iksula content & open source solutions 01222013

Iksula Services

Iksula derives its name from an ancient river in India. Iksula believes and aspires to grow and flow, serving the needs of direct e-commerce companies

Iksula was founded in March 2007 to provide complete solutions for Internet and direct ecommerce companies globally having offices in India & US with 200 full time employees and 100 Associates.

Iksula is co-founded by ex-eBayites who have closely worked with Internet Retail, Online Travel and other direct ecommerce mediums.

Iksula through its ability offers world class solutions finding best answers to business problems and execute it using 3 pillars People, Process and Technology.

Currently 165 people strong: 30 Tech Developers, 112 Content Team (30 writers, 70 catalogers, 2 photographers, 10 image editors), 15 Internet Marketing Professionals, 8 Sales and Admin

About Iksula

A few of our clients

Services we offer

Technology

Internet Marketing

Content Production

Merchandising

Fulfillment Operations

• Ecommerce websites and applications in Magento•Magento certified partner

•Helping our clients and partners drive visitors and conversions through SEO, Social Media, PPC and Affiliate marketing• Producing high quality product content which increases conversions – Table Top Photography, Model Shoots, Image Editing, Descriptions, Cataloging, Articles, Blogs

• Category, Consumer and Analytics driven insights to matching supply and demand for increased ecommerce sales

• Customer Service, Courier Management, Warehouse coordination

Consulting•Helping offline players explore the online market•Helping online players to extract best ROI for their online presence

Our Clients are located across 4 continents

How do you make great product content?

Product Page Components

Version 1.0 Version 2.0Faster Bandwidth

Version 3.0Emergence of Social

Version 4.0Emergence of mobile

Basic Hygiene Calls to Action / Delivery and Returns Information / Stock Information

Product Attributes

Product Descriptions

Featured Driven to Informercials

Product Images Low resolution

High resolution, 360 degree views, Product videos

Product configurators, Videos, Personalization

Recommendations (cross/upsells)

Merchandising driven

Consumer’s site behavior driven

Consumer’s social behavior driven

??

User Reviews Text reviews Video reviews ??

Social Sharing “Like” buttons ??

Trial Rooms Zovi.com “Zovi Eye” ??

Key elements of a product page and evolution across time

Images: Photography

Types of photography

Table Top/Still – as the name suggests, it is done on a table top with or without styling

Catalog

Editorial

Table Top / Still Photography

Used mostly for accessories, electronics Focus on the product; low cost of production Can shoot 100-120 products a shift; 40-50 jewelry

products a shift; higher with photo boxes

Table Top Product Shots

Catalog Type Apparel Photography

Shot on models, but focus is on the product; plain background in most cases

Most fashion brands use this form - Zara, Neiman-Marcus, Diesel, Globus, Armani Collezioni, Burberry, Levis

Cost of production not very high Can shoot 80-100 products a shift

Editorial /High Fashion Photography

Lots of accessories Model and the background are styled; will usually follow a

theme Examples: Benetton, Versace Cost of production very high 40-50 products in a shift

Recommendations (cross / up sell)

Merchandiser selection driven Market basket analysis• An old offline retail technique which evaluates

groups of products that are bought together Collaborative filtering – pioneered by

Amazon• Users who bought this also bought that• Wikipedia Definition “the method of making

automatic predictions about the interests of a user by collecting taste information from many users”

• Some enhancements• Discover tool – Amazon again• Website recommendations based on your search

history, and aggregated data collected from other users

• Recommendations not necessarily based on what you are searching for

User Reviews

Text Reviews Actual consumer written. Eg: amazon.com Seeded reviews Powered reviews. Eg: powerreviews.com

Video Reviews http://www.firebox.com/product/5511/Mighty-Bo

omBall-Speaker They pay 50 pounds for every user video

But how do you produce high volume content – more than 300 SKUs a day?

What do you need to build great content?

You need Great language skills Photography as well as image editing Ability to do the very basic task of filling data

sheets every day Eye for detail

Along with Great Product Knowledge You need a Category /

Merchandising manager

What do you need to build great content?

A category manager OR members of the category and merchandising team producing content

= High quality content

BUT Very high production costs Poor productivity Production delays

What do you need to build great content?

You need a “Content Production Framework” consisting of

High quality content at a great price

Trained PeopleThe links that constitute the

delivery chain

TechnologyThe tool that assists PEOPLE to

complete their PROCESSES more efficiently

ProcessThe structure that defines

quality output and productivity

Let’s talk about Process first

A process helps you to Structure Work Flow for smooth

movement of work across task buckets Define expected output to ensure quality

standards as well as standardization of output

Continuous measurement and improvement

Process – work flow example

Tasks are broken down to logical groups & flows allowing easy project management

Tasks are executed according to expertise

Tasks are processed serially and in parallel for high efficiency

Pre-processing

Collections Identification

Options & Join product

Sheets

Sku Descriptions

QC Merging

Parallel processing

Serial processing

SKU Tagging

Competitive Pricing

Data Delivery

KIT Creation Collections Imaging

Attributing

Classing Related Items

Swatch Images &

Association

Complete

Process – defining output

Documentation, documentation and more documentation

Capturing every minute requirements

Some key documents Attributing instructions and guidelines Writing guidelines Photography style guide Image editing guideline

Process - sample photography guideline

Establishing basic definitions

Detailed guidelines by product line

Process - sample writing guideline

Define Measure Analyze Improve Control

The Six Sigma DMAIC Implementation Approach

•Define project objectives•Validate / develop Project Charter• Identify Quick Wins and refine process• Identify Performance Measures

•Data collection• Plot and analyze data•Determine if special cause exists•Determine Sigma performance

• Stratify process and data•Develop problem statement• Identify root causes•Validate root causes

•Generate solution ideas•Determine solutions, impact, benefits• Evaluate & select solutions•Develop process maps & high level plan

•Develop Pilot Plan•Verify Sigma improvement•Develop standardization opportunities• Integrate lessons learned•Handover to process owner

Process - a quality framework for continuous measurement & improvement

What do you need to build great content?

You need a “Content Production Framework” consisting of

High quality content at a great price

Trained PeopleThe links that constitute the

delivery chain

TechnologyThe tool that assists PEOPLE to

complete their PROCESSES more efficiently

ProcessThe structure that defines

quality output and productivity

Technology

Work flow Productivity Quality

Project management tool that allows task allocation, management and time tracking

Tools that allow you to execute tasks faster

Helps to standardize data and in identifying errors

Technology

Work flow Productivity Quality

•Task Allocation•Tracking•Writing•Editing•Quality Scores•Reporting

Technology

Work flow Productivity Quality

Excel Macros

Photoshop Actions

Data Scrapers

Content Creation Tools

Classing Tools

Attributing Tool

Technology

Work flow Productivity Quality

Quality Environments

Staging Server Visual Check and Editing

Tool

What do you need to build great content?

You need a “Content Production Framework” consisting of

High quality content at a great price

Trained PeopleThe links that constitute the

delivery chain

TechnologyThe tool that assists PEOPLE to

complete their PROCESSES more efficiently

ProcessThe structure that defines

quality output and productivity

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People - a typical team structure

Cataloger 1

Quality lead 1

Quality lead 2

Team lead 2

Team lead 1

Project Manager

Program Management

The layer that drives productivity

Domain experts, the layer that drives quality

Execution layer

A hierarchical structure leads to career growth and long term employee retention

People - performance frameworkTask bucket wise analysis

Row Labels 7-Mar 14-Mar 21-Mar 4-Apr 18-Apr 25-Apr 2-May 9-May 16-May Grand TotalAccent

Name/Descrip Score [TBLPRODUCT] 3.68 3.73 3.79 3.84 3.99 4.00 4.01 4.04 4.03 3.91Options Score [TBLJOINPRODUCTSUPPLIER] 4.29 4.34 4.34 4.38 4.40 4.41 4.44 4.47 4.47 4.40Shipping Score [TBLPRODUCTOPTION] 4.58 4.58 4.60 4.62 4.63 4.63 4.64 4.64 4.65 4.62Pricing Score [DATA FILE] 4.82 4.83 4.84 4.85 4.83 4.83 4.78 4.75 4.71 4.79C & A Score [ATTRIBUTES] 3.65 3.68 3.68 3.70 3.69 3.68 3.68 3.68 3.67 3.68Images Score 3.92 3.97 3.95 3.92 3.88 3.88 3.89 3.85 3.85 3.90Associations Score 4.07 4.12 4.17 4.16 4.16 4.16 4.18 4.18 4.19 4.16Kitting Score 4.05 4.05 4.02 4.02 4.04 4.01 4.01 4.01 4.01 4.02

UpholsteryName/Descrip Score [TBLPRODUCT] 3.12 3.12 3.16 3.19 3.23 3.23 3.27 3.27 3.27 3.22Options Score [TBLJOINPRODUCTSUPPLIER] 4.27 4.28 4.28 4.29 4.31 4.31 4.31 4.31 4.31 4.30Shipping Score [TBLPRODUCTOPTION] 4.45 4.46 4.40 4.41 4.42 4.42 4.39 4.39 4.39 4.41Pricing Score [DATA FILE] 4.44 4.44 4.45 4.44 4.45 4.45 4.38 4.38 4.38 4.42C & A Score [ATTRIBUTES] 3.44 3.42 3.45 3.44 3.45 3.45 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44Images Score 3.34 3.31 3.29 3.30 3.32 3.32 3.31 3.31 3.31 3.31Associations Score 3.86 3.82 3.74 3.71 3.74 3.74 3.72 3.72 3.72 3.75Kitting Score 3.58 3.57 3.57 3.51 3.51 3.51 3.51 3.51 3.51 3.53

• Extensive metrics on quality and productivity•Objective performance evaluation translating to a merit driven organization

Resource quality scorecard

People - enabling performance

You need extensive training programs to enable high quality and productivity

Great content through…

..a coming together of people, process and technology

High quality content at a great price

Trained PeopleThe links that constitute the

delivery chain

TechnologyThe tool that assists PEOPLE to

complete their PROCESSES more efficiently

ProcessThe structure that defines

quality output and productivity

Open Source Solution for Online RetailersCan it really make you money?

Why Open Source?

Fully Featured Out of the Box

Community Support

Secure

Global Payment Aggregators

Open Source Vs Proprietary Software

Cost Involved

Open Source

The Cost is low and no licensing Fee

Update

Open Source

MILLIONS of developers are working to keep the

software update

Customizability

Open Source

As the source code is available amendments

can be done as per requirements

Vendor Lock-in

Open Source

Free from Vendor Lock-in as the entire community

own the software

Development

Open Source

Open Standards facilitate integration with other

system

Best of Open Sourcefor Internet Retailers

eCommerce Featuresusing Open Source Solution

Virtual Dressing Room

Product Video

Compare Product

To remove from comparison

Differences are highlighted

Similar Products for comparison

Rotating Gallery with Zoom

Gift Finder

Customization at work

Multichannel

Selling Products to different vendors through single Platform

Customize Jewellery

Size Calibration

Advanced search

Auto Suggestion

Marketing ToolsTo Turn Browsers to Buyers

Promotions and Offers

Thank you