Gadgeit.com
Whilst studying in London 2003, I noticed the concept of “Gadget Shops”. These were retail/online stores selling unique gift and gadgets targeted at guys.
Back then, the Singaporean retail scene was relatively undeveloped, and these products mostly designed in the UK and US, were unique.
E-commerce was also not prevalent at the time, and we introduced a snazzy piece of technology, incorporating drag and drop carts, which was way ahead of its time.
How We Did
The combination of an easy to use e-commerce website and unique products, which were shipped over from the UK & US, made us an instant hit with media.
We were featured extensively on magazines such as Maxim, Cleo, FHM, and also in a segment by Channel News Asia.
We hit the jackpot though by exploring the then untested waters of blog advertising. Our first advertorial feature by Xiaxue, yielded us hundreds of orders, which turned out to be a problem for us! That success, eventually led to my belief in the blog advertising industry.
Lessons Learnt
We decided to end operations with Gadgeit largely because of 2 issues.
- Too many business partners. Too many chefs in the kitchen. A lack of accountability as a result.
- The huge influx of orders due to Xiaxue’s advertorial was unexpected and as a result, many orders were unfulfilled, leading to unhappy customers.
These key lessons helped me in my future business ventures.
