Alex Baar | International Digital Marketing | E-commerce

First of all I wish everybody a great, creative and customer oriented 2017! I started the year great, in St Anton, where there is lot's of sun (but not so much snow). I traveled here by train this time, so I had time to read again. I do like to share again some of these reads. Me in the new flexenbahn in St Anton am /A This time I did not read a direct ecommerce or digital marketing related book but a book about doing business in a new way, about examples of traditional companies that have changed the way they do business. The book is called " simply brilliant " and the subtitle of the book is: How great Organizations do ordinary things in extraordinary ways and it is explicitly not a book about the sillicon valley type of businesses, but how traditional organisations are also able to change and succeed.

What motivates me in work are a lot of things, but currently especially the following aspects are very motivating for me: Using user feedback into digital media (websites/devices), to really get this interaction with users. To find out what is working but also what to improve, and to understand why users do not buy! (and to change that of course). Optimizing the user experience (user engagement, touchpoints, data collection) Constantly innovating to improve the user experience Crossborder e-commerce Startup mentality, doing things together in a great team with the same focus. I really think that ecommerce (and marketing) has evolved from a functional model (direct selling) to a brand model and is now moving to an experience model. Things might overlap a little bit between these models, but this is the greater picture.  It is not only me who thinks so of course, more  and more  is written about this subject recently and it fits perfectly in line with another ...

Today, August 20th,  I am in Zermatt, Switzerland. Hoping to do some summerskiing. It is summer in the village, but winter is still present up in the mountains here, 3883 meters high there is lot's of snow. However today is cloudy and windy and lifts are closed. So I grabbed a book and started reading about “Entangled Marketing” and watching the people go by in their electric mini cars, with the Matterhorn at the background. Tomorrow I will go to enjoy summerskiing, tomorrow the weather will be great! This post is a combination of items from the book, some personal opinions and some examples I found at the web. Enjoy reading! I gave the book a view at the Matterhorn, during my stay here..(but the Matterhorn is sometimes "entangled" with clouds as today :). I bought this book since I believe, that the way of marketing brands or building brands, is changing rapidly. It’s no more just some display advertisements or an always on PPC strategy, there are many other poss...

I am currently on holiday and then I take time to read a few books. One of them is the book “Alibaba’s world” written by Porter Erisman. Funny now I write this down, I realise “Porter” is his first name. While reading the book, I constantly thought that everybody called him Porter just by his last name..:) Reading the book together with my friend, the seagull I decided to buy this book because I am interested in international e-commerce especially the Chinese and eastern e-commerce developments as this is where innovation is coming from. The book starts off with an introduction about Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba. When China opened up and foreigners visited China, Jack was curious and started to talk with them. This is how he learned English and how the world beyond China look liked. For another job, Jack was sent to Seattle and one of his friends introduced him to the internet. Jack searched for the word “China” but there were no results. Jack said “This i...

How to differentiate with culture and customer centricity? Already for a while I get more and more interested in a new way of working. A way of working that allows the "voice of the customer" throughout the organisation. That allows an organisation to respond quickly at customer's feedback. A way of working that makes working more fun for employees as well. A way of working that I think is essential in e-commerce, especially if you want to differentiate yourself. You have to add (digital value) and to become customer centric. This means a responsive organisation. An organisation that learns fast, listens fast, acts fast and is creative!  Someday maybe a year ago, I ran into this manifesto about responsive organisations. I really liked this way of thinking and working, so I decided also to buy a book about this subject. This became the book " Exponential Organisations ". As you see below I really started to read, and the page shown is an importa...

I am reading the book " The Amazon Way , 14 leadership principles behind the wolrd's most disruptive company". I am not going to write down all 14 principles, just buy the book if you are interested in that. The book is well written and you can read it in a few hours. I just shortly summarize a few phrases from the book, that I find interesting.  Reading the book is a bit ambivalent, while when I was visiting Amazon in Germany, earlier this year, I did not recognize the open and innovative culture, the book describes.  However, the book is a motivator for anybody who is creative, customer centric and e-commerce and trend driven.  Long before the the complete vision of Amazon was ready, these two principles is where it all started from. When a company makes a customer unhappy, she won't tell a friend, or two, or three....she will tell many, many more and The beste customer service is "no" customer service, because the beste experience ...

I decided to travel to Berlin today. Something different for a change. So now I am in an Eurocity train from Hilversum to Berlin. Time to read a book again. This time “ webs of influence, the psychology of online persuasion ”. An interesting book also in relation to cross border e-commerce because cultural differences in persuasion are described. The book "webs of influence, the psychology of online persuasion" travels with me today. There is no “silver bullet” for persuasion. Everybody is different, but the book gives nice case study’s and with some creativity of yourself, you can think of some very interesting tests and possibilities to change your website and marketing. The book has (very convenient) after every chapter a “ make this work for you” section. Perfect for a quick reference. Well as the book teaches me, blue is the colour that is most preferred by people, regardless of gender and culture. The blue colour is prefered by almost everybody So probabl...

I was at holiday, a few weeks ago. Traveling to Hong Kong, mainland China, Cambodia and Thailand. Time to read a few books. One of the books I read was " Global Marketing and Advertising " from Marieke de Mooij. A very interesting book about cultural differences in advertising and marketing. The book is not an "online" book, it focuses at marketing and advertising in general, many offline marketing cases are described as well. The book consists of many in depth research of cultural aspects. I recognize a lot of cultural aspects described in the book from traveling, now it is related to advertising. I will not do a complete review of the book this time. I will highlight a few interesting parts of the book instead. Just go and by the book. You won't regret. Global Marketing and Advertising from Marieke de Mooij, very intresting book, I read at a recent holiday as you can see...the book traveled with me across many cultures...:) There may be global product...

We all know the stories about Zappo's.com or Dutch Coolblue.com and their extreme focus at customer service. The stories are often very inspiring and motivating (for marketers and customer service professionals). After reading these stories, I often get very much motivated to use these experiences in my daily job. But not all companies can differentiate with such extreme customer service. W hat if the holy grail of service for many companies is not customer delight, but customer relief?  It's always good to see things from a different perspective.  Besides that, to have a great customer experience (and conversion) in your digital channels you have to understand customer service!  So I decided to buy a book about customer experience. " The effortless experience "  by Nick Toman and Rick Delisi. I've read it and below a short summary of my findings combined with my personal opinion and the relation with digital. First the book starts with asking the question:...

Book review/summary: The end of traditional retail stores : www.eindevandewinkel.nl  by Cor Molenaar. I found this book (although most is obvious for me) interesting and easy to read. Especially because many improvements that Mr Molenaar suggests, already are common in many other countries (e.g. Asia or the USA). I have seen a lot of examples Cor Molenaar describes in his book, during my recent travels. It seems like we (in Holland) are running behind. What are the dangers for traditional retailing? Internet: is a threat to traditional retail because, traditional retail has to compete against unknown competitors and competitors who have less limitations like shop opening hours and location. Wholesalers/suppliers who are going to sell at the web: for example big brands are starting their own webshops to get into contact with customers. Customers: have a new way of buying and internet is integrated in this shopping process. Grocery's are still b...

I just finished reading the " The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy " by David B. Thomas and Mike Barlow. Below I wrote a short summary of this book. I only described the chapters and passages that I found interesting. The book can help managers and people who are interested in social media for both small, big and enterprise companies. The book has a lot of "aha" moments, things you have in your memory, but when they are described in the book, you recognize it and see it slightly different. I summarized the chapters that I think are interesting or give nice examples. Chapter 1: The book (chapter 1) starts with telling that there is no "social media" revolution, but an e-social revolution going on. Social media are just the tools, but all electronic commerce and information is going social. It is a different philosofy. A nice example is given from a big hotel in NYC, where a line of people is waiting to check in the h...