Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Usability Tips to Increase Your eBay Sales

We’ve talked about it before. EBay is an excellent source of income for online sellers. In our previous posts, we’ve talked about customer service as well as retaining a good reputation. Today, let’s discuss usability. This is shows how easy it is for people to use your website/shop to achieve the desired result (ie make a purchase).

Here are some tips you can follow to ensure your guest enjoys the buying experience from your eBay store and experiences the least amount of friction:

• Offer different forms of payments. First and foremost, get a PayPal account. This is the easiest way to get your payments from buyers. It allows them to use their PayPal account directly or to pay via a credit card. You also need to think about accepting other payment forms such as personal cheques or postal orders.
• Create an brand for your eBay store. If you are keeping another online store with a unique domain name, it would be best to align these two. In the future, you should be able to freely refer customers on your online store to your eBay shop and vice versa.
• Translate your brand even in offline materials. Print your online store and eBay store URLs in your business card. Use it as a label when you are shipping out items that have been bought. It makes the buying experience seamless between offline and online.
• Include all the details in your listing. Aside from a good product description, be specific with what you are selling. Indicate important information such as year, model, make, materials, color, size, weight and more. If you have policies that you follow for the shipping/handling of a particular product line, then include these as well.
• Use eBay’s Picture Manager or host your own photos. This will entail cost, but do remember that pictures paint a thousand words. Always have more than one photo of the item you are selling. You have the usual façade photo, but don’t forget the other angles, interiors, shots taken with the product in actual use. If you’re a beginner in eBay selling, you can even get free photo hosts like Photobucket or TinyPic to host your images.

Tracking Social Media Success

The buzz word this year is social media. Sites that connect people to one another have become such a huge hit that they’ve gone beyond the realm of personal use. Businesses now see the benefit of having presence in the social media scene.

 

Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are among the most visited sites in the world. In fact, Facebook has over 500 million subscribers. If you’re an online retailer, this could be a potentially huge market for you to tap.  It enables you to increase brand awareness, traffic and even reach your conversion goals (sales, leads, subscriptions).  Success in this new online space means setting and tracking the right metrics.

 

What exactly should you look for to say social media has done its job for your company? Here are some things you can objectively measure:

• Traffic: Probably the easiest metric to measure and to set targets for. Social media gives you the ability to exponentially increase views of your website. You can measure traffic to your campaigns, your fan pages and even to the profiles of your company’s executives – whatever you use as a marketing tool needs to be measured.
• Clickthrough to your website: Aside from traffic to the page/post you have on the social media site, you should also consider the actions your fans or followers take. Do they click to your online store to find out more or maybe even make a purchase. The thing to look for when trying to determine this are your stats on referring URLs.
• Conversions: If you have the ability to track the traffic source all the way to the end of the conversion funnel, then increasing conversions should be your main goal. Most analytics software will allow you to set your own conversion goals and even determine the value of each visit.
• Links: Though not directly connected to the conversion funnel, links are another way to determine the success of your campaign. In search engines, the more backlinks and one-way links you have to a website, the higher your rankings. So it’s simple math:, the more people talk about you and link to your website and share it online, the more popular and relevant search engines will consider it to be.
• Word of mouth: The most difficult metric to track is impact of your social media campaigns. This should measure how much your brand is talked about. It will take more than just analytics software to be able to measure this but an actual media monitoring campaign to support your social media efforts. It may be difficult track, but it is actually the most effective metric you can have for any social media campaign. After all, the end goal is to get the news to become viral and to have people talking about you.

Understanding Listing APIs

API or Application Programming Interface is a method of making two pieces of software communicate with each other and work together. It helps you upload thousands of products with several clicks, avoiding the mundane task of uploading individual products to several websites. Shopster offers this option in the form of datafeeds to shopping comparison sites.

This is one of Shopster’s major tools that give it an advantage over other dropship social networks. This listing option allows you to expose your products to another type of market that has a high conversion factor. It can drive targeted traffic with immediate results as well as build your brand in the market place.  

To submit your products to shopping comparison sites via a datafeed, choose one of Shopster’s serviced sites such as: eBay, Bizrate, Froogle, Google Base, Master Storefront, NextTag, Overstock, Pronto, Shopping.com and Yahoo! Shopping.

1. Log in to Shopster.
2. Click on the Marketing tab.
3. Under this, you’ll see Submit to Shopping Comparison Sites. Click on it.
4. Scroll down and click on Create Datafeed for the site you’ve chosen.
5. Follow the link and register an account with your chosen shopping comparison site.
6. Upload your data feed to the newly created account.

There you have it! You have a datafeed for the products in your managed inventory. This will connect you to the shopping comparison site and allow you to start offering your products in the site.  Make sure you monitor this on top of your listings in your own online store.

The more channels you have, the more you will have to monitor. Once you’ve mastered this, you will also learn how to start earning from more channels.

Happy selling!

PowerMerchant Tips: Selling to Car Enthusiasts

Yet another big specialized niche you can explore is the one for car lovers. Millions are spent on automobiles every year. These are the same people who customize their vehicles, look for accessories and car care kits.

The first thing you need to do is to understand your market intimately. This will help you determine what they need and ascertain the demand for specific products and brands. It would be best if you are a car lover yourself.

Create an online store that speaks to your audience. It can be sport or luxurious. It should indicate right away that the items you are selling are related to cars but not actual cars. We suggest that you create a blog or a articles section where you can write about your passion, car care, the latest models from the top brands. Use it as a way to connect to your audience and get them to trust you. On  a side note, having a car-related blog will also help your site get crawled faster.

Next, work on your categories. Define if the items are car accessories, car parts, entertainment, car care items or and miscellaneous. Some of the more popular items you can sell per category are:

• Car accessories: floor mats, dash covers, cargo liners, seat covers, cup holders, car perfume/scents, steering wheel covers
• Car parts: Wheels, emblem, spoiler, body kit
• Entertainment: stereo system, speakers, CD changer, in-dash monitor/TV
• Car care: car shampoo, wax, squeegee, sponges
• Miscellaneous: baby car seat, pet protector for cars, car tools

There are hundreds of things you can sell to car lovers – from actual car parts to collectibles. To be able to succeed in this market, you must understand what they need and what items are things they just want but are willing to spend money on. It would also be good if you could take the time to benchmark your online store against others that are in the business of selling car accessories.

Happy selling!

Preventing Shopping Cart Abandonment

The conversion funnel for an online retail store is not as complicated as you think. Once a user gets to your site via any of your marketing channels (search engine, banner campaigns, paid advertising and more) they become a visitor. The next step is to get them to take a look at the products you have on offer and have them click your call to action (the Buy Now button). They then head on to the last part of the conversion funnel -- once your customer is in the shopping cart, you are only a few clicks away from making a sale.

If you've never looked at your entire sales conversion funnel before, then it would surprise you to know that the biggest exits or bounces off your website is in your shopping cart. The average conversion ratio in this part of the funnel is about 2.5% of the total site visitors.

The rule for increasing your site conversions is simple: the less friction you have, the better chances of having the customer complete that sale. Getting potential buyers through to the shopping cart is a big effort in itself. So when they start putting items in there and seem like they have all the intent in the world to make a purchase, you may begin to wonder why they suddenly decide to abandon their shopping.

So, let's look at the things that you can do to avoid your guests from abandoning your shopping cart:

• Security is a top concern for today's shoppers so have an SSL certificate protect your cart. Customers need to feel at ease that their information is safe when they buy from you.
•  Give them a way to contact you, even in the final stages of shopping. A chat support link or your 800 number on the header would give them the feeling of security that they can get in touch with you anytime if they have questions.
•  Keep the checkout process as short and as simple as possible. If there is no need to pre-register for an account to make a purchase, then don't ask them to do it.
•  Display trust seals and security badges. VeriSign, BBB Online and other recognizable seals have proven to offer higher conversion in sites that have them versus those that don't.
• If you offer discount codes, don't let it be the cause of shopping cart abandonment. Users who see that space asking for a code would automatically think of discounts and may become distracted from their buying activity in a need to search for one online. Either you offer them a link in your own site where they can find a code (this link should open in another window) or you automatically suggest that they use a specific code you're currently offering.
•  Don't use automatic session time-outs. Let the customer think about his or her buying decision by keeping the window open for as long as it takes him to decide. Refreshing the cart or timing the session out is like pressuring a shopper to finish the sale before they are ready.
• If they do decide to leave, it wouldn't hurt to ask why. This is a trick I've seen some merchants do. You try to close the shopping cart window and a small pop-up asks if he or she is sure and gives a link to Live Chat for any questions or concerns. It will make your shopper think twice about abandoning your shopping cart.

Happy Selling!

 

 

PowerMerchant Tips: How to Set Up a Retail Wedding Site

For the last few months, we’ve placed different niches in the spotlight. We hope to help you choose a market that you can specialize in. We usually focus on the more common, generic markets such as shoes, apparel, antiques, baby items and more. Today, we’re delving deeper into our study of specialized stores.

Weddings are once-in-a-lifetime events for most people. Those who go the traditional route are more than willing to spend a few thousand dollars on this day to celebrate love. It is one of those niche markets that is rarely targeted by retailers thinking that it may not have as much demand as the safer bets. But look at it from a different perspective. Your target audience will most likely buy in bulk, seasonality has very little effect on the sales trends, there is no need to hard sell and the level of competition is low.

So if you were to consider this as one of your options, the first thing to ask is what you should sell. This will dictate how you categorize your store and in the bigger picture, how you market yourself as an online store.

First, create a category for wedding souvenirs or favors. This is something that hands-on brides will always think about the internet as a good source. Wedding souvenirs can be virtually anything, but it would be wise to choose items that are either edible or practical. And most of all, it should be something available by bulk. From shot glasses to teddy bears, wine flutes to tins of mint, think of items that you would want to receive at a wedding as a token of thanks.

Next, focus on the gifts to be given by the couple to their entourage. Here, you can have a men’s line and call it gifts for the Groomsmen. You should also have a women’s line for Gifts for the Bridesmaids. Don’t forget about gifts for the parents, which should be something for a more mature audience.

Bridal showers are also part of the wedding market. So think about items that will be needed for that occasion. It can be balloons, bridal shower kits, games, bath sets (for spa-themed parties), invitations, thank you cards and more

Then, create a whole category on wedding supplies. Here, you can include some traditional wedding items such as the veil, the chord, the coins, the unity candles and more. Invitations and place cards can also be included here again. Don’t forget some materials for the DIY bride such as ribbons, flowers, specialty paper, boxes, bags and wraps.

Bridal accessories is another category you can have. Here, you should consider headdress such as tiara or a jeweled comb. Fashion tape, girdles, garters, handbags, shoes and more. Don’t forget the jewelry for the bride and her bridesmaids.

Last but not the least, you should have a category on post-wedding items. Include thank you notes, keepsake albums and gown preservation kits.

There are a ton of things you can sell to the soon-to-be-weds. Continuously do research on the trends so you can expand your categories and offer items that answer their needs.

Happy selling!

Why You Should Get a Custom Domain Name

Every Shopster retail account comes with a free online store under the secure2cart subdomain. One of the first decisions you need to make as a new online retailer is if you should get a custom domain name for your website.

A domain name is the address of your website. There are several types available: .com represents companies, .net for networks, .org for organizations and more. There’s also the ccTLD or the Country Code top level domain. These are .de, .cn, .us,.ph and other codes that represent countries.

You can purchase these from any registrar, but rates among them do vary. A .com domain is usually priced between $5 to $15, while a .info domain ranges from $0.99 to $3

The main advantage of having a custom domain is branding. Here are some other benefits you can get from a custom domain:

• It looks and sounds more professional.
• There’s no disconnect between the name of the store and your web address.
• It increases name / brand recognition.
• It’s easier to remember a short, custom domain name that speaks to your product.
• Your link building efforts do not go to waste.
• You have full ownership of your name and can take it with you if you want to create a self-hosted retail site.

When choosing a domain name, the shorter the better. The key here is for people to remember it and be able to find your website easily. Avoid words that are prone to misspellings or that are difficult to pronounce. Just imagine some of the catchiest brands out there: Google, Yahoo, Go Daddy and more.  Single-word domains are hard to come-by  nowadays so a little creativity is in order. You can use dash (-) to separate two words,  but it may become confusing to your searchers.

Happy selling!

Selling on eBay: Building Your Credibility

In eBay, your credibility has as much weight on your potential sales as the  product itself. There are many factors that can affect your credibility. From your product descriptions to your responsiveness, customers will find a way to gauge your credibility.  

Here are some tips on what you can focus on to build a credible eBay seller profile:

• Feedback – eBay offers a great feedback system that the buyers heavily rely. Customers use this to tell in advance if they should even purchase from you. Be quick to give feedback to good buyers and provide great customer service and you’ll soon see an increase in your feedback score.
• Be responsive to inquiries – First and foremost, give your potential clients a way to reach you. Provide an active email address or enable the communication function in eBay. When you do get inquiries, treat each customer fairly and answer questions honestly and promptly. Whether they end up buying from your or not, you’ve already established a good start.
• Offer reliable descriptions of your product – Managing customer expectations begins with a truthful description of the state of your product. Aside from that, you should also include good quality photos of your product in different angles.
• Respond to sales in a timely manner - Once a winner emerges from the auction or you’ve made a straight out sale,  start processing the order right away. A winning bid is tantamount to a contract that both the buyer and the seller are expected to honor. As the seller, reneging on the agreement may lead to a bad buyer experience which may result in a negative feedback.
• Promptly ship the purchased product - Ensure that you follow whatever you state on your shipping policy. Communicate the expected time of arrival of the product and give your buyer access to the tracking system (if available). If you foresee any reason for delay, let your buyer know about it as early as possible.
• Offer Money Back Guarantee – If you really want your customers to trust you, let them feel comfortable about buying from you. A money-back guarantee shows your buyer that your are confident about the quality of the product you are selling.
  

Building credibility really boils down to customer service. The better you are at consistently serving your customers at all touchpoints, the better your chances of having a good credibility among your buyers.

Happy selling!

How to Flaunt Your Latest Offer

Savvy marketing managers know that promotions bring in both traffic and sales. But it isn’t just about having something good to offer that drives your customers to your store. The more important aspect of promotion is knowing how to market it.

For instance, in retail free shipping is always a crowd-pleaser. This becomes even more significant during the holiday season when bulk buying is the trend. You know you have an advantage over your competition with that simple offer alone. The question is, are your existing and potential customers even aware that you offer this?

What you should do is communicate your offer or promotion through all your customer touch points. Here are some tips to follow to get your audience to love your offer:

•  Organic SEO – Let people who use search engines to find your product be aware of what you offer. You can do this by optimizing your site’s meta descriptions to include keywords related to it. If it’s something that can impact a buying decision (in our example, free shipping), include it in your meta descriptions and even on your page title. You should also create a page for the promotion itself.
• Paid Advertising – Nothing will reach your search engine-using audience faster than paid online advertising. Create a campaign for seasonal promotions and have adgroups related to the sales you offer throughout the year. Just make sure you advertise early enough and not during the day of the event itself. An example for this is for Christmas Sale. You should be telling people about that as early as October. And don’t forget to pause your expired campaigns once you’re done.
• On-site adverting – You can achieve this by having banners on your online store that feature your latest product, sale or event. Banners serve to highlight a particular offer and direct your visitors to the right pages for more information. You can also have a “featured products” section on your website to drive more visitors to a particular discounted product.
• Email Marketing – If you have an active email list with opt-in subscribers, then it would also be great to send them information about your latest offer. For better impact, test it on your subject line. Then, reinforce the message in the body of your email and have a call to action that leads to more information available on your website.
• Use your affiliate network – Have creatives ready for your affiliates to pick up and use on their own websites. If you want them to focus more on this particular promotion, then offer better commission if they get people to purchase via their affiliate links.
• Cross-sell opportunities – If you already using cross-selling on your online store, then you should know how to do this. If you haven’t tried it yet, then you should start by showing information about your new promotion to related products.

There will be many opportunities to promote your latest offer on your website, via offpage marketing methods and even offline.  Practice your creativity and you’ll see how it becomes easier to get people to notice that latest things happening in your store.

Happy Selling!

Keyword Selection for Your Online Store

Choosing the right keywords for your store can mean the difference between targeting an audience segment still in the shopping phase or a segment that is ready to buy. Of the two, the second one will bring your more conversions with the least bit of effort. So, it would be best to start in the right step.

First things first, choose your niche. This is the business that you would be focusing on as you enter into ecommerce. It could be anything you wish to sell – shoes, bags, clothes, video games and more. Let’s take shoes as an example.

Next, go to a keyword research website where you can find out the value of the keyword in terms of traffic volume. What we would suggest is the one from Google: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 

Type in your product name to get the broadest keywords. So in this case, type in the word “shoes”.  It will show you an approximation of global searches for the word. You’ll see that for something as general as this, the results will be in millions and maybe even billions of searches. Don’t get all excited yet. You also need to check out the stats for competition. This means, the higher the search volume the more likely people are advertising for that popular product. You may also want to go to Google directly and type the same keyword there. It will show you the number of webpages you are competing against for a high position in the search engines.

Notice that the results will also give you other closely related keyword to the original one you typed. Now, this expands your ability to select and target keywords. Make a list of that ones that you think are directly related to your website, include the details on competition and traffic.

 

Start exploring other keywords that maybe related to your niche (though not necessarily to the word “shoes”. It could be footwear, sandals, heels, boots or other such keywords. Continue building your keyword lists from the results derived from those. 

Next, it’s time to veer away from the broad keywords into the more specific ones that can convert better. For this, explore keyword options that use verbs, adjectives or brands. For instance, you can look for “formal leather shoes” which will filter your searchers to those only looking for this particular product. Same goes for brand-related keywords “Nike rubber shoes” will produce a different batch of searchers than those just looking for any type of shoe. For the ones with the additional verb, a sample could be “selling pink shoes”.

Finally, think about your site architecture. Start plotting your keywords against your online store’s categories and even to the level of product pages if you’re not keeping a huge inventory. As you write new content for those pages, keep the keywords and mind and integrate them into your copy.

PowerMerchant Tips: There’s No Business Like Shoe Business

The footwear industry is indeed one of the top selling niches you can enter in online retail. The web is a medium that reaches audiences from all walks of life, all ages and even in terms of their location. So a product that caters to all these has a high probability of selling big. And there’s nothing better suited for the web environment than a product like footwear.

It’s a basic necessity. It comes in all forms and sizes. It fits men, women and children. The styles available are flexible. Both the branded version and the generic ones will sell because your market spectrum is broad.

Here are some tips we’d like to share with you for selling shoes online:

• Do your keyword research starting from the broadest terms. Find out what the search volume is for the keywords: “shoe”, “shoes”, “footwear”, “sandals”, “boots”, “rubber shoes” and more. Just remember that when the demand for a keyword is high, the competition is also high. So start moving towards the more specific keywords like “shoes for sale” and the like.
• Photos say a lot more than words can. Make sure you include good shots of the item you are selling. It should show the style, the color and the details of the item.
• Create detailed product descriptions that won’t be captured by good photography. These include color, material, available measurements, height of the heel , where the shoe was made and other important details.
• Display your sales price. Since the competition is tough, people will go online to shop. Price will be the differentiating factor between you and other online sellers.
• Choose the right products to sell. Understand what your market needs – from athletic shoes to comfortable footwear, from high fashion to cheap shoes. Research on the most popular brands and what their latest offerings are. Don’t forget to include shoe accessories like extra laces, lace biters, shoe cleaners, shoe horns and more.
• Other than having a whole lot of shoes on your online store, offer other things that your customers would value. It could be as simple as informative articles on shoe cleaning, foot care, styles and more.

Last but not the least, pick a good supplier for your business. For the branded items, make sure that you are only getting genuine items. Dropshipping would be a good option as it removes the hassle of order fulfillment on your end so you could focus more on creating the website, marketing your business and sourcing your products.

Happy Selling!

How to Create Promotions for Online Retail

Having a promotion for your online store is one of the best ways to drive traffic and increase website sales. Your objective should be to encourage your customers to make a purchase by offering various incentives. Before you start your promotion, set a specific goal that you want to achieve. It could be for X number of products sold or X revenue generated either by the product type or the total orders.  

There are several types of promotions you can try:

• Percentage or amount off the product price
• Percentage or amount off the customer’s total order
• Free shipping
• Free gift
• Buy one, get one
• Get a percentage off your second purchase
  

Next, set the budget you want to spend for the promotion. Evaluate your marketing options – you could advertise in newsletters, in newspapers, in the radio or TV,  in social networks like Facebook or in other online channels.  You might also want to print brochures or coupons for the promo. While you’re thinking about the marketing of your promotion, you should also define your target market.

Finally, start working on your creative. The actual banners or printed materials that you will be sending out to your customers. Here, you need to have the complete information for your promotion. It would be best to have a unique name per promotion so tracking and monitoring success would be easy. Don’t forget to include the limits for the promotion including:

• the number of times it can be used
• the number of times one promo coupon can be applied to an order
• if it can be used in conjunction with other promotions
• if it is limited to a specific product
• how many times it can be applied for an individual shopper
• if it can be used for items already on sale or just for regular priced products
• if there’s a validity date
  

Don’t forget to  inform all concerned staff about on-going promotions to avoid any hassles for the customers.

Happy selling!

Sales Forecasting for Your Online Store

eCommerce store owners are essentially entrepreneurs. If you want to continue on an upward trend for your sales, there are many business concepts you need to learn. One of the most important, both for brick-and-mortar and online retails, is sales forecasting.  

Sales forecasting is simply a way to organize and analyze data to predict the future trends of your sales. It is highly data-driven and may be difficult for organizations who lack benchmark data. There are several methods of sales forecasting that you can use as an online businessman.

But first things first, you need to collate the right data to analyze. Some figures you should look at and prepare for analysis are:

• The sales numbers per period per product. The easiest period to work with is monthly forecasting. The sales numbers include the amount of products sold, the price at which the products were sold, your sales margin per product, the acquisition cost per product, the total revenue generated per product type and the total profit per product type.
• The number of sales that are returned or cancelled.
• Seasonality – expected spikes and downturns should be monitored strictly
• Economic forecasts can also affect your numbers. Factor in the predicted general growth for your markets’ economies.
• Other factors that affect bottomline, including but not limited to warehousing cost, shipping fees, employee salaries
• Your thresholds – make a smart estimate of sales scenarios being aggressive in one and safe in another. It would be best to have the following figures: optimistic (best case scenario), pessimistic (worst case scenario) and realistic (flat trending).
• Previous sales trends

Next, choose the forecast you want to have. Most businesses will look for the cashflow where your Revenue – (Capital Expenditure + Operating Expenditure)  = Cashflow. What you need to do is to get the data from the present back to the last three months and use trending to get the figures for the next six months. Then, continue factoring in your seasonality and economic forecasts + your own targets for growth. Now repeat the process for the three scenarios mentioned above.

Having this data on-hand will help you set realistic goals for your store and for your sales people.

Happy Selling!

How to Encourage Customer Reviews

Today’s web users appreciate customer-generated content such as reviews. It adds to your website’s crawlable content and makes your online store seem more reliable. It helps potential customers understand the value you bring to the market and it helps them shop more confidently in your online store.

Some say, it is even as important as product descriptions . Customer reviews  take out the guessing game from online shopping. With it, your customers don’t need to ask if the product would look as good as it does in the manufacturer-provided photo.

We’d like to share with you some ways to encourage your customers to leave reviews for your store:

• Be yourself and be good at being yourself – To attract customer reviews, there really is nothing special you need to do. Good customer service will make people want to come back and say good things about your company.
• Ask for feedback post-sales – Send a short, quick email asking for your client’s opinion on the product they bought. If you have access to a survey tool, it would be best to have them fill out one that already has the star ratings they can click on and an open field for comments. The star ratings type email can help you standardize and measure  your results.
• Start a contest  or give them rewards to participate – Incenting people to give feedback will increase your response rate.
• Send out samples or other freebies – When customers get a free sample, they won’t be so adverse to writing a quick review about it as a show of thanks.
• Have a customer appreciation day – Get your best customers together and talk about your products, give out samples, write reviews, and give out prizes. It can work well with several product types. People are always happy to attend free parties.

Happy selling!                                                                

Increase Your Sales for the Spooky Season

Halloween is only a few weeks away. Its best to stay ahead of the game by preparing for it early. Billions of dollars are spent annually during this season on two things: costumes and candies. Other than that, there’s the usual paraphernalia that people use to decorate their homes.

If this is the kind of product that you can sell on your store, then you’re in for a good sales boost. If you can’t think of a way to sell related merchandise, they just have a Spooky Sale for the sake of celebrating the season. Remember that Halloween is mostly a family celebration

 So first off, let’s discuss how you can earn from costumes. The key here is to know which ones are the most popular for the season. Last year, it was Michael Jackson and vampire movie and series characters that were on the top of consumer lists. This year, several movies came out that will probably make it big. Think: Avatar and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. That’s an array of costumes you can sell. Then there’s the usual stuff for women like faeries, angels, devils and Playboy bunnies. Men usually lean towards the Superhero costumes like Spiderman or Wolverine. Kids are easier to please with cartoon characters like Spongebob or Dora the Explorer.

Next, let’s look at your candy options. There are millions of items to choose from. The most popular treat for Halloween is the classic Candy Corn – that orange and white cone-shaped sugar concoction that people just can’t get enough off. Chocolates are popular among the kids. Suppliers should be able to sell you branded chocolates in bulk or at least package for the season. If you’re concerned about spoilage, hard candies such as jellybeans or jawbreakers are a good option.

Last but not the least, don’t forget to ride on the season’s popularity by decorating your online store with this theme. If you prefer not to go all out scary, then just the basic orange-and-black colors would do.

Happy Halloween Selling!

 

Using 404 Messages to Make a Sale

Error messages are among the most unnoticed sales points on the web. 404 or the page not found server error can be used to direct your clients to more sales. Showing a customer a 404 page without links to your site is both confusing and frustrating. It forces them to leave your website.

So the best thing to do is to avoid showing your potential clients a generic technical page. Instead, customize your error handlers. Here are some tips to follow when creating your 404 page to make a sale:

• Add your logo to remind users that they haven’t left your site yet. It would be advisable to have the logo link back to your website’s homepage. While you’re there, you might as well ensure that the 404 page is as close to your website’s design as possible.
• Make the language friendly and avoid technical terms. Start by apologizing for the broken page. Please don’t assume that the error is caused by a user mistyping anything. It may actually be a broken page caused by your website maintenance team.
• Add a search box to your 404 page. Here’s another point of navigation that can help your customers find their way back to the products they are looking for. If you don’t have this functionality available on your website, you can add a link to your sitemap instead.  
• Offer options to talk to you. You can do this either via a link to  your Contact Us page or LiveChat support to answer your customers questions right away.
• Use it as an opportunity to present your top products. Pick the products that you want to display and have a small gallery show underneath your main 404 message. Four to five items should do.

Our last piece of advice, your objective for customizing your 404 page should be to guide your customers back to your main page. They should be made aware of the error without so much disconnect with the user experience with the rest of your website.

Happy selling!

Is Your Online Store Ready to be Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the next wave in the web, which has particular impact on ecommerce. It is dynamic, social and responsive. The growth of social sharing sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on prove that this is the right direction to take for your online store.

Here are some tips for what you can do to get your site ready to be Web 2.0:

• Add customer reviews and testimonials in your site. Web 2.0 is about sharing what you know – it can include product knowledge. Customer reviews are also user-generated content that makes site updating all that much easier. It helps a brand build trust and can help increase conversions.
• Have social widgets on your site. These days, all it should take to send your information to other is just one click. There are widgets and plug-ins available that automatically insert links to Twitter, Facebook and even mail forwarding functionalities to your site.
• Create a blog and write about your products. Blogs are easy to crawl and can help generate a lot of content for your website. Your audience will also appreciate your honest opinion about the latest products you have available. It is much more informal and “friendlier” for your customers to read a blog entry than a press release.
• Videos are a great way to present anything. Whether you’re doing a how-to guide or introducing a new product to the market, people still appreciate putting both a face and a voice to the company. If video production is something you can do in-house, you should also consider uploading these to social video sharing sites.
• Create a Facebook Fanpage to be present wherever your customer is. The membership of Facebook has already exceeded 500,000,000. It’s not enough to have a page there, you also need to properly maintain this. Find out what your customer is after, in most cases they hit that “Like” button to get special discounts, join contests and more. You should also explore creating a customized Landing Page.
• Have a Twitter account. If you have quick news you want to share with the public, there’s no better way to do this than micro-blogging platforms and the most popular of them all is Twitter. This website doesn’t just allow you to post what’s new, the more followers you have, the wider your reach. Twitter can be used to send direct messages to your followers.
• Create useful applications. Whether it’s a shopping widget on Facebook or an API for connecting to auction sites, useful applications spread easily in the new web environment .  People are always on the lookout for a way to streamline their lives and get to what they want faster. Help them achieve this with applications that are fast, friendly and practical.

Explore the world of web 2.0 today and expand your reach to unimaginable proportions.

Happy selling!

How Early Should You Prepare for Holiday Sales?

The simple answer to that question: right about now.  It may surprise you to know that about 20% of consumers start their holiday shopping as early as May.  Of course it doesn’t peak until November, but getting ready for it early is always a good thing. Knowing when to start your sale for the holidays will give you a good runway for search advertising and preparation for promotions.

Unlike its traditional counterpart, rush shopping during the last days before Christmas rarely happens online. Delivery is the biggest issue to contend with during this season, so most online shoppers think ahead and buy early.

In terms of good timing, it is best to stock up and start selling big on the day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday. Shoppers will also be looking for more markdowns the closer it gets to the December holidays. The latter is advisable as this is usually the time when most consumers have already bought their presents, so catch those extra sales before your competitor does.

As a caveat, the May-June-July increase in visitors attributed to holiday shoppers will not always convert. Most of them will still be in the research phase. So if you’re planning to add new and unique content to your site, now is also a good time to do that.

While you’re in the process of preparing for the holiday shopping season, it would also be good to line up your suppliers. Remember, when the buying peaks inventory will move fast. To stay ahead of the game, have reliable suppliers ready to replenish stocks for items that are picking up sales.

Know what the trends are for all your markets – men, women, children and maybe even pets. The holiday season is about gifts, gifts, gifts. Find out what items are hot using tools like Google Insight or eBay’s Pulse page.

You should also be on top of your shipping options. As mentioned, regular mail slows down during the holidays. As such, you should have other shipping options especially ones that have a guaranteed delivery with a certain amount of days (3 days, overnight, same day, etc). Insurance should be an option. In the area of shipping, it would also be a fabulous idea if you offer free shipping for bulk purchases. It will encourage your shoppers to buy more items from your online store.

Happy selling!

Preparing for Labor Day Celebrations

Most parts of the world celebrate Labor Day on the May 1^st, but to those with a strong following in the US, you might want to consider getting on the bandwagon of US Labor Day celebrations. The United States federal holiday is observed on the first Monday in September.

As a brief historical background, the first Labor Day celebration in the US was held on September 5, 1982 in New York City. The date was in accordance to the plans of the Central Labor Union. It was also in the aftermath of the deaths resulting from the Pullman Strike. It is marked by street parades and festivals. In some states, prominent men and women grace the crowed with speeches that uphold the strength and spirit of the labor force.

Labor Day becomes even more significant to the US market as it also marks the end of summer. Labor Day sales then become the opener for the new season’s outfits. On the retail front, online store owners who want to leverage on this holiday can highlight outdoor equipment and items used for picnics and barbecues.

Travel also start to peak during this period as families with school-aged children take it as their last chance to take their much-needed out-of-town trip. As such, stock up on travel supplies such as bags, passport holders, and more.

Last, but definitely not the least, Labor Day is also aligned with the start of the football season. Sports equipment and paraphernalia begin to see a slight rise during this point of the year. So bring out your NFL jerseys, the old football and accessories plus cheering materials that they will need for the big game.

Happy Selling!

PowerMerchant Tips: Selling Antiques Online

Purchasing antiques and collectibles are traditionally done in flea markets and antique stores. But the internet has given consumers a more convenient option. Antiques are now sold online. However, selling in this niche is a totally different process than it is to sell electronics, clothes or even food online.

Below are tips to help you sell antiques online:

• Market the item properly. Don’t tag items as rare if they are not. Collectors often know what they are looking for and have done the research on the value of the items they plan on buying.
• Know the value of your listing. Do your research well, it’s difficult to judge the value of a product on just looks alone. Stamps and coins, in particular, may all seem to look alike but they often have different values based on the year and the origin.
• Include pictures with your listings. Photos say a lot about your product’s condition. Mint or very good condition items can often be priced higher. 
• Provide as much information as you can. The interior of a product can’t always be seen  in pictures, so this is something you need to be detailed on. For instance, if you are selling antique books, you need to indicate if the pages are stained or dog-eared. Are there inscriptions? Are all the pages complete? Get it all written down.
• Offer a way for your customers to get in contact with you. No matter how hard you try to give them all the obvious information they need, they will often still have questions. Give your potential buyers a way to ask those questions.
• Make insurance as part of your shipping options. Antiques are high-ticket items and chances are your customers will be willing to pay for it to keep their items safe.

Happy selling!

 

Tips for Business Blogging

In our one of our previous posts, we’ve discussed the importance of blogging. Today, we will concentrate on blogging for business.

Business blogging is a totally different animal from blogging for personal or social reasons. This represents the voice of your company. Your blog can be a forum to keep the communication lines open between your existing/potential customers and your company. Additionally, your business blog can also help you gain better visibility online. Blogs are crawled faster by search engines and can bring in quality traffic to your online store.

Given its importance, here are some tips you can follow for successful business blogging:

• Create a content calendar. Let it guide you to what’s relevant for your customers at the time when they need it. Plug in seasonal sale opportunities and tips on how they can leverage on traffic rush.
• Be mindful of the tone and language you use. Keep it light and interesting via your choice of topics. But your language should always be professional and the posts must be written in business language.  
• Drive traffic to your site with SEO plug-ins. Optimizing your blog is easier with these because you can insert keywords on the fly in the meta area of the site. Even without plug-ins, it’s pretty easy to add keywords to your url structure with the permalink setting.
• Integrate social media elements. RSS is the primary way to spread the word about your blog. But don’t discount the power of social media. Equip your blog with a plug-in that allows social sharing, re-tweeting and re-blogging.  You’ll never know, your post might even go viral.
• Set goals for your blog. What do you want your blog to achieve? Is it a traffic-generating initiative? Track your visitors and find out how they move within your blog. What pages are they spending most time in? This is indicative of topics that interest your audience. Are you including products to sell in your blog? Then, you should have conversion goals. Track it and you’ll be able to monitor your growth and success.
• Use ad placement to your advantage. Blogs are a great way to advertise. A lot of people actually earn by placing ads in their site and blogging for money. Use this structure to advertise your own products and see an increase in traffic for your online store’s product pages. Use ad placement wisely and keep it to a minimum to avoid making your site look too cluttered.
• Be responsive to your customers. Find out what they want to read about and write topics that answer this need. If they start opening up to you through the comments section or chat box, make sure you respond to these as well. Customer service doesn’t stop with after-sales support. The way you interact and respond to your readers is also a reflection of your service level.
• Add a by-line so they know who they are talking to. Readers want to know if they are getting tips from the experts. If you have an in-house SEO who wants to share tips about online marketing, then it would be best if your customers know they’re hearing from best of the best. If your company’s CEO is blogging, it gives a “friendly” face to your company, making people feel that even your top management team is accessible.

10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Setting Up an Online Store

To be successful in your venture as an online merchant, you need to have clear direction for your business. Ask yourself questions that would help you set your site up around a business goal.

1. What is the purpose of your website? The answer may seem obvious: to sell, sell, sell. But how exactly do you go about reaching that goal. When defining your website’s objectives it will help you create the proper funnel towards a call to action.
2.  What products will you be selling? This is the time to pick your niche. Research on the marketability of your products and the feasibility of selling it online. This is also the perfect time for you to start doing keyword research for your chosen product.
3. Who are your top competitors? Since you’re already in the process of doing market research, you might as well find out what you’re up against. What do they offer in their website? How can you give your own website competitive advantage?
4. How many product lines will you sell? Inventory sourcing and management is one of the key things to consider in online retail. Asking yourself this question early on will also help you design the architecture of your site by helping you determine which are your top categories.
5. How will you accept payments? Online payment processing is not as easy as the set up for brick-and-mortar stores. You do not have a physical point of sale or a cash register in your online store. What you will need to do is research on the best shopping cart, payment gateway solutions, and where you want to set up your merchant account. If you are planning on accepting credit cards as payment, you will also need to secure your transaction and have SSL certificates.
6. How will you handle order fulfillment? Do you plan on keeping physical inventory or will you go for dropshipping? Will you be shipping the item out yourself or will the supplier do it for you? Order fulfillment is another important element of online sales as it is your first “real” contact with your buyers.
7. What fees do you need to charge? Shipping and handling is a must if you will be keeping physical inventory and sending those to buyers yourself. If a product is returned, you might also want to consider restocking fees. Are there any applicable government taxes for your product? Find out the fees you need to charge and be transparent about it.
8. How do you plan on maintaining your website? Before you begin putting together the site consider how you will scale it. If you will be doing the design and coding yourself, assess how good your skills are in your chosen language. If you plan on hiring or outsourcing the maintenance, choose a  programming language is that common and is not expensive to develop. Don’t opt for the latest technology just because it sounds cool, it may end up costing you more in the end.
9.  How do you intend to market your site? Any retail business should have a marketing plan. This is where you indicate a realistic budget, the approach you want to take and the resources you require. Since what you have is an online store, then it is only appropriate that your marketing plan include online channels such as SEO, social media marketing, pay-per-click advertising and more.
10.  How do you monitor the success of your site? Setting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and monitoring success is vital for business growth. You can start with free software such as AwStats or Google Analytics. Whatever software you choose it should be able to produce data you can easily understand and act on. Track your performance daily, weekly and monthly as you see fit.                                                                  

The Importance of a Logo

Nike’s Swoosh. The Golden Arches of McDonald’s. The Apple of Macintosh. The world’s most memorable logos are recognizable anywhere.  Time has no hold over them. They evoke strong emotions towards a brand. That is the power of a logo.

 A logo is a representation of a company’s brand. It should speak to what a company does and it should be simple, yet sophisticated.  When creating your logo, think of how you can achieve the following:

• Make it easy to understand. There is no need to be cryptic or to make them think. Keeping it simple and unique will make it stand the test of time.
• Associate it with your business. One look at your logo and your customer should be able to identify it with what you’re offering.
• Easy to reproduce. Be it in the web or on print, your logo should translate well in various types of media. You will be using it both online and offline after all.
• Scalability. Connected to associating it with your business, think about how your logo will grow with your brand and your product lines. If you add other services in the future, is your logo flexible enough to be able to cover those new offerings.
• Timelessness. Do go for what’s cool today, gone tomorrow. Steer away from groovy fonts and psychedelic icons. Keep to a business theme. If it calls for it, add playfulness with colors. Being too out-of-the-box may make your chosen logo today look outdated in ten years.

A logo is no trivial thing. Large corporations actually spend millions to come up with a power logo that the public will love.  But if you’re starting out in online retail, you don’t need to spend that much on it. Do consider that what you spend will have its ROI in terms of reach. Your logo should be used in your signage, your business cards, your brochures, stationery, directory listings and more. In your online store, your logo should be place on the top-most part of your website. It should be clickable and should lead back to the homepage for good usability. The interaction your website visitors will have with your logo will be numerous and they will remember it for that reason alone.

As a last tip on logos, have it professionally designed to make sure it is unique and that it makes the impact you want on your intended audience.

Shopster is offering a discount coupon on logo design services.

How to Use Squidoo to Increase Your Sales

Squidoo is one of the more known social sites that isn’t fully utilized by online retailers to increase their sales. Founded by Seth Godin in 2005, it’s a free way to share content online.  It mixes all the great features you’ll find in other social media sites. Squidoo allows you to share links to target popularity, you can add in a network of people based on what they know, you can share your pictures, videos and blogs. Quality content rules.

There are several ways you can promote your store or your products in Squidoo. First, you need to create a page called a “lens”.  Your first lens can talk about your online store, your core business proposition, the kind of items you sell and the history of your store. You can create another lens where you discuss specific products and how to use it. The key is to make your lenses relevant to other users.

Squidoo, by itself, is a great way to make incremental revenue. If you love to write about what you sell, then you can make money from it. Lenses are designed to be monetized. Moreover, Squidoo shares it’s monthly revenue between all members.

The good thing about Squidoo is that it has a high Google PR and is easily indexed by search engines. So traffic should come easy. Nonetheless, you should also put in a bit of effort to make your lenses more popular by creating links to it.

Squidoo is  a dynamic way to market your own online website and is good practice for basic SEO and online marketing. Create a lens on Squidoo, market your online store on your lens, deliver traffic to your lens. As you build traffic for your lens, you are earning money and advertising your online store.  But don’t forget the value of good, relevant content. Make sure you use Squidoo as a way to communicate something important about your product instead of using it for blatant advertising.

Creating a Tagline

When starting your own online store, it’s always a good idea to benchmark against the big players. Some of the bigger brands out there have gained popularity from a single line. It spells out what they’re all about and what they want to communicate to their market.

 

This is called a tagline. It is also referred to as a strapline or a slogan, it is a phrase or a sentence that defines your business, product or service. Taglines are often reiterated in advertising material for brand recall.

 

Here are some tips to follow when creating your tagline:

 

1. KISS – Keep it short and simple. 5 to 8 single-syllable words work better than a sentence that defines your service. Make sure non-native English speakers would understand what you are trying to say.
2. Be original – Don’t use a tagline that someone else is already using. A little research should help you in this area.
3. Stay positive – Negative statements won’t sell, so don’t focus on the bad side. Doing so may even work against your brand.
4. Keep it interesting – Rhythm. Beat. Flow. Call it whatever you want, taglines should have a certain sense of poetry in them. Use phonetics to your advantage. 
5. Make it unforgettable – It can be unusual, quirky, funny…but it should always be memorable. 
6. Think about your service/product’s benefits – These are just some of the things you might want to emphasize when creating a tagline. 
7. Should reflect your brand personality – A good first step is to include the brand name. It would help to capitalize on your unique selling proposition. What do you do? What is the brand about? Why should anyone care? It should differentiate your brand. 
8. Consider your method of delivery – Remember that impact is affected by the medium. What may work for radio and print, does not necessarily work for the web.
9. Write for your audience – Don’t pretend to be an ad agency, but do care about branding. Understand your audience and the language that would click with them.
10. Test your tagline – Audience testing is an important part of establishing brand recognition. Ask people from your company as well as complete strangers if they understand what you are trying to offer after hearing your tagline.

 

Your tagline will be associated with your brand in print, web and in other forms of media, so create one that will last. And last but not the least, your tagline is your own, so might as well enjoy creating it.

Writing for the Web to Help Increase Sales

Copywriting is one of the most valued skills for online marketing. Your text or copy can make or break your sale. If you aren’t inclined to hire a professional due to budget restrictions, the next best thing to do is to write the copy  yourself. Even if you think you lack the skills for writing, you already have two things working for you: you know how to sell and you know your product well.

So off we go to the copywriting tips to help you increase sales:

• Avoid jargon and acronyms – There’s nothing readers hate more than reading things they don’t understand. Avoid the technical words that may mean a lot to you but will not mean anything to your customer.
• Be descriptive  – Your customer does not see or feel your product first-hand. So, they need to get to know your product through you. Tell your website visitors about the size, the color and the texture.
• Accuracy is important – Avoid any legal implications by being accurate about your product descriptions. If you’re a new merchant, this is also the best way to establish reliability and encourage repeat purchases.
• Answer questions before they are asked – Be perceptive about your market’s needs. If you’ve been selling a certain type of products for a while, then you should have a list of frequently asked questions. Prepare beforehand by using your product description to answer these questions.
• Allow customer reviews – These are a great source of user-generated content that other customers really value. If you have a way to capture customer reviews, use it. You should also publish this in your website and in landing pages to encourage more people to buy from you.
• Use active sales words – In the web, this is the call to action. You write text that would encourage your viewer to perform a certain action. Include text such as “buy now” or “add to shopping cart”.

The more you practice writing your own text, the better. You can start by tweaking the existing manufacturer descriptions to have something unique to your site. Continue doing it and you’ll soon get the hang of things.

Happy selling!

PowerMerchant Tips: Selling Sports Equipment Online

The internet has paved the way for sports equipment sellers to expand their markets exponentially. The first thing you need to do is to choose your categories. Look at other Sports & Leisure stores to find out how they arrange their products. Most stores do it by activity type: cycling, fishing, hiking, camping, fitness, golf, rifles and guns, caravans, skating, tennis and badminton and more. Don’t forget other sub-categories such as health aides, sports clothing/jerseys, shoes and other sporting goods.

When it comes to selling sports equipment online, descriptions and photos really matter. It is important to enthusiasts to test sports products before buying these. The internet does not afford buyers this luxury, so you’ll have to guide them through the purchase process and help them see past the risk of purchasing without testing the product first. Be clear about the brand, the color, the size, the weight and anything else that might affect usage of the product. Also feature photos with different angles.

The next important factor to focus on is the price of the sports equipment. The big plus of buying online versus going to a sports store is really in the cost savings for the customer. It has to be significantly less than what’s offered in the market to be able to convince the customer to buy.                                                                     

Be very clear about the shipping policy you have for the product. As most sports equipment are heavier than other products, clarify where you can ship and at what price. If you have a local store, you should also consider offering pick-up options for your customers who are in the same area.

Finally, when choosing your inventory, pick the known sports brands (ie Callaway for Golf or Nike, Adidas for Basketball clothing). The big name brands often employ strict quality control in their product procedures. Even better, they also offer guarantees for their products. So in the inventory buying or selection process, it is better to stick with good brands than to experiment on new ones.

Happy selling!

Expanding your Online Sales Channels

Sales channels are places where your products can be purchased. Your online store is considered your direct channel, where the costumer is directly in contact with you and buy from your brand. Auction sites can also be a direct channel, especially since you can create your own store within the site.  

 The following are examples of direct channels:

• Your own online store
• eBay
• Google Base
• Amazon
• NextTag
• Yahoo Store

 Then, there’s the indirect channel,  these are places where your customer purchases your products through an intermediary. They often require you to pay a commission so there is a bigger cost of sales when it comes to indirect channel selling.

• Reseller Program
• Affiliate Program (Commission Junction, ShareASale, LinkShare)
• Distributor networks
• Retailers

 Before you decide to on your channels, check if your product type allows it. If the products you are selling is complicated or requires training, then it is more suitable to go direct. To scale to indirect marketing with this type of product, you would need to put together a training and certification program.

 Next, consider your product’s price point. High-end products need to start off in the direct channel as the benefits have to be explained to your potential customer in person. Brand protection is another consideration.

Choose your channels wisely and find a good balance between the two. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing your channels such as cost, coverage, control, support and more.

Shopster helps you expand your direct channels with datafeeds. Sign up today to find out more about selling tools available to you.

Selling Online: Questions to Ask a New Dropship Supplier

If you’re in online sales and you’ve discovered the joys of dropshipping then the next step is to choose the right supplier. For those still unaware of what dropshipping is, it is basically a supply chain management technique that saves the retailer money on overhead costs such as inventory warehousing, handling and shipping. A dropshipper is a company that will ship the item directly from their warehouse to your customer.

In order to minimize the risks involved in dropshipping and to protect your reputation as a seller, it is important to ask your potential dropship suppliers the right questions. Here are some you can start out with:

• What’s your average order fulfillment time? Find out how long it will take from the time you place the order to the time they send it out to your customer.
• Do you have a tracking system available? If they don’t have their own system available for tracking the item, then find out if they work with a courier that does. If an item doesn’t arrive or is delayed, you will need to find a way to keep your customers updated.
• To which countries do they ship to? This should be disclosed in your own website. Dropshipping allows you to expand your business globally, so work with a company that could help you scale in that direction.
• Will the items be white-labeled? The item will not be coming directly from you but it would be best to have it bear your logo in the shipping credentials. White-labeling is such that a product is marked as a generic item that can be branded as coming from a particular retailer instead of direct from the supplier.
• Is there a minimum order amount? This is how dropshipping is essentially different from buying wholesale. The prices will vary per supplier, but they should be able to send out minimum quantities (ie just a single piece to a single recipient).
• Does the dropshipper allow product returns? If they do, find out if there’s a cost associated with returning the item. The dropshipper’s return policy should reflect in your own policy in your online store.
  

As you keep using dropshipping for your supply chain management and you grown your online store, you will come across more questions that will be pertinent to run your business. List those down so you have a checklist ready every time you consider a new dropshipping supplier.

Happy selling!

 

Shopster Coupons are out: http://www.shopster.com/coupon.html

Holding a Grand Opening for Your Online Store

Grand openings are big events often associated with brick-and-mortar retailers. There’s really nothing stopping you for holding one for your online store. It’s actually a great way to introduce the service and attract potential buyers to your website.

Here are some few pointers to help you set up a successful grand opening for your online store:

• Set the date. Choose a date, purchase the domain and start designing your online store. Sticking to your launch schedule is essential to getting people to visit the store on your grand opening date.
• Get the word out. Create buzz even before it happens by sending out a press release with the date of your online store’s launch. You should also send out announcements via your social media networks like Facebook and twitter. Make sure you indicate the date of the Grand Opening to avoid surprising visitors with URL that doesn’t work.
• Get a splash page out. Since you are letting people know about the grand opening in advance, some of them might visit the site even before it becomes live. Have a splash page ready to greet them with exciting text indicating what they can expect and when the grand opening will happen. If you want to give them a preview of the products you intend to sell, you can also include this in the splash page design.
• Do a countdown. Traditionally, store grand openings are marked by a ribbon cutting ceremony. Being an online store, you obviously will not have this pleasure. However, you can create something just as exciting. On the day of the opening have a dynamic clock counting down the hours of when you’ll be “opening your doors to the public”.
• Raffles, contests and promos. Don’t kill the buzz once you’re site is live. Continue building energy and have people actually stay and shop in your online store by holding an hourly contest or a raffle. Discounts can draw in big crowds. Giveaways don’t have to be huge or expensive, but remember that the more you give away, the more sales you’ll see in  the days ahead.
• Have an online guest book. This is an exciting way to capture the contact information of your site visitors. Have only the bare minimum requirements such as their name, contact number or email address. To encourage them to leave a message, you can even offer a prize if they do.
• Don’t forget to thank your first-timers. If you were able to capture your site visitors’ information (see tip above about having a guest book), you should personally send them an email thanking them for attending your event. If you weren’t able to do this, you can just limit the thank you notes for those who actually bought from your site on your grand opening day.

Happy selling!

Preparing for the Back-to-School Sales Rush

Back-to-School is just around the corner. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the American consumers will be spending $38.4 billion on back-to-school merchandise in 2010. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Retailers are pegging it at a higher amount, approximately $55.12 billion with each American family spending $606.40.

Here are some tips for starting your online marketing campaign for back-to-school season:

• Discounts. Discounts. Discounts. One of the prime reasons consumers will want to buy from you is because you are offering a good deal. Create promos for products, give special discounts on themed items and offer savings on bulk shipping.
• Advertise early. Back-to-School season marks a big event for most retailers. It is also the start of the third quarter of the year as well as the fall season. Several advertisers will start their online marketing efforts early and so should you. The second week of July is the ideal time to start.
• Communicate to your customers why they should buy from you. Competition can be tough and the big retailers will definitely be your major contenders for school supplies and other must-haves. So, hype on what makes your store different – be it the price or your delivery options.
• Target the right audience. During Back-to-School season, you actually have two major audiences: the students and the parents. Between the two, it’s the parents that have control of the budget, but do not discount the purchasing power of the students.
• Highlight the right products. Bags and shoes, shirts and school suppliers are the top sellers during this season. Make sure you are offering a good deal on the bare necessities such as pens and paper products.

Happy selling!

Instill a Sense of Urgency to Increase Online Sales

Put yourself in the shoes of a customer. Have you come across a limited time promo that you just had to get? This is not a new trick. Instilling a sense of urgency means getting that sale right now versus losing it to time or much worse, to other stores. It’s the same concept behind the “Buy Now” call to action that most online stores use.

Everything in your site and in your marketing collateral -- from your sales copy, your call to action buttons, your email marketing efforts and your promos -- should compel your users to buy the item right now.

There are three basic ways to communicate urgency in marketing:

• Limited stocks: Scarcity and rarity sell big. Merchants with unique products should advertise the number of items left in stock. If it’s a product that could run out of stock, people will want it more.
• Limited time offer: Drive urgency by indicating that the product or offer will only be available during a specific time period. In your promotion, state that the customer must buy before a certain date to qualify for a discount (ie Sale ends in 3 days)
• Additional bonus for specific time frame: Related to the limited time offer is additional bonuses. Informercials are famous for the line: Buy now ang get this and this for free! Buying right away incents the consumer, making it an urgent matter for them to do so.

While urgency tactics can be very effective at securing the sale right away, it should also be used with caution. You should aim to make a sale based on the quality of your product ,a good price and the popularity of your brand for offering both, and not through hype or pressure.

The urgency of the sale or the offering should be genuine. If you put a deadline to the sale, make sure you revert back to the original price after. The sale needs to be legitimate so you don’t lose your credibility as a merchant. Online shoppers have been exposed to all sorts of gimmicks and will quickly recognize if you are manufacturing an urgency to increase sales.

Happy Selling!   

Link Building: Submitting to Directories

Link building via directory submission is one of the easiest ways to get started on your online store’s SEO efforts. It is important because search engines consider inbound links as a vote that identifies a certain page is relevant to that keyword. Additionally, it helps improve visibility by bridging your online store to other sites.

When choosing links to work with, there are two things you need to consider Page Rank and Trust Rank. Page Rank is formulated by Google and is measurable via the Google Toolbar. Trust Rank, on the other hand is more difficult to set to a number. It is based on links and inbound link reputation. Sites considered to have the highest Trust Rank are those with .gov and .edu links.

Here are some definitions you need to understand when it comes to link building:

 Types of Submissions:

• One-way linking – Sites that accept submission and inclusion of your website without asking for anything in return.
• Reciprocal link exchange – Sites that ask for a link back from your website.
• Three-way linking – Sites that will offer placement of your link in a particular page but will ask that you place a link in your site for another website/webpage different from where your link is placed.

Where you can submit:

• General directories -  Sites that allow listings for a variety of topics.
• Thematically related directories – Related directly to your niche (ie for hotel websites, submit to travel directories) 

As a final tip, make sure you only submit to quality directories preferably with PR3 or greater. Avoid bad neighborhood sites such as those related to pornography, link farms, free for all link sites and spam sites. Check for no follow tags and always submit to one-way link sites.

The importance of blogging

Blogging is one of the most popular online activities today. The word blog comes from web log, where in the users log their personal content or any other articles they place in an online journal. Entries in blogs appear in sequence, where the first visible entry is the latest.

 

Some blogging tips to follow:

• Distinguish yourself.  Your blog is as much about you as it is about your topic. It reflects on the way you write, the pictures you take, basically everything there. You are the keeper of information in your blog, so naturally you are also the most important person there.
• While you are important, you should also consider the reason you are blogging in the first place. Keep to a specific theme. For instance, if you want to write about basketball, focus on the game, the equipment, the teams, specific players. Write about the experience or the product, let “you” reflect in the writing without necessarily writing about yourself.
• Give your blog character by letting it reflect your voice. Your blog shouldn’t be written as news. If people wanted to read the news, they can open the broadsheets. It should be your personal account of things.
• Update your blog frequently. This keeps the audience interested and even better, it lets the search engines crawl your site more often.
• Interact with your audience. When questions are posted via the comments section, comment box or in an email, answer them. Or do it the other way around, set up polls or ask your audience questions in your post. Let them guess where your pictures were taken or encourage them to answer questions you post.

Writing an Order Confirmation Email

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to thank your customers for their purchase. The perfect way to do this is via the order confirmation email you send them. If your shopping cart system allows you to edit the contents of the automated confirmation sent after an order is placed, do so.

A confirmation email that thanks the customer for their purchase doesn’t only keep him/her updated about the status of the transaction but also shows good customer service on your part. The first thing you need to look out for is spam guards or anti-spam software that might filter the emails you send. If you have a status message popping up after they click on “Buy Now” or after they send in the credit card details, remind your buyers to whitelist your email address. Even better if you can provide an online copy of the confirmation email via a URL. Remember, not all emails are properly received by the customer.

Also, ensure that the subject line of your confirmation email does not trigger the spam filters. A simple subject should suffice, here is an example: Thank you for shopping at <store name>. Order Number <00101>. Read up on CAN-SPAM compliance for more ways to avoid being tagged as spam email.

In the body of the email, you can use the following text as an example.

Dear <Customer Name>;

Thank you for shopping at <Store Name>! We truly appreciate your business. You should receive your order within 3 to 5 business days after payment confirmation <should follow your shipping policy>.

Your satisfaction is important to us. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at <email address> or call us at <phone number>. You may also visit our FAQs section here: <URL> to find out more about the order process.

If you would like to give feedback about our products or services, please leave your comments and suggestions here: <url for feedback>

Order Details:

                Order Number:

                Order Date:

                ETA of Delivery:

                Product Description:

                1 x Product 1 …..$Cost

                1 x Product 2 …..$Cost

                ---------------------------------

                Sub Total: $Total Cost

                Shipping Cost: $Shipping

                Total Amount: $Total

Shipping Address: 

This example is simple, precise and does the job of thanking the customer and even asking for their feedback. As a last note on confirmation emails, use it to interact with your buyers but don’t overload them by sending them emails every step of the way. If you have a page to help customers track their order status, then include it in your confirmation email.

Happy selling!

PowerMerchant Tips: Selling Beauty & Personal Care Products Online

We’ve gone through several niches in this blog to help Shopster PowerMerchants increase their sale. Today, we are covering one of the biggest industries in the world: beauty and personal care.

When it comes to selling beauty products, there were two traditional ways to do it. One, grown your brand and have it consigned in luxury department stores where you have your own booth and a lot of overpriced items. Or two, go door-to-door to sell your products. This was during the earlier days of the industry’s boom. Now, beauty products have become more accessible. Going online is one of the best things that ever happened to the industry.

So first things first, if you’re trying to break into the beauty and personal health care market, make sure you understand what you are doing. Study and know the brands. Understand your demographic and create a marketing persona. Then, start designing your site to cater to that market.

Design your sub-section so that they cover all types of products: hair care, facial care, fragrances, body and skin care, make up, nail care and more. When eCommerce was still relatively unknown, beauty and personal care sellers were left with just one option: to get their items listed in online drugstores. The problem was, most online drugstores are required to have a license to sell (especially if they were also selling prescription drugs), as such they were only a handful of them legally operating. Today, that is not the case anymore. Beauty products can stand alone as an online store.   

Once you have your categories downpat, it’s time to choose the products to sell. In this industry, quality is of utmost importance. People who buy beauty products are not in it to save a couple of bucks, they expect results. It would be best to try a few samples before you start adding to your inventory. The branded and recognizable products are also a must to have in your roster.

Next, you need to start advertising your site. As this is a business-to-consumer type, it is relatively easy to be visible to your target market. After all, they are everywhere. Leave a link or a short plug about your site in the forums you visit, leave a note for your friends to visit in your social media accounts (like Facebook or Twitter) or blog about it. The more you spread the word about your new online store, the better.

Happy selling!

Going Local: Limiting Your Optimization to a Specific Place

Let’s face it, you can’t ship to all markets. It doesn’t matter if you’re a big retailer or a dropshipper, there are some limitations to logistics that just doesn’t allow this. While you can aim to be truly global and cover as much as you possibly can, sometimes it’s just more practical to accept what you can and cannot do.

Localizing your sales does not necessarily mean losing out on a ton of potential revenue. In fact, targeting a particular market can be the best decision you ever made. It filters out website traffic that won’t be able to convert because you can’t sell or deliver in their areas.

Before you make this big decision, study your online store’s demographics. Is there a particular market or geographic location where you derive most of your sales? Does your current supplier roster service this market? Are the shipping prices for this market restrictive or are they more fair to your customers? Once you have made that introspection and are ready to start targeting a specific market, the next step is to optimize your site to limit the visitors.

This is called local search engine optimization. Here, the aim is to get visitors only from a particular country. The following are some tips you can follow for local optimization:

• Get a Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) such as .sg, .de, .au. This is helpful in telling the search engine the location of your business.
• Exchange links or build links with sites with ccTLD domains. This shows that you are relevant to other websites in the particular country you are targeting.
• Add your physical address with your ZIP code in the footer of your website. You may also want to consider adding a phone number with your country code and city code.
• Get listed as a website for your country/region in DMOZ. Although it doesn’t always get approved, it wouldn’t hurt t try.
• Get listed in your local yellow pages. There are sites in the web that take the listing from these local directories.
• Get your physical business (ie your local store) mapped in Google Maps and claim the entry in Google Places.
• Generate keywords that include the city and country or other location parameters and optimize your site for these (ie hotel in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia).
• If you have a local language, translate your site into this (or at least have a few of the main pages in your local language). Save the files in a subfolder with the appropriate standard abbreviation for the language (ie cn for Chinese, de for German)

The world of local optimization is continuously evolving so keep looking for ways to identify your site in relation to a specific location.

Power Merchant Tip: In Tune with the Seasons

Over the past few months, we’ve written several blog posts on seasonal marketing. There are the obvious items you can sell – red and hearts-themed for Valentines, green and Shamrock rules St. Paddy’s, fun and hot items for summer. The number one thing to keep in mind when surfing on the popularity of seasonal products is to keep an events calendar handy. And don’t limit yourself to events of just one country, find out the major holidays of all your markets.

Today, we want to highlight one niche where you can have the most flexibility when adjusting to the seasons: the apparel industry. Unlike any other niche, it can go beyond just holidays. Clothing matches the seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall.

Here are some tips on what types of apparel you can highlight during a particular season:

Summer – This is the time to bare some skin for both men and women.  Tank tops are always a hit as are board shorts and swimwear. Don’t forget accessories like wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, flip flops and aqua shoes. For those who prefer casual wear, t-shirts are the thing of summer. For color selection, bright is definitely in: apple green, hot pink, yellow are great to have in stock.

Fall – The weather starts to get cold and the leaves are beginning to turn. Light jackets, sweater vests and wraps should be handy in case your customers start to feel the bite of the cold weather. Keep polo shirts and denim jeans in stock as these give good warming up options without feeling too heavy. In terms of colors, orange, red and brown follow the theme of the season.

Winter – Depending on their area, your customers will now be battling with snow or a chilly wind. It’s time to break out the thicker material. Fleece wear, thermal undies, down jackets are a must. They would also be more keen on buying sweatshirts, long-sleeved shirts and even wool pants. Don’t forget to put the winter accessories on display: gloves, knit caps and scarves. If you’re selling footwear, this is the right time for lined boots. If you’re in a mountainous area, you might also want to stock up on snowboarding gear . Color is not very particular, but most winter clothing come in darker hues such as black, navy or brown.

Spring - The perfect weather for lighter clothing. During this season the heat isn’t punishing and the air is crisp, not cold. T-shirts and shorts or skirts are good option for spring. Give it a more formal twist by adding boyfriend blazer in the women’s clothing section. You should also start selling sportswear in this season.

Each season, big clothing retailers often come out with a new catalogue. Get yourself listed to receive these so you know what’s the latest in fashion.

Happy selling!

Applying Visual Merchandising Concepts Online

Traditional retailers or those who own and operate brick-and-mortar stores have a deep appreciation for the power of visual merchandising. To define what it is, visual merchandising is the act of promoting the sale of goods via a visual presentation.

It all start in your store space or the building itself. The look of the building and the location of the store says much about the brand – just look at the stores in New York’s 5^th avenue. This major thoroughfare in the Manhattan District of New York City is the prime example of good visual merchandising. The section of Fifth Avenue between 34^th and 59^th Street is known throughout the world as a premier shopping destination.

On the web, your 5^th Avenue is your domain and the website itself. Your domain or the web address of your store should be easy to remember and easy to find. Choose a domain that is concise and as much as possible it should be the same as your store name. You should also optimize your website so that it is easy to find your store when searching in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

The look of your store is your building. If you’re selling luxury items, go with deep colors that spell luxury – black and gold or burgundy and silver, how about a violet background? If you’re trying to draw the young, hip crowd then choose a more vibrant number – apple green, orange, yellow and hot pink are good choices. But don’t go over the top with it. Loud colors are best used as strong accents than the dominant background. Remember, something as simple as background color can make your website stand out and attract attention.

The next element of visual merchandising is creating the window display. Having a beautiful building and a rockin’ location aren’t enough to have customers start flocking your store. You need to make it more attractive by displaying your products in your window. After all, a good location will have several top stores for you to compete with.

So how does this translate in the web? Banners, of course. Depending on the design of your site, there are hundreds of ways to use a banner. In can be part of your header, right after your logo and before you navigation. You can also have a product banner or a promotional banner that highlights your store events such as sales or discounted items.

Finally, you have the in-store display – this is how you use your space, shelving, lighting and other installations to entice the buyer and take advantage of the senses such as sight, smell, touch and sound. Though this is difficult to do on the web, not all is lost. You don’t have aisles and aisles of products to explore but you should have well-organized categories and a good search functionality. Additionally, your individual product pages should be stocked to the brim with useful information about the product. It should have great pictures with different angles.

Whether you’re new to retail or you’re an expert in visual merchandising, it’s time to take it to the web. The same concepts apply. What you need to focus on is attracting the right kind of buyers for your products.

Happy selling!

Power Merchant Tips: Color My World

In a recent article we’ve written about selling clothes online, we talked about sizes. Today, we are still focusing on selling clothes online, but this time we will talk about color selection.

Online sellers of clothing and apparel need to offer a variety of colors to their customers. Aside from having different pieces in different colors, you may also want to have the same piece in a range of colors.

But do be careful with your selection, different hues have different meanings for people. The safest bets are the two ends of the color spectrum. White is generally easy to pair with any color as is black. Black is highly regarded in the fashion arena for its slimming effect. Both are easy to mix-and-match, so stock up on those two colors.

For the other choices, you may want to consider the feelings associated with color. Some consumers may buy clothing based on how they feel towards it. So let’s break it down:

• Black – the color of strength and stability, it is also often associated with achievement, power and intelligence.
• White  - Signifies purity and cleanliness. That’s why wedding dresses are traditionally done in white.
• Red – Denotes a strong feeling, often that of love and excitement.
• Yellow – One of nature’s colors, it can make the wearer feel light and happy.
• Green – Nature’s most prominent color, it imparts tranquility and balance. Some also use it to denote success.
• Pink – Often associated with femininity, it is generally thought of as a calming shade in the lighter hues. If the tone is closer to red (ie hot pink) it is screaming with activity.
• Blue – A relaxing color, it is traditionally used to represent masculinity.
• Violet – The royal color, makes one feel regal. Opulence and luxury are also often associated with violet.
• Orange – Like it’s more timid cousin yellow, it imparts an upbeat feeling. Energy is often associated with orange.
• Brown – The color of earth, represent stability and friendship.
  

While these are just associations, some cultures view colors a different way. For instance, in Western culture, black is a symbol of power and is a good choice for formal wear. In the Eastern world, it is symbolic of mourning and sadness…and at the most extreme, it is a representation of evil. Here’s another one: while red is a fun color to play with, you need to remember that in traffic it denotes risk or danger. Red means stop.

Aside from using color to choose your inventory, you can also use it when creating your online brand. What do you want your brand to portray? An fun retail store? How about yellow or orange as your online store’s background? Use it in the design, in your logo, in your call to action and in your banners. Colors can send a powerful message across if used properly.

Attracting More Customers With Online Discount Coupons

Generate interest in your online store by giving out online discount coupons. In a recent post, we discussed that this is one of the most effective offline marketing campaigns you can have to attract people to your website. It can also be done online. Put up a section on coupons, promos and sales to target the budget-conscious audience.

Coupons are not a new concept to consumers. Before the birth of the internet, you’d find them in newspapers and magazines. The clip-and-present method is something shoppers across the globe have gotten used to for years. Now that we’re in more modern times, coupons are again gaining popularity. But unlike their real world counterpart, the potential for its use has significantly changed.

First off, online coupons are usually a graphic (a banner, an image or a pdf file) where the user can find a coupon code or a number they need to type in before checking out their shopping carts. Unlike the paper version, this can be used more than once. To protect the retailer however, it would be best to add an expiry date to the coupon code. It’s easier to generate coupons nowadays and there really is no limit to the size and style of your coupon.

Coupons have also become much easier to distribute to your potential customers. There is no need to take out advertising space in a publication. You can simply submit to any of the thousands of websites offering coupons and discounts or in online classified ads. You can even add it to your own website – where it serves both as a highlight for your products and a push to have your customers buy something while they’re there

Aside from lending a hand in your marketing efforts, coupons also help move items that have been in-store for a while. Create a sale coupon or do a buy-one-take-one coupon to get your customers to pick up those items.

Finally, as a caveat, you need to provide very specific guidelines for the use of coupons, otherwise you are open your store up to a big hairy mess. So, aside from the expiry date on the coupons, you also need to add a limit to how they can use it (ie cannot be used with other promotions, cannot be used in tandem with other coupons).

Happy Selling!  

Promoting Your Website Offline

Being an online store shouldn’t limit your world to just the web. One of the most effective ways to deliver traffic to your online store is to do a bit of offline marketing. And it’s not just about traffic, we’re looking at increasing credibility and customer trust. Knowing that you have a physical presence can help you make that connection with customers who aren’t all that comfortable with buying online.

Here are a couple of tips on advertising your website via traditional means:

• Include your web address in marketing collaterals such as brochures, mailing labels, posters, letterheads, fax cover sheet and more.
• Add your URL to your business card. Don’t just give away your number when you hand out business card, send them that message that you want them to visit your site as well.
• Give out promotional products to your existing client base as well as to potential new clients – of course all displaying your website address. Pens, bags, bumper stickers, promotional products go a long way in the advertising world. They often have an extended reach, not just to your target audience but to their friends, family and other people who see the product when being used.
• Display it in your physical location. If you have an actual retail store, put the URL up on your store window or have signage made indicating the time of business operations and hat you’re also open 24 hours on the web.
• Include the URL in your newspaper / magazine ads and even in radio and television ads. You’ll have the tri-media effect working for you and you’re doubling the effect of traditional advertisement you are already paying for.
• Update your phone book listing. Most businesses are listed in a telephone directory, other take out a bigger space in them. If you’re one of the business that have paid for a bigger or a highlighted listing in the local yellow pages, you might as well list your web address there.
• Give out printed discount coupons or gift certificates for use on your website. How you deliver this to your intended audience is entirely up to you. You can have it done as a cut-out add in the newspaper, you can send it by snail mail, however you do it, it should only be claimed on the website.

Let your creativity go to work in exploring ways to advertise your site and make your brand more visible in the real world.

Happy Selling!

World Cup and Retail Sales

Like any major global event, the world of sports has a huge impact on retails sales. As we draw closer to the World Cup finals, it’s time to take a look at how it has affected the buying market so far and what else you can do to jump on the sales bandwagon.

Even in the early elimination stages, the match results were unpredictable. Germany recently prevailed over Argentina with a 4-0 score securing their semi-finals spot.  The upturn shows just how Mannschaft keeps getting better and surprising everyone with their strength and game play. However, it’s still anyone’s game when the Germans face off with Spain on July 7^th.

The effects of the World Cup in retail were just as unpredictable. Pre-tournament searches surged for electrical appliances, particularly for LCD TVs. According to Google Retail UK Blog, the breakout rising searches in Insights for Search were for the keywords “50 in TVs,” Sony Bravia40” and “3D tvs”. UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 0.6 percent increase in sales volumes.  Stores selling household goods experienced an increase in sales by 1.7 percent due to purchase of electrical goods, including televisions.

During the knock-out stages, the rise in search and sales were mainly focused on sportswear and beer, with World Cup sponsors taking the top spot in the alcoholic beverage category. According to ONS, food-store sales rose 1% in May from the previous month, where consumers would have taken advantage of deals on food and beverage. Hitwise recently reported that four out of five of their top performers in the Experian Hitwise World Cup Brand Index for the week ending June 12^th were for beers.

A surprise product that gained popularity in English markets was the huge rise in the sales of vuvuzela horns. Insight for Search confirms that the vuvuzela horns attracted more searches than other World Cup items.

The story for online retails seems good, driven by strong demand in markets with teams that have been doing well. Sadly, the same may not be said for brick-and-mortar retailers. For instance, in Rio de Janiero, store owners are reporting a 50 percent drop in business whenever the Brazil team plays. Rio de Janeiro Store Directors` Club president Aldo Goncalvez said in a recent in interview with the Agencia Brazil news agency that retail trade in the state already lost $55 million since the World Cup began on June 11. "If Brazil gets to the final, we`ll be dealing with 550 million dollars in losses for stores across" the state, said Rio Business Association director Daniel Pla.

Lesson to be learned: study your markets. Find out which teams they are rooting for. If you have a particularly large amount of visitors coming from countries that are competing in the World Cup, stock up on their team’s sports memorabilia. Get a healthy amount of team shirts, vuvuzelas, caps and banners.  If you’re focusing on food, try to put together World Cup bundles including snacks and beer.