Bayleys Online Shopping Prepares for its First Boxing Day Sale.

Bayleys online shopping - part of the Beatle Em Bam group has commenced work on its first major sales period.

Whilst Bayleys Online Shopping offers a list of weekly sales from all its online stores, before now they weren't able to prepare for some of the major sales periods.

The Bayleys Online Boxing Day Sales will involve over 100 ranging from clothing and fashion, to Australian online department stores, and international technology stores.

The Boxing Day Sales period for Bayleys online will run until 31st December and will be a sign of things to come. They've also kept the Boxing Day sales page simple in order to make your savings even simpler to find.

The Boxing Day sale page is already open, however most sales don't commence until December 26, so it does give you time to plan your bargain purchases.

Bayleys Online is proudly a member of the Beetle Em Bam Network.

There has been a lot of controversy of late around the online travel market. Most recently an online travel website was accused of up selling hotels by offering higher paying commission hotels as best deals. The accusation is that these hotels weren't the best price, and as a result the company made additional money whilst the consumer was ripped off. It should be noted that this case is still before the court, so it's not up to us to comment just yet.

Earlier this year a number of the major players in the online travel market were accused of substantial price mark up, and in some circumstances placing pressure on hotel operators to reduce their prices in order to have their products listed on these sites.

If you start reading the fine print in most travel sites you will find that the majority of the online travel market is run and dictated by only a couple of major players. Whilst there are many websites to choose, most link back to the same players.

It's also a case of buyer beware when it comes to comparison websites. Whilst most offer a great way to check out whose offering the best deal some of the less scrupulous providers are only offering comparisons on sites that offer them larger commissions.

Of course when travel is your only source of income, there is always risk that companies are going to try to find more ways to make more money.

You may be pleasantly surprised that Bayleys Online Shopping - our online shopping centre - also offers an online travel booking service. You can use the online booking engine to compare and book hotels and flights from a range of suppliers, or you can follow the links to other suppliers and compare.

The Bayleys Online travel booking engine compares a range of hotel and flight booking services showing you the best priced option. These comparison aren't just linked to Australian travel sites, so you can also save money by including international travel providers in the results.

The travel booking engine is managed by an international company called Travel Payouts. They source the best deals from around the world. Bayleys Online Shopping aren't aware of the fees received until after the booking is made, so there is no point in us trying to up sell products.

In addition to our online travel booking engine, there is also a range of categories on our travel page catering to your travel needs. These categories include hotels and flights, car hire, parking and transfers, holiday experiences, insurance, and accessories.

With so much on one page, Bayleys Online allows you to plan all your holiday experiences in once place. Of course whilst your on the site you may as well buy a few new clothes to wear, a luggage set or adventure equipment.

Check out the Bayleys Online Travel page: https://www.bayleysonline.com.au/travel

Beetle Em Bam have added online adult shopping site, Bayleys Up Late the our online network.

Aimed at over 18 shoppers, Bayleys Up Late offers online shopping that is more appropriate to the over 18 audience. In addition, Bayleys Up Late offers a number of online forums aimed at improving sexual health and knowledge.

To advertise your over 18 stores on Bayleys Up Late, head to Work With Bayleys for more information.

www.bayleysuplate.com.au

The Beetle Em Bam Network continues to grow thanks to the launch of a number of new sites under the Bayleys umbrella.

Bayleys is the online retail arm of Beetle Em Bam with the goal of offering maximum choice and value for money. Whilst Bayleys Online was launched in Australia last year it did see a slow growth. This has now improved however with more and more visitors shopping online.

In addition, Bayleys Up Late was launched a couple of months ago with the aim to bring shopping to over 18s. Once considered a sleazy shopping term, Bayleys Up Lateseeks to offer fun in the adult shopping marketed with categories including lingerie and intimates, adults stores and toys, tobacconists, and gambling.

If you'd like to work with Bayleys head to the 'Work with Bayleys' site.

An interesting read on the latest online shopping trends:

https://www.bayleysonline.com.au/single-post/Australian-Online-Shopping-Trends

Over the last week we have seen the Australian Senate block plans to cut Sunday penalty rates for Australian workers. There is also rumours that the Sunday rate cut could lead to Saturday rates also eventually being cut also.

Whilst there are two sides to the argument - those that it costs too much to employ people on a Sunday and therefore businesses have to close; and those that for lower income workers, weekend penalty rates are the difference between having money for leisure time.

The businesses that want the penalties cut are the same ones that rely on people having money to spend. Cutting pay rates for over 35% of the work force would have a flow on affect, especially in the hospitality industry.

Anyone running a business who intends on opening on a Sunday would have these costs factored into budgets. If it's not cost effective then the answer is simple, don't open.

The interesting flow if the cut does eventually get passed will be the pressure ton increase the average wage costs, which with a lot of pushing from unions and other sectors may end up costing employers more.

Beetle Em Bam has announced it is ending its partnership with a range of online retails stores.

A number of online sellers relied on third party suppliers sending products direct to the customer, however this method has proven ineffective and a potential threat to Beetle Em Bam's reputation.

Beetle Em Bam will continue to provide distribution services, however will not provide this to online sellers relying on third party suppliers.

We will be working with our current partners to ensure any current orders are either sent or refunded.

Beetle Em Bam's partner company - 1720Models recently launched an online site to allow online businesses and anyone else requiring models for their products to order modelling services online.

The service offers a budget conscious alternative to mainstream modelling agencies with a range of suitable modelling related products available.

Check out www.1720online.com for more details.

Many years ago I commenced work as a bar attendant with Sheraton Brisbane. At the time there were 411 hotels worldwide using the Sheraton Brand, and the company had decided it was time to "McDonaldise" its hotels.

At the time it was a concept that made sense - ensure every Sheraton Hotel Worldwide offers the same level of service and same products. The concept meant that guests would increase loyalty and the hotel's brand would be significantly improved.

Even up until a few years ago society talked about the McDonaldisation of society. Sheraton certainly wasn't the only company that wanted in.

Fast forward a few years and McDonalds is now a brand that is struggling to identify itself. In an effort to become the biggest and the best they started over servicing by offering too many products and services. As a result customer loyalty has decreased along with its customer service and confusing food choices.

With the increase in choice and an ability to research, we now have a modern day "anti-McDonaldisation" where businesses move away from offering too many product and service choices and concentrate on offering unique customer service.

Businesses are also starting to realise that every market is different and you cannot standardise sales across an entire market. Instead we now need to consider factors such as gender, generation, location and beliefs. To do so means many businesses are now a collection of smaller businesses working together in a range of markets to achieve a collective outcome.

Whilst offering a large range of products and services isn't a bad thing, I do recommend cutting them down into smaller concepts even if it means having to run with a number of collective brandings.

Stephen Joyce

Owner Beetle Em Bam

Beetle Em Bam have started looking at options to be able to provide cost effective options for Australian Businesses to send mail and parcels to New Zealand. As part of our Australia Wide Distribution Network we are now looking at ways to expand into the New Zealand market by continuing our Australian Base.