How long does it take to get a new e-store off the ground?

[KRange]

Where do you ship to? if it just within the uk how about EU or even further afield?

 

[j600com]

Now then Darrell don't let the facts get in the way of a good debate.

Quote from the OP for those that missed this rather relevant point:

"I started my online shop last year and still only have a trickle of daily visitors"

Earl

I started my online shop last year and still only have a trickle of daily visitors, with just a few sales a week. I've done a lot of SEO work, have a regularly updated blog on the same domain and have my products listed on Google Shopping, Shopping.com, Shopzilla and Pricegrabber (none of these has generated any sales).

I tried Adwords too and although I got some clicks, again no sales.

I'm not sure whether I am expecting too much too soon, or whether I have chosen the wrong product entirely (mid range scarves, average £30 RRP) or whether I need to spend some marketing money elsewhere.

If you read it fully you'll see they have tried marketing and got no sales. If you can't generate sales from pretty much all of the major marketing channels such as Adwords, major shopping comparison sites and SEO then more traffic isn't the answer.

 

If you read it fully you'll see they have tried marketing and got no sales. If you can't generate sales from pretty much all of the major marketing channels such as Adwords, major shopping comparison sites and SEO then more traffic isn't the answer.

The maths work like this roughly:

100 visitors = 1 sale

1000 visitors = 10 sales.

SEO is in general not very effective with out a top 5 position for your product/s.

The OP is no where near that standard.

Earl

 

[j600com]

Yes, but I've worked on re-design projects where the old site was 1000 visitors = 0 sales, so increasing 1000 to 5000 wasn't the answer. If the OP has tried Adwords (which increases traffic) and still resulted in no sales, then the answer isn't 'ramp up your adwords and get more traffic' - there's no point if it isn't converting.

I've also worked on projects whereby 1000 visits = 5 sales and (without increasing 1000 visits to 4000) managed to change 1000 visits = 20 sales.

At which point you then look at ramping up traffic to 4000 and you're 4000 visits = 80 sales (instead of 4000 = 10 sales).

 

[j600com]

At which point you then look at ramping up traffic to 4000 and you're 4000 visits = 80 sales (instead of 4000 = 20 sales).

ps. and when doing adwords whereby 4000 visits may cost you £2000, getting 80 sales (instead of 20) may be the difference between making/losing money and making it a viable route to market.

 

Yes, but I've worked on re-design projects where the old site was 1000 visitors = 0 sales, so increasing 1000 to 5000 wasn't the answer. If the OP has tried Adwords (which increases traffic) and still resulted in no sales, then the answer isn't 'ramp up your adwords and get more traffic' - there's no point if it isn't converting.

I've also worked on projects whereby 1000 visits = 5 sales and (without increasing 1000 visits to 4000) managed to change 1000 visits = 20 sales.

At which point you then look at ramping up traffic to 4000 and you're 4000 visits = 80 sales (instead of 4000 = 10 sales).

Redesigning a site will have very little effect on sales .

Having the right product/s and prices does.

The OP was not complaining about conversion ,traffic was the main concern.

Sales were being made with a trickle of traffic.

One needs to know the figures to come to a definite conclusion.

Earl

 

[j600com]

Redesigning a site will have very little effect on sales

The sales environment, platform, process, functionality and content can have a massive affect on sales. I agree having the right environment is only half the battle, you can have the best shop on the planet and stock it with the wrong products at the wrong price and it will fail.

I think you possibly misunderstood what I meant by re-design. I'm not talking about changing the logo or a background colour.

 

[Deleted member 140328]

Where do you ship to? if it just within the uk how about EU or even further afield?

Anywhere and everywhere! I actually make a fair proportion of sales to the US - they seem to like my scarves there, so I'm going to try and build that up.

 

[deniser]

Anywhere and everywhere! I actually make a fair proportion of sales to the US - they seem to like my scarves there, so I'm going to try and build that up.

I think a large part of the traffic problem may be because you are using the .com rather than the .co.uk

 

[Deleted member 140328]

I think a large part of the traffic problem may be because you are using the .com rather than the .co.uk

Do you think I could solve that problem by buying the .co.uk and redirecting it to my .com site?

 

[j600com]

The domain won't make a major difference (alone) but if the site is hosted in the U.S then that would.

If you do business outside the UK (or want to do more) then the obvious thing missing is multi-currency.

 

[Deleted member 140328]

If you do business outside the UK (or want to do more) then the obvious thing missing is multi-currency.

Not any more - just worked out how to do that in Volusion

 

[j600com]

The domain won't make a major difference (alone) but if the site is hosted in the U.S then that would.

IP Address: 70.37.253.229
Location UNITED STATES, CALIFORNIA, SAN DIMAS
Latitude, Longitude 34.106676, -117.806726 (34°6'24"S -117°48'24"E)
Connection through VOLUSION
Local Time 26 Apr, 2012 03:12 PM (UTC -08:00)
Domain VOLUSION.COM
Net Speed DSL
Area Code 909/951
IDD Code 1
ZIP Code 91773
Weather Station SAN DIMAS (USCA0985)
Mobile Country Code (MCC) -
Mobile Network Code (MNC) -
Carrier Name -

 

[Deleted member 140328]

I just wanted to post a heartfelt thank you to everyone who's pitched in on this thread. I'm now trying to make sense of all your advice, suggestions and comments and work out the best way to go forward with my store. I've even made some changes already.

I'm feeling much more optimistic about the future of Scarf Envy now. Hopefully I'll be able to help others here in ukbusinessforums once I have some more experience to share.

And sorry Chris, but I'm sticking with my logo

 

[TheGeekestLink]

I quite like the logo. I think it's evocative of the site.

As for the rest of the site, I think you could do with spending some money on it to really give it a bit of oomph!

Generally, there's not much information there and it's all rather small and unassuming!

But I don't hate it... It's just not very accessible in terms of "scarfery", which, for a shop that sells scarves, isn't great!

Good luck!

 

[nathadale]

First check your pricing againts your competitor it might be much expensive than the others. Second check the presentation of your products, is there any sufficient photographs to browse with so that the customer will the over all looks of the products.

 

[raineshoe]

3-5 years depending on the product, price, demographics, marketing and so on.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but unless you have a killer product and no competition it's a long uphill struggle. Will provide a better reply soon when I've a bit more time.

Agree with all that.

It took me about 5 years before our online shop really took off and a lot of work literally 24/7. There are more people now jumping on the band waggon with the products we sell, but fortuantely we are way out in front now, but the tricky bit is staying there.

 

[TheGeekestLink]

Agree with all that.

It took me about 5 years before our online shop really took off and a lot of work literally 24/7. There are more people now jumping on the band waggon with the products we sell, but fortuantely we are way out in front now, but the tricky bit is staying there.

This is absolutely the scary part. I've seen a bunch of companies doing exactly what I'm doing (some have even copied my directory structure) and undercutting me. And we're still not really established enough to make an impact, but we are holding our own.

 

[chelle_85]

My observations are as follows.

All scarves on homepage look the same, just different patterns.

The home page prices are, in my opinion, quite high. I wouldn't pay £35 for a scarf unless I could touch it and be very impressed by quality. Look at your average order size and see if they pay £35 or nearer £15 and put appropriately tempting offers on home page.

Page load times a bit slow

Nowhere near enough text on the product pages for a search engine.


Celeb scarf blog - ok it's a bit dull but people are definately influenced by celebs so seeing lots wearing scarves can't be bad. I think I would just pep up the text, make it more informal and chatting, reference their latest squeezes and shenanigans in a positive way. "Oh, Hugh, don't you look dashing in that scarf? I bet your girlfriend bought you that. It looks like a Versace from where I'm standing but you never know, she might have got a knock off from down the market. Just how secure do you feel in the relationship? Only I'm newly single and available for dating any time you're ready. Just saying. Oh, and I do love a man in a scarf," You need the extra text for search engines and it will be more interesting for humans.

I totally agree with the quote above, i think your prices are way too high to be displayed on the homepage. Once I saw the first price of £30, i immediately wanted to log off.

Just out of curiousity, who is your target audience?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Suppliers of most fashion gear will supply proffesional photo's of models wearing the goods royalty free to their distributers / Agents, may be worth asking

 

[Chris Ashdown]

IAnd sorry Chris, but I'm sticking with my logo

Ok then how about making the letters made from scarfs wider so they do not look so thin and say use similar colours like Gogle logo to make the different letters stand out and add bright colour to each page

 

[raineshoe]

This is absolutely the scary part. I've seen a bunch of companies doing exactly what I'm doing (some have even copied my directory structure) and undercutting me. And we're still not really established enough to make an impact, but we are holding our own.

Yes definitely scary, but part of the challenge that I have to stay out there in front as a major player and that keeps me going.

I've also had that copying of my every move. At one point I almost felt that the house was bugged (I know wasn't so, but felt like it) as my every move, word etc was copied by a couple of retailers just starting out. We even got to the point of taking bets at home as to how quickly they would follow up. These people even had lifted text from a good colleagues web site for certain products.

However, I am of the opinion that if they have to copy an established retailer such as ourselves it says to me that I'm doing it all correctly and I'm the one to chase. It also tells me they can't think for themselves so will never be one step ahead.

Stick to you guns. If you put the work in it should pay off.

 

[Deleted member 140328]

I totally agree with the quote above, i think your prices are way too high to be displayed on the homepage. Once I saw the first price of £30, i immediately wanted to log off.

I've put some of my lower-priced scarves on the homepage too now. I had the expensive ones on there because they were the newest products I had in, but I can see that the prices might be off-putting.

I've gone up in price for my new stock, because there is far too much competition at the cheaper end of the market for scarves. I can't compete with the wholesalers selling direct to the public, of which there are quite a few. So I'm aiming a bit higher, for women in their 30s and up who have a bit of spare cash and shop in the pricier end of the high street.

I've actually had a great couple of weeks and sold a fair few of the £29.99 scarves, so I must be doing something right (at last!).

 

[Fred_the_frog]

I've put some of my lower-priced scarves on the homepage too now. I had the expensive ones on there because they were the newest products I had in, but I can see that the prices might be off-putting.

I've gone up in price for my new stock, because there is far too much competition at the cheaper end of the market for scarves. I can't compete with the wholesalers selling direct to the public, of which there are quite a few. So I'm aiming a bit higher, for women in their 30s and up who have a bit of spare cash and shop in the pricier end of the high street.

I've actually had a great couple of weeks and sold a fair few of the £29.99 scarves, so I must be doing something right (at last!).

Yep, you are doing something right- you've created 7 page thread with almost 2,000 views which is all focused around your website.

Anyway, please get rid of that tacky green van, its too bright for the site!

 

[Deleted member 140328]

Yep, you are doing something right- you've created 7 page thread with almost 2,000 views which is all focused around your website.

Heh, that's true. Although I really didn't expect that at all. My last sale was to someone in France, so that one is at least entirely unrelated

Anyway, please get rid of that tacky green van, its too bright for the site!

I have tried to kill the van, but it occasionally shows on the front page for some unknown reason. It just won't die!

 

[raineshoe]

I've put some of my lower-priced scarves on the homepage too now. I had the expensive ones on there because they were the newest products I had in, but I can see that the prices might be off-putting.

I've gone up in price for my new stock, because there is far too much competition at the cheaper end of the market for scarves. I can't compete with the wholesalers selling direct to the public, of which there are quite a few. So I'm aiming a bit higher, for women in their 30s and up who have a bit of spare cash and shop in the pricier end of the high street.

I've actually had a great couple of weeks and sold a fair few of the £29.99 scarves, so I must be doing something right (at last!).

I always think top end does well whether we are in recession or not. It seems the rich always have money to burn whatever the state of the economy.

By the way, just looked at your site and would definitely buy if I was currently in the market for scarves. There are some really nice ones on there and I'd easily pay £29.99 or more for one!

 

[findnetworkingevents]

I think the site looks fine, it looks professional enough that I would feel happy buying something from it. I also agree that it can take 3+ years for a site to really take off. This is obviously influenced by your promotional activity as well.

It all comes down to the marketing of the site in my opinion. You really have to work at it constantly, if you sit back and expect customers to just come to you then things will stagnate. Focus on building up your email list, send out regular interesting newsletters. Get onto Twitter, this is a great way to build up a following if you use it correctly. Highlight your facebook page with both of these. Look for interesting news angles on your products and get some PR.

Believe me there is a lot of stuff you can do very cheaply, just keep at it!

Good luck !
Stuart

 

[ukgreetingcards]

Hi there,

I get asked this question so many times you design and install a new website it can be business or private website but we ALL NEED TRAFFIC so what can we do is really one thing promote promote your site i mean social networking writing articles you need quality links back to your website if you do not do this you will just a get a few hits a day which is no good to anyone.

I hope this help a bit send me your URL and I will take a look for you


quote=scarf_envy;1967488]I started my online shop last year and still only have a trickle of daily visitors, with just a few sales a week. I've done a lot of SEO work, have a regularly updated blog on the same domain and have my products listed on Google Shopping, Shopping.com, Shopzilla and Pricegrabber (none of these has generated any sales).

I tried Adwords too and although I got some clicks, again no sales.

I'm not sure whether I am expecting too much too soon, or whether I have chosen the wrong product entirely (mid range scarves, average £30 RRP) or whether I need to spend some marketing money elsewhere.

Any advice gratefully received! Currently vacillating between optimism and giving up entirely [/quote]

 

[Drachsi]

I checked some of your code and found you have an xml sitemap, but no html version, this might help a little.

I think you have to face the facts, that customers are now only buying essentials.

Have you considered contacting companies in the "Event Business"? I know when I worked in BT in Munich, they would buy goods as give away's for special events.

 

[j600com]

I think you have to face the facts, that customers are now only buying essentials.

Completely untrue.

 

[IzzoNet]

3-5 years depending on the product, price, demographics, marketing and so on.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but unless you have a killer product and no competition it's a long uphill struggle. Will provide a better reply soon when I've a bit more time.

I agree with you. it's mostly depend on the product, price and marketing.
but i will add something important, i'm sure that if you know how to do it correctly from all aspects, you will succeed.

good luck to all of us.

 

[Drachsi]

Completely untrue.

I think the evidence shows that consumers are buying less. You think they are buying more? Perhaps you could provide some details.

 

[j600com]

You stated "customers are only buying essentials" which is completely untrue. During a recession it's the lowest earners who are hit hardest and reduce spending, you'll find those selling luxury items to higher earners aren't hit as hard. I can get you some stats on this if you wish, but google it and you'll find lots of evidence to support this.

To say people are ONLY buying essentials is completely unfounded and untrue; I have clients in the luxury end of the market selling non-essential items like fashion, jewellery, gifts, gadgets and so on who are still doing £millions through their websites.

 

[raineshoe]

I said that too in an earlier post that the rich keep buying. Recession or anything else doesn't seem to hit them and if you are selling to the high end market you probably won't have too much of a dip.

 

[seobarbershop]

Your blog has celebs with scarf's, why dont you source scafs like the ones the celebs have on then put a link under the image with your cheaper or more affordable look-a-like on it.....

Now thats a good idea.

 

[Starting Up]

Hi,

Reading some of the other comments I think they are a bit harsh but helpful. I think you have some good ideas but they are not coming across on the site. I really like the outfit suggestion you have in the blog. I think you need these sort of things in the main site to bring it to life. I found having a logo to show that the site can be trusted when purchasing has really boosted my conversion rates. I use sitewarranty.com.

 

[Greg Black]

I've done a lot of SEO work

A lot of SEO work? Really? Your site has hardly any inbound links?

Plus your main keyword on the home page appears to be "Statement Scarves" which has practically no search volume.

I would do 2 things.

Run Google adwords, find out which phrases have search volume and convert to sales. Find out what what your earnings per visitor are, this will tell you what you can afford to spend on acquiring a customers.

Then find other retailers with complementary products, get them to promote you to their customer base, give them a generous commission for each sale.

Cheers
Greg

 

[Borghesehouse]

I'm not a scarf expert but £30 seems pricey have you got a killer product that people cannot live without? Cause if not you'll need an amazing sales pitch!!