Multiple sites

[leehack]

Elvis memorabilia? as though the king is dead, sheesh he was seen in the Tamworth Morrison's just last week.

[Rich Brady]

Elvis memorabilia? as though the king is dead, sheesh he was seen in the Tamworth Morrison's just last week.

Did he have an all in one jumpsuit on?

[oldcelt]

Just becasue a software offers multiple currencies does not equate to more internation orders.

I have a client that ships all over the world using Actinic. All of their prices are in GBP. They may get the odd customer email for a quote in their own currency (usually from the states) they just tell them to run the price through an online currency convertor.

If a great deal of your business will be stateside then a .com url on a US server will be best for SEO, as Chris has already mentioned and .co.uk hosted here in the UK.

Hi Rich

Thanks for your input. You may be right for a particular client but I don't think it's necessarily true for all on-line stores. There is also the question of "perception" and this particular client is convinced that the lack of multiple currencies adversely affects his sales. Impossible to prove as we don't have the choice of trying both methods within Actinic.

Personally, I'm sure that the present economic climate is the major factor affecting his sales. What he's selling are luxury items and the sort of thing that is first to be sidelined when belts have to be tightened. However, the old adage about the cutomer always being right has some relevance here.

[Rich Brady]

There is also the question of "perception" and this particular client is convinced that the lack of multiple currencies adversely affects his sales. Impossible to prove as we don't have the choice of trying both methods within Actinic.

What are the stats for the site like? How many foreign visitors do they get and from where? What % of those visitors are buying from the site. Are customers from abroad even finding their way to your clients site?

IMO if a site has what a I want, not having my own currency to chose from these days isn't that much of of issue. I'll google it to find how much it's going to cost me. I suspect it's more to with the fact that:

1. He's not selling what people what
2. Once converted the price is too high
3. Postage puts me off (A lot of guys in the USA have no idea how much it costs to ship things and are often shocked when quoted)

[oldcelt]

The stats show the breakdown of markets as I specified earlier. This is a new Actinic site but an old domain which previously ran with a different shopping trolley so the client knows a great deal about his internet trading over the last three years. Peviously, he was able to allow customers to choose from 3 currencies. Without boring everybody rigid there were good reasons to change to Actinic at the time but he didn't take on board the different currency limitations.

As I say, I personally would be happy to shop in any currency and do a conversion on-line to check prices. However, this client is convinced (having actually spoken to many of his long established customers) that the Actinic way is less conducive to overall sales than the previous setup.

[NicolaUK]

Just to chuck my two cents in

I also run music merchandise sites so am in a similar situation to yourself. How would you get around the stock control if you run 3 different stores? I'm guessing you're running them from the same server/or planning to so how are you going to process the payments, are you planning on running them through dollar and euro gateways - if not how do you get around the exchange rate? Unless you're constantly updating the prices in line with rate changes then the payments are always going to be a little off which would cause even more confusion to the customer IMO.

I run 'European' stores with a counterpart in US running the North American versions - we both ship worldwide, I can't speak for them but I only very, very occasionally get enquiries where customers aren't sure about exchange rates etc - I only display prices in GBP BTW.

It's 2009, most people are savvy enough to convert a price themselves - I don't think that's your sales problem.

[Sean Williams]

The English and close countries would probably search for .co.uk, The guys over the pond would use .com and the french .fr. I dont think you can generalise to much but that would probably be the best domains to chose for the largest returns.

Then you would need the servers in the relevant countries to get the best results

What about the .EU domain - would using this to cover all the EU countries obviate the need to use individual .fr .de etc.
Do search engines undertand the .EU domain even?
And where to host it?

[leehack]

It's 2009, most people are savvy enough to convert a price themselves - I don't think that's your sales problem.

Indeed and if you are unsure at all, then simply add a nice and easy conversion tool for them to use if they wish. Multiple actinic sites selling exactly the same things in different currencies = not a great idea IMO.

.com for me all the way.

PS - Sorry if this has stepped on anyone's blue suede shoes.

[grantglendinnin]

Why not have a only one site (.com) and embed a currency converter into your site, XE offer a solution for this: http://www.xe.com/ucc/customize.php

Alternatively, you could create a javascript function which dynamically converts the prices. I understand the logic behind this and have no doubt that it can be done on a website. How it can be done with Actinic, however, is another matter - although I'd be surprised if this sort of function couldn't be created to work with an Actinic site. Perfect challenge for one of the Javascript lovers on the forum

[Rich Brady]

I was wondering the same thing myself. Actinic already gives you the option to display in 2 currencies, so you'd only have to worry about the 3rd.

[leehack]

The 3rd is detailed in the AUG.

[grantglendinnin]

And there we have it, the perfect solution

[chris ashdown]

What about the .EU domain - would using this to cover all the EU countries obviate the need to use individual .fr .de etc.
Do search engines undertand the .EU domain even?
And where to host it?

As its the EU how about server spending half its time in Brussels and the other half in Stratzberg