MCMC's GMBO Grant Is A Good Deal But Has Few Takers

I spend a few months a year in Malaysia and have been doing so for a few years now. Not many people know where the country is located. It's actually situated between two very famous neighbors, Singapore to the south and Thailand to the north.

The country is still developing and the government hopes it would reach a fully developed status by 2020. One of the initiatives the government has taken includes encouraging small business entrepreneurs to take their businesses online.

The Malaysian government through the Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has budgeted RM50 million ringgit to help 50 thousand small business get online through what is known as the Get Malaysian Business Online (GMBO) grant. That's RM1000 per business. That sum may appear small but over here, it is sufficient to purchase a domain name and subscribe to an ecommerce software for a year and still have some change left.

To sweeten the offering even further, the MCMC has made it very easy to qualify to apply for the grant. There are basically 6 criteria to be met and that's it.

So why the are there only a few takers for the GMBO grant? Well, as juicy as the grant looks, no one  really knows about it. Publicity for the GMBO grant has been its greatest weakness thus far. The first version of the grant suffered from too strict a criteria, which would put anyone off regardless if it was publicized well.

But the current version, also known as GMBO 2.0, is destined not to hit its set target of 50 thousand approved applications by December 31, 2013.

MCMC estimates that there could be as few as 14 thousand applications approved by the end of the year. Hence, it may be revealed at the reading of next year's budget that the program will continue for another year.

Hopefully, it the program is extended, the opportunity to publicize the GMBO grant further would not be wasted.

Below is a video of an event organized by the MCMC. 

Shopping Cart Website Builder Plans For Newbies

We go into business to make money. However, we need to invest our time, knowledge, energy and money to make more money. Going into business is a risky affair but if you do your homework right then it's a calculated risk, less of a gamble.

For ecommerce newbies, it can get a little scary deciding to start an online store for the first time. Even for seasoned entrepreneurs it can be a scary thing. Maybe scary is not the word. I think after a while scary will evolve into exciting. Of course, the risks are still there but I guess that plays a part in making it exciting.

The good news for new entrepreneurs is that you can now get more features with shopping cart website builder plans than ever before. And you can get it at cheaper prices too thanks to the amount of competition out there.

Ecommerce software providers are adding more useful features into their cheaper plans ($60 and below). These features include Facebook Stores, Mobile Ready, Image Sliders or Carousels, Deal Of The Day and Auto Responders.

Just a few years ago, these features were unheard of. Now you can get them for free with most ecommerce solutions plans.

Visit http://www.thinkecommerce.net/best-ecommerce-software/shopping-cart-website-builder to find out which ecommerce software has the best value plans.

BigCommerce Clinches Best Interface Award

BigCommerce Banner

Just read a recent 2013 BigCommerce review on www.becomingintense.com that BigCommerce has been just been recognized for having a "super nice interface" by ecommerce review site ThinkeCommerce.net. To those who have used BigCommerce, this would not have come as a surprise. Their ecommerce software is really cool. Personally, I think BigCommerce, Shopify and Volusion have the nicest interface designs of all the ecommerce solutions I've tried. The first two are particularly intuitive and have been implemented well.

That's not to say you should forget about the rest of the ecommerce software developer pack. There are at least 5 smaller ecommerce solutions out there that can get in the ring with these 3. A couple of them usually operate under the review radar but power really popular stores. I think they're happy not going head to head with the big boys. That's probably the smart thing to do...for now.

mCommerce Bandwagon Coming Through - Hop On

I read an article on E-Commerce Times a couple of articles that pointed to the fact that mCommerce is growing faster than ever. It's still in it's infancy so it's a good time to get your store prepped for it.

By the way, Yahoo! has just acquired Alike, which is a mobile app that guides users to find nearby venues and places to visit. It sort of reminds me of augmented reality browser like Layar and Google's augmented reality glasses. 

Apps like these and Google Now, help target users much more accurately. They do this by tracking your whereabouts and behavior, which can be a bit scary at times. For example, if they know you usually leave for dinner at 8, they'll send you dinner suggestions half an hour earlier along with routes to take and traffic situations.   

There are a lot of considerations that go into this e.g. distance usually traveled and type of restaurants usually frequented (price range, menu offerings). Users are only shown suggestions they would more likely take up, thus possibly improving conversion rates. 

It's now not uncommon for ecommerce software developers to provide mobile store versions to their merchants for free. To find out which shopping cart software comes with this feature, just check out a few top ecommerce software reviews. They usually mention what features or tools a particular brand of software has.

Ecommerce Showrooming Remedy

Showrooming Showdown infographic by visually.

Yes, it's not the end of the world for brick and mortar stores. I came across an article while searching for the latest 3dCart reviews and it contained pretty good ideas on how to overcome this 'manace'.

I have to admit that I thought traditional walk-in stores' days were numbered because of the rise of ecommerce stores. But as with every challenge, there is always a solution. You just need to think out of the box and be a bit creative.

The big boys did just that and they used the 'enemy' (internet, technology,ecommerce) to their advantage and came out tops.

So, at times, if you find it's futile to fight a wave, go with it instead. This is not to say that you're selling out. It's just making good business decisions.

What You Think Is Important In An Online Store, Might Not Be

Attractive FAB.com Main Page

If you think your site needs to look like a million dollars to sell products products, you've got another thing coming. There are many sites on the web that look nothing like gorgeous sites like FAB.com and yet they still manage to get tonnes of traffic and sell many products.

Don't get me wrong, your site still needs to look decent but it does not have to look fantastic. What is more important is the functionality and purpose of every element on the site. Nothing on the site should tempt a visitor into doing anything other than making a purchase on the site.

Typical Amazon Main Page Design

Take a look at Amazon. Do you honestly think it looks as though Michael Angelo had a hand in it's design? Of course not. But a lot of really smart people using a lot of very high tech programs have put this site together, optimizing it into the conversion monsters it has turned out to be.


Coming back to your site's looks, you need not worry much. If you browse top ecommerce software review sites, you'll notice that free ecommerce template designs have come a long way. They do not look like a 5 year old designed them anymore. Check out this article at http://ecommercesoftware1.weebly.com/ and find out what questions are usually asked when considering an ecommerce software.

5 years ago, you had to pay for such designs and now you can get them for free. 

Building Your Very One Online Store Isn't Rocket Science

In all honesty, it's not that hard to build and run your very own online store. That said, you still need to put in some effort to market it, especially at the start.


Ecommerce isn't an automatic ticket to riches as some people might have you think but it is a good way to make living off or supplement your existing income.

The first store I ever started made me $400 a month after just a month of working on it. Back then, it was much easier to rank on search results pages. However, I still needed the help of a couple of friends with programming and design background to help me customize the store.

In those days, the free templates offered by ecommerce solutions providers were far from attractive. They were nothing compared to what you get now. There weren't many top ecommerce software providers around so no one was in any hurry to provide quality features that came free with the software. That was circa 2003.

Fast forward 10 years and there are a number of online store solutions to choose from. Each offering a spectrum of nice looking free templates and tools that help in marketing and conversion.

I actually use more than one ecommerce solution to power my stores. I've been around long enough to know that they are all pretty much the same. However, some may have features like a particular template or a tool which would fit in nicely with the products you are selling.

When I started out, I already knew what I wanted to sell. But many have no idea. Most people want to start their own online store but have know clue what to sell.

For those of you who have yet to figure out what to sell online, just do a bit of research to find out what kind of items people bought most last year. Some items offer very good margins but have low turn over. On the other hand, some other items might offer lower margins but sell like hot cakes.

If you want to sell items which are completely new and therefore do not have much competition, take a tip from this site http://www.afterskoolkids.org/looking-for-innovative-products-to-sell-check-out-kickstarter. 

But keep in mind, there's always a risk to selling anything - new or existing. The important thing is to do enough ground work so you have a better chance of success.