At the eCommerce Expo in Two Pics
April 12, 2008
I had a ball at the EMERGE eCommerce expo which was here in Kingston, Jamaica at the Hilton Hotel. It was a decent first start, looking forward to next year. The highlight for me was the conversations I had with entrepreneurs who are just bursting with passion for this thing we’ve all embraced called the Internet.These are two pics for now. I have more coming. In the first one, I’m sandwiched between Maurice McNaughton, Chief Technology Officer for Paymaster Group and Neif Neamatt from Digicel Jamaica Business Division. And no I didn’t stick Maurice in the eye. The Second one is Heather and Chad from Jamdeal.com. Chad is a pioneering tech entrepreneur who’s brought us eBay like sites for the Caribbean. (Disclosure: Chad is one of my business partners in Caribclix.com)
ShoptheCaribbean.mobi-guide to hot,new, undiscovered Caribbean products
April 2, 2008
Caribbean products have gone mobile and global. ShoptheCaribbean.mobi is the insider’s guide to products,brands that are hot, new, undiscovered and Caribbean. The site covers from Caribbean food and drink, beauty and fitness and lifestyle to music and fashion, house and home plus sweet deals. They scour the Internet and other sources, then share the best and more interesting finds,reviews and observations with their readers online and those who access the site on their Blackberry,iPhone, Ipod Touch or other internet enabled devices. They launched yesterday.
iphonejamaica.com - the online buy and get it unlocked resource
February 18, 2008
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking after you read that headline. You probably said to yourself, but the iPhone hasn’t officially reached Jamaica in fact the Caribbean as yet. Read more
BINARYADS.COM an ecommerce site…well sorta
February 12, 2008
Binaryads.com is a great idea waiting for proper execution. Binaryads.com is an ecommerce site now called by their owners as “The Caribbean’s 1st Online Computer Directory.” It has chosen a lucrative niche in tech products and offers the most comprehensive list of such products online in Jamaica and the Caribbean.They have aggregated from about 30 Jamaican retailers - descriptions, pictures and prices of products such as CDs & DVDs, Digital & Video cameras, cellphones, electronics, hard drives, computers, scanners, ink & toners and software in a single place online.! So easy for you to browse and look at prices. We love that!Having said that,here are my questions. Why the heck is it called Binary Ads? Why is the site positioned as The Caribbean’s 1st Online Computer Directory when in essence it’s an ecommerce site, mean to give an online shopping experience ( ah mean they offer you the option of building your own pc ? Why is the user buying experience compromised with bad design and out of what information architecture. I figure that if you mastered the challenge of getting over 30 retailers to use you as their online representative, why wasn’t just as much time spent on the GUI design and I’m not going to even mention the sense of being shortchanged by the shopping cart experience the site labels as a visiting cart and a members cart.I believe this site is a great idea, but I do hope they realize their amazing potential by getting a profession web designer, a more relevant, brandable name and an internet marketing plan.If you liked this post, why not Subscribe and get Silicon Caribe Today by Email
$1million for forexjamaica.com domain on jamdeal.com
February 4, 2008
Yes you read the headline correctly, someone has posted on jamdeal.com- the ebay of Jamaica, the domain name forexjamaica.com for sale at JA$1,000,000 or US$14,000. With the Forex Fever that’s gripped Jamaica over the past few years and especially last year anything to go by, this should be interesting to see if the seller gets any serious offers. We’ll keep you posted. Source
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VP Records launches online music store planetgreggae.com plus an affiliate programme.
February 1, 2008
VP Records, dubbed the world’s leading reggae record company, has launched planetreggae.com, an online music store selling MP3s, music videos and ringtones. Along with it an affiliate programme, which allows anyone to set up, a co-branded planetreggae.com store and make 10% on each item sale.
The online music store will have VP Records digital reggae music catalogue including music from Channel One, Joe Gibbs, Penthouse Productions, Techniques, Dynamic Recordings and King Jammy to name a few. It sells single track for US$.99,full album downloads for US$9.99 and videos for US$1.99, ring tone prices though yet not finalized are likely to be sold for US$1.99.
Additionally, the planetreggae online music store will accept Paypal and all major credit card and debit cards (Visa and Mastercard). If you sign on as an affiliate, you will receive monthly statements but will be paid your money quarterly to coincide with artist royalty payments.
VP Records, headed Chris Chin and Randy Chin, was in the news this week when the company made an offer to buy Greensleeves Records & Publishing from Zest Group plc, subject to the approval of Zest’s shareholders. If the sale is approved, then VP Records will inherit a catalogue comprising some of the most notable albums of the genre, from Elephant Man to Yellowman and hit songs recorded by such acts as Rihanna, Sean Paul and Shaggy. Greensleeves is said to have a comprehensive reggae back catalogue of 400 albums and 900 singles, dating from the 1980s.
CaribbeanWeddings.com - Get married in the Caribbean
December 20, 2007
CaribbeanWeddings.com®, the largest site on the Web devoted exclusively to developing wedding and honeymoon business for hotels in the Caribbean, has signed on eight Wyndham resorts to their site.
The deal means that the Wyndham hotels will have their hotel information and their wedding and honeymoon packages on the site. The participating hotels are the Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach on Grand Bahama Island, the Viva Wyndham Azteca and the Viva Wyndham Maya in Cancun, and the following hotels in the Dominican Republic: Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach, Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, Viva Wyndham Playa Dorada, Viva Wyndham Samana, and Viva Wyndham Tangerine.
The seven year old site boasts nearly 500,000 brides have visited the site.
Our Christmas Online Shopping Picks
December 10, 2007
It’s Christmas and we all want to know where to buy what online that’s uniquely Caribbean. For some that means sauces, jams, jellies and coffee and for others, it’s anything but. We scoured about 100 quality Caribbean shopping sites to give our picks for this season.
BEST IDEA FOR A SITE-Islandgems.com – This is a site where you can buy gemstone jewelry. While it only has a passable site design, it makes up for it in its range of quality product offering and information rich pages that helps the consumer to make choices.
BEST CUSTOMER BUYING EXPERIENCE-Banyancreations.com – A little bit over a year online, the site offers gourmet candles with names such as Caribbean vibes, coco pineapple and island dreams in addition to bath and body care products from the boutique manufacturing company. - www.island1stop.com – One of the better sites to shop for the jams, jellies, sauces,jerk seasonings and coffee. Easy to use, design is pretty good, well laid out….good shopping experience.- camarosacoffee.com - of all the coffee selling sites out of the Caribbean, this is the best designed site we’ve come across that gets the coffee buying customer. Well laid out, information rich and ease of use makes it a pretty decent buying experience.
MOST UNIQUE PRODUCTS-Sprawltees.com – this site is the home of one of the most web savvy t-shirt sellers out of Jamaica. They get online branding and it helps that they have a unique range of quality Jamaican t-shirts. -www.flyasiclothing.com- We liked this site because while its range is not extensive, it’s smart in its offering.- Ethiopiantaste.com – African Caribbean and rasta merchandise. Need we say more.- www.islegifts.com- In addition to the usual sauces,jams and jellies, it adds art and paintings, home and garden stuff, sculptures and carvings, Jamaican games like dominoes gift. Well designed site clearly understanding how an online shopping site must appeal to the online buyer.
BEST GROCERY SHOPPING-Buygracefoods.com - Buygracefoods.com is a partnership between Grace, Kennedy & Company Ltd. and Tortuga Imports Ltd., operators of the Tortuga Rums website. Smart, smart, smart. Talk about going after the Jamaican and Caribbean Diaspora market where the Grace brand is super strong.- Superplusfoodstore.com- This site offers comprehensive product offerings and great prices just like its brick and mortar stores, but man does the site suck in terms of design. Another place where the Jamaican Diaspora can shop for their relatives back home.
BEST AUCTION SITE Jamdeal.com
BEEN THERE DONE THAT- Caribbean Connoisseur- From cigars, blue mountain coffee, hot sauces, jerk seasonings, rum cakes, perfumes, reggae merchandise and much more, all with a Caribbean flair. This is how they’ve pitched their site for years. they definitely are enjoying longevity in the market, but we suggest an update of site design for the new year.- Starfishoils.com – Get your oils, candles, incense products from this company that’s been selling its Jamaican and Caribbean products online for years and they are still at it.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK-Yaadsale.com – a serious contender in the mini Amazon type shop here for all things Jamaican kind of site.What do you think? Tell us your picks.
Buy Caribbean Event Tickets Online at islandstubs.com
December 4, 2007
Island Stubs.com is a Jamaican based company that offers event goers a safe,secure place online to buy tickets for their favourite Caribbean events. It also allows event planners and promoters to sell their own tickets online as well. IslandStubs.com brands itself as an end-to-end online event ticketing service.
”We are very excited to finally bring this much needed service to the Caribbean. Online ticketing has become an international phenomenon; spawning a lot of innovation and business development,” said Noelle Nicolls, Director of Planning and Development. The company which officially launches on December 18, has already snagged marquis event Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival 2008 and will be selling their tickets online.
Islandstubs.com is powered by software from the eight year old US-based company In Ticketing (www.inticketing.com) They are a full service ticket provider for events worldwide and offers online ticketing, venue and box office ticketing, and onsite event solutions including check-in and gate scanning of all tickets for quick entry.
eCommerce and Jamaica - are we there yet?
October 31, 2007
Jamaica- It’s just that there has been so much hype and talk plus news of a litany of aborted and on hold projects; with the few success stories linked to Jamaicans living overseas or a few others with strong links to the local Financial sector.
Back in 2001, Minister in charge of Technology Philip Paulwell, promised the coming of the electronic transactions act that will herald
So where are we now?
