A few years ago I bought a book called 'Shopaholic ties the knot' by Sophie Kinsella. I don't usually buy chick lit, unless it's part of a 3 for 2 offer (that way I don't feel I've wasted money if I end up disappointed with the book). But I was at Heathrow airport about to board a plane to sunny Spain to visit one of Caradiaz's designers and I just wanted an easy read.

I had hear of Kinsella before and also seen posters of 'The Shopaholic' series around London but I was convinced that a book about someone suffering from what could be described as a serious 'CSD' (compulsive shopping disorder) was bound to annoy me.

How wrong I was! I laughed and laughed and laughed, from page one until the very end, and then I wanted more. So on my return from Spain I went out and bought the previous two books in the series and I've been buying Kinsella's books ever since, although so far none of them has made me laugh as hard as 'Shopaholic ties the knot'.

Kinsella's first 'Shopaholic' book has now been made into a movie and will be in the cinemas later this month with actress Isla Fisher (a.k.a. Mrs. Sacha Baron Cohen / Ali G / Borat / etc...) playing 'The Shopaholic' herself.

Can't wait to see it!

Isla Fisher wearing a chunky necklace by Lara Bohinc.
Picture: www.wireimage.com

As Dean Martin used to sing:

'Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful.
And since we've got no place to go...
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.'

I've got quite a beautiful view of the street from my office window right now, with trees and houses covered in snow. But pretty as it may be, it seems to be causing chaos all around the country.

I'm actually lucky not to have to go out in this weather. It's one of the many advantages of: a) being 'the boss' and b) having an office at home. But I do feel for those people stuck on roads and motorways and also for those depending on public transport to make it to their work places. I used to make quite a few business-related trips to London by train on a weekly basis and any kind of disruption to my journey (e.g. leaves on the line, a tree on the track after heavy winds, signal failure or any other of the regular problems) was highly stressful as you never knew when, or even if, you were going to make it.

I'm planning to attend a trade fair on Sunday to check out the new spring/summer collections and get some stock for Caradiaz. So, fingers crossed, I will get there... and back, of course!

Two more days to go and 2008 will come to and end. Gosh, how does time fly! It seems only yesterday when my husband and I found out that I was pregnant ... and our beautiful baby daughter, Frieda, is four months old already.

Frieda's birth was obviously the highlight of the year but, from the business point of view, 2008 was a pretty good year too. Caradiaz continued to do really quite well despite the credit crunch and, to our surprise, our best sellers were actually items on the higher price range.

This year we also spotted the odd celebrity wearing our jewellery (actress Sharon Small) and got another one of our necklaces in the Red Direct catalogue for the autumn.

I haven't got a list of resolutions for the new year but I can only hope that 2009 is just as good a year as the one about to end.

More and more businesses are setting up shop in the cyberspace and fighting for your clicks, so competition is cut-throat, especially at this time of year when there is big money to be made.

But with such endless choice, how do online shops get people to buy from them rather than a competitor? Well, your potential customers will have to find you in the first place, so hopefully your marketing strategy, including good SEO tactics, will ‘bring in the punters’.

The next step would be getting them to stay on your site, look around and ultimately part with their hard-earned cash. I’m no webmaster (my husband is the expert there) but having learnt a little bit about websites whilst setting up Caradiaz, I would suggest for instance looking at your download speed. People won't waste their time on slow websites that take forever to download. Also, a clean, clutter-free layout (i.e. no annoying pop ups or other unnecessary distractions) and an easy navigation with as few clicks as possible to the completion of the purchase will help.

Leaving technical stuff aside, two other key aspects of online shopping are security and confidence. With the recent birth of my daughter, I have even less time to go to the shops, so I now do most of my shopping online but I never buy anything unless the checkout is on a secure server. Also, I don’t like websites that don’t have a telephone number on the ‘Contact’ page. If I have a question about a product or delivery or whatever and I have to write an email and wait for the answer, they’ve lost me as a customer. I just can’t be bothered to a) write my enquiry and b) wait for the reply. I will just move on and go to another website where I can actually talk to someone then and there if I need to.

It’s all about providing a satisfying shopping experience overall. If your customers are happy with your shop, product and service, they will not only come back for more but are also likely to spread the word for you.

Picture: PunchStock

You may have noticed the big time gap between my last post and this one but .... I have a very good excuse.

My beautiful baby girl, Frieda, was born just after 11am on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago. She was eleven days late and showed no signs of wanting to come out, so I had to be induced. But things couldn't really have gone more smoothly - in fact, a good thing about being induced is that you are already in hospital when things start to kick off, so there is no panic at home or a painful, never-ending car journey!

Our midwives at Frimley Park Hospital, Julie and George, did a truly fantastic job keeping my husband and myself as comfortable and well attended as possible throughout the whole process, so a really big 'thank you' to both of them.

Frieda is over nine weeks already (time does fly!) and is a healthy, happy baby - judging from the smiles she gives us (not the 'wind' ones but proper ones). We also seem to have settled into a routine, so I am now able to joggle being a mum and running Caradiaz, which is actually great as this is the busiest time of the year for us! Hopefully we'll still do well this year despite the credit crunch...

Frieda