How many products before launch

[Aden Priest]

Hi guys,

Hope you're all having a lovely holiday break - for those that are

Im currently heavily into designing my new site which i explained in earlier post - e-commerce site selling vinyl stickers. Hoping this question covers generally anything e-com wise.

At what point do you roll the site live? How many products would you say is a suitable amount to make it live?

Im currently sat on 15 products - but aiming to have 50 up by next week. Debating wether to roll things live once rest of content is finished.

Looking forward to hearing your points on this.

Cheers
Aden

 

[Bill1954]

I'd be very tempted to get the site live and indexed as it is now.
Extra products can be added as you go.
In fact we launched our new site with 5 products and added others later and it hasn't done it any harm.

 

[Aden Priest]

I'd be very tempted to get the site live and indexed as it is now.
Extra products can be added as you go.

I do currently have it live to the point its being indexed - but im talking about a site launch in terms of paid advertising / social media launch.

I have a quite a bit planned - just curious when would be best.

Sorry should of been more specific.

 

[cjd]

If you're only a week away from getting it finished - wait. It's Christmas anyway - no one's interested until the New Year now anyway.

 

[antropy]

I'd say this principle probably applies here, so go-live as soon as you can:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Release_early,_release_often

 

[Aden Priest]

You are bit too late for this season but maybe you will be up and ready for Valentine.

To be frank, It is not about number of products but their presentation that makes all the difference. Digital web ecosystem and site usability is very important. Your website should have Mobile site and Social Media Integration with Blogs. Have some appropriate landing pages and a system to capture your customer email address. Videos is an added attraction.

Build your site keeping in mind the best user experience and that will definitely bring you the best conversions.

If the presentation is all ready then do go ahead...

Very good points thanks for that.

I already planned the key points in terms of interaction beforehand.

I have full social media links - all the profiles will go live upon launch. For social media i have a series of plugins that I will use throughout the week to post my weekly deals throughout buy/sell groups. Mostly manual input but I can post throughout them all in 10 minutes.

Blogging isnt something im intially launching due to sheer amount of work but it will be a primary focus eventually, mainly using that to let clients/consumers know about future launches/design previews - especially around certain things e.g movie launches (Star wars anyone? )

I have made this site focus on customer functionality with very clean code and responsive content - so far it works bug free over majority of the mobile devices ive tested but there will always be snags!

Video is a must - hopefully going to plan this just after christmas, as i want to make some application videos and removal videos. Maybe some behind the scenes eventually.

 

[Nochexman]

At what point do you roll the site live? How many products would you say is a suitable amount to make it live?/QUOTE]

Any sales person will tell you that now is always the right time.

We have merchants gearing up for Boxing Day as we speak; typically sales start tick up on the day after Christmas.

It sounds like you have done a lot of preparation. Now you need to find out how customers respond to what you have done. Are your analytics ready? Get some data and be ready to start tweaking!

Best of luck!

 

[Aden Priest]

Any sales person will tell you that now is always the right time.

We have merchants gearing up for Boxing Day as we speak; typically sales start tick up on the day after Christmas.

It sounds like you have done a lot of preparation. Now you need to find out how customers respond to what you have done. Are your analytics ready? Get some data and be ready to start tweaking!

Best of luck!

Analytics has not been setup yet - I will make that higher priority on my list.

 

[japancool]

How many products is a wide open question. Our first site launched with something like 150 products, which, at the time, represented about 0.5% of the potential product range. We have nearly 10 times that number now.

Our other site has launched with about 50, which I think is an adequate number, but as to what's right for you, that depends on a lot of different factors.

Bear in mind that keeping some products back to add post-launch gives you something to publicise.

 

[fisicx]

Launch right now. Some site do very well selling just one product. I brought a load of stuff the otner day from a site with just 4 products.

So make the site live and use the time to test your products, the theme and the checkout. Better to know now if it's going to work than invest a load of dosh in to a lot of product only to discover they don't sell.

 

[Aden Priest]

Launch right now. Some site do very well selling just one product. I brought a load of stuff the otner day from a site with just 4 products.

So make the site live and use the time to test your products, the theme and the checkout. Better to know now if it's going to work than invest a load of dosh in to a lot of product only to discover they don't sell.

My stock is made when orders are processed for now - I have a team of people I can call on for free labor if it took off - i would then look at hiring people immediately.

Litterally takes 1-2 minutes to make an order and I can do it in endless batches.

I think im going to launch very early Jan - its just finding time at the moment for the final touches - I guess it is Christmas eve though

 

[fisicx]

Those final touches take forever and nobody will ever notice them except you. Put the site live today and see what happens. Don't do any big marketing splurge until you have tested and you are sure people like the site and the products.

Had someone here a few years back who spent 5K on marketing and lost the lot because his site was rubbish. It looked smart but it didn't convert.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

Go for the 'soft launch' - put it out there ASAP and see how people interact with the site, iron out (the inevitable) problems, invite peer reviews, check and triple check that there are no barriers to conversions. When you are happy that your site performs well, implement your marking plan.

 

[Page]

Go for the 'soft launch' - put it out there ASAP and see how people interact with the site, iron out (the inevitable) problems, invite peer reviews, check and triple check that there are no barriers to conversions. When you are happy that your site performs well, implement your marking plan.

Spot on this one

 

[Nochexman]

Im currently heavily into designing my new site which i explained in earlier post - e-commerce site selling vinyl stickers. Hoping this question covers generally anything e-com wise.

At what point do you roll the site live? How many products would you say is a suitable amount to make it live?

I'm currently sat on 15 products - but aiming to have 50 up by next week. Debating wether to roll things live once rest of content is finished.

Hi Aden, I was wondering what you did in the end?