stepping down from ecommerce
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- cizo0
This might help. I haven't used them myself, they gave a talk at a start up meeting that I attended and it sounded pretty legit.
#at=0
- vaxorcist0
I see this as NOT a "catalog" ecommerce site, but maybe a high-end version of Groupon Goods....
i.e. she has a spam list, and a pinterest feed, maybe a 1 page website... and she has 3 items or so on some sort of alert special, then they go "off special" after 3 days or so, so the "opportunity" is short-lived, like buy this week or it's gone forever....
Keeps the exclusivity, the pressure, the fascination, and not much of the high-maintenence, low-reward catalog full of items that nobody looks at....
I think sites like ASOS and Zappos do well because they're discount chic, and are familiar, and getting people to become familiar with her site may not be easy.... kind of like a local travel agent competing against travelocity and such...
- 23kon0
If she prides herself in selling low qty so people think they are getting more of a limited edition then play on that.
She should be getting people to friend her on facebook, twitter and sign up to her mailing list.
Exclusive ltd edition products and exclusive prices for "friends" adds a sense of urgency and "buy now" to things - Especially girls, they LOVE a sale or the thought they are getting a bargain.
This lass should be posting up a nice instagram photo of something each day and promoting it across all these platforms.
Maybe feature more photos and the full description/article etc on the website and drive users there.
- animatedgif0
also instagram isn't worth pursuing, it's not discoverable or rebloggable.
Pintrest is the way to go
- animatedgif0
"women like to shop for clothing in real life. Not online."
Thew sheer number of ASOS boxes that flow through my office in a week says different.
- newuser0
I am confused.
If she is selling out of everything, why does she need your help?
Is she looking to expand? Does she have the money to buy more stock?
What is your real goal?
- fourth0
hm, interesting. "your store on your fb page"
!!!
eek. thanks man
- vaxorcist0
^^^^ @ohhhhhsnap storeenvy looks very interesting... and threatening to certain ecommerce business models....anyone here have specific experience beyond a bit of clicking around?
- it is absolutely "threatening" http://developers.st… but so that we're on the same page, what business models come to mind, that may suffer? other stores or api's?ohhhhhsnap
- other stores or api's, or shopping carts. Etsy may be threatened by this but...ohhhhhsnap
- business models like etsy.... and/or some million-dollar agency-made ecommerce sites that suck...vaxorcist
- ifeltdave0
make the site a catalog of what's available in store, sounds like there is no need to actually sell things online.
- cannonball19780
Go higher and broader in her, uh, strategy
- baseline_shift0
Pinterest. Tell her to put her products on pintrest, along with the price and her contact info.
- dbloc0
make the logo bigger
- ohhhhhsnap0
Look up Klub Kid Vintage, she uses FB, twitter, etsy to get the word out. She also has a sales rack at her home for locals to come through and check it out.
- thanksfourth
- i moved from brooklyn where she's located... and i'm glad she STILL has an online option for herohhhhhsnap
- fansohhhhhsnap
- Continuity0
'• ideally would like to come back to ecommerce but right now it just doesn't fit.
• her store prides itself on selling a low qty so people don't feel like others are wearing the same thing. this is what took the most time with ecommerce. If she were planning on carrying a style all season then it would be much easier'
These two statements are contradictory. She can't pride herself on low quantity and plan to go back to eComm eventually. It doesn't work this way.
The fundamental concept of eComm is to sell shitloads, to an audience outside your local area. You can't be a small boutique with limited amounts of goods, and hope to rake in the eShop cash. It just doesn't work that way. Basically:
Repeated '0 items in stock' = permanent loss of eShop traffic
Sounds to me like she simply doesn't know what she wants. She's one of these clients who somehow reckons she's got to be online, and wants to have the whole thing, without realising that unless she changes her business model (small shop, low quantities, niche customers), selling on the Web isn't for her.
And if she finally does decide that she's going to go for eShopping seriously, then she's got to go all in: lots of stock, budget for media buys to take out banner ads for driving traffic to the site, social media blitz, SEO consultancy, the whole thing. And that will change the fundamental character of her business — which sounds to me contrary to what she wants.
- albums0
Not sure if it's in your scope of options but being able to save my billing info is awesome. I love that feature. I know MyFonts has received more of my money because I can use the account on file instead of filling out my info each time.
It really helps nurture impulse buying.
Amazon has this as well as several others as I'm sure you know.
- fourth0
guys this is great and all the input is getting my brain going, thanks.
couple of other details:
• she just relocated. She was in a smaller town and business was getting really slow. ecommerce was one idea, and the one that ultimately helped was relocated to a college town
• with moving the store she's become a lot more busier. She has hired a couple of people, also just had a kid as well so time to dedicate to the online store has become very limited. but her business is growing
• ideally would like to come back to ecommerce but right now it just doesn't fit.
• her store prides itself on selling a low qty so people don't feel like others are wearing the same thing. this is what took the most time with ecommerce. If she were planning on carrying a style all season then it would be much easier
• with her existing customer base it's just a lot more easier to walk into the store, try it on, gossip, and buy than it is to fill out all billing info and order it.
- if she's now in a college town, she might try to get graduating alumni on an email list, get them to order online after they move away...vaxorcist
- Continuity0
Also:
'besides: women like to shop for clothing in real life. Not online.'
This is basically not true. Over the course of last year, I worked on the re-design of a retail fashion chain's site, and to all of our amazement, we discovered in the research phase that the overwhelming majority of this company's online customers were women. Not only that, but the same was true of their competitors.
In actual fact, it's men who are much less likely to buy clothing online.
- not me. I know my sizes and don't shop where i live. I dispose of anything i own I see someone else wearing.albums
- so far, hats, shoes, shirts,,, right to goodwill.albums
- I alternate. Jeans, I always order online, cos I know the style and size I need. Otherwise, I like to try the stuff on.Continuity
- i'm a brandwhore. I wear one style of jeans in one brand so i'm good and "medium" works for shirtsalbums
- and as far as shoes, I've learned I'm a UK43, not a US9.5 or 10, so more options online for mealbums
- Continuity0
A couple of things about this struck me.
'small clothing boutique store'
This is pretty much the core of the problem, I'd say, and she probably shouldn't have got into having an eShop to begin with. If she has a small boutique, then chances are she simply doesn't have the access to the kind of stock volume needed to run both a physical shop _and_ an eShop, and still be able to deliver the products to customers in both channels.For the small boutique, really there are only two choices: physical or Web. That is, unless they've got the amount of stock — or at least the buying power to get more — in order to fulfill all orders from all sales channels.
'It took too much time'
Well ... I hope this is isn't indicative of her overall business ethic. Running a business is hard graft, and takes a LOT of time, especially if it's a sole proprietorship with no extra staff. Her moving her online activities to social will also take a lot of time, so I hope she's prepared to put that hard graft in and make it work.