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How Do You Think About Your Ecommerce Strategy?

NursingTn

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Hm.

A sandal that helps treats athlete's foot.

Perhaps the sandal would have some kind of property to wick off sweat on the feet. Maybe it will have some kind of refillable medication coating that works against common fungal organisms attributed to causing athlete feet.

Then I'll talk with a couple doctors, get their opinions, create a partnership / exchange for equity to get their support if they believe the sandals can help patients heal their athlete's foot.

Then talk to podiatrists, family medicine practitioners, hospitals, etc. about the sandals, and go from there.

Good brain exercise!
 
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jpanarra

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This is a great way to test our minds to see if we're cut out to be making money via ecommerce.

I'll tackle this exercise, hope i can get some feedback!

Looking at the sandal, it’s brown and not exciting. I’m trying to think of the most common uses of sandals which are around summer and near vacation destinations. That being said, I’m originally from the Jersey Shore and when I see sandals I think beach, surfing, beach-body, boardwalk etc.


The biggest thing I can recall is seeing all those sandals lost on the pier due to them falling off the rides, having them slip uncomfortably while riding bikes etc..


The modern toddler sandals have the elastic strap on the back of the sandal to prevent them falling off. I could revise that sandal to have the said strap to the adult sizes and market it to the locals.


I liked your idea of having a cause behind it, here’s my thought. If we can capture the locals at the jersey shore, miami beach, etc.. It’ll catch the eye of the tourists and eventually they’ll grab them as well. The cause would be something that’ll resonate with locals such as 10% will go towards beach conservation, local wildlife preservation, etc..


The colors of the brand/logo I imagine for this sandal are what you shared, brown and green. As for name, I’m not going to think too hard. I’ll go with Sandy’s Sandals. As for marketing i can play on words with the sally sells sea shells rhyme. Sandy Sells sea Sandals, something like that.
 
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maverick

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Excellent advice. This also applies to SaaS startups.

Also interesting to see that a lot of posts in this thread are about "creating content". The same question applies here though: how are you going to get eyeballs onto this content?
 

sparechange

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Just wanted to reply on this one. This is interesting because I would never do something like this because it doesn't scale. Even selling 100 sandals at this event isn't really going to make your brand known.

However, if you could get 100 people to open up their app and purchase it on Amazon while at the event, and then give them an extra (different color) pair right there, this could kickstart your Amazon listing. In addition, you ask to get their contact into and then call/email each one to leave you a review in 1-2 weeks and email or call you afterwards.

I'm surprised you don't like the idea, what do you think the reasoning is for Lulu to host this event then? Keeping in mind this is post sucess when Chip left the company (not when he was building it)

My thoughts are brand recognition and creating warm leads
 

96wells

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Ok I really have NO IDEA about sandals and that's really the problem.

As a copywriter, the first thing I know I need to do is some market research. And this doesn't need to be hard because it's hypothetical.

One thing I noticed from some google-fu is that there are a lot of sandals.
-There are man sandals and woman sandals...
-Outdoor and indoor sandals...
-Sport sandals or dress sandals etc...
-high heel sandals and curve sandals and flat sandals...

So really, in a few minutes, I realize the picture is probably a flat sandal. So I just click on some google ads on flat sandals. And it turns out one of the ad leads to Zappos, which is a eCommerce store. In Zappos, there are a bunch of flat sandals with names... now more descriptive within flat sandals...
-firework flat sandals
-Gigi (from a great brand?)
-Jerusalem sandals.

Anyways, I realize now that in order to sell sandals I need to create some sort of brand (I might waste a lot of money if my sole strategy is native ads). The market COULD BE supersaturated, and that's why there are so many kinds of sandals... That means the market needs a reason to buy FROM YOU.

Ok, I know you probably already said to create a brand, but I was dumb about sandals. So after 5 minutes, I realize I have to study some famous brands. One of them is Steve Madden (which I would subscribe to just to see what they do). It's pretty standard what they're doing. They have a website, they have an email newsletter probably with coupons. And they have hot models.

So idea 1 is obvious, to get a recognizable model in a space that would help advertise the sandals. And in this market, it's important to have a sale or some sort of scarcity/urgency. It's what Steve Madden is doing...

I know this all sounds very obvious to you guys but now we really can narrow down a lot of sandals from others and see what they're doing, from style to function to social function (not exclusive or anything)...

-Can I make a sandal that works especially well at getting sand to dust off from the surface? (function)

-Can I make a luxury sandal made of some sort of appealing diamonds? (social function)

-What about a "bedroom" sandal that people can climb in bed with? (function)

-Can the sandal be modified to look like it's for free, independent college students, who are finally away from parents (style)

-Can the sandal make a person not only physically taller but look taller as well? Is there a color scheme for this? (function)

For every one of these, I will have to do more research and find out what the market actually wants, and then I'll probably know how to market it. For instance, if it's a sandal just for teens, making girls look independent, or even more youthful and naive, then maybe that's who I need to hire to display these sandals... or I need to find out where these girls shop...

Am I doing this exercise right? There are probably two marketing routes I would consider on top of my head, something general:

1) Make sure there's some sort of demand for whatever works (some examples above)
2) Create a website showcasing it, obviously showing something super unique about it that has the demand (Click Bank - landing page - Soul Insole)
3) drive some native ads to the website, or perhaps write a super quick and interesting advertorial about the sandals and then drive them to the website.

Or maybe another really simple one, just find an event that my market attends, and sell some prototype sandals there. Bedroom sandals? Maybe at a bed-con. I don't know.

I can't really be for certain these will work without more research and testing, but they're something... probably have to come up with 10-100 more ideas and test a few. Problem is I'm not sure how to test these ideas because I don't sell physical stuff and have no idea how to make a prototype, so hopefully, I'm not showing my ignorance. Can always stick with the market research in the beginning...

-Anti-slip sandals for old people, sell it to hospitals etc...
-"invisible" sandals, showcases people's foot because the sandal is transparent
- "anti heat" sandals, one that actually feels cool even if the temperature is hot, for people who are super sensitive to heat.
- toddler sandals that are made for those that just learned to walk, maybe something that helps them adjust to the environment or help their posture or something...

etc... (100 ideas later I'll pick maybe one or two to try)

So what I end up realizing (with my second set of ideas) is that I can't really copy that brand name guy. I can get some ideas but I have to

1) niche down, find a crowd, and create a specific product for them that has at least ONE THING better that distinguishes it from "diamond" sandals.

2) again, stick with the scarcity/urgency play. Whatever marketing play I do, there has to be this.

Anyways, this might really require some real leg work to find the specific crowd. And you know what, let's just start with a small crowd. It doesn't have to be big or something so I'm not creating a regular ole' sandal...

-Sandals that people who are on a diet wear to showcase their skinny feet...
-sandals specific for certain elect officials like the MAGA hats...
-Sandals that, as crazy as it sounds, are designed for the wintertime...

etc...

You know what, I remember one thing... there was a shower mat that had a lot of cultures on it, and people who step on it wet would feed it, and the mat would grow all these cool stuff. It could be appealing to a selective group of people who are nerdy with that. If there is a bathroom sandal that complements it, then there is essentially a brand right there for a really small crowd. This could be a bit riskier without some knowledge but it's an idea. Maybe there is a simpler version without that much risk...

I'm going to stop now before I really devote myself...
 
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MetalGear

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  • If going the MMA/BJJ route:
  • Would make BJJ themed sandals with each set's straps matching the BJJ belt ranks - white, blue, purple, brown, and black
    • Is that too many SKUs from the get go?
  • Definitely get a pro fighter to wear them if possible
    • the narrower niche here is the BJJ community
    • Is this a good or bad thing?
  • I would get a Gordon Ryan, Bruno Malfacine, and maybe another Euro/Asia based grappler
 

Sander

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The product I ordered is already in boatloads on Amazon.

Problem is, it's branded and designed for a different niche, not the niche I have in mind.

Cancelled the sample. Alibaba supplier just quoted me $35 in freight alone, while I can buy it on Amazon for a third of that and probably receive it faster. Exact same product and product images. Will order from Amazon now instead.
 

Martin7677

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According to my opinion, E-commerce is all about creating demand and supplying it in time. So, it's all about following your customer behavior, How they purchase, what they do, and how they engage with you.
 
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TheKid

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I'm starting a sandal company. I sit down and think, how am I going to sell these? Because your answer here will determine your product design. There are so many ways we could go with this:

OK, great, I have a list of 20 different product-market fit ideas written down. How do I decided which one to actually pursue? What tools or methods do you use to back up your hypothesis with actual data?
 
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SIDI

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With all these threads about selling on Amazon, I thought I'd start a thread about how I go about starting a new ecommerce business. It may surprise you that I don't actually think about the product that I'm going to sell that much. I mean I do think about it, but that shouldn't be your main focus. Your main focus should be to determine how you are going to sell your product. Not where.

Here is an example, let's say you notice that the world can use another flipflop sandal company. So you decide that you want to make a more comfortable flipflop, maybe you use a special rubber with neoprene. You make new designs and great colors and spend $10k on your first shipment. You get them at home, launch your Shopify store and send a bunch to Amazon FBA. Everything is in place and...

crickets...

no traffic... no sales...

So now you start your Amazon PPC and bid on sandal keywords. You start Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, you get 100 likes, 100 followers, 100 subscribers... and again

crickets...

no traffic... no sales...

So what was the problem? The problem was that on the day that you decided to start the sandal company, you only thought about how cool looking your sandals would be. You thought about how comfortable they were and what the perfect colors would be.

You didn't think about how you would sell them.

And that's what I do. I do that months before the start of any business. You notice that I have a thread about saving bees that was started in Aug 2019. You may see me launch a business in 2021 involving bees. But the thought was started a long time ago.

So getting back to the sandals. This is what I would do.

I'm starting a sandal company. I sit down and think, how am I going to sell these? Because your answer here will determine your product design. There are so many ways we could go with this:

1) Sandals for charity or a cause, maybe giveback to cancer, ok make our signature sandal pink, really really bright pink. How do we market this? Probably partner with the american cancer society? Get influencers?
2) Sandals for running on the beach, maybe make the sole stiffer, maybe it is a little tighter? How do we market this? Make them in beach colors? Give them themes like turtle colors, sea shells?
3) Sandals for MMA fighters, maybe make them all black, get a fighter or rapper to wear them?
4) Sandals for after the club, make them foldable to put in a purse, probably don't need to be that durable, price them cheaper
5) Sandals for driving, I know mine are too big to drive stick.

So you can see that if you decide on how you are going to market them, you can build that into your product. And better yet, you have direction on what you are going to do while you are waiting for your shipment to arrive.

Let's say you decide #5, sandals for driving. Well then it is easy to create a FB and IG page for them. It is easy to know who you are going to target for influencers. You can starting following, car forums, street racers, drifters, etc...

So let's do an exercise. The sandal below is your first product. Landed for $4, most sandals sell for $20 on Amazon. How are you going to sell this sandal? Let's give it a brand name and then a marketing strategy.
View attachment 29665
Thanks for this Kenric.
A quick question on this, do you do anything to assess the need up front? Or do you just go for it and test in the market?
Clearly the testing would be the most concrete confirmation of need, but wonder if there is anything you do up front to potentially limit the downside?
Thanks
 

Phil Phil

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I will go for comfortable sandals for people with flat feet.

I'd target hot weather places where you can wear sandals pretty much daily. I have flat feet and trust me, if your shoes, or more importantly your insoles are not a perfect match for your feet then if you need to stay on your feet the whole day, you're pretty much walking in hell, not to mention long term problems such as pain in the knees, ankles, numbness in legs etc.

I'd go for two options:
1. Pre-made for different levels of flat feet sandals;
2. Custom made sandals.

To make a custom made sandals(insoles) you need your foot arch to be measured, so I'd charge a client upfront and send them a portable device that can take necessary measurements. Then they have to send that thing back. If they fail to send it back or break it, I'll keep the money. Then based on measures a custom shaped sandals will be made. Further purchases will be cheaper because we will have that customers' data.

I'd call it... let see.. "Easy feet".

I'd have some orthopedic clinics doctors be like "Yeah, these are a life saver".
 

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