Opinions needed! To continue my eCommerce store or not?

[Aaron W]

Hey guys and gals!

After reading MJ's book it opened my eyes to the flaws in my business and I'm now having mixed emotions whether to continue it, change its model or close up and start something new.



About me:

I'm currently 21 and studying creative advertising with the ultimate goal of being an art director. I don't want a 9-5 life. Therefore, I started my current business which I'm running whilst going to school. I have so much free time and want to utilize this while its available.


Business Background:

I run an online drop-shipping eCommerce store which sells dog harnesses and a unqiue dog product of the month which has its price dropped. I also include sizing guides and great support to customers.

Visit: http://www.radhound.com

I also have a decent Instagram account with 28k followers and upload daily dog photos. But this doesn't increase sales and any promotion posts get little engagement...people just want to see cute dogs.
Visit: http://www.instagram.com/radhound


My view:

I find that I'm not really fulfilling a need in the dog market. Even though I provide quality and unique (in my opinion) information and product descriptions--its nothing special and I can never answer 'why would people buy from me' which is a huge red flag. I also have no passion for the niche and pretty much let it run passive and only answer emails or fulfil orders if they happen.


Invested & return:

The business is 4 months old. Invested: a fair amount of time and about $500. Return: about $215.
I have no budget for advertising and have only invested $250 in SEO which didn't do too much with rankings. All traffic is organic and I'm getting around 20 hits a day.


My question:

Should I continue this business or look into something new? I'm completely stumped on where to go as I feel like this will just crash and burn. However on a positive note, I have learn't so much due to it being my first business and now know the process.

 

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[Matt Izzo]

Hi Aaron,
I am new around here but have a lot of life experience with business. I understand where you are coming from but have to tell you what you need is a perspective shift.

I can never answer 'why would people buy from me' which is a huge red flag.

If you cannot see the value in what you offer, neither can your customers. You can scrap this business and start over, but your going to hit the same wall in your next endeavor. I'm not saying you have a great business plan but lets focus on some things that you can fix with what you have. Your trying to chase the money and hope people will buy from you. That is a huge mistake, one I learned from quickly. You need to sell value, not products. Look at your Instagram account. It has nothing to do with what you are trying to accomplish. Try starting a blog or writing a short ebook on the benefits of different harness's and leashes for different situations. Put a link to it on your website for free. Ones that are best for runners or bigger dogs...etc. Give people a reason to trust that you know what you are doing. Then sell quality leashes or harness's at quality prices, if you compete with low prices you will loose! Instead, add a value to what you do that is personal and customers will start to show. Be passionate about what you are doing, and provide more than just a product.
I hope this helps, best of luck.

 

[Christiano]

Why not just find out what you enjoy doing and do that?

At least this way you are not wasting your time plus there's no resistance in spending time in mastering what you enjoy. When you get good at it, charging a fee is easily justifiable and there are a variety of ways to monetize which may or may not involve pursuing undiscovered business models.

If you truly want to be free, the solution needs to come from you and not reselling someone else's. Otherwise they control your future and not you.

Hope this helps.

 

[Aaron W]

Hi Aaron,
I am new around here but have a lot of life experience with business. I understand where you are coming from but have to tell you what you need is a perspective shift.


If you cannot see the value in what you offer, neither can your customers. You can scrap this business and start over, but your going to hit the same wall in your next endeavor. I'm not saying you have a great business plan but lets focus on some things that you can fix with what you have. Your trying to chase the money and hope people will buy from you. That is a huge mistake, one I learned from quickly. You need to sell value, not products. Look at your Instagram account. It has nothing to do with what you are trying to accomplish. Try starting a blog or writing a short ebook on the benefits of different harness's and leashes for different situations. Put a link to it on your website for free. Ones that are best for runners or bigger dogs...etc. Give people a reason to trust that you know what you are doing. Then sell quality leashes or harness's at quality prices, if you compete with low prices you will loose! Instead, add a value to what you do that is personal and customers will start to show. Be passionate about what you are doing, and provide more than just a product.
I hope this helps, best of luck.

This is really eye opening and great to hear--thank you for giving me a new perspective. Like you mentioned there is no value and I have recently discovered that. I'm going to put your words in to action this week by starting an eBook like you mentioned and provide it for free.

 

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[GuestUser143]

Do you already have some customers? If yes, it could be valuable to ask THEM WHY they bought from you, what was their motivator, what value they saw in your product/process, etc. This will reveal things you may not have thought about

 

[Aaron W]

Do you already have some customers? If yes, it could be valuable to ask THEM WHY they bought from you, what was their motivator, what value they saw in your product/process, etc. This will reveal things you may not have thought about

I have had 5 customers so far. I like this idea, I may set up a personalized email asking them to give feedback why they purchased from our site. Thanks for the tip Adri!

 

[GuestUser143]

Great ! Then you can do that You're very welcome. The most important thing to look for is for commonalities in their answers, this way you'll know it's not just one person, but close to all of them who are saying the same thing, which is a good statistical indicator that this *may* be true for a wider population of people.

 

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[Aaron W]

Great ! Then you can do that You're very welcome. The most important thing to look for is for commonalities in their answers, this way you'll know it's not just one person, but close to all of them who are saying the same thing, which is a good statistical indicator that this *may* be true for a wider population of people.

Already sent out emails. Hopefully I will get 2/5 responses to give an insight on why they purchased. Thank you once again.

 

[GuestUser143]

Yep, I hope you'll get minimum two of them to respond. Tell me how it goes, I will be more than happy to help you !

 

[biophase]

All I see are the same harnesses in different colors. You sell the same harness for $35 that I can get on Amazon with free 2 day shipping for $13. Why would anyone buy from you? WTF? I've never seen a store with a 3X markup on regular retail prices!

 

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[Aaron W]

All I see are the same harnesses in different colors. You sell the same harness for $35 that I can get on Amazon with free 2 day shipping for $13. Why would anyone buy from you? WTF? I've never seen a store with a 3X markup on regular retail prices!

All my prices are MSRP from my wholesaler. I was also told that I shouldn't compete with margin profits and instead offer value. But hey, thanks for mentioning it anyway, I already have started altering prices for some products which are over priced ($26 amazon compared to $47 on my site).

 

[Matt Izzo]

All I see are the same harnesses in different colors. You sell the same harness for $35 that I can get on Amazon with free 2 day shipping for $13. Why would anyone buy from you? WTF? I've never seen a store with a 3X markup on regular retail prices!

Great advice. Remember, adding value is what sets you apart. You shouldn't try to beat the lowest price but you still have to be in the same ballpark. Drop shipping is hard because you are the middle man selling an already marked up product. Their MSRP is always way off. Make sure you check out the competition to see where to set your prices and then add the value I was talking about. That is what will get and keep customers.

 

[Blue1214]

Unfortunately, your instagram is not contributing to conversions because it's not targeted to dog owners who care to spend money on an expensive dog leesh.

However, you do have a nice following of people who like dogs, so I would try to create a lower cost product or even a teespring campaign and market it to them.

I think the greatest value you've created here actually is the instagram following that can be funneled to your blog if you can create interesting enough content.

From your blog, you could start collecting emails and start segementing data like boys/girls/age/location etc. Then get a better understanding of the market you have and then eventually sell something they would care for.

 

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[Aaron W]

Great advise. Remember, adding value is what sets you apart. You shouldn't try to beat the lowest price but you still have to be in the same ballpark. Drop shipping is hard because you are the middle man selling an already marked up product. Their MSRP is always way off. Make sure you check out the competition to see where to set your prices and then add the value I was talking about. That is what will get and keep customers.

Already on it - all prices have been updated as of now. Thanks for your contribution its extremely helpful for a 'newbie'.

 

[Aaron W]

Unfortunately, your instagram is not contributing to conversions because it's not targeted to dog owners who care to spend money on an expensive dog leesh.

However, you do have a nice following of people who like dogs, so I would try to create a lower cost product or even a teespring campaign and market it to them.

I think the greatest value you've created here actually is the instagram following that can be funneled to your blog if you can create interesting enough content.

From your blog, you could start collecting emails and start segementing data like boys/girls/age/location etc. Then get a better understanding of the market you have and then eventually sell something they would care for.

I like this idea but still want to keep my eCommerce platform. I'm going to take what you have said and aim to mold it in another way. I realize my Instagram following is fairly good and I'm currently writing an eBook guide on how to gain a large audience in my extra time.

 

[biophase]

I like this idea but still want to keep my eCommerce platform. I'm going to take what you have said and aim to mold it in another way. I realize my Instagram following is fairly good and I'm currently writing an eBook guide on how to gain a large audience in my extra time.

Your prices are still way too high. If something is $16 on Amazon you can be at $20-22 maybe. Do you offer free shipping.

You website says nothing about shipping.

You also don't provide any more value on your listing. You have the same photo as every other store. Get different angles, put them on a dog. Write a better description.

 

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[LateStarter]

Why not just find out what you enjoy doing and do that?

Did you seriously just say that?! Wow...I'm amazed that no one has given you a virtual bitch slap for that. In all seriousness, this is the wrong mindset. This is a self centered perspective and not based on the fundamental 'value-creation' ideals that will bring you success. Your business shouldn't be about you.

Your prices are still way too high. If something is $16 on Amazon you can be at $20-22 maybe. Do you offer free shipping.

I was about to defend the OP thinking the prices 'must be Canadian dollars'....nope...wrong.

Still, I think there's opportunity to create value out side of the Amazon ecosystem and room to do so at slightly higher margins. Amazon isn't my forte though so I'll have to defer to @biophase and the other local experts.

With your ecommerce storefront you have a better chance to build a relationship with your customers. That relationship will be founded on the value you provide in terms of information and entertainment; think of it as not just a product play but also a content play. Like other people have suggested work on your blogs, mailing lists, and social. Try to figure out a new way of engaging the IG followers to your site (promotions, blog linking, etc). Once you can engage them with the value you provide on the site it will be easier to convert them. Private labeling sounds like it could be a good future option to set as a target.

I'd also spend some more time on your site. The ecommerce piece looks like it needs some work. On one product, clicking pics linked me only to the image. Use a full width responsive theme and maximize your content across the width to minimize scrolling. Make your call to action more prevalent. Move the reviews up with the images. Reviews are strong incentives for people to act on an offer; burying them at the bottom of the page isn't helping you. Also as biophase suggests; more images...unique images. Use your IG following to have people post their pets with your products (Promo opportunity). Engage your followers.

 

[Aaron W]

Your prices are still way too high. If something is $16 on Amazon you can be at $20-22 maybe. Do you offer free shipping.

You website says nothing about shipping.

You also don't provide any more value on your listing. You have the same photo as every other store. Get different angles, put them on a dog. Write a better description.

Did you seriously just say that?! Wow...I'm amazed that no one has given you a virtual bitch slap for that. In all seriousness, this is the wrong mindset. This is a self centered perspective and not based on the fundamental 'value-creation' ideals that will bring you success. Your business shouldn't be about you.



I was about to defend the OP thinking the prices 'must be Canadian dollars'....nope...wrong.

Still, I think there's opportunity to create value out side of the Amazon ecosystem and room to do so at slightly higher margins. Amazon isn't my forte though so I'll have to defer to @biophase and the other local experts.

With your ecommerce storefront you have a better chance to build a relationship with your customers. That relationship will be founded on the value you provide in terms of information and entertainment; think of it as not just a product play but also a content play. Like other people have suggested work on your blogs, mailing lists, and social. Try to figure out a new way of engaging the IG followers to your site (promotions, blog linking, etc). Once you can engage them with the value you provide on the site it will be easier to convert them. Private labeling sounds like it could be a good future option to set as a target.

I'd also spend some more time on your site. The ecommerce piece looks like it needs some work. On one product, clicking pics linked me only to the image. Use a full width responsive theme and maximize your content across the width to minimize scrolling. Make your call to action more prevalent. Move the reviews up with the images. Reviews are strong incentives for people to act on an offer; burying them at the bottom of the page isn't helping you. Also as biophase suggests; more images...unique images. Use your IG following to have people post their pets with your products (Promo opportunity). Engage your followers.

Thanks for the input.

I can't go any lower on my prices: I have to pay for drop-shipping fees and would start loosing money (I'm looking at $1-$2 margins max). Therefore, with this being said I don't stock the inventory and won't be taking any unique photos, only prompting my customers to take them.

Unfortunately most of the points you two have made I already know--its why I'm having doubts about this business. I'm going to work with whats been said and see what I can do, I'm pretty limited with no budget and a lack of Shopify's liquid language but I guess its time to learn.

In addition, one customer posted their dog with our product (the camo harness on the home page) and wrote a review--those images have already been added as well as the review uploaded.

 

[1step]

I don't stock the inventory and won't be taking any unique photos

If you can't even be bothered to take some unique photos then I say start something new.

 

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[Aaron W]

If you can't even be bothered to take some unique photos then I say start something new.

Not that I can't be bothered. I don't have the funds to purchase each single item out of my inventory. Also this is like telling every eCommerce website which uses stock/factory images to quit and I can assure you there's a lot of them. Either way thanks for the input--hopefully one day I'll be able to get some unique shots.

 

[Jake]

I can't go any lower on my prices: I have to pay for drop-shipping fees and would start loosing money (I'm looking at $1-$2 margins max)

Kill it.


Or get them for $2 out of China and become the dropshipper.

 

[biophase]

Thanks for the input.

I can't go any lower on my prices: I have to pay for drop-shipping fees and would start loosing money (I'm looking at $1-$2 margins max). Therefore, with this being said I don't stock the inventory and won't be taking any unique photos, only prompting my customers to take them.

Unfortunately most of the points you two have made I already know--its why I'm having doubts about this business. I'm going to work with whats been said and see what I can do, I'm pretty limited with no budget and a lack of Shopify's liquid language but I guess its time to learn.

In addition, one customer posted their dog with our product (the camo harness on the home page) and wrote a review--those images have already been added as well as the review uploaded.

Well, I would just buy from Amazon and $13 shipped. Why purchase from your dropshipper? He's selling it to you at higher than retail prices. That's just crazy.

Here is a harness for $13 shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013MZBBW/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Here is your exact same harness for $25.
http://radhound.com/?variant=6017475269

That's a margin of $12 right there!

Lack of other photos is your problem, you aren't going through any of the work to make your store unique. Shit, you can order from Amazon and just return it after you take photos. You need to hustle and find a way.

Your product page and category layouts are messed up.
Why do you have 3 going across when you can fit 5?
Why don't you have any way to sort by color or harness type?
Everything on your site is centered, it should be left justified.
There's way too much white space.
Your main photo is too big and dominates the page.
Your title text is too large.
Why doesn't it say Free shipping anywhere on the site?
You need some sort of navigation bar at the top or on the side.

 

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[biophase]

this is like telling every eCommerce website which uses stock/factory images to quit and I can assure you there's a lot of them.

Yea, but the main difference is that they are selling at normal prices. This is like you trying to compete against every eCommerce website with stock photos and selling your products at 2-2.5x their prices.

 

[Jake]

You have over 28,000 IG followers?

Put some harnesses on some dogs, share, and sell.

http://gdhanyang.en.alibaba.com/company_profile.html will sell you 100 pieces.

Maybe less. Ask and see if you can get 4 models, 25 each.

 

[Aaron W]

Yea, but the main difference is that they are selling at normal prices. This is like you trying to compete against every eCommerce website with stock photos and selling your products at 2-2.5x their prices.

This is why I made this post originally, to get opinions whether to kill this idea and start up a new one. I realized there's an incredible amount of flaws and realistically I will most likely start something else. I can never see this going anywhere or offering much valued what so ever.

I really appreciate your input as its opened my eyes up a lot to extra flaws which I will be aware of in the future.

 

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[biophase]

Hey Aaron

You have over 28,000 IG followers?

Put some harnesses on some dogs, share, and sell.

http://gdhanyang.en.alibaba.com/company_profile.html will sell you 100 pieces.

Maybe less. Ask and see if you can get 4 models, 25 each.

Hey Aaron, I also sell dog products. Would you be willing to post my product on your IG page and link to my Amazon page to see if you have any buyers on your list?

 

[Jake]

Hey Aaron


Hey Aaron, I also sell dog products. Would you be willing to post my product on your IG page and link to my Amazon page to see if you have any buyers on your list?

He can setup an affiliate link to track clicks / sales and also grab some commission. Win/win.

Data will also help him sell off his property if he decides to move on or leverage his asset to make some cash via IG

edit: just remembered. I'm pretty sure with amazon you can only put affiliate links on your approved website.

 

[Aaron W]

He can setup an affiliate link to track clicks / sales and also grab some commission. Win/win.

Data will also help him sell off his property if he decides to move on or leverage his asset to make some cash via IG

I'd be happy to do this. Just private message me if you want to take things forward @biophase.

 

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[oimate]

This is why I made this post originally, to get opinions whether to kill this idea and start up a new one. I realized there's an incredible amount of flaws and realistically I will most likely start something else. I can never see this going anywhere or offering much valued what so ever.

Hi Aaron,
Off course you can start again on a new endeavour that you are passionate about. However, before you ditch your current idea think about what you have achieved to date-I'd say up to 50% off people here talk about starting a business, yet never go as far as to formulate a vague plan never mind set up a website! For sure some of your prices are seemingly expensive and you're not going to retire from the 2 sales achieved so far, but these 2 people have obviously seen something of worth to dispense from their hard earned cash.

You have 28k followers on instagram-Sure 27k of these are likely to be little girls who just love dogs but if you can (And excuse the pun) harness the other 1k who are likely to be pet owners and create a seemless link to your own website to drive traffic and make them see some genuine valve, if you got say 500 of these to make a purchase even at a $5-$10 profit on some product or another surely that would be a great little starter and enchance motivation?

The choice is yours off course but why not drop the dropshipper who is obviously taking hefty profit margins on each sale you make-take $500 and purchase some stock for yourself and take them uniqiue pictures (PS i know $500 is alot for a student but who says you need this right now-take 2 months to save this amount if needs be-Now $250 a month or $50 a week doesnt seem impossible when broken down into managable bitesize goals?

Either way, good luck with your adventure and thats my 2 cents input

 

[Aaron W]

Hi Aaron,
Off course you can start again on a new endeavour that you are passionate about. However, before you ditch your current idea think about what you have achieved to date-I'd say up to 50% off people here talk about starting a business, yet never go as far as to formulate a vague plan never mind set up a website! For sure some of your prices are seemingly expensive and you're not going to retire from the 2 sales achieved so far, but these 2 people have obviously seen something of worth to dispense from their hard earned cash.

You have 28k followers on instagram-Sure 27k of these are likely to be little girls who just love dogs but if you can (And excuse the pun) harness the other 1k who are likely to be pet owners and create a seemless link to your own website to drive traffic and make them see some genuine valve, if you got say 500 of these to make a purchase even at a $5-$10 profit on some product or another surely that would be a great little starter and enchance motivation?

The choice is yours off course but why not drop the dropshipper who is obviously taking hefty profit margins on each sale you make-take $500 and purchase some stock for yourself and take them uniqiue pictures (PS i know $500 is alot for a student but who says you need this right now-take 2 months to save this amount if needs be-Now $250 a month or $50 a week doesn't seem impossible when broken down into managable bitesize goals?

Either way, good luck with your adventure and thats my 2 cents input

I'm pretty happy with what I have achieved so far and have learn't an incredible amount. If anyone is reading this I want to say that starting a business is easy, just checklist the things you need to legally do then its easy from there.

I recognize my audience on Instagram is pretty solid, I think I need to get creative with my product photos which are available to me and try to drive sales. I just don't want to be promoting 24/7 as people deter away from that. In addition, with the price being brought up I can now see that the drop-shipper is taking some decent profit margins on the items, I just like them as they offer free US shipping (which is my main targeted demographic), if I owned the inventory I would have to charge.

Thanks for what you said oimate I really appreciate your input