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Quokka Sports
is a leading provider of sports entertainment and a pioneer in next-generation
digital media technology. Their website, http://www.quokka.com,
is the first website dedicated to real-time coverage of multiple
sporting events on the Internet. Because online commerce is a key
part of Quokka's strategy, they chose the Escalate Commerce Network's
Merchant Service to provide a commerce solution to service their
sophisticated user base with the latest in sports products, including
brand name clothing, specialty books, and accessories.
Escalate
to Market™
Building a store that includes every aspect of online sales and
back-end processing in time for the holidays was very important
to Quokka. But, to build a sophisticated end-to-end e-commerce operation
from scratch would take a significant investment of time, effort,
and money. "In the time it would have taken us to write a job description
and advertise it, Escalate built our entire store," said Kathy Russell,
Senior Marketing Manager at Quokka Sports.
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As
many companies like Quokka Sports have discovered, selling products
online means more than just a storefront. It requires an entire
infrastructure. The Escalate Merchant Service provides a one-stop
shopping solution that alleviates the time-intensive and costly
process of creating the infrastructure needed for effective e-commerce.
Because the Escalate Merchant Service is built on the Escalate Commerce
Network, Quokka was even able to integrate with a fulfillment provider
and outsource customer service to service providers on the Escalate
Commerce Network in four short weeks. The resulting solution is
private-label, end-to-end e-commerce solution that enables Quokka
to maintain control over every aspect of the e-commerce value chain.
Flexibility
to Change
An important aspect of Quokka's e-commerce strategy will be the
ability to add and delete stores as they establish partnerships
with other sports-related channels and cover specific news. Using
the Escalate Merchant Service, Quokka Sports can adapt to the changing
needs of their business. Whether it's the Olympics, rock climbing,
marathoning, sailing races, or car races, Quokka covers it all and
needs the flexibility to create stores to match this scope. With
Escalate handling suppliers, logistics and customer service providers,
Quokka is free to concentrate on what they know best - providing
an immersive sports experience for their visitors.
Leaving the
Joneses in the Dust
Quokka wants to provide its customers with an online shopping experience
that matches its leading-edge content offering and delivery. As
a destination site for fans seeking multi-media sports coverage,
Quokka needed a store that embraced the latest in e-commerce technology.
As Quokka revolutionizes
the way the world experiences sports, its store had to fit that
theme by revolutionizing the way people shop for sports-related
products. While watching someone climb a mountain, reading the climber's
email and hearing the climber talk about the experience, visitors
to Quokka's site will be able to purchase the climber's jacket from
the same page. E-commerce powered by Escalate adds to the visitor's
experience of the event and allows them to have part of that event
delivered to their home.
A Reliable
Solution, Fast
"A reliable e-commerce solution is critical to helping us deliver
the most complete, immersive experience possible to our audience,"
said Jay Thomas, Vice President for E-commerce at Quokka Sports.
"Escalate took us across the finish line in a matter of weeks, with
far less pain and investment than an in-house effort. It's our store--Escalate
stocks it and powers it invisibly."
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Turoturo.com opened its virtual doors in November 1999, offering
hard to find, high-quality products from the Philippines. Now people
around the world can shop for specialty products found only in designer
retail stores in Europe and the United States, as well as award-winning
collections such as picture frames that received the 1999 Arch of
Europe Gold Star Award.
Turo Turo (tu-ro tu-ro) is derived from the Filipino verb "turo"
meaning, "point". It is slang used to describe restaurants where
customers may simply point at the dish that they wish to order.
With this image of immediacy and directness in mind, Turoturo.com
intends to make online shopping a seamless experience for its customers.
Short Time to Market
Getting an operational store in place and effectively marketing
it before the holidays were key to Turoturo.com. And they were not
willing to make a trade off between speed and quality.
"With Escalate we are launching our store just four short weeks
after we made our decision," says Georgina Lee-Chua, co-founder
of Turoturo.com. "And with complete control over all merchandising
elements like store look and feel, store organization, product descriptions
and prices, we have been able to create a quality shopping experience."
High Quality, End-to-End E-commerce Solution
Turoturo.com's strategy is to combine first-rate online merchandising
with robust transaction capabilities. They want to make these significant
points of differentiation. Their challenge was to find a service
partner that would help them meet unpredictable scalability requirements,
and maintain high security and service levels, with minimal investment.
"We knew better than to believe all the hype about setting up a
web store and then sitting back and waiting for the money to roll
in. But we also knew we could make things easier by choosing the
right partner. With Escalate's superior end-to-end e-commerce solution,
including order management, payment processing, fulfillment and
customer service support, we are confident of success."
Headroom to Grow
Turoturo.com wanted to make the right long term decision. It was
crucial to them that the day-to-day administrative processes and
e-commerce services provided were scalable enough to allow them
to flexibly cope with future growth.
"Our business plan for next year includes the addition of many
more SKUs, consolidating warehousing and delivery through a fulfillment
house, and selling outside the United States. It was crucial to
find a service that would grow with us. For instance, the processes
for adding or removing products offered by a lot of services we
evaluated would have made managing a large assortment impossible."
Great Client Support
Turoturo.com does not have the unlimited resources and expertise
that many services require on the client side for creating a highly
customized look and feel. However, Turoturo.com was not willing
to compromise on the quality of merchandising.
"Another clearly distinguishing characteristic has been the client
support we have received from the Escalate Partner Engineering team
through the store set-up process. They have been extremely supportive
in working with us and flexible in accommodating all our needs."
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