Wednesday, August 28, 2013

e-Commerce Goes to the Dogs Here in India

I recently connected with an entrepreneur in Delhi on Linkedin who was looking for advice on how to improve their web site. Rashi Narang operates "Heads Up for Tails", an e-commerce web site that sells food, pet toys, accessories, apparel, bowls, beds, and more.

http://www.headsupfortails.com

I gave her some ideas on how best to tweak the site, and suggested a number of activities she could try to get more exposure. Her site's colors are fairly quiet, but it's busy with animated graphics - a little extra effort is required to understand the mechanics of the site as a user. Her use of big photos, with lots of "cuteness", helps lift the web site experience and engages the user. Her payment process is straightforward (with one minor glitch in Chrome - the checkbox to make the shipping address same as billing address did not work), and offers Cash on Delivery, a big part of online shopping here in India. E-COMMERCE PROFESSIONALS IN INDIA: Always offer a COD payment option. It's the bulk of the payments for e-commerce sites in India. She has successfully connected her social media pages and has made it easy for people to share the site. Overall, it's well thought out.

I told her that I loved her product offering (She has a whole section called "Awesome Toys"!). I told her that I planned to buy a couple of her customized collars for my own pups.

Then she did something super nice. Unexpected. For taking a few minutes out my schedule to give her a thoughtful answer, she offered to send the collars to me, free of cost, as a thank you for my time. Of all the people I have ever advised, she was one of only a handful to ever thank me for doing so. Which brings me to another topic. Mentors, uncles, whoever you go to for advice, should be appreciated for their time. A simple thanks is all that's expected because mentors enjoy sharing ideas, watching people get better at what they do, change their way of thinking, sometimes change their life. Regular updates of what you tried, what you learned, examining what failed are ways to deepen your relationship with that mentor. It what makes us do what we do, with little expected in return.

The collars arrived yesterday. As soon as the guard brought the package and tore it open. They were beautifully wrapped in colourful tissue paper with each collar individually wrapped in plastic for protection. The imitation leather is thick and sturdy, far stronger and well constructed than I had expected. The little rhinestone letters spelling out their names looked awesome! I couldn't wait to get home to try them on the pups.

These photos aren't the best, and the dogs weren't cooperating, but I hope you get a sense of Heads Up for Tails' product line. They're gorgeous and I plan to visit the site often, especially seeing how quick their delivery was. :-) If you have pets, check out "Heads Up for Tails". I'm sure you will be as delighted as I was.

Eunice, dozing with her new collar.

Eunice, dozing with her new collar.

Ethel, liking her new collar.

Ethel, showing the other side of her collar.

Eunice again.

Ethel.

Don't they look cute? :-)