Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ Category
Tuesday, March 25th, 2014
Photo credit; Laughlin Elkind on Flickr
Advisory Boards New Zealand will hold a national education campaign to show the benefits to small and medium-sized businesses of working with an advisory board and receiving expert advice.
A series of seminars starting in Wellington later this month will show owners how to get started with their own advisory board. Workshops are also planned for Christchurch later in the year.
“Appointing an advisory board is like setting up an internal think tank of trusted advisors who can help owners make growth decisions and manage their business more effectively,” says Managing Director of Advisory Boards, Helen Down. ”Advisory boards are a perfect platform for getting experts committed to supporting your business into one room and mapping out ideas and actions to drive future growth.”
The advisory board workshops for business owners wishing to learn how to start their own advisory board will start in Wellington on 26 March at the NEC House, Level 6, Wanaka Room, 40 Taranaki Street starting at 10 am and running for three-and-a-half hours.
Other workshops will be held at South Auckland on 28 May, North Shore, Auckland, 29 May, with two sessions at Tauranga on 3 June and a further workshop at Wellington on 25 June.
To read more on this story, click here.
Tags: advisory, board, business, New Zealand, online
Posted in New Zealand, new zealand business | No Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
Photo credit; Elliott Brown on Flickr
The Icehouse, a business growth centre, and its angel investment network known as the Ice Angels have announced a record year, investing more than $7.8 million into 26 New Zealand companies in 2013.
More than half of the 39 companies that pitched their ideas at Ice Angels investment events successfully attracted investment.
The Angels include more than 200 global CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professional investors.
The director of the Ice Angels Ken Erskine says there are a number of reasons behind last year’s success.
“To begin with, greater coordination with other investment groups around New Zealand has worked well to enable more startups to raise more money.”
The Ice Angels’ collective investment of $7,890,819 in 2013, is almost double the amount invested in the previous two years.
“Last year, Ice Angel’s portfolio companies including Booktrack, Stolen Rum, and Nexus6 secured significant amounts of venture capital, launched new products, and successfully broke into overseas markets,” said Erskine.
To read more about this story, click here.
Tags: business, Ice Angels, New Zealand, online, The Icehouse
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014
Photo credit; Karl Baron on Flickr
Online spending grew last year, with New Zealanders spending $6 billion online last year, including almost $2 billion on travel and more than $800 million on entertainment.
However, Roy Morgan’s Pip Elliott says even though consumers are embracing the technology, they still prefer trusted retailers, citing that 45% of New Zealanders research online before buying in a shop, and 51% only buy online from retailers they know.
Less money was spent online on electronics, food and other products than the previous year.
To read more on this story, click here.
Tags: business, New Zealand, online, spending
Posted in E-mail & the internet, electronic spending, New Zealand, new zealand business, online marketing, Online Sales, online shopping, onlines store | No Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2014
Photo credit; epSos.de on Flickr
Crowdfunding will be much easier in New Zealand as of April 1, paving the way for platforms like Snowball Effect.
Cabinet gave its approval for new crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending regulations Feb. 27 as part of the Financial Markets Conduct Act.
Up until the change companies have needed to issue a prospectus or investment statement before raising money from the public in New Zealand, making it cost prohibitive.
Foss said there would be no investor caps for equity crowd-funding but companies would be limited to raising $2 million a year.
Crowd funding raises money online through a large group of people investing small amounts of money in exchange for a share in that company.
Foss said the law change was an exciting development for both start-up businesses and investors.
“With the regulations coming into force on 1 April, New Zealand will lead the Asia-Pacific region is the development of crowd-funding regulation.”
Simeon Burnett a director of soon-to-launch equity crowd funding provider Snowball Effect welcomed the new rules and said the decision not to cap how much investors can put in was good news.
“We opposed the introduction of investor caps, because we believed that investors would easily be able to circumvent such controls by investing in foreign crowd funding platforms, or investing through entities which do not reveal the ultimate owner.
“We also believe that individuals should be allowed to make their own decisions about their money.”
To read more about this story, click here.
Tags: business, crowdfunding, New Zealand, online, Snowball Effect
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, New Zealand government | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2014
Photo credit; Blaise Alleyne on Flickr
Almost two-thirds of Kiwi businesses are missing out on huge opportunities because they have no online presence, according to research commissioned by InternetNZ, the non-profit that administers the .co.nz domain.
That same research shows that 97% of Kiwi consumers use the Internet to search for products and services.
“Our research shows that New Zealand consumers love looking for websites that end with .nz, and that .nz sites are trusted far more than any other domain. Businesses are obviously unaware of this — as today, two thirds of New Zealand businesses are not reaching these people,” InternetNZ CEO Jordan Carter says.
Soon, New Zealand businesses will also be able to get .kiwi domain names, as startup DotKiwi will sell the .kiwi domain names.
The research also illustrates the growing importance of mobile-friendly sites. About 65% of sole traders and 74% of businesses use mobile devices to access the Internet, but only a quarter of these businesses design their websites with mobile usage in mind.
To read more about this story, click here.
Tags: business, DotKiwi, InternetNZ, New Zealand, online
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, Online Sales, online shopping, onlines store, smartphone, smartphones | No Comments »
Thursday, March 6th, 2014
Photo credit; David Pacey on Flickr
New Zealand crowdfunding startup The Snowball Effect is gaining momentum and is ready to launch this April.
The company, founded by Simeon Burnett, Richard Allen and Francis Reid of Auckland is an equity crowdfunding platform, meaning investors give a business a small amount of money in return for shares in the company.
It will be legal in New Zealand from April when a change to the Financial Markets Conduct Act means anyone can raise up to $2 million without needing a formal prospectus.
The trio, along with full-time employee Josh Daniell, have been researching and building the company, with interested investors and businesses lined up for the launch.
The Snowball Effect hopes to have “couple of thousand” investors and fund 10 businesses by the year’s end.
Burnett says the crowdfunding platform will help businesses gain easier access to capital, including from New Zealanders living overseas.
To read more about this story, click here.
Tags: Auckland, business, New Zealand, online, Snowball Effect
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, New Zealand government, social media, social networking, Success story | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 4th, 2014
Photo credit; epSos .de on Flickr
Auckland company Image Marketing Group (IMG)Â has been ordered to pay $99,610 in the largest ever penalty imposed for sending spam in New Zealand, last month.
The Department of Internal Affairs said the penalty was imposed at the Auckland High Court under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.
IMG sent a total of 519,545 messages to New Zealand e-mail addresses in December 2009, and the following year IMG conducted 21 email campaigns that promoted sales of the company’s database products. The company also sent 44,824 text messages from an Australian mobile number to New Zealand mobile phone users over a period of a month in 2009, said a statement from the department.
“IMG must now stop sending any further spam to New Zealand electronic addresses. This is a clear win for consumers who are sick and tired of receiving unwanted messages via email or texts,” team leader electronic messaging compliance Toni Demetriou said in the statement.
IMG had admitted breaching the Act and the penalties included a discount for IMG’s admissions and co-operation.
To read more about this story, click here.
Tags: Auckland, business, Image Marketing Group, New Zealand, online, spam, Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act
Posted in E-mail & the internet, email, New Zealand, new zealand business, offensive material | No Comments »
Thursday, February 27th, 2014
Photo credit; Larry Lamsa on Flickr
Online gift registry The Lovely has one goal in mind and that’s to be the biggest in New Zealand.
Set up by George Kivell and Sarah Melrose last July  due to the pair’s frustration with the registry offering in New Zealand when planning their own weddings, the e-business plans to become the largest gift registry in New Zealand by 2017, with 5,000 users forecast by the end of the year.
If the duo makes it to 5,000 users that would mean a return of $250,000 for their investment of $15,000.
However, The Lovely expects most revenue will come from retailers paying for their products to appear in the featured section of the site.
Kivell and Melrose, who both work in the design industry, say they also plan to launch the site in Australia and further afield.
Melrose says the fact that the site is geared for all celebrations and no physical stock is held would allow the concept to translate to international clientele easily.
To read more about this story, click here.
Tags: business, gift registry, New Zealand, online, The Lovely, wedding
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, Online Sales, online shopping, onlines store, Success story | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 25th, 2014
Photo credit; Frank de Kleine on Flickr
As if she didn’t have enough on her mind, Kiwi woman Sandy Hayer opened her online business Tummy Mummy NZ just weeks before giving birth to her youngest daughter.
The online store sells products from the Earth Mama Angel Baby range of care products for mums and babies. Hayer used the products in the UK and set up the business in New Zealand in 2012 when she realised she couldn’t get her hands on the products here.
“I used the Earth Mama range of products during pregnancy and postpartum recovery with my first child when I lived in the UK and when I found out they didn’t deliver to New Zealand I was horrified!” Hayer says. “I felt that the products needed to be available here so I guess I had a ‘lightbulb moment’ and took the opportunity. I was quite relaxed about it though as at that time I had no great goals other than to make the products available to other mothers and their families.”
Hayer says it’s been challenging balancing the business with raising two young children, but it’s rewarding to be able to help mothers and babies and it’s also rewarding to be able to have a flexible schedule while raising her children.
Plans for the business include trying to increase sales.
“This year I’d like to see an increase in sales particularly for our gift bundles within corporate offices,” the entrepreneur says. “I’m looking forward to heading to the city to meet with companies and show the quality of this range that is 100% free of all toxic chemicals, which I believe all products should be – especially for newborns and children.”
If you want to read more about this story, click here.
Tags: business, Mummy Tummy NZ, New Zealand, online, success
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, Online Sales, online shopping, onlines store, Success story | No Comments »
Friday, February 21st, 2014
Photo credit; Tristan the Booklight on Flickr
New Zealand domain name registration provider Freeparking is getting ready to help Kiwis to register the influx of brand new internet domain names as soon as they are released.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is expected to release hundreds of new domain name extensions such as .BIKE, .ESTATE and .CAMERA.
“Customer feedback across the industry indicates that the introduction of hundreds of new domain name extensions within a relatively short period of time will create confusion and uncertainty among web users and SMEs in New Zealand and internationally,” says Maria Brosnan, Business Manager at Freeparking. “As a leading domain name registration and web services provider, we have made it our mission at Freeparking to ensure New Zealand small businesses are provided with the highest level of support to navigate such an historic change and take advantage of the new marketing opportunities arising from this event”
To help New Zealand businesses and marketers in what’s regarded by industry analysts as the biggest change to the Internet since its inception; Freeparking has released a dedicated online pre-registration Watchlist through which customers will be able to submit their expression of interest for any new domain name extension.
To read more on this story, click here.
Tags: business, domain names, Freeparking, internet, New Zealand, online
Posted in E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, Online Sales, online shopping, onlines store | No Comments »
