Many people in Seattle were aware of Matthew Inman and TheOatmeal.com before it experienced viral success and become a popular web comic that is read by millions of people each month. Recently ZippyCart came across a web comic called TurboSloth.net, by creator Ben Pernick, which is slowly gaining popularity and looking to achieve some viral love as well. What sets Pernick and TurboSloth apart from other web comics, is that the comic itself is not intended to showcase amazing comic art, but instead focuses on being funny and putting out multiple web comics each week. Pernick likes to kick it old school, and use the well known software called MS Paint, which allows him to focus on being funny first. Currently TurboSloth is undergoing a redesign behind the scenes, and one of those things on the agenda for the future is the addition of a small online store.
Monetizing a web comic can be tricky, as most people opt for the easy way out and run advertisements all over their site. Although the smarter way to make money and build a better business for the long run is to utilize an online store to showcase your web comics. Pernick found that ZippyCart was very helpful in assisting him to sort out the landscape of ecommerce solutions, so he could know what options he has once he prepares to add an online store to TurboSloth. However he is first focused on getting the redesign live with his web designer, which he hopes will lead to increased traffic that he can monetize. TurboSloth has been going strong since February of 2010, and Pernick is still working a day job, while trying to stay on top of creating his weekely web comics. Additionally Pernick promotes TurboSloth via Twitter and Facebook, which are great marketing channels to use once his online store goes live in 2011.
Until the TurboSloth.net redesign and online store go live, Pernick thought it would be great to give our readers a sample of his work by creating a completely unique ZippyCart web comic. Below you can see Pernick’s old school MS Paint skills in full effect!
We love to showcase the talent people bring to the web, and hope to help any product find its way into an ecommerce store. As such, TurboSloth.net and the comics it features, are our product of the week this holiday week.
Not claiming to be a tech expert, but rather a self proclaimed mind of the general public and an average consumer (credentials are backed by owning two, yes count them two Magic Bullets, one Snuggie, being an unashamed Glee watcher, general manager of own fantasy football team, and not above leaving the last slice of pizza for someone else to eat). In other words, this writer is an efficient, resourceful, cultured, and intelligent humanitarian, which certainly qualifies as a legitimate, average minded consumer of today, and someone worthy of writing this article.
Scrutinizing every purchase is how it works in today’s economy and with the release of the Boxee Box in 33 countries and now shipping off of Amazon, there are few things to consider before investing in well, a $200 box.
Usually when a product’s release date is pushed back, it is a sign that developers need more time to get the technical glitches out, or the product is not as good as they want it to be. For over a year now, there has been a lot of hype from people wanting to get their hands on a Boxee Box, giving much credit to the push back from the second quarter to early November (touche Boxee Box, touche). Users need to understand why they unknowingly want to get their hands on a Boxee other than the simple fact they played the ‘hard to get’ card well, but from a female perspective, that’s just child’s play.
Boxee Box runs on an Intel CE4110 processor and with a speed of 1.2GHz offers great performance and memory. Essentially a streaming media box, including a WebKit browser for viewing and searching standard Web content. Boxee is also built on the same Atom-based platform as Google TV, which reminds us all that there are already other similar products, which are relatively cheaper, like Roku XDS ($100) and Apple TV ($99). The new simplified user interface supports HTML 5 giving access to a variety of online resources such as Youtube, VUDU, etc. for a full couch-based TV experience.
Although Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming have been added to Boxee, the features will not be available until the end of this year. The box does not support Hulu but it supports Hulu Plus, which just launched and is taking the Internet by storm, is Hulu’s $10 a month service that grants access to full seasons of TV shows from NBC, FOX, and ABC as well as big blockbuster movies. However, Sony announced last week the PS3 will also have access to Hulu Plus and if you already own a PS3 chances are you won’t need a Boxee if you know how to properly connect it to your TV.
These external devices are all remedies for the lack of Internet content on the TV. However, an emerging trend in TV developers (Samsung, Sony, LG) are starting to add connectivity directly into their TVs which essentially removes the need for an external device. Boxee Box is technology’s Marky Mark and we know how long the Funky Bunch lasted. Boxee may seem like a great idea for the time being, but there are other products and software coming out that have stronger staying power and more worth the total investment.
Just a few days ago Lucasfilm™ announced the release of a rare artifact, The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of The Force, which has helped many young Padawans on their quest to become a Jedi Master. The artifact has survived throughout the centuries, and this thousand-year old text book is now available to the STAR WARS fans of this century. In all honesty, The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of The Force, is a very elaborate book which is now being sold online in a deluxe special edition. However Lucasfilm decided for the first time to have some fun with one of their books, as they play on the concept that this is a rare manual which has been only used by Jedi Masters who are training their younger Jedi Padawan. This Jedi Path manual was created by Bellevue, Washington, based becker&mayer!, who worked in collaboration with Lucasfilm, bestselling author Daniel Wallace, and a variety of STAR WARS illustrators.
The Vault Edition of this book looks amazing, and with the simple push of a button, the doors of the vault open for the owner to see a splash of light and STAR WARS sound effects. The inner platform of the vault then rises, to reveal the exclusive edition of The Jedi Path. Currently the list price of the The Jedi Path is $99.99, but Amazon is offering a great discount so the manual is only $62.99 and comes with free shipping. This new book is a unique gift for the upcoming holiday season, that almost any STAR WARS fan would be excited to receive. In addition to the manual, you also get a number of removable items which include a letter tracing the book’s history, a severed Padawan braid, a metal Jedi Credit medallion, a cool Jedi starfighter patch, a burned poster of the Jedi Code, a map of the Jedi Temple, a light saber diagram sketched on the back of a napkin from Dex’s Diner, and a note on the missing pages torn from the book by a Sith.
Advances in technology have made it easy to obtain shopping cart software to start an online business, but the ones that succeed often have a great marketing strategy that helps to drive people to their website. Sites like Zappos.com differentiated themselves from the rest of the pack with great customer service and amazing relationship marketing, which allowed them to generate the substantial revenues that attracted Amazon to purchase them for almost $1 billion. This is just one example of a company that jumped into a crowded online niche, and become a major success story.
There are a number of different marketing techniques like using pay per click advertising or SEO to attract more consumers to your online business, but there are other effective methods of promoting your business in a fun way. Word-of-mouth marketing encompasses a variety of techniques which work to create a buzz among consumers, and get them interested in learning more about your online business. One easy but effective approach to promote your online business is to use custom stickers and custom skins to spread the word about your website and create interest among consumers. You can add stickers into a customer’s shipping box on their first order, or pass them out to friends, family, and employees. The custom vinyl skins can be used to cover your laptop, iPhone, iPod, or iPad, so you can show off your online business wherever you go.
There are many places online where you can purchase custom stickers and custom skins. However some of these sites look very outdated, and do not give the impression that they can create amazing stickers for your online business. When you Google “custom stickers” you will find one ecommerce site on the first page of results that seems to set themselves apart from the competition. This new entrant into the custom sticker scene is Stickermule.com, who launched their ecommerce business earlier this year. They started work on their ecommerce site in February this year, and in working with Railsdog.com, they were able to quickly announce their official debut on their blog in late March. Rails Dog covered Sticker Mule on their blog just a week later and highlighted how easy the ecommerce site is to use for consumers, in addition to a number of technical features about site. Custom images are stored in the cloud with Amazon, and the site is running on the Ruby on Rails based open-source e-commerce platform, Spree, which was created by Rails Dog CEO, Sean Schofield.
When you arrive at the site, you will instantly enjoy the sleek design and straightforward layout that makes it easy to understand and use when creating custom stickers and custom skins. They have colorful homepage images that help show off how nice their creations look upon completion, and have three big boxes below that highlight their different product lines. Consumers can either choose custom stickers, die-cut stickers, or custom skins. When it comes to custom stickers, they have a number of different shapes and sizes to choose from, so you can get the right design to match you brand’s logo. Die-cut stickers are very cool, as they maintain the shape of your logo. The die-cut sticker example throughout the site is the mule from the Sticker Mule logo, but they also showoff a number of other design samples. Custom vinyl skins allow you to upload your design, and have it replicated on a skin that can be used for a laptop, iPhone, iPod, or iPad, They can be easily attached and removed whenever you like. The only downside here is that you have to order multiple skins at once, but Sticker Mule is discussing the option of adding one-off orders in the future.
If you have an online business, you need to make sure that you continually experiment with new marketing techniques. While the custom stickers and custom skins approach might not be right for all online business, it is definitely a great idea that most ecommerce sites can test for little money.
What happened when a dirt bike riding health care professional and a heavy equipment operator/construction worker put their heads in together in 2003 for a unique business venture? The answer is simple: Anti Monkey Butt Powder. Anti Monkey Butt Powder is a unique product made to combat the soreness, itching, and redness that can be caused by “Monkey Butt.” Here at ZippyCart we were previously not familiar with what the term “Monkey Butt” meant, but a quick check on Urban Dictionary shows a number of entries from 2003. This confirmed the definition that the Anti Monkey Butt Corporation (AMBC) from Austin, Texas, lists on their website,”term used by motorcycle riders to describe the soreness, itching and redness that occurs when you ride and sweat on a motorcycle for hours. If you have to walk bowlegged like a monkey to prevent your skin from rubbing, you have Monkey Butt!” We then made some calls to motorcycle and bicycle riders, almost everyone of them not only knew the term, but also knew about the product.
In the beginning, the AMBC focused on their core product, but over the last couple years they have expanded and now offer Lady Anti Monkey Butt Powder and Baby Anti Monkey Butt Powder that comes with a Baby Anti Monkey Butt Diaper Rash Cream. The trend is catching on, as Babies“R“Us has already picked up their baby product to carry in their online store and some of their physical locations. A number of other retail locations also carry their product like select Harley-Davidson Dealers, Walmart, and Walgreens. Not only did the AMBC create a unique product to sell online, but they took it to the next level by expanding their distribution to the masses so almost anyone could pick up their product.
One of the other things that the AMBC has focused on is marketing, as they have a very big fan base on Facebook at just over 35,000 fans, plus an active Twitter account, and a number of videos on their YouTube channel. They have some of their own viral commercials that promote the product in a fun way and encourage people to share them and talk about them with their friends. Another viral way they have received attention online is by having bloggers use their product and review it, in some cases they even sent the product to the blogger to get the extra coverage. The AMBC even sponsors ARCA Race Series driver, Darrell Basham in #34, as a way to showcase their brand and flagship product Anti Monkey Butt Powder.
Overall there are a number of things that a merchant can learn by examining the strategies and techniques used by the AMBC to make Anti Monkey Butt Powder a popular product with their target audience. This is why the AMBC provides yet another good example of one simple fact: there is no single way to reach success when selling online, instead there are many amazing and even fun avenues to choose.
I hate wallets. They are bulky, dull looking, and just plain annoying. I don’t carry a purse, despite my mother’s hopes to “girlify” me. So, given my hatred of wallets and purses, I chose a lifestyle that would ensure I just need the bare necessities with me at all times: my ID and my debit card. Unfortunately, even with just two items in my back pocket, I still tend to lose one or the other… which has led everyone in my life to say “Just get a wallet!” every time I complain about having to order yet another debit card. So, in search for a wallet, I took to the Internet and came across something to make me LOVE wallets: the Narwhal Company.
Besides having a great name, the Narwhal Company has a great and simple concept: stylish products that aren’t bulky. Court Godfrey, the owner, began the company after brainstorming things to do with some old ties. “We liked the patterns on the ties and tried to come up with something we could make out of very little fabric. I was never a fan of giant wallets and so I just created something that worked for me—a slim card holder that forces me to get rid of unwanted wallet baggage,” Godfrey states.
Products available at Godfrey’s ecommerce store include a Tie-Fold wallet, the Wheeler Dealer wallet, the Sattley Slim card holder, the Passport Cover, and Wrist Wear tie bracelets. All products are made from recycled ties and all are on their way to making me a wallet loving convert!
When one person creates a niche product like a tie wallet, one wouldn’t exactly think that enough sales would be made to pay a full-time salary, let alone grow a business, but the Narwhal Company has actually seen great success. When asked why Godfrey chose to create an online business, he said that “The online aspect seemed the way to go to test the waters on the viability of the product and avoid hassles of finding a storefront and selling to brick and mortar shops.” Customers initially visited the Narwhal website through word of mouth, but soon Narwhal was covered on a variety of media outlets like Real Simple Magazine, Daily Candy, Not Cot, and several others. This coverage helped to boost sales and build momentum for Godfrey and company. The Tie-Fold wallet quickly became the best seller, with the Sattley Slim and the Passport cover following. All in all, though, The Narwhal Company has done very little proactive marketing, but makes customer service a top priority. This helps cultivate their word of mouth roots and continue to drive sales.
The ecommerce store that drives sales for Godfrey uses Foxy Cart as its backend platform. This basic ecommerce solution is highly customizable and works well for a storefront like the Narwhal Company, which only has 5 main categories and about 8 featured products in each category (then many different variations of the products when you scroll below the fold). When asked about the platform that they chose, Godfrey responded “It’s basically awesome. Fully customizable and able to fit any application you’d like to plug into it. I’m not all that slick with programming and whatnot but my web designer/programmer was pretty excited when he found them and even more so as he’s tweeked and twisted everything to fit his parameters and design wants.”
We asked Godfrey if he had any words of inspiration for someone running an online store, and here’s what he said:
“Just like all businesses, you’ve got to crunch the numbers. If it doesn’t add up, it’s not worth doing in the end. It’s a numbers game. Also, you’ve got to be passionate about it otherwise it will fall by the wayside. In the end, I always wanted to try and start a small business and would have regretted not giving it a go. I’ve learned a lot and it’s been a great experiences. So, if the numbers work out, I say go for it. Don’t get intimidated. Take it one step at a time. If you look at the big picture it starts to get overwhelming. Slow and steady wins the race. Also, there are great resources out there. Almost anybody is happy to talk to you and help you avoid problems they faced.”
Ultimately, customer service, a good ecommerce solution, and a unique idea have combined to drive a great deal of success for Godfrey and his company – which goes to show that there is no single way to reach success, instead there are many amazing and even fun avenues to choose.
My Uncle is a hard core bike rider… I mean hard core. He’s always finding the newest long distance race to bike in or the latest challenge. A few years ago, he and a group of friends biked the entire Pacific Northwest, which added up to thousands of miles. Now he’s training for the STP (Seattle to Portland), which will be a cakewalk in comparison. To prep himself for training, his son got him a new pair of biking gloves: Handerpants. Now he can ride in style. The Handerpants were such a sight, that it made me wonder who could have envisioned such a product and how do I get my hands on in them?
After a quick search online, the Handerpants website was staring me in the face. For only $11.95, I could have a pair of these breathable cotton tighty whities that claim to do the following:
Fits Most Hands
Form Fitting
Prevents Chafing
Absorbs Sweat
Distracts Enemies
Non Toxic
Great For Jazz Hands
So why is this product so popular that an entire dedicated website was built for it? To unravel that mystery, all that I had to do was click on the “buy yours now” button. Instantly I was sent to the Archie McPhee website and the light bulb went on in my head. If your not from Seattle, you may not know the strange allure of Archie McPhee, but maybe this will help: They have cornered the entire bacon/meat category when it comes to weird things made of America’s favorite breakfast food. From bacon jellybeans to bacon belts and more, they literally have an entire category on their online store dedicated to bacon. In Seattle, Archie McPhee retail store sits a comfortable distance from the University of Washington and on the outskirts of Fremont and Ballard, but online, Archie McPhee can reach millions with a few clicks of a mouse which is why this store finds great success in the world of ecommerce.
Archie McPhee does not spend a dime on advertising.”our best advertisement is our unique products. We spend nothing on advertising, but try to be so amazing that people talk about us. Of course, we use Twitter, Facebook and any other forum that helps our customers to know what’s going on,” says David Wahl, spokesman for Accoutrements, Archie McPhee parent company. The company has many avenues to success offline, including an annual paper catalog that is sent out to thousands of customers, some of which have been shopping at Archie McPhee for over 20 years. According to Wahl, merchants should “never underestimate the value of an actual object. People save and collect our catalogs, sometimes they want to remember what they didn’t buy and the paper catalog is an excellent souvenir of their time spent with us.”
When it comes to driving success online, Archie McPhee has a variety of tactics, including their “Slightly Less Disappointing” blog, a social media presence, and free gift with purchase. The free gift with purchase is a great way for a unique store like Archie McPhee to keep customers engaged and encourage larger purchases, as “another better free gift” is given to those who spend more than $35 at their online store. Besides these tactics, Archie McPhee employs a very unique method of reaching their audience by creating multiple micro-sites that feature one specific product, like their Handerpants site. This is a great way for ecommerce merchants to draw attention to products they want to take off. “We love the idea of microsites for specific products. We have them for many of our products. If you Google them, you can find a virtual Yodelling Pickle, a Sarcastic Ball and even Squirrel Underpants. Customers love the extra content you can provide on the site and it’s an easy way for a customer to find the product,” Wahl concludes.
While I haven’t purchased the Handerpants yet (still need to become a better biker myself), I have attended a bacon-themed 30th birthday party… and now I know where all of the amazing decorations came from. If you’re looking for something fun to give as a gift this year, consider visiting Archie McPhee to see what unique items are available.
“Collect a group of products so amazing that people can’t help but talk
about them. If you can do that, half your job is done.”
-David Wahl
Tomorrow, we will be launching a new section on ZippyCart entitled the Product of the Week. This section will feature a variety of quirky, unique, and fun products found online. We feel that ecommerce offers a world of opportunity for those willing to put in the time, commitment, and drive. Those with a passion to start an online store often have a unique product that is driving them into ecommerce, like Samy Liechti of Blacksocks.com. It is these unique products that we want to draw attention to. We have scoured the net for the funniest, quirkiest, most unique, and most creative products available, and will feature one product each week as well an online store selling it. We hope that this will help give merchants the attention they deserve while proving one simple point: there is no single way to reach success, instead there are many amazing and even fun avenues to choose.
If you have a unique product that you would like featured, contact us. We are happy to help you show off your creativity!
Many people in Seattle were aware of Matthew Inman and TheOatmeal.com before it experienced viral success and become a popular web comic that is read by millions of people each month. Recently ZippyCart came across a web comic called TurboSloth.net, by creator Ben Pernick, which is slowly gaining popularity and looking to achieve some viral love as well. What sets Pernick and TurboSloth apart from other web comics, is that the comic itself is not intended to showcase amazing comic art, but instead focuses on being funny and putting out multiple web comics each week. Pernick likes to kick it old school, and use the well known software called MS Paint, which allows him to focus on being funny first. Currently TurboSloth is undergoing a redesign behind the scenes, and one of those things on the agenda for the future is the addition of a small online store.
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