The world around us

Amazon.com’s affiliate in China, Joyo.com is to get better brand recognitions and personalization technology from Amazon.com, including features such as a personalized tab at the top of each page for recommendations and previously browsed items. China’s web retailing sector is growing rapidly and especially since 2004 after when Joyo.com has been adding more categories to its site, more than any other online retailer. The site was originally only an online bookstore, but now has more than 20 product categories, such as electronics, watches, kitchen, personal care and more. So far the retailer offers cash on delivery in over 330 cites.

Toy retailer Toys “R” Us is launching a new set of personalized gift cards that shoppers will be able to use online or in their stores. Shoppers will be able to choose their own care design, from a selection of cards online or add their own personal touches in the form of photographs, messages or artwork. The gift card will come with a greeting card that can be designed by the shopper as well.

As a frequent traveler, I have learnt to have an international phone card with me as a back up to my cell phone. Often times, cell phones don’t work and it just makes sense to travel with an International phone card that can be used from anywhere to anywhere, without any hassle. The international calling card that I usually get is a Pingo one, as they have good rates as well as service. I like the fact that they have no hidden fees or surprises that you discover when you’re about to make a call. International callers also get 4 hours of free international calls when they sign up for Pingo, so it’s a good deal all around.

With regular rates that save 90% of international calls, it makes sense to get a couple of these cards. And yes, if you refer your friend to them, Pingo will give you $15 per referral. Customers will get $5 free in calls when they sign up for a phonecard from Pingo. I remember the time I was traveling overseas and my flight was delayed by over 10 hours. It was the middle of the night and the only way I could get in touch with my family to use a calling card, since I couldn’t change my money as the foreign exchange counters were closed. Since then, I have made sure I have a calling card with me when I travel.

CD swapping site Lala.com is keen on moving to the next step, and is transforming its site to a music portal. Once the changes are made, members will be able to download music directly to their iPods instead of their hard drives. The company had made a deal with Warner Music Group and will be selling 200,000 songs for 99cents each. Lala.com has no advertisements and makes its money only when members buy CDs or swap used ones for a fee of $1 per disc.

Analysts said Lala is taking a huge risk. As a full-service music site, it will compete not only against Apple’s iTunes, which sells 5 million songs a day, but e-commerce powerhouses Amazon.com and eBay.

I found another cool site on the Internet called BassaBids, which is a reverse auction site and plans to give away lots of cool prizes. Currently the site is in beta phase and is running only one auction where the winner gets a iPod shuffle. To participate all you need to do is to become a member by signing up with your email id, which you have to confirm and then you’re all set to start bidding.

The person with the lowest unique bid wins the auction, so your bid must be the lowest as well as being unique, as in no one else must have bid the same amount. There are two types of auctions at BassaBids, free ones that anyone can participate in without any charges and other auctions where members must pay $1.99 for each bid that they place. Once the site is up and running at full speed, it will have some really cool prizes like laptops, cars, motorcycles, Plasma TVs and much more.

There has been lots of exciting news on the retail front lately. Whole Foods opening in London, Best Buy considering a tie up with Indian consumer durables retailer Vivek, Macy undergoing another name and branding change, and so on. It’s been a lively week for retailers across the world and it certainly is an exciting time to be writing about retail. No matter where in the world you live, retail is something that affects all people at all levels and that’s what makes it so interesting.

Well, we will be moving again pretty soon and I need to start compiling my list of essential services and numbers to have ready for our next location. We’ve moved so many times in the past 5 years, that I have become quite an expert at this. What I do is that as soon as I know which location in the city we are moving to, I gather my list of essential household services and have it ready for when I move. So as soon as I shift, I have a ready list of the cable person, a mobile operator, cleaning services, florist, etc. This makes it so much simpler to get settled, as until one has all amenities set up, one doesn’t really feel at home.

The Internet has made it really simple for me to do this, since I have a handy list of available doctors, real estate agents, schools etc all on the Internet. @List is one such Business directory which is a perfect place to find information on a host of services such as real estate agents or banks or auto service stations. Compiling a list of this stuff has made my life and our moves each time much simpler.

Been thinking about how markets define the terminology of a product. Think for example for the word fair. In Asia, this simple word holds a lot more meaning than elsewhere, specifically when it comes to beauty and skin color. Fair is the color to be, fair is what is in demand, fair is what everyone is marketing to.

In Asia, fair skin is considered as the epitome of beauty, and the word fair is itself a positive sounding word. In contrast, in the West no one uses the word fair for skin color, they use the word pale, which has a negative connotation as if you’re not well or not rich enough to go to places to get tanned (natural or not). No one in the West wants to be pale, they spend so much time, money and effort to become darker and tanned.

So how do you think of yourself? Do you want to be fair? Are you pale?

The government is keen on reducing the limitations on foreign direct investment (FDI) and is likely to open up multi-brand retail FDI is segments that are perceived not to have high competition and therefore minimal impact on local traders. Sectors such as electronics, apparel, gems and jewelry and sports goods are being discussed and the government will probably announce its decision sometime in July. According to an official, “The government is not in a position to take tough political decisions at the moment. Only those areas could be considered for opening up, where there is a big support group and where opposition wouldn’t be intense. Such areas are very few.”

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer is positive that by opening stores in India, it will help its economy and traders. The company said that its aim was to partner small business traders, to partner with them and teach them how to reduce costs and increase profits. Kevin Gardner, senior manager for international corporate affairs for Wal-Mart emphasized that the company would be entering the wholesale sector in India, while it’s joint venturepartner in India, the Bharti Group will have a retail venture. In this regared he said that, “While Bharti, our joint venture partner in cash-and-carry, has announced its intention to enter into retail, it needs to be clearly understood that this is a separate, wholly owned and managed Bharti venture. Unfortunately, wholesale and retail are often confused resulting in unwarranted speculation and misinformation.”