Going Down with Branders.com
Branders.com used to be a pride and joy for Filipinos. In fact, marketing guru Al Ries praised the dear website for having what it takes to survive in the cutthroat world of e-commerce during his visit here last June 23, 2006 at the Westin Philippine Plaza. Unfortunately, Branders.com seems to be like any other child wonder (think Shaira Luna and the rest of the Promil Kids) for this so-called marketing wonder is slowly fading into the background.
Look at their Alexa stats recently and you’ll realize they’re about to go down. What ever happened to the Evil Marketing Genius? Did he or she fail? With the amount I assumed you pay this so-called EMG (you pay really well, right?), is this person following the steps of whoever is behind Chikka or Auction.ph?
Well, yeah, National Pen is also still in the dust. In fact, I am so unsure if they ever functioned at all. Haha. But then, being a genius does NOT give you the license to use industry troubles as an excuse.
Now, what should Branders.com do? Since all eyes are on China right now, it’s more difficult than ever for mere middlemen to survive. I mean, for B2B requirements, Alibaba reigns supreme. So unless Americans are really THAT dumb or THAT lazy or simply THAT unconcerned about saving a few thousand bucks or so as long as they do their own ordering, well Branders.com may still have a future.
However, if more and more companies at the East- and West Coast become more knowledgeable about how to get directly in touch with a certain Mr. Lee in Shanghai, what’s stopping them from ordering through Alibaba and skipping Branders.com altogether?
Well, a simple answer would be CUSTOMER SERVICE. We all know that in this realm, anything coming from China does not seem to come with a sufficient warranty. And so, this could be Branders.com’s edge. Unfortunately, having personally ordered through Branders.com, I must say that their service sucks. The shipment came delayed, uber delayed. Worse, the after-sales service was non-existent. But lo and behold, they have the nerve to contact me recently to ask if I am doing any corporate Christmas shopping come Holidays 2007.
Customer Service is your one and only hope, EMG. A certain company may not value it that much but that does not make it less important. Alibaba may be able to improve it for their own site, but surely not at the level of the other hundreds or thousands of Chinese suppliers listed in their website. Thus, by putting a premium on things such as warranty and whatnot, you can justify a higher price. Now, then, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist an Evil, Marketing Genius to figure that one, right?
Branders appears to be struggling and it’s going to be tough long term. They dug a huge hole of 40+ million to create a website and will now get eaten alive by smaller more nimble competitors. They’re running price comparisons now of supposedly major sites of little nick nack items. I’ve tried them a few times and look at it this way if I can find a lower price with no effort on the web why do I ever want to take advantage of their low price guarantee anyway?
Comment by Branded — January 19, 2008 @ 5:15 am
Bitter? Please provide links to your comments… “slowly fading into the background”???
Unless you come up with facts to back up your comments please do me a favor and shut the hell up!
Comment by Rick — January 23, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
bitterness, eh?
Comment by whatnots — January 23, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
I beg to disagree, I used Branders.Com several times and it make wonders for me. My rep is always attentive of my needs and keep me updated.
I will keep on using Branders.Com - I don’t mind paying a few dollars more as long as I know I am with good Company such as Branders. Cheers to Branders!!!
Mary Miles
Comment by mary miles — January 23, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
I have personally talked to buyers going to mainland China to source. While it’s true that it holds so much promise in terms of low-cost production, yada yada, many buyers and retail agents are still anxious to buy directly from factories there. They are not that comfortable yet dealing with Greater China, for that matter. Sure, Agentrics-represented companies such as J.C. Penney source directly in Greater China, but for SMEs, middlemen who have a thorough knowledge (and there isn’t that many) of how the Chinese process business dealings are their only hope.
So for SMEs based in the US and Europe, online e-commerce sites are the sole solutions. Companies like Branders, by the way, do not only service SMEs. They are not sourcing agents in the first place so it’s unfounded to compare them with Greater China suppliers. Further, their service goes beyond SMEs. Schools, institutions, clubs and events organizers, in particular, could and would never deal with China suppliers. It’s impractical.
Comment by from China with love — January 23, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
Would you care to expand regarding your late order?
Comment by doctorpromo — January 23, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
Marketingmanila you can say all the bitter and thoughtless things going on your mind, but please support it with facts and state your real name so we can investigate and help you out with your concern. But really, it’s sad how you just show no wisdom with press freedom (blog all you want if you’ve got no time to do anything better). I just can’t believe how much trash you’ve wrote. Maybe it’s your way of getting people to comment. Now, that’s low.
Whether or not Branders.com sold anything to you, the important thing is the truth of the matter. Whatever bad thing you say against any organization will not eat them up or bring them down. Their sales would, but not your nasty comments.
Please do not involve this company nor any other organization to release your hatred and bitterness for the world. —>Think!
And think before you write anything please. Just a word of advise for you.
Comment by Press-Freedom-But-No-Wisdom? — January 24, 2008 @ 1:05 am
I LOVE BRANDERS. i will sooner die then leave branders.
Comment by claire — June 1, 2008 @ 8:11 am
Interesting in 20 years of being in this business and about 19 of those years being online, I never heard of Branders? I would not put too much emphasis on what Alexa says. Alexa basically only shows stats from people who have the Alexa toolbar installed on their computer. After I realized how much Alexa’s toolbar was slowing down my PC a few years ago, I removed it and never looked back and quite frankly could care less what our alexa rank is since no one searches for our B2B services on Alexa, they use Google, Yahoo or MSN.
Comment by Manufacturing In China — June 6, 2008 @ 9:44 pm