80/20 Rule

“A high percentage of effects in any large system are caused by a low percentage of variables” 80/20 Rule – also known as Pareto’s Principle, and Vital Few and Trivial Many Rule. The 80/20 rule can be observed in most parts of life. If (like me) you google it you’ll see just how many topics there […]

The 6 Pillars of Successful eCommerce

I’ve been working in eCommerce for a while and I thought I’d share the some of the lessons I’ve learned about the fundamentals of eCommerce along the way. As with any blog post I don’t expect to cover everything – this is not an exhaustive list. The carrying power of a bridge is not the average strength of the pillars, but […]

Advice For New Designers

Starting out as a designer is hard, the hours are long, it requires a great deal of dedication and you’re not going to get very far without talent. I’ve got some tips for talented designers who want to get a little bit further. Some are about developing soft skills and other is procedure, but I […]

What Makes Retailers Great in a Digital Age

The UK’s best and worst shops were revealed by Which? recently and it is interesting to go through the findings and see what makes retailers great in a digital age. A trend in retail currently is businesses becoming more digitally enabled. But digital is complicated. A line I came up with in a digital strategy presentation for a major […]

How Operational Changes Can Boost Online Sales

Apple-Store

When trying to improve revenue on an eCommerce website the focus for digital agencies tends to be on improving the funnel. After all, tactics that are designed to improve the funnel should lead to increased revenue. This includes things like making buttons clearer, doing usability studies, improving page-load speeds and so on. Even if the changes result in […]

Notes from Wordcamp Cape Town 2013

Yesterday I went to the Wordcamp Cape Town 2013. It was a lovely experience and day out of the office. Firstly whoever had the idea to book Nicholas Smal & Gareth Allison as the MC’s had a stroke of genius. They brought great comedy, woven with a tasteful level of nerdiness that the audience loved. From […]

Another Personal Website Redesign

My Website Update

A lot of people more successful than me have been touting the benefits of blogging regularly. I am particularly bad at keeping a journal or writing down the insightful things that fill my head. Except for paying clients, in which case I am pretty good. Recently I’ve been doing a lot more flat and thin […]

Why you should send your staff to SxSW Interactive

Recently I decided I wanted to learn more and get out the office, so I thought I’d go to a conference. I was not lucky enough to get the company I was working with to pay, so price was a big factor – individuals rarely have conference budgets (at least I do not know any […]

Incredible Connection Going The Extra Mile

Incredible Connection are going the extra mile, or at least appearing to, on social media with this interesting social media tactic. They are one of the brands that appear to be making the valuable connection between their digital ecosystem and their retail stores. This is important because retailers with brick and mortar stores are bricking it […]

Heavy Chef of December 2012 – eCommerce

The last Heavy Chef talk for 2012 was centred around eCommerce in South Africa and the Heavy Chef team had managed to rope in some of the local heavyweights to share their insights and thoughts. The speakers were Kate Jansen of Zando, Jenna Bloch of Kalahari and Andrew Smith of Yuppie Chef. I’ve jotted down […]