S
shopatdrop
Guest Shopper
You have said "hoping we can create something that will be around for a long time", which is fine, but that isn't a statement of confidence. You sound unsure.
Haribo is talking a lot of sense, and I think you know it. Ross, sorry to say this so early on, but you are already coming across as someone who desperately wants to cling on to nostalgia for the sake of it. I left here last night with nothing but confidence in your venture, but then had a look at some of your recent messages. Are you for real? Who in their right mind risks losing reputation and credibility on the high street? Was buying air time on The Mall cheaper than advertising elsewhere? Is that what this is all about? First mistake, and believe me it is a huge one, was linking your new outlet to the former Sit-Up channels. Sure, the presenters lost their jobs, and yes it was a hard time for them, but do you honestly believe that anyone that sees ex sit-up presenters on your new channel will think of you as genuine? Sorry, and nothing against Lisa or anything, but you are asking for trouble by taking that route. The presenters on Bid and Price-Drop were, in some cases, part of the reason the channels lost trust, support and credibility. Some of the presenters were obviously nothing but fame hungry nobodies who were obviously very happy to mislead the public as part of their act. The Politicians of the TV world!
Second mistake, coming on here and admitting that you are clueless. Look folks, I have the airtime, but I basically want you to run this for me, and I will sit back and get rich from your ideas, time and labour. What should I buy? What should I sell? How should I go about doing this. Seriously? Have you actually carried out any research before jumping in and starting this? You haven't given yourself enough time to perfect this. You needed longer to prepare.
Third mistake, the it will be based on the Ideal World concept and if it is ever live, it will be falling auction format. Okay, so can I assume that I am going to get bored of seeing Halogen Ovens, an expensive hose pipe, tablet computers that are so slow even Royal Mail is faster, steam mops, pressure washers and other repetitive demos? And when it isn't like this, it will be the shock, wow, I never thought we would be going this low! The phone lines should be lighting up now, get in quick?
Fourth mistake, and I have a feeling this one is beginning to sink in, Sky! Can you see where you have gone wrong there? Sky customers are largely tech savvy. They probably have broadband as part of their package. They can easily go away and conduct some research into the product you are trying to sell. Is it unique? Is it available cheaper at the click of a button on Amazon or Ebay etc? If you were going for that customer base anyway, you might just as well save yourself a lot of trouble, and launch as a streaming service and use social media to help get the word out there and collect live feedback etc. In that way you can appear on connected and smart televisions too. When you have a strong following on the streaming platform, you should then start to consider moving onto existing broadcast platforms, not before.
I'm not being harsh for the fun of it, this forum isn't full of trolls, and I think most of us on here genuinely want this to be a success. So do yourself a huge favour, delay the launch and spend more time perfecting the detail and conducting in depth research. You have done the right thing coming on here, that is good, but currently you are trying to run before you can even walk. First impressions count, and so far we have seen a photo of a studio which might just as well be in a garage, a logo which frankly resembles something of a poor attempt at copying Store Twenty One, and talk of a format which is modeled on emulating Ideal World.
Now that is out of the way; let's start again. Okay? You need a closed preview section of the website. You need to put together a panel of potential viewers and customers, people who can help shape the future of your venture. Put a sample of potential products on the closed preview site, and ask the panel to rate their likelihood of purchasing that product, the price they are willing to pay etc. Research, research, research. Next comes trust. You need to gain trust and confidence, and then keep this trust and confidence. Good. Next is giving me a reason to want to tune into The Mall and watch your Outlet Channel broadcasts. At the moment I skip past it, never give it a moments notice. What are you going to do to change my viewing habits and attract my interest, keep my interest and then translate that into sales?
The founding members of of Sit-Up had the experience of running large TV platforms, they knew the shopping TV market too, and they knew how to stand out and be different by taking risks. But those were different times. Sky customers had their boxes hooked up to landlines, and ADSL broadband was still being rolled out, was running about 512 Kbps, and mobile data was slow and expensive. We are living in a connected society now, and the customer is not afraid to research products and look for better prices elsewhere. For your TV venture to survive, you need to change your approach a bit. Outlet Channel should become My Outlet Channel. Make the viewer/customer the core part of the business. Give them reason to tune in and buy. Give them reason to take pride in their channel, give them the confidence in it.
This is where it gets interesting. Your job now is to change my mind, and to prove me wrong. Make it so I come back here in a few weeks time praising you for your huge success, and thanking you for not being like the other channels, but for actually listening to the feedback given on this forum.
Good. All that is left for me to say now is I look forward to working with you and supporting your development, progress, achievements and success.
Haribo is talking a lot of sense, and I think you know it. Ross, sorry to say this so early on, but you are already coming across as someone who desperately wants to cling on to nostalgia for the sake of it. I left here last night with nothing but confidence in your venture, but then had a look at some of your recent messages. Are you for real? Who in their right mind risks losing reputation and credibility on the high street? Was buying air time on The Mall cheaper than advertising elsewhere? Is that what this is all about? First mistake, and believe me it is a huge one, was linking your new outlet to the former Sit-Up channels. Sure, the presenters lost their jobs, and yes it was a hard time for them, but do you honestly believe that anyone that sees ex sit-up presenters on your new channel will think of you as genuine? Sorry, and nothing against Lisa or anything, but you are asking for trouble by taking that route. The presenters on Bid and Price-Drop were, in some cases, part of the reason the channels lost trust, support and credibility. Some of the presenters were obviously nothing but fame hungry nobodies who were obviously very happy to mislead the public as part of their act. The Politicians of the TV world!
Second mistake, coming on here and admitting that you are clueless. Look folks, I have the airtime, but I basically want you to run this for me, and I will sit back and get rich from your ideas, time and labour. What should I buy? What should I sell? How should I go about doing this. Seriously? Have you actually carried out any research before jumping in and starting this? You haven't given yourself enough time to perfect this. You needed longer to prepare.
Third mistake, the it will be based on the Ideal World concept and if it is ever live, it will be falling auction format. Okay, so can I assume that I am going to get bored of seeing Halogen Ovens, an expensive hose pipe, tablet computers that are so slow even Royal Mail is faster, steam mops, pressure washers and other repetitive demos? And when it isn't like this, it will be the shock, wow, I never thought we would be going this low! The phone lines should be lighting up now, get in quick?
Fourth mistake, and I have a feeling this one is beginning to sink in, Sky! Can you see where you have gone wrong there? Sky customers are largely tech savvy. They probably have broadband as part of their package. They can easily go away and conduct some research into the product you are trying to sell. Is it unique? Is it available cheaper at the click of a button on Amazon or Ebay etc? If you were going for that customer base anyway, you might just as well save yourself a lot of trouble, and launch as a streaming service and use social media to help get the word out there and collect live feedback etc. In that way you can appear on connected and smart televisions too. When you have a strong following on the streaming platform, you should then start to consider moving onto existing broadcast platforms, not before.
I'm not being harsh for the fun of it, this forum isn't full of trolls, and I think most of us on here genuinely want this to be a success. So do yourself a huge favour, delay the launch and spend more time perfecting the detail and conducting in depth research. You have done the right thing coming on here, that is good, but currently you are trying to run before you can even walk. First impressions count, and so far we have seen a photo of a studio which might just as well be in a garage, a logo which frankly resembles something of a poor attempt at copying Store Twenty One, and talk of a format which is modeled on emulating Ideal World.
Now that is out of the way; let's start again. Okay? You need a closed preview section of the website. You need to put together a panel of potential viewers and customers, people who can help shape the future of your venture. Put a sample of potential products on the closed preview site, and ask the panel to rate their likelihood of purchasing that product, the price they are willing to pay etc. Research, research, research. Next comes trust. You need to gain trust and confidence, and then keep this trust and confidence. Good. Next is giving me a reason to want to tune into The Mall and watch your Outlet Channel broadcasts. At the moment I skip past it, never give it a moments notice. What are you going to do to change my viewing habits and attract my interest, keep my interest and then translate that into sales?
The founding members of of Sit-Up had the experience of running large TV platforms, they knew the shopping TV market too, and they knew how to stand out and be different by taking risks. But those were different times. Sky customers had their boxes hooked up to landlines, and ADSL broadband was still being rolled out, was running about 512 Kbps, and mobile data was slow and expensive. We are living in a connected society now, and the customer is not afraid to research products and look for better prices elsewhere. For your TV venture to survive, you need to change your approach a bit. Outlet Channel should become My Outlet Channel. Make the viewer/customer the core part of the business. Give them reason to tune in and buy. Give them reason to take pride in their channel, give them the confidence in it.
This is where it gets interesting. Your job now is to change my mind, and to prove me wrong. Make it so I come back here in a few weeks time praising you for your huge success, and thanking you for not being like the other channels, but for actually listening to the feedback given on this forum.
Good. All that is left for me to say now is I look forward to working with you and supporting your development, progress, achievements and success.
