Newbie E-Commerce

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates, but i've been pretty busy lately. I'd say i'm finally starting to take REAL action. I'm currently writing my product descriptions, and am currently working with 4 manufacturers and 1 distributor. I have a lot of product descriptions to write...

I also made my first unscripted telephone call the other day. Looking back, I don't know why I was so scared of calling. There's really nothing to be afraid about, some of my conversations were even aukward but that didn't stop me from working with them! I also plan to call the manufacturers who didn't reply to my emails tomorrow.

For my descriptions : First I started with a brainstorm, writing down all the benefits of my product that I could think of. Then I wrote about 3 paragraphs explaining the product, what it does, who it's for, and some of my benefits. I also wrote down some of the key features and benefits in point form under my paragraphes. Followed by the specifications.

This will be the format I will be using to write my descriptions. My descriptions are about 150-200 words.

I also have received my first sample today, I am very pleased with the quality. Now I'm just going to play around with it and see if I can figure out any other uses or benefits that I haven't thought of.

P.S. No news from manufacturers in India yet...

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I've just learned an important lesson today. So I was just working hard my descriptions, thinking everything had to be perfect. Then I started to get tired, I thought "I should just outsource this". But then I thought why does it have to be perfect? It doesn't! Don't think everything has to be perfect to get your site launched. You can improve it later. Right now, my main priority is to get my site launched, so I can finally start doing some marketing. That's the most important part, not creating the perfect description.

So I just started typing away, writing whatever came to mind. It actually turned out pretty good, it's probably not the best copy but i'm sure it will work. Once I get more involved with my niche and get a better idea of my customers wants and desires, I'll go back and rework them. But for now it's enough to get me started, and that's what counts.

I also bought a better theme for my site today, the alaska theme by bigcommerce, I think it's a good fit. I'm also going to get my logo designed soon.

 

[GravyBoat]

If I am dropshipping should I still get some inventory just to start off? I don't really have the capital to stock anything yet, the products are pretty expensive, it's about 100$ for the most basic model,

Be sure to take into account the fact that drop shipping from overseas can take up to 3 weeks (or longer) sadly.

Best of luck!

Gravy

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Be sure to take into account the fact that drop shipping from overseas can take up to 3 weeks (or longer) sadly.

Best of luck!

Gravy

Well, I plan to service internationally but I'm going to be using dropshippers from the same countries I plan to ship to. So right now I'm working with dropshippers in the US and Canada, each will take care of their own country as importing is too expensive. I've contacted a dropshipper from India too but I plan for them to only service India. I haven't heard anything yet though.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Quick question guys, if anyone has any experience with this I'd appreciate the feedback.

So as you know, I'm currently writing my product descriptions but it's pretty hard, my products don't really have much of a difference between them.

So I started writing them but after having a few done, they all sound pretty much the same. The only difference between my different products are the brand, model and size. They all pretty much do the same thing, with only a few minor differences, think of it like a pool. There's many different sizes but they're all extremely similar. How would I write unique content for each individual product model?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I just received an email from my distributor, he told me that he does not traditionally do business online so this would be a big shift for him. He wants me to go meet him in person, to discuss this thoroughly. He's currently away but wants me to meet him after october 1st. He doesn't know I'm 16 though, do you think it would matter? I've never done this before, can anyone give me any suggestions?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Anyway, I just finished writing all my descriptions for one of my brands, I also set up a paypal business account so now i'm ready to start selling! I'm also going to go the bank on monday to register a merchant account.

I think I'm going to launch my store with this one brand then continue to add more products from other brands at the same time. I'm going to start by targeting the US with PPC, and I also have a couple of leads lined up too.

Wish me luck guys!!

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I think my situation is somewhat similar to yours, I'll just have to wait and see if anyone will buy. When I said no competition I met no niche sites designed specifically for this product, the only real competition is walmart, bestbuy, homedepot, etc. And I keep finding more sites that only sell this product but they suck, no rankings and terrible website.

I'm not trying to create a new market, there already is a market for this product, and it's pretty big (100,000+ searches a month), I just want to create a better website, but I think people are used to buying this product in person, I'm not sure if they're willing to buy it online.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Quick update : I haven't started ppc yet, I'm currently writing my about us, shipping and returns, and contact us pages.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I've started using ppc now. I just made 2 new campaigns targeting 2 keywords. I had no idea what I was doing before but after reading Andy Black's posts I figured out a lot of things that I could improve on. Although my first attempt wasn't completely wasted as I gathered a bunch of data.

At first I targeted like 30 keywords, very broad. It told me which keywords had the highest impressions and CTR however. So now I've targeted two keywords using exact match. They are buying search terms using "cheap" and "for sale". So far it's looking good, I have a 2.2% CTR on "for sale " and 50% on "cheap"! I don't expect it to stay at 50% but it seems to be my best keyword. My stats haven't updated yet so I'll update you guys tomorrow!

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Another quick update : I've lowered my product prices as they were too high compared to best buy, walmart etc. I've matched their prices. Hopefully I get my first sale soon!

Edit: My margins are now cut in half but there's still room for profit. It'll be around 50$ per sale. For people with experience, is this a good margin?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I'm going to be getting into importing from china and selling on amazon and ebay. I should post a thread soon.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I'm glad you cleared that up for me. I need to figure out some more ways to provide more value. And, I agree that what really matters is the value of an item not necessarily it's price. My reason for saying price was because when there are a bunch of similar products competing against each other, people will normally pick the one with the lowest price. But if I can provide superior value to my competitors, I can charge whatever the item is valued at in people's eyes. However I still think price plays a part, especially for commodities where it is difficult to differentiate yourself from the rest.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AlterJoule]

What else are you doing to advertise?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AlterJoule]

Is this the product you asked my opinion on in private?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

I'm currently only using google adwords, I'll run a campaign for another week just to double check if there is still potential in this product like Ecom man said. Thanks man! And Alter yes this is the product I messaged you about. I went ahead with your suggestion and lowered my price and ate the price of shipping. Now I have a 20-30$ profit per sale, which isn't bad for me lol, the only thing is I don't think this product is bought with big volumes, so I'm not sure if I would have enough sales to cover the cost of advertising.

 

[MoneyDoc]

Hey Ben, any updates buddy? Shop still running? Got your first sale yet?

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates. This will be my final update with this project. I ran paid advertising for like another month but my CTR was way lower, I was getting an average of 3 clicks a day. So I'm done, I don't think there is potential with this product online, the big box stores have that covered, and their costs are way lower since they buy in wholesale so it's hard to compete with their prices. Although I do see some potential in B&M but i'm no where near ready for that, so i'll keep this as an idea for the future.

 

[Threenuc]

So since you gave up on the project can you reveal what your niche was?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[LogicIsReal]

So since you gave up on the project can you reveal what your niche was?

He said earlier in the thread that he was using mini fridges.

 

[NVaz]

Hey Guys,

So I'm done, I don't think there is potential with this product online, the big box stores have that covered, and their costs are way lower since they buy in wholesale so it's hard to compete with their prices.

Hi,
Correct me if I'm wrong but although I haven't read the whole thread, this post made me think that you've got it from the wrong angle since the beginning... because we can't compete with their prices.We need to offer something of value, something that the big ones can't offer, something that differentiates us, something that makes us stand out of the competition, something that makes the buyer come to us even though he's aware there's cheaper places to go.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Hi,
Correct me if I'm wrong but although I haven't read the whole thread, this post made me think that you've got it from the wrong angle since the beginning... because we can't compete with their prices.We need to offer something of value, something that the big ones can't offer, something that differentiates us, something that makes us stand out of the competition, something that makes the buyer come to us even though he's aware there's cheaper places to go.

I had an angle, but my customers didn't think it was valuable I guess. I offered superior service, I offered free repairs, I have an HVAC mechanic on my support team (my dad). It probably wasn't strong enough of a USP as repairs aren't common.

I had though of another too, designing custom mini fridge designs, so you could have a photo or something on the front. But it would have been too expensive, it would have been unrealistic to ship a heavy item to my house so I could apply a design to it then ship it again. I was dropshipping so there's little control on what value you can provide.

But it's the best I could do with the product I had. It's not like you can bundle mini fridges lol or improve the overall design or features. A mini fridge is a mini fridge. A commodity. And when it comes to commodities, big box owns it. If you can find a USP for this product go ahead and do it. Let me know how it turns out.

P.S. I'm new at this, so take my advice with a grain of salt. If you think i'm making some wrong assumptions then tell me

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.