Online Store Critique

[KacperJed]

We have just recently launched an e-commerce store selling jewellery, which mainly includes watches and rings, with bracelets and necklaces to come. Our target audiences are businessmen and those with greater disposable income to spend on luxury jewellery, although we're still highly affordable to the working class.

Our business is currently advertised on Facebook, through boosted posts, carousel ads and brand awareness ads targeted at different types of audiences. So far we have spent around £65 (over the past 4 days) on FB ads, and our lowest conversion rate is 0.34%, while highest is 3.67%. Additional info: 11,197 reached with around 170 engagements overall.

Our issue is that this conversion rate is only impressions vs. engagement/visits. Our first week has quickly passed, and we haven't sold any of our items and are seeking critique for our online store and method as to improve early on where possible. The homepage isn't finished, but we will be hugely appreciative of anyone willing to take a look and share their valuable insight.... [removed on request]

 

[johndon68]

You'll find that only full members can get website reviews...

John

 

[KacperJed]

You'll find that only full members can get website reviews...

John

Wow, alright. Thought this forum would be a little more open. Nevermind, but thank you for letting me know!

 

[fisicx]

The forum is very open and you can get loads of help on a huge range of topics. But reviews are just for full members.

However, what you have is a bog standard Shopify store. There's a whole list of things you could do to improve things but it's unlikely you will be able to do much without considerable investment (you have to pay for everything on Shopify).

 

[Iain_Henderson]

I'm not surprised your conversion rate for sales on FB is zero - it seems to attract browsers rather than buyers.

Particularly when your selling prices are high. Picked one of your watches at random - a thinkgeek one - and Google searched it. First listing was for aliexpress selling it for 34 dollars! No listings on eBay or Amazon or any well known sites so I'd be reluctant to buy.

As you're not selling on Amazon why not try adverting on there rather than Facebook? Then your ad would be targeted to people actually looking to buy a watch.

 

[wayzgoose]

Expensive watches, no address and telephone details on the contact page - I'd be off!

 

[DanS]

I notice all of the men's watches are branded in the picture, yet in the product title and description there is no mention of the brand name?

Your online store:
Minimalist Men's Quartz Japanese Watch with Metal Band
Luxury Men's Sports Business Quartz Watch with Metal Band
Superior Men's Quartz Movement Wrist Watch with Metal Band

Compared to H. Samuel's online store:
Armani Exchange Men's Black Ion-Plated Bracelet Watch
Casio Edifice Solar Powered Radio Controlled Watch
Casio G-Shock Camo Black Resin Strap Watch

You may wish to change the name of your products to include the branding as it makes the product more appealing. In fact your product titles sound like an Alibaba listing!

Also, why not add some more well known products to your range? You may find this helps to improve the brand awareness of your products and just by featuring them next to your products you may be able to improve your products reputation and appeal.

I understand that you may not have the funds or agreements to do this, however you could always add a few and set them as out of stock!

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Massive delivery lead times probably don't help either.

 

[japancool]

and our lowest conversion rate is 0.34%, while highest is 3.67%.

Our first week has quickly passed, and we haven't sold any of our items

Your conversion rate is 0%.

Getting no orders in the first week - or month - is totally normal. There are so many new ecommerce site owners who post here with the same complaint and it's just par for the course. Building a sales base takes time and effort. "Open it and they will come" never holds true.

 

[DanBullBranding]

I opened an online clothing retailer 4 years ago... it ran successfully for 2 years before being squashed by the strong competition with big budgets.

The online market is really tough and especially when your products are not unique. If your products are not unique then you need to create a brand, a brand that people are going to love and buy into.

When we first released our first online store I was expecting a flurry of orders after spending 6 months building the brand up on social media and having lots of engagement. We got 1 order that day and I quickly decided that it was going to be harder then I thought!! We carried on plugging away on the social media but started to concentrate our efforts and investments into the local market and being a independent local clothing brand rather than trying to be a big boy which wasn't going to happen...

Good luck!

 

[antropy]

Wow, alright. Thought this forum would be a little more open. Nevermind, but thank you for letting me know!

We're very open minded, it's just one of the rules of the forum that only paid members can ask for a full site review. As a full member, I can highly recommend it, the yearly fee has been well worth it for us.

 

[DontAsk]

Expensive watches, no address and telephone details on the contact page - I'd be off!

Me too.

Any business that can't comply with basic legal requirements is not a business, just someone trying to make a quick buck.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

You'll find that only full members can get website reviews...

John

and they have to be done here don't they?

 

[Allan03]

Why dont you try to add some additional social media site for you online store for more exposure. Just a tip.

 

[makeusvisible]

The slight danger you have here is you are starting to make snap judgments about your site based on an extreamly low spend of £65. The number of visitors to your site is way too low at this point to be possible to guage the conversion rates....even more so as you have split the audiences into multiple campaigns. You really need a spend in thoe thousands before you can start to judge your conversion rates properly and make changes based on them.

That said....you should absolutly get the basics of your site right first. Make sure the site functions well on mobile tablet, and desktop. Make sure calls to action are good, make sure you have good quality images and display valid contact info. Most of all with e-commerce, its about price....so make sure you are competitive.

As mentioned above, you dont get site reviews on here until your a full member.... so thats the first place you should spend some money.

Best of luck.

 

[fisicx]

I don't think the OP is coming back.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

For a new business I'd recommend a marketing mix and have experiments running for 60 days, go back and go from there. Invest some money in Adwords, Facebook, Linkedin etc... . Test them all for a couple weeks and go back to the drawing board to find out your best selling Chanel. I found FB advertising a waste of time but other business love it and get a good return on investment. Use google keyword planner to find out if there are seasonal fluctuation in your product. Understand your customer better and find out when they buy what hour day and time and than increase bids during those hours. I cannot imaging a business person buying a watch on a Monday at 11am. There might be better times like weekends but this is all down to research.

 

[Paul Norman]

I don't think the OP is coming back.

This.