Now? alternative on the web.

4. Tell me a bit about your customers.

Our typical customers are Australians aged between 18 and 55. Around 60 per cent of the customer base
is female.

5. What kind of growth have you seen?

In 2008, we saw a 200 per cent increase in traffic to CrazySales, through to 2012 when we had a 25 per cent increase. To date, we?ve served 736,000 customers though CrazySales and Oz-Auction, and Oz-Auction has 99.6 per cent positive feedback on eBay.

6. What aspects of running your own business have
you found the most difficult? How have you addressed these challenges?

We didn?t have any retail or business experience, so we didn?t
know much about the financial side or customs. For example, when
we first started importing goods, we didn?t know about Australian Standards. However, we kept asking people and learning more so
we could get it right and implement what we learned into new procedures. Now, when a buyer is considering goods for
CrazySales, they will use a checklist that confirms that items
comply with Australian Standards.

7. What highlights have you experienced?

In 2006, we reached a point where we were getting 10,000 pieces of positive feedback per month for Oz-Auction. Every Christmas, CrazySales has hit a new record. In the two weeks before Christmas in 2008, we were fulfilling 600 orders a day. In 2009, it was 1,000 orders and in 2011, we hit 4,000 orders a day!

8. How do you view CrazySales? success?

We feel that there?s always room for improvement and opportunities to grow.

9. You offer Delivery Choices with Australia Post. Why did you decide to offer this service?

On occasion, a customer would order an item but was concerned that they would be away when the item was likely to be delivered. With Delivery Choices, the customer can choose when an item is delivered; they have control. If it?s urgent, they can even choose Express Post rather than Standard Post.

Offering Delivery Choices makes us unique compared to our competitors.

10. What are the benefits of Delivery Choices for the business?

I don?t have figures, but I really believe that Delivery Choices helps prevent shopping cart abandonment.

11. What are your goals for CrazySales?

We want to become Australia?s top e-commerce website. The great thing about e-commerce is that there are no boundaries. In the next five years, we want to become an international company.

12. What?s your advice for small-business owners looking to CrazySales for inspiration?

My advice is to try different things and to put more of your focus online. E-commerce is huge and it?s growing. If you create a well-designed, optimised website, your local business can become a national one in an instant.

Useful tools and resources

• CrazySales is an e-commerce retailer, offering bargains on a huge range of goods, from homewares and electronics, to fashion and beauty.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the interviewees, and not of Australia Post.

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Source: http://businesslounge.net.au/2012/11/business-inspiration-crazysales/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=business-inspiration-crazysales

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