Mark Forrester

A lesson in e-commerce

10 days ago I ordered 2 t-shirts from the US based Oddica.com. I bought the t-shirts in the October sale, 2 for $34, with a $10 postage fee.

Today I received my package in the post and I was most impressed. Inside the lovely packaging were my two branded American Apparel t-shirts, along with some complimentary postcards, stickers and 2 badges with the matching designs printed on them.

Oddica T-shirts

Anyone selling a product online can learn a lesson from these guys. They could have sent me my t-shirts in a generic brown paper bag with a receipt attached. Instead they have paid special attention to the packaging of the product, creating more of an experience when opening your branded goody bag.

First impressions count and Oddica have assured themselves of a repeat purchase from me.

In

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17 responses

  1. Live Alchemy » Blog Archive » Packaging gives e-commerce physical contact

    […] Forrester blogged recently about his experience in buying T-Shirts from Oddica.com, a US-based online store. The package […]

    Reply
  2. Ideate – Small Business in South Africa

    […] week Andrew Smith and Mark Forrester posted on their recent online shopping experience. Mark had a GREAT experience with Oddica.com and Andrew had a really DISAPPOINTING experience with the ZA Store, oh and he also […]

    Reply
  3. hash Avatar
    hash

    LOL… Man, this brings up a similar post from me last year. It really is amazing to see how much work they put into making it a great buyer experience.

    Oddica: A Tale of Overdelivery

    Reply
  4. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Haha @ Hash. Thats pretty freaky man. We placed the stickers, badges, and t shirt quite similarly! What are the chances.

    Just proves how we value good presentation.

    Reply
  5. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    Sold! Nice one Mark. I always have a problem gaining trust with overseas e-commerce companies. I look for t-shirts online constantly, and have not found a single place worth while until now.

    Thanks a million for blogging this!

    Reply
  6. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    I’ve just been over on their website and unfortunately it seems as though I will have to wait a while as most of the designs I like are not in my size, pity!

    Reply
  7. iMod – Blogging, Chatting, Coding, Marketing and lots more..

    […] reading a blog post written by Mark about ‘A lesson in e-commerce‘, I decided I would order something from Oddica.com, which is the company we purchased some […]

    Reply
  8. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Hey Chris, glad the post was helpful. Pity you can’t find the size you are after. I’m sure if you check again soon they’ll have new stock in. Definitely worth the wait.

    I know their is an online t-shirt shop in South Africa, but can’t remember the name of the site. Any ideas? Has anyone used them before?

    Reply
  9. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    Ye, I’ve subscribed to their RSS feed, which will hopefully keep me up to date.

    I know eSquared Fashion have a local website, but there’s not much stock, perhaps 5-10 tees, of which I don’t think any are really worth buying. They have tons of styles in their offline shop, I don’t know why they don’t populate the e-com store.

    If you find a local place, please scream 😉

    Reply
  10. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Yeah i’ve seen eSquared website before but as you say they don’t have much stock online at the moment and don’t quite compare to Oddica, Threadless or Busted Tees.

    I’d love to see Big Blue selling some of their t-shirts online. They ran a competition, Makhulu Polane 2007, and some great designs were submitted.

    Reply
  11. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    Did my last post get blocked?

    Reply
  12. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    Guess so.

    [repeat]

    I will take a look at those Big Blue designs now.

    Forever21 is another overseas company, which sells a wide range of clothing, but there are several tees, which are really cool.

    With regards to Esquared fashion, Eric blogged about looking for investors and the evolution of Esqaured as an online trader – want-to-own-a-tshirt-company is the title of the post.

    This is a good thread, I wish a couple other people would get involved!

    Reply
  13. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Yeah i saw that post by Eric, I really think that would be a good investment opportunity in South Africa at the moment. I just wish I had more free time, if I did I would certainly jump on board.

    Reply
  14. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    I had a chat to Eric about the investing opportunities and unfortunately they are a little out of my budget range at this point in time, otherwise I would jump aboard immediately. I feel that the first company in South Africa who hits the online t-shirt market correctly, will make a massive success!

    Reply
  15. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    Well, today is the 24th and I placed my order on the 10th and asked for UPS, which was 5-10 days delivery, so I figure the tee should be here already.

    I am going to wait until Tuesday afternoon and send them an email, not so impressed thus far, but it’s probably the delivery service in SA though.

    Will keep you posted.

    Reply
  16. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    http://imod.co.za/2007/11/27/threadless-tee-arrived-successfully/

    Finally 🙂

    Reply
  17. Chris M Avatar
    Chris M

    I got a couple more tee’s..

    http://imod.co.za/index.php/2008/03/13/i-got-some-more-threadless-tees-today/

    Reply

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