Vixenz Website Review

[vixenz]

Hi All

We have started a mainly lingerie website with dreamgirl fromthe united states which isnt allowed on ebay so a large reason to get our site worth shopping on.

Could you peeps have a look and see what you think, so we can ammend before time gets on.

At the moment I need to rearrange the lingerie from the dreamgirl cats into babydolls, halterneck etc as at the moment the american headings dont mean anything to anyone. Apart from that, any comments and/or critisms would be great and not taken the wrong way at all.

Its a basic template froma company I am using as I was using zencart orginally and it fell over and im not a programmer so baffled me.

Many Thanks

The name is a .co.uk site and called vixenz
Rob and Lorna

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

Try and give the Adult toys section it's own splash page noting the mature content, possibly an age warning. There's some pretty extreme toys by the looks of it and there could even be legal issues involved unless you put a warning there.

[vixenz]

ah scary!

Will do.

I might even take them off and put them on a different site? then put a url link?

At least that means i can concentrate on the lingerie and deal with the toys later, do feel its a juggling battle at the moment so i think your comment hit the nail on the head

Cheers muchly

Rob

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

If it's too much work by all means just take on one type of product for now. However if you expand enough it would be worthwhile looking into re-introducing the toys, it's a worthwhile market sector.

If you want a better start-up I'd advise starting a commission scheme for the short-term. Something like a refering member gets 10-20% of the sales. If you made it high enough then someone might even use your commission service as their business and start a seperate marketing campaign for you. They get some of the profits but you do get more Business, just get the right balance.

[SillyJokes]

oh goody, another lingerie site, with the added bonus that it's name sounds like a girl group who have just been hoofed off of the X factor.

You'll have to excuse my incredible rudeness but seriously, have you seen how many sites there are out there selling this stuff? My bank account flinches at the thought of how much Pay Per click will cost you when you discover you can't get onto even the first three pages of google.

Yes, there is a riduculous mark up in this area, yes, there are fortunes to be made in goods like these, but we see at least one new lingerie site a week on this forum. Hands up any of those here who are now making a reasonable living from it?

What makes your site different? Is it the stock images from the supplier? Because they make your site look like everyone elses. Is it being able to under cut prices? Well, you are not the only ones who can do this. Is it being able to deliver next day? It's been done. Is it free delivery? Of course, with those markups it comes as standard.

You are putting so much into this site (or at least you should be if you want it to be success). Don't leave it too long before beginning to think out of the box and coming up with another niche that you can exploit more successfully than beating your head against the brick wall of an already stitched up market.

[bmedia]

If you want a honest opinion I would give you two options

A) Bin the site and spend your money on something which will make real money (what I would do ;)

B)
1. Rebuild the entire site using a better quality ecommerce package
2. Provide original copy and photos for each item
3. Bring on more suppliers and keep away from dropshipping
4. Join the Adult trade association
5. Get some major cash together for serious SEO

I have worked on projects with these companies for years and can tell you that without a major budget and expert web team you will make nothing. You should budget at least £5k a month for PPC alone

If your still wanting to do all this PM me and I will try and offer some more advice

[vixenz]

hello mr sarcastic ;o)

I do see the points you have made, but it was either that or adult stuff as i have one of the top 5 wholesalers on my doorstep so can pick stock up and not have to be charged delivery. I chose dreamgirl , so which would you go for?

Im sure you can appreciate on this planet and the web, everyone has their finger in one of the 100's differernt industries and there is very limited niche thesedays as someone has already thought of it.

So lingerie or adult stuff? if you are that wise then give us a sight into your weighing up which one to go for? it would be appreciated as we chose lingerie. Yes its been done before but so has adult, so has computer parts, so have chose, so have car parts..etc etc.. so dreamgirl or adult?

My area of the country has several adult places so if you think we steer that way then so be it.. with your wisdom Ile wait for ur reply ;)

Rob

[bmedia]

The adult market is one of the most saturated online with thousands of stores poping up every month. Most are turnkey which are sold on Ebay, in exchange and mart etc with the same content , pictures etc

Most adult wholesalers in the UK also run online retail sites which are selling goods at little or no markup. These companies do not make it public that they have anything to do with these sites

Are you a member of any of the Adult trade accociations?

[vixenz]

Not a member of the adult trade no.. sorry to be nieve, got to learn somewhere but how does it help to be a member of them.
I am very new to all the business world but trying my best to make something of myself as a IT engineer, i dont want to do that till im 65-67


If not lingerie or adult, then what is the question. Which was my question for quite a while. Everyones doing computers which is why im staying clear. gave shoes a go on ebay shortly lived as most send back as dont fit.

Im not giving up but each industry seems saturated....

i dont want to retire oneday not making a go of something. Waste of a life.

[SillyJokes]

Hi Rob, you are asking me to choose between two things that I would prefer not to choose at all.

In terms of returns which you mentioned was a problem with shoes, the lingerie will be very much the same, either people won't buy it because they can't return it, or if they can return it, they will at the rate of about 30-40% I'd expect.

The toy market is pretty stitched up but as you cannot return these items and I happen to know the mark up is very high, then this would be my choice if you had me in a half nelson.

You are absolutely right to say
I dont want to retire one day not making a go of something. Waste of a life.

Luckily the lessons you learn with this project will help you make a success of the next thing you do. Most successful entrepeneurs have plenty of mistakes and failures behind them, they just keep trying.

You ask us what you should be doing instead. This is the milllion pound question so you cannot seriously expect me to tell you what will make money on a public forum. It's like asking for the meaning of life ;)

All I can say is that it is certainly possible to do something that everyone else is doing, but by doing it better than other people then you can be a success.

I just think that by starting in lingerie you are making your own life considerably harder just to save a few quid on delivery costs. If your order was large enough you wouldn't have to pay delivery at all most likely.

If you do go on to make a success of this site, please let us know, I'd be happy to eat my hat, but if after 6 months you are still struggling then don't waste any more of your life on it.

[Yorganic]

Ooh, some of the replies seem a bit harsh.

My advice is take a very careful think at where you you are going to get your'e traffic from and how much that is likely to cost - ppc, seo, affiliate, ebay whatever. Focus on one, make a plan, execute it and take it from there.

The big question is are looking to get rich or, make a living with a lifesytle choice of where you live and what you do etc. If you are looking to get rich then quite simply your'e 5 years behind the competition.

However, if it is the latter, I know of others doing very similar and making a decent living and living a fairly easy life despite the fact that their sites are pretty run of the mill drop ship businesses.

But, bear in mind nothing lasts forever and the web will be a very differet place in 5 years time.

[vixenz]

Hi There
Thanks for your reply, good to get a nice one :)

Im a IT engineer full time so its a business ontop of that. To give us a bit of extra income mainly, but also for the fun (and obviously) hard work that goes with it to.

Not looking to get rich quick, ive seen as well that people who rely on that get stitched up a treat as the market changes wherever they have put their eggs.

Appreciate your concerns, definatly not looking to be the next ann summers :)

Many Thanks

Rob

[redtiger]

Hiya Rob,

I love your unflakable attitude; I started business in website development at a time when I had over 150,000 competitiors but we're here today and expanded beyond my dreams into new industries.

Sadly I think where your business is solely reliant upon internet traffic, you do need to set aside a massive budget for SEO/Online Marketing as there isn't any 'Unique Angle' to punch for offline marketing such as PR etc.

I'd seriously consider the amount of marketing spend you're going to have, then consider whether it's worth ditching it and starting something with a decent USP with less dependancies on a single marketing scope.

:D


Alex

[vixenz]

I understand what you mean, the funds aren't there for PPC etc , but it only costs a tenner a month to host so it doesn't work out there its a tenner.. not breaking the overdraft..

Got a few places down here we can advertise, and people we "meet" *cough*

After xmas, is nothing happened over the period what so ever, I will stick to selling matchsticks on ebay :)

Overall, i do very much appreciate your views. Not one to go out and say , oh yes we will make 10,000. Told bank manager, noooo idea what sales will be. End of the day, i enjoy putting the items on there, in the long run nothing does happen and i get bored then at least ive tried much much more than others who dont even try at all.

Cheers, and have a good weekend

Rob

[redtiger]

Got a few places down here we can advertise, and people we "meet" *cough*



Why does that conjour up images of Volvos and a Nature Reserve at night? lol :D

[vixenz]

lol
As the AA advert used to go , "no, but i know a man who does"
ha ha