The Grouptrader Member Spotlight: Rooms Inc

This is the first in a series of spotlight profiles on a variety of Grouptrader members. Head of Membership at Grouptrader, James Armitage is currently looking for a new kitchen, and focuses the spotlight on the Essex-based kitchen company, Rooms Inc. 

As part of my research for this spotlight profile, I went to visit the Rooms Inc showroom in the picturesque town of Maldon, Essex. I located the showroom, set behind large grey pillars within a beautiful Georgian building on the high street, and was impressed to see the charming kitchens, catering for all tastes, budgets and different-sized spaces on sale.

The showroom includes a wide range of kitchens from the more traditional English solid wood kitchens, which happens to be more my cup of tea, through to the ultra modern, sleek lined, German kitchens, and many styles in-between. 

You can spend big and make your kitchen a real feature of your home or equally, work within a more modest budget with Rooms Inc’s very own ‘Inspired By’ range, which offers great quality, fantastic flexibility and choice, but is more affordable.

Service with a smile

The main thing that stood out during my time at Rooms Inc was that it didn’t seem to matter what the customers were spending – the big spenders, or those on a more modest budget – everyone received the same great service. You get the impression that the staff genuinely love matching the perfect kitchen to the right people, which is so refreshing and different to how the huge plc chains I’ve previously visited operate.

In fact, there were no signs of a ‘sales person’ anywhere, just people who know, and care, about kitchens. And, whilst it is a new showroom, they certainly don’t lack in experience, as the small, friendly team has over 10 years’ experience in kitchen design.

Equally impressive is their attention to detail in the full installation service for their kitchens. The personal attention they offer extends from the first design idea to the last soft close of the door on your new kitchen. They can even provide you with a full range of every possible kitchen appliance you may need, all at competitive prices.

Talking and listening

The person I spent most of my time with, and observed in action the most, was the delightful Corinne Emery. Her passion and enthusiasm for giving people the best kitchen for their budget really shone through and her knowledge is second-to-none. She’s also incredibly inspiring and bursting with ideas.

Corinne demonstrated the ability when she met a couple who wanted very different kitchens from each other. Through a bit of talking, a lot of listening, and no small amount of patience, I watched her find them a kitchen, at the right price, that they are both delighted with. 

If you live in the Essex area and are looking for a new kitchen I highly recommend a visit to the showroom to find out what they can do for you.

We will be replacing our kitchen shortly and will definitely be putting Corinne’s skills to the ultimate test. Let's see what she can do with my wife and my differing kitchen styles! 

The Sneak Special Offer

Call Rooms Inc for a free, no obligation design consultation worth £100. This includes survey and 3D perspective designs using exquisite German and English kitchens.

The Grouptrader Card for International Travel

Head of Membership at Grouptrader, James Armitage, reveals why the Grouptrader Card is the perfect travelling companion

The Grouptrader Card is the ideal card to use whilst abroad, be it on a business trip or a relaxing family holiday. It‘s one of the best value cards to use abroad, there are no additional charge fees and no credit facility on the card, you can only spend what you have so you don’t need to fear the arrival of a big bill when you arrive back in Blighty!

Competitive rates

The exchange rates that the card offers are extremely competitive too and the latest rates can be found here.

Whilst you cannot withdraw cash with the card, you can use it to pay for whatever you want to buy, practically anywhere that accepts card payments, which is over 32 million locations worldwide. So, whether it's business drinks with clients or a family ticket to the water park, the Grouptrader Card can do it all.

‘Yes but what if I lose it?’ I hear you ask. Don’t worry, you can block your card instantly, either by calling the 24/7 hotline, via the website or even using the simple smartphone app.

If you want to benefit from the fantastic Grouptrader Card then simply click here: www.grouptrader.com

We hope you enjoy your trip away!

Connect with your customers – turning users into people

James McBriar, from Worlds Connect, reveals essential ways to connect with your customers

Worlds Connect

Worlds Connect is an OTT (over-the-top) messaging network for apps. It offers two-way content delivery between the client, the application and the user. Using Worlds Connect, you can have fast, secure and reliable two-way feature rich customer engagement using HTML 5. 

An OTT network also allows your users to share content with each other while integrating other channels such as social media, using push content. Our tools suite provides you with the power to communicate with your app users by a variety of means. This incredibly powerful acquisition and retention tool from Worlds Connect allows you to engage with your customers like never before.

We know that many consumers are addicted to their smartphones, probably more than watching soaps or even eating! As brands adapt to the consumer appetite for mobile data, websites have been re-optimised for hand-held devices and messages are being written to be read, specifically via mobiles. It’s no secret that both the business and the consumer are becoming mobile-focussed.

‘Messaging’ used to be limited to just sending a letter in the post, but now there are so many options: SMS text messaged, email, in-app messaging (push, rich and chat) and web (also push, rich and chat).

Some people even use a phone to make a call – yes that does still happen! With the tools now available for communicating with customers, a new challenge is presented; determining which of these forms is best suited to your customer or type of communications.

Getting this right can not only enhance your communications, leading to increased engagement and therefore a higher chance of sales, but also improve your ROI and brand equity.

Create a connected world

You now need a tool that can help you connect, identify and interact with your customers via apps, online channels and any other web-enabled device. This will connect all your touch points across web, app and any other format, regardless of the user’s IP, ensuring you can identify your connected customer, turning them from users into people. 

The advantages

Personalised communications

The ability to identify your customers not only humanises your thought process when planning marketing communications, but enables you to deliver targeted messages. The option to personalise, starts from adding simple merge fields such as first name – to increase the chance your message will be well received – through to content specific to each individuals preferences, optimised effectively to the device the message is being viewed from.

With your options increasing the temptation to bombard or over-test various messages types could become detrimental, having a negative impact on your brand. So consider, what do your customers not want?

What do your customers really want?

The simple burden of carrying a mobile device is receiving multiple messages within a small period of time. Bombarding your contacts becomes an intrusive process. If the message does not add value then don’t bother – it's that simple.

Your messaging can now be delivered in a range of ways, triggered by your location, automated by your current progress through your customer lifecycle and even synchronised across all your channels, delivering a consistent joined up experience for your user.

Creating your social element

The influence of peers should also be considered with the addition of integrated communications across an established website. By allowing your customers the ability to forward and share your news, you can create a social network for your brand. This lets your customers communicate with each another through the network and share information on social media and other channels, such as email – increasing your brand reach.

How is the smartphone changing things?

Anyone involved in digital marketing knows that smartphones are a key channel that now facilitates a significant number of communications. In the last 12 months, we’ve seen vast developments that will lead to new opportunities for B2C brands, to engage their audience and for their consumers to benefit from an advanced, more specific offering that meets their requirements.

For more information and to learn how to communicate better with your customers, contact Worldsconnect today, sales@worldsconnect.com or call 0333 3003491.

How to Trade with Fellow Grouptrader Members

Head of Membership at Grouptrader, James Armitage, shares eight essential tips to help your trading on the network off to a flying start

Talking to people you don’t know can be a real mine field, particularly when you want to start trading with them.  It’s very easy to let that little doubting voice in the back of your head talk you out of great opportunities. ‘What if they don’t like me?’, ‘What if they don’t rate my business?’ or ‘What if they say no?’

So how do you go about trading with a Grouptrader member you don’t know? 

Well, hopefully the following mix of practical advice and pointers on etiquette, will go along way into making the whole process a great deal easier.

1. Research – decide on the company you want to talk to, read their Grouptrader directory listing, website and any social media links. This allows you to get a good grasp of what they are about and what they are want to achieve.
2. What's the deal – think about how your offering could link to their aims or how both your respective businesses could complement each other.
3. Communication – decide how you wish to contact them, such as, email, phone call, Grouptrader message or other social media links. My personal preference is an email, followed up by a phone call 48 hours afterwards.
4. Don't be rude – introduce yourself properly first. Nobody likes receiving communication that just starts preaching at you before it’s put into context, or the credibility of the source has been established.
5. Focus on building a relationship – don’t just blindly sell, sell, sell. Remember, people don’t like to feel like they are just being sold to, show that you actually want to build a lasting relationship that will benefit both of you. 
6. Meet face-to-face – if possible arrange to meet up for a coffee. Meeting face-to-face usually significantly strengthens trading relationships.
7. Deliver on promises – start your trading relationship on the right foot. Do what you said you would to the agreed timescales.
8. Give and get back – if you can help out another member without an excessive amount of cost or hassle to yourself, then do it. They will remember you for it and you never no who they know. What goes around comes around, be positive.

If you stick to this advice, you can’t go far wrong and remember what’s the worst they can say, no? If your not trading with them now and they still don’t trade with you after, what have you lost? I would suggest the 5 minute email and 10 minute phone call are worth the gamble to grow your business.

Let’s start trading together today!

Grouptrader Pointsback Club and Personal Points

Find out how you could benefit from having a Grouptrader Card and Personal Points

Welcome to the home of great deals, savings, sales, amazing discounts and fantastic rewards.

Feeling a little skeptical? Well read on and let’s see if we can convince you to give it a try.

• Do you like paying less?
• Do you like getting great deals?
• Do you like the flexibility to spend your rewards where you want?

If the answers to these questions are ‘yes’, then you’ll love the Grouptrader Card.

So how does it work?

The Pointsback Club is a collection of retailers and service providers that will give you points back onto your Grouptrader card when you use it to shop with them both, on-line, and in-store. 

How much is a point worth?

We believe that people don’t want to collect millions of points to find out they are only worth 50p, so we keep things as simple as possible. One Grouptrader point will give you £1 of spending power, wherever you spend them.

Can I only spend them with members of Grouptrader?

You can spend them practically anywhere that takes card payments, that’s over 32 million locations worldwide. The retailer will treat the card just like a standard debit card. So when we say practically anywhere, that’s exactly what we men, such as your local pub, your hairdressers or even your hotel abroad.

How do I get points?

Grouptrader Personal Points allows you to purchase points to load onto your Grouptrader card. There are 2 ways you can purchase Personal Points from Grouptrader:

1. Using PayPal – use your PayPal account to pay for the points, this will cost 1.4% of your transaction + 20p
2. Using a bank transfer – simply transfer funds from your bank to Grouptrader using the correct order reference for FREE 

These Personal Points will be loaded straight onto your card so you can get spending!

How long does the Grouptrader Card take to arrive?

Your Grouptrader Card will be with you in two weeks from the time it is ordered.

Ok, but how much does it cost?

The card is only £10 per year

Is it worth it?

The average savings are around £485 - £2,334 per year, depending on spending behavior. For example a family of four are likely to spend more and so save more than a single person. 

So would you spend £10 to save up to £2,334 a year?

How do I get a Grouptrader Card?

Simply sign up and order your card from our website www.grouptrader.com

We hope you decide to join and start benefiting from the great deals, savings, sales, amazing discounts and fantastic rewards today.

To find out more information about the fantastic benefits of being a Grouptrader member visit www.grouptrader.com 

Boost your Business with Social Media

Social media expert, Louise Thomas, reveals how social media can work for you

Over the past few years you’ll most probably will have heard countless experts harping on about the importance of social media for your business, and that it's an absolute necessity for any company in the 21^st Century – and to be honest, they're not wrong!

With 72% of internet users now admitting to being active on some form of social media, there's a vast market out there with huge potential for your business to tap into. 

However, as it's such a new form of marketing, many business owners still feel a little unsure about how to best approach social media. Having personally worked with CEOs of businesses of all sizes on their marketing, I’ve encountered lots of popular queries and questions ranging from 'How much time should I be spending on social media marketing', to, 'Which social network will work best for my business?' and some quite frankly ask 'What is the point?!' To which I would simply inform them that Facebook alone has 1.15 billion users. Which other form of marketing available has the potential to reach anywhere near that number of consumers? 

New world

If you're unfamiliar with the big brave new world of social media, then where should you even start? What exactly is the best way to use social media for your business?

As with any marketing, you need to consider your consumer first and foremost and how they spend their time online. To break it down simply; Facebook has moved on from it's original popularity with students and is now surprisingly most popular with users between the ages of 25-35, a statistic which is increasing in age as time goes on. 

Teenagers have moved on to the next big thing in social media marketing, Instagram. Whilst this platform may now be four years old – which could be considered a respectable age in the world of all things online – the concept of using it for marketing is about to really take off in a whole new direction, because the platform have just announced the follow-through of paid advertising for the app, allowing brands to pay to promote their posts. 

Youtube is currently also big news in the world of social media, with over 1 billion unique users every single month and a community that keeps on growing, it seems foolish to overlook the power of using videos for online marketing. Where the saying goes, ‘a photo speaks a thousand words’, it could be more relevant to add that a Youtube video speaks a million. 

The final big player in terms of online social media is Twitter. Originating as a platform whereby users were given solely 140 characters to speak their mind, it has since evolved encouraging users to share images and now even animated GIFs. Twitter is most popular with certain areas of business, such as fashion, beauty, food, and is also used by many as a form of keeping up-to-date on the latest breaking news, its users vary in age. 

Blog it

Another great option of course, is a blog. These can be created on Blogspot, Tumblr or Wordpress and are a great tool in bringing people to your website. If you're constantly posting interesting and informative content, then you're quite likely to see regular readers coming back for more, which is great for business.

Other areas worth mentioning are Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Vine and Tumblr – these are all great add-on platforms to use, which can really increase your online presence if you have the time.

Time is key when it comes to social media, first and foremost, you need to have adequate time to dedicate to looking after your online marketing, but it can also take time to start seeing any positive results. Your aim should be to build an online community almost, full of fans and potential customers of your brand/business, but just like any real life community, this sort of relationship takes some time to build, so don't give up too soon – be patient and you'll soon start to see how social media can really benefit your business.

If you're a little short on time then it could be worth thinking about who exactly is going to manage your social media. If you're the CEO of a business, then chances are social media isn't exactly going to be top of your priorities list! In which case it's important to decide who you want to manage it for you. A lot of businesses consider it an easy task, which can be delegated to an intern or work experience student, to which I'd recommend you to err on the side of caution. 

You may view Facebook and Twitter as a young persons game and assume that every young person knows how to work their way around a Facebook post – which is somewhat true – however, what they might not have the knowledge of is your company’s best practice, tone of voice, advertising approach, values or how marketing works in general. 

Trained Staff

A marketing trained individual is the natural choice of employee to take care of your online presence, and most definitely a wise one. However, it could also be worth considering a PA, or anyone in your organisation who is good with words. A smooth and successful social media schedule needs both well-written content with a dash of creativity and high levels or organisation.

The third option, however, would be to consider passing on this responsibility to a third party, a creative or digital agency who offer marketing services.

Top tips to takeaway!

1. Don't focus all your energy trying to please everyone, it's all about quality over quantity. Decide where your consumers spend most of their time socially online – if you're really stuck, ask them – and create regular posts on that site. It's better to have one really strong online presence, rather than five quiet ones.

2. Create interesting content. I think it's key to remember that people want to gain something from the time they spend online, so in order to create successful content you need to entertain them or inform them. 

3. Don't have as many followers as you'd like yet? Whatever you do, never 'buy' followers. Yes, this is as ridiculous as it sounds – you're quite literally paying money to add numbers to your accounts. This money would be better spent paying to boost your posts – Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram have a paid ads feature, whereby you can spend as little or as much money as you like on getting your posts to reach a larger audience. The great thing about this, is YOU get to choose who you want to reach – you can specify this by location, interests, age and gender. 

4. If all else fails, run a competition! This is great if you're starting out on social media, if your business can afford to give something away – whether it be a prize or service relative to your business, or even something generic like a gift voucher – this will bring in a lot of traffic to your pages. Ensure that your users have to 'like' and 'share' your page to enter, and before you know it you'll see an influx of activity. You'll then be able to reach out to all these people again in the future when advertising your business.

Legal changes to online buying and selling | Business – in partnership with Grouptrader

Legal changes to online buying and selling

If you buy or sell online, recent changes to EU consumer protection law affect you. The Sneak’s legal expert, Eileen McKendry-Gray,  told us how.

In June 2014, a European directive introduced changes to the legal rights for consumers shopping online, which ensures all EU member states are now working to the same rules. Whether you buy or sell online, these are the changes you need to know. 

Right to cancel

Most are aware of the 7 day cooling off period when shopping online, but did you know that this has been extended to 14 days? This means consumers have longer to decide if they want to keep a product and still be entitled to a full refundif they change their mind. This applies to services as well as products.

If a business fails to provide information about the consumer’s cancellation and refund rights before the consumer pays at the check out, this increases the time the consumer has to change their mind by up to 12 months – so make sure your website terms are up-to-date. Businesses also have to provide a model cancellation form, although the consumer is not obliged to use it.

The new rules also stipulate that once the consumer cancels the order within the cooling off period, the business has 14 days from the order cancellation to refund the charges for services – or, if relevant, 14 days after receiving the goods back, although the business is entitled to hold onto the refund until they receive the returned goods.The refund must include the amount the consumer paid for delivery, although businesses can keep the amount paid in excess of standard delivery charges, if the consumer asked for special delivery – eg next day delivery.

Make it clear you are collecting payment at check-out

A consumer will not be obliged to pay for an order if it is not clear when they confirm the order, that they are making payment at that point. In practice, most online businesses use click-buttons which state ‘pay now’ at the check-out, and this appears to be sufficient.

When does the cancellation period start and finish?

It starts on the day the consumer confirms the order and the business confirms that it will fulfill the order. This means that online businesses should be clear about when they have accepted an order and so are contractually bound to deliver.

The cancellation period generally ends at the following points in time:

• For goods – 14 days after the consumer receives the goods, or the last of them if delivery takes place in stages, although different rules apply if the order is for things like subscription magazines. The clock starts ticking on the day after the consumer receives the goods.

• For services – 14 days after the date the contract is made for the supply, unless the consumer explicitly allows the business to start delivering the services earlier and acknowledges that they have lost the right to cancel in those circumstances. The right to cancel is then lost once the services start –eg the consumer consents to a download starting and then downloads the content.

There are some exclusions to the right to cancel, which we’ll deal with in a later article – watch this space!

Digital content

When it comes to purchasing digital content, online sellers will have to provide clearer information, for example about compatibility with hardware and software and whether it incorporates copy protection.

The new rules make it explicit that the consumer has to state clearly that they consent to the content being provided before the end of the cooling off period and at the same time acknowledge that they will lose their cancellation right. The online seller then has to acknowledge this in the order confirmation. If these steps are not taken, the consumer can download the content and then not be obliged to pay for it, so it is worth getting this procedure right! We think that most customers would consent to early delivery and waive their right to cancel.

Helpline charges

Previously, helpline phone numbers could be found with a variety of rates from basic to premium, but now, they can only be charged at a basic rate. If a trader uses premium telephone lines, they have to repay the customer call charges over the cost of a call at the basic rate.

What should online businesses do?

Carrying out an audit of internal sales processes and website terms is a good place to start. Sometimes, all that is required is a tweak to internal processes, for example ensuring order processing and confirmation is compliant. Obviously, those businesses, who previously relied on the 7-day cooling off period, will need to update their terms of business in addition to carrying out any potential tweaks to the sales process. One thing is certain – doing nothing is not an option.

Business – in partnership with Grouptrader