Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Product research, hard work, and Terapeak

Contrary to popular desire, selling online isn't easy. If it were easy everyone would be doing it, which would make it harder.  If you want to establish a successful, long-term business, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort.  Sure, you can make some sales for quick wins without putting in a ton of effort.  Sure, there are solutions out there (like Shopster) that can help make some parts of online selling easier - in fact, utilizing them can save you some time so you can focus on the hardest parts of selling online.  But, you'll never create a lasting income stream without working for it.

Anyone who tells you they have a way for you to make money without putting in hard work is probably lying to you.  Of course, the corollary is that anyone who only tells you it can be hard, isn't helping either.

"So, what should I do?"  For a start, you need to do some research.  Roll up your sleaves and start reading.  Know thy products.  Shopster's virtual warehouse integrates with Terapeak's data.  That means you can check all kinds of stats for the products you want to sell that Shopster has sourced: Average selling price, best time of day to sell, best day to sell, top promotions on listed products, etc.

Take this data and apply it to your sales strategy.  Successful businesses constantly analyze data.  Before you start a campaign, do some research.  Once the campaign ends, analyze the heck out of it.  You need to think about:

1. What's going to sell? What's been selling? For how much? When? 
2. What could you sell for if you tried really hard?
3. When does enterprise fall into loss? (Your cost-benefit analysis)
4. What are you doing that's working?
5. How are customers finding you? What are they doing on your site? What pages have a high bounce rate?
6. Do your numbers jive with industry standards? If they're too low - what could you take away from best practices?
7. Who's your competition?
8. Can you make better margins on the products you're selling? Are you offering enough complementary product lines with moderate-to-high profit margins to balance the lower margins of highly competitive products like electronics?

And that's just a start.  These questions should give you an indication of the amount of work you need to do both upfront and after you've launched your sales strategy.  This is the step a lot of online sellers forget.  You can get all the help you want building your store, creating listings on eBay, optimizing for organic search engine traffic, sourcing products to sell, and setting up a shopping cart... but if you don't understand what you're doing and how it contributes to your success, you should seriously reconsider what you're up to.  Do the product research with tools like Terapeak.  Do the competitive analysis.  Analyze your campaigns.  Check your site analytics.  Research your competitors.  And keep doing it - especially if you want to be successful this holiday season.

Happy selling!

A caveat: Terapeak only utilizes eBay's sales data - that means that everything you see there was true for eBay - but might not cascade across every sales channel.  However, it does give you a starting point for non-eBay sales channels like your own online storefront or Amazon Marketplace.  Sign up for a 7-day free trial with Shopster to do some product research.

Your customers are at Amazon. Why are you at eBay?

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.  But it just might be true soon.  According to AuctionBytes (where I get all my auction selling news - and where you should, too), Amazon Marketplace's market share is growing... and eBay's is shrinking.

Amazon saw an almost 8% increase in the number of unique visitors.  eBay saw an almost 10% decrease in the same.  The same article goes on to mention that Amazon customer traffic peaks in December, while eBay's peaks in November.  This comes back to consumer trust.  Consumers are beginning to trust that shipments from Amazon will come on time, whereas ones from eBay sellers will not.  While eBay sellers (especially PowerSellers) are not factually more likely to ship late, that is the perception of consumers.

That means you should be looking to include Amazon Marketplace in your sales efforts - especially as we get closer to Christmas.  As your customers start to look more and more at Amazon, you should look at moving, too.

Read AuctionBytes' full article on Amazon's growth.  Or read about selling on Amazon Marketplace.

Happy selling!

How to Sell in a Sluggish Economy - Part III

For the final segment of this three part series I am going to discuss one more tool you should utilize in this rough economic climate.

Apology Note: I know I promised to discuss two tools, but upon further research one tool I was going to suggest was actually not a good idea. So, rather than steer you wrong I decided to just omit it entirely.

 A great tool to utilize this holiday season is Shopping Comparison sites. comScore is reporting that referred traffic drove a great proportion of online in Q3 of 2008 (30%)  compared to last year (27%). And comparison shopping sites are playing a much greater role in referred sales in Q3 2008 (5.9%) than Q3 2007 (2.3%).

 I suggest you take advantage of this growth by listing some of your products on a comparison shopping site. Two of my favorite comparison sites are buzzillions.com  and Shopzilla.com. Setting up an account with either of them is simple, and should result in some good leads.

Yes, this is a tough time to sell. But if you do your research, and work hard to give the customer what they are looking for (ie the right product at the right price) you will still have success this holiday season and beyond.

 Good Luck and Happy selling

 

Would you shop there?

Before holiday sales take off on Green Monday (one of many color-coded days marketers like to talk about), ask yourself one question about your online storefront: "Would I shop here?"

If your answer isn't a heartfelt "absolutely I would", you need to do some work.  You're not just a retailer, you're probably a consumer, too.  You know what makes you want to buy from an online store - and more importantly, what makes you not want to shop there.

Need some help deciding?  Here's a list of stuff to check on your store to see if it's sales worthy:

1.  What kind of informational content is on your site?  Most people use the Internet to gather information.  Think about your own browsing habits.  Would you buy from someone who didn't know a thing about the products they're selling?  If your site is lacking, add some custom content.  Write some product reviews.  Write some industry news or speculation.  Get something interesting on there.

2.  What does your store look like?  If your store looks like the used car lot of online stores, there's a good chance your visitors won't take you seriously... or worse: They'll think you're trying to scam them.  People trust nice-looking things.  Don't believe me?  Seth Godin (dare I say the Internet thought-leader?) recently posted "The Edifice Complex" talking about this very topic.

3.  What have you done to brand your store?  Do you have a relevant name?  Catchy slogan?  Slick logo?  People trust brands.  When you're building your online sales presence, you're also building your brand.  Make sure people remember you and they'll come back.

Start there.  You don't have the luxury of talking to your visitors - your potential customers - face to face.  You need to do all you can to keep visitors on your site until they convert.  Reduce visitors' anxiety about your store by addressing the issues above.  Get your site to where you'd be comfortable buying from it.  Because, really, if you wouldn't buy there why would a stranger?

Thoughts about drop-shipping as a part time business

I was recently in conversation with an entrepreneur/blogger from Romania about Shopster.  Cristian Dorobantescu writes a blog called the Small Business Entrepreneur blog.  He explores the options available to people who want to sell online (or anywhere, really).  He creates a lot of content and tries out a lot of solutions for entrepreneurs.  He seemed like a good fit for a review of Shopster.  Cristian was kind enough to indulge us.  From his recent post "Thoughts about drop-shipping as a part time business":

As you know I’m a great fan of part time entrepreneurship - I’ve started my company almost 4 years ago and I’m still moonlighting. Working for your own company after the 9 to 5 job is not easy, unless is something you could do from home, without having to meet customers very often and stuff like this. That’s why I had a look at starting a drop-shipping business as part time with Shopster.

As initially I wanted to write something on Shopster, I thought how on Earth could I write something that is meaningful and to provide a real value? After all, drop-shipping is not really spread in Europe, and not at all in Eastern Europe where I come from.

Read the whole article...

The post at Small Business Entrepreneur blog raises some interesting points (five of them, in fact).  After reading through the post, I had a couple thoughts: (1) "Wow, I'm actually working on this with a guy in Romania... the Internet is awesome" and (2) "Hm... Being in Eastern Europe doesn't preclude someone from taking advantage of the sales opportunities in North America.  Just because someone isn't where their product source/supply chain is doesn't mean they can't sell to anywhere in the world... the Internet is awesome."

I'm hoping to work a little more with someone in the entrepreneurial blogspace, like Cristian, about the opportunities offered by Shopster.

Best selling products for Christmas 2008

As you may know, Shopster does weekly updates to our Hot Products page. Every Tuesday we go through sales numbers for the previous week and post some interesting high volume items - along with the top four selling products to date.

I took a look through the list this morning, and had a startling revelation - It's tough to guess what the top selling products are going to be. There are products in the list I haven't even heard of. And they're outperforming proven sellers. While it's not entirely unfeasible that some liberties are being taken with the order of products on the list, products won't show up there unless they are making sales... and they'd better appear on the first page of our sales reports.

My grandpa tells me any time I see him that "you learn something everyday". He insists on hearing what it was that you learned, too. To wit: Your best guess isn't always a reliable indicator. Even if you scour the Internet everyday picking up rumors and industry speculation, nothing can replace the value of looking at actual data. We've got some smart people working with our data, so if they tell me something's a "hot product", I tend to believe them... even when there are some big surprises.

So, take a look at the list. Check it weekly (updated Tuesday afternoons). And don't be too surprised if electronics - that oh-so-reliable refuge of the online seller - aren't in all the top positions. Maybe electronics like Garmin 350 GPS, Apple iPod Touch, and Motorola W375 will get replaced by Burberry London, stuffed animals, and Bratz dolls. Well, if that happens, you should be a little surprised.

Check out Shopster's list of the top selling products going into the holidays!

Happy selling!

PS: The Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Music, etc... are all still safe bets, though.

How to Sell in a Sluggish Economy – Part II

Thankfully some things remain predictable. At Shopster we expect sales to be gearing up right about now, and our reports are stating that we were right. In the last week alone I have seen a significant increase in sales.

Let’s keep that ball rolling and start to concentrate on how to make even more sales.

There are several tactics you can utilize to drive traffic to your store. But some are better than others.

The number one way to drive traffic to your store is through a search engine. comScore reports that a search engine is still the greatest lead generation tool, with over 52% of website traffic coming from a search engine. And Google is leading the pack as the search engine of choice.

This means you will want to make sure your website appears in Google searches. There are two ways your store can appear in a Google search: organically or as a paid search.

It can be challenging to get your store ranked high organically. You need a strong SEO plan and you have to put a lot of focus on your keywords and man hours into customizing your content. But an organic search strategy is paramount for long term growth.

For a quick win you can utilize a paid search strategy right away. If you are wondering what a paid search is it is simple: when a customer searches a word, the pages that are listed on the right hand side of the Google page are websites that paid for advertising on that keyword.

To get your website on that list simply create a Google AdWords account. Once your account has been created you will want to do some research on what keywords you want to advertise on. With your keywords in hand create a campaign for each keyword.

Google AdWords is awesome because it provides some great analytics. You will know if your campaign is working or not working quite quickly. Once you do a quick analysis of your campaigns you can edit or delete any that aren’t working.

While your campaigns are running (as they run on their own once you set it up) you can turn your focus to your multi-channel selling strategy. comScore explains that multi-channel retailers continue to expand their market share at the expense of single channel retailers.

Shopster makes selling through multiple channels easy by being integrated with eBay. Using the Shopster e-Commerce package you can sell from your own storefront, eBay, or any other 3rd party website. I suggest Amazon.com as most of our warehouse prices are much lower than the listing prices found in the marketplace.

In the next segment (next Monday) I will discuss two more tactics you can use to increase the traffic to your site this holiday season.

Until then Happy selling!

Nintendo Wii Fit - Top Christmas Product Showcase

Even if you haven't been doing a ton of product research for the top-selling products this holiday season, you probably still know about the Wii Fit.  Nintendo's been driving some serious sales the last couple years with their Wii console. The Wii has unparalleled functionality - it incorporates more movement and (I'd argue) more intuitive gameplay with its unique control setup.

The first I heard of the Wii Fit, it was from a friend who wanted me to watch a video of a girl in her underwear playing the game.  That video (with 7,174,314 views on YouTube) generated more than a little interest in the game.  As the holidays began to loom, stock began to disappear.

My first touch point with the exact nature of the stock issues came when I decided to get a Wii Fit for my wife for Christmas.  Out of stock at Walmart, Zellers, EB Games, HMV, Best Buy... basically any store that sold them.  I kept hearing rumors that they'd come in stock at about 3AM on Monday mornings at Walmart.  According to everyone talking about it, if I wanted one that was my best shot.

Of course, everyone who was telling me where to find one forgot one thing: The Internet - which is where I eventually got one (unless my wife is reading this - then I got her something else... like a life size Olmec statue that'll look great next to my recliner).  If you're looking to buy something, and you don't want to drive to a different city to get it, go online.  If you're looking to sell, the same holds true.

Last year, a respectable number of Shopster retailers made huge sales with the Wii.  They were selling them on eBay or Amazon Marketplace to go along with the sales they were making on their online storefronts.  As it got closer to Christmas (and buyers were getting more desperate), the prices started going up (and so did their profit).

To take advantage of a similar expected spike this year, online sellers need to have a source for the Wii Fit.  Product sources - like Shopster - that have a large inventory of dropship electronics supplier products are a good resource to complement your existing sources.

If you're not currently selling the Wii Fit, but are looking for a respectable and reliable product source, try Shopster.  You get a seven day free trial.  Come in, check out our prices and sales channel tools, and sign up to start selling one of this year's hottest products.

Holiday Marketing & Shopping Comparison Sites

Written by Shopster's Marketing Team

With the economic slowdown, you'll have to be extra careful on where and how you spend your advertising dollars. This might have a small impact on your product sales, but for the most part, you shouldn't have to worry too much as economists are forecasting that people will still be purchasing the same amount of presents, but they might not be spending as much as they might have in the past.

One of the best ways that we have found to generate products sales is by listing some of your products on Shopping Comparison sites. Shopping comparison sites are websites that allow individuals to view lists of prices for specific products. People searching for products on shopping comparison sites are usually farther along the buying cycle and thus are more like to buy (targeted customers).

There are two very important points to remember when listing products on shopping sites:

1. You DO NOT need to be the lowest priced. The key is to be competitively priced. People searching for products on a Shopping Comparison site will be price-sensitive, but price is only one of many deciding factors. This is where you can separate your store/products from your competitors'. Offer these people a better shopping experience by creating an atmosphere that makes it feel like a safe and friendly place to shop, has better and more descriptive product descriptions, and features expert advice/recommendations, etc… This is where you sell the potential buyers on why they should buy from you and NOT from your competitor. What is your value proposition?
2. Only list products where you are competitively priced after you factor in your profit margin and some budget room for commissions/fees. You will need to sort through our product warehouse and only select products to list on shopping comparison sites after researching each specific product. Be smart and do your research! This will likely mean you should not upload all of the products in your store to Shopping Comparison Sites. Also remember to leave some buffer room in your potential profit margin because it can take a number of visitor clicks before a potential customer actually buys. Just to give you an idea, Shopping Comparison sites generally have a conversation to sale ratio of 4-6%.

Find out about the individual shopping comparison sites after the jump!

How to Sell in a Sluggish Economy - A Three Part Series

So, the economy sucks. We have all heard the economists and politicians tell their horror stories about how bad the economy is right now. We have heard how less will be spent this Christmas than last year, and probably the year before that, and the year before that, etc.

Yup, doom and gloom folks.

However, this does not mean you can not make money this holiday season. While many consumers are turning away from the brick and mortar stores, many more are turning to online stores for their holiday presents. Forrester Research shows that 27% of people they polled expect to spend more online this holiday season than last year.

So, the people are still buying, and they are doing it online.

In a three part series I am going to explore the online retail trends for this holiday season, and give you some tips on how you can be successful.

The first thing we are going to look at is what is selling this holiday season. The primary component of any retail business plan is choosing what to sell. You can only be successful if you are selling what people want to buy.

comScore has reported that in the third quarter of 2008 video games and consoles showed the most growth over a year ago (60%), followed by Sports and Fitness products (40%) and Home and Garden products (26%). Electronics showed the least growth, at 1%. This would suggest that video games and consoles are going to be a big seller again this Christmas.

While I always suggest keeping the Wii and all of its accessories in your store, you may want to think about including the PlayStation 3 in your inventory. PlayStation 3 is positioned to be very popular this year with the release of some big named games and the increase in popularity in Blu-ray DVD’s. The combination of high quality games and Blu-ray capabilities makes the gaming console that much more attractive because not only is it a gaming system, it is a complete, high-quality entertainment system.

Pricing is almost as important as selling the right product. The Wii and PlayStation 3 will be carried by a lot of retailers and there will be a lot of competition. You may believe that to sell these products successfully you need to sell at the lowest price. Not true. From my experience researching and analyzing what Shopster retailers do I have learned that the retailer with the lowest and highest price sell the least.

If you want to have a successful price-point, set it in the middle somewhere. Do you research on your products and choose a price that is in the middle of what everyone else is offering. I am not sure why, but in this case the middle road is the best road.

In choosing your price, don’t forget about the WalMart effect. That is: low prices will bring the customers in the door, but you will make the money off of the regular or high priced items that the customer will then buy.

Get people in the door by offering low prices on games or accessories, or even a buy one get one free promotion. Then make your money on the consoles when the customer buys it at a mid-range or high-range price.

Whatever your strategy is this Christmas, just make sure you are selling what people want to buy.

eBay Fixed-Price Listings and Terapeak

Writing for ecommerce-guide.com, Ira Steiner (publisher for AuctionBytes.com) says:

"EBay's new 30-day fixed-price listing format is throwing a wrench in tools used to conduct research on eBay sales."

We thought we'd report the issue because Shopster integrates Terapeak's product data directly into our dropship product warehouse.  If you're utilizing Terapeak's data to make decisions about which products to sell this Christmas, you might be in for a surprise.

Due to a glitch, the way the 30-day fixed-price listing format hands information to Terapeak about product sales causes serious lags in sales number updates.  The example given by Steiner is:

"Terapeak confirmed that, if a seller lists a 30-day fixed-price listing for, say, 200 iPods, and 150 sell in the first week, Terapeak data would not capture those 150 sales until that 30-day listing has closed."

Basically, until this gets fixed, it'd be prudent to diversify the list of sources for your product data.  When you're reviewing the top-selling products going into Christmas 2008 and making decisions about which products to sell, be sure to look at a couple places that aren't being fed by Terapeak.

Read Ira Steiner's full article: eBay Glitches to Cause Grinchy Holiday Selling Season?

Top Products for Christmas 2008

As we get closer and closer to the holiday shopping season, everyone's going to be looking for predictions for the top selling products for Christmas gifts.  Shopster will be doing weekly updates to our Hot Products page to keep up with the trends.  Every week will feature six new dropship products that are making great sales.  In addition, the top four selling products will be included at the bottom of the page.  While the Nintendo Wii, Apple iPod Touch, Motorola w375, and Garmin nvi 350 GPS Receiver are consistently amongst the top selling dropship electronics products - we'll keep the list up-to-date with rising products.

Click here to see the current Hot Products.

Hot product updates will come on Wednesdays up until the shipping-freeze date (usually around December 12th for standard shipping, December 16th for expedited - but we'll post the exact dates once UPS and FedEx cement them).
Keep checking back to get updates on this holiday season's best selling Christmas products.

Happy selling!