Working at home...

Second Best is a little online retail shop that we've managed for a couple months now, and things have been pretty nice. We weren't making sales left and right, but a good sale every other day. But recently, things have nosedived straight to the caution line. Dead lines are closing in and things just aren't working out. I wanted to know what I should try to make business boom again.

 

Which niche are you in ?

 

We have a large variety to try to appeal to everyone. We have toys, games, books, jewelry, movies, crochet cloths and we have original art. We're pushing a bit of everything right now.

 

Have you tried Instagram shoutouts ? I have an online toy shop, and everytime I post a new product, for example a toy which is Superman related, I search Instagram for Superman Fan accounts with over 100k followers. I contact the account owners and establish a price for a post on their page. It's usually not more then 10$ / 100k followers.

 

Maybe try to refine your niche a little bit - either reduce the variety of products you carry, or try targeting buyers that will buy your most profitable products, so that you can afford to keep the products that don't sell as well.

The idea above for the Superman example is a good idea. Maybe try that method for selling the more expensive products.

Other than that, consider your other costs. You say deadlines are coming up, but for what? Rent? Payroll? Utilities? Product Purchase Invoices? Figure out what you can cut back on (or even completely) and make changes. Don't dwell on those changes, or be sentimental, do what's best for the business.

Hope that helps, I'm happy to answer any followup questions!

 

I think that it is better to reduce your shop and make it for a particular niche that you know very well. For instance, you can have only toys and games for children that are maximum 10 years old. Of course, you know what products what work well for you and how you should define your niche.

This strategy can help you find also methods of promoting your business and products that can attract your target audience. Advertising is essential for businesses. Social media profiles and blogs are two free methods that you use and see great results after.

 

A friend of mine was in the same predicament that you presently find your self in. She tried SnapRetail.com. They really helped her out according to what she told me. They only charged her $39 U.S. per month. It sounds like you have nothing to lose and that you need to do something fast.
Maybe contact them, explain what you're up against and see if they can do something for you. Good luck to you with all.

 

Or, go for the Pinterest!

All you need is to upload images on the pinterest. If they're interesting, people will definitely visite your site and indeed buy things too. This is one of the fastest ways which you can try to have power in your hands again, as Pinterest is like a heaven for this kind of business model.

 

Thank you all for the suggestions. We've started looking into these and hope for the best. I've started to realize something very important on my end, and it's that we have many views, but minimal sales. What does it mean?

 

What it probably means is that people are interested enough to check you out. Once they do they are either dissatisfied with the product(s) or the prices.
Or...you are not promoting said products in an appetizing way. Try offering to pay for the shipping in October and the sales taxes in November. December (Xmas) should take care of itself. Even if you only break out even, you will get new regular clientele which you need to survive.

 

Make your products more appealing.
You don't just sell. Make people have a reason to buy.
Product details, Discounts and promotions are some of the things that attract the customer.
But most of all you must give the client a reason to buy from you.
Why is it better buying from your shop than from another competitor.
You must know your customers.

 

This could mean that your actual website is not converting, have a look at the design and see how you can make it easier for the end user to check out and purchase products without getting confused.

One more thing I could suggest is integrating your online shop into both eBay and Amazon, this way you will pay some fees but reach the audiences of these websites too - you can then include a flyer or business card when shipping orders via these channels to offer them a special discount if they come direct to your online shop.

 

Go back to where things started nosediving. Find out what changed at that point. That is your first problem, finding the CAUSE of the nosedive. Once you know WHY, you can fix the problem. UNTIL YOU KNOW THE CAUSE AND FIX the problem, all you will be doing is floundering around and possibly go bankrupt.

 

The success to every online business especially an e-commerce business like yours is Advertising.
Find a good digital marketer who can help you set up adverts on display networks and social media.
Plus create special offers for your customers such as "buy one get one free", "Same day free delivery" amidst others.
You have to be a bit sneaky with the offers so you don't run at a loss.
Then finally, treat your customers with respect and value. Do all these aforementioned and thank me later.

 

well if things are not going well in your favor, you must try to re-engineer the whole scenario, the layout must be simple yet attractive, surfing and navigation within the site must be easy to use, the other part is marketing, how well you have developed a plan to market your product

 

I read the OP and thought "What does the business plan have to say?"
Part of that is the above mentioned marketing plan.
How are you pushing your site?

The worst thing to pull funds out of when things are tough is advertising, you must push the business or you will spiral in to oblivion.

Do you have an affiliate network pushing your wares? Even a few affiliates pushing your site will help generate traffic, and, of course, increased traffic is (usually) increased sales. Buying hits isn't the way to go as all it does is increase <30 second traffic to your site.

 

Well that's part of your problem right there. Newer small businesses are always more successful if they keep their focus narrow and and really ace it. Even from a promotional standpoint, how can you hope to establish recognition for any one type of product when your marketing efforts are spread out over dozens of different genres. I'd suggest taking your most successful products and focusing on them.

 

Is the name "Second Best" really a good draw? Most consumers want "the" best not second best. It sounds like you are flogging pre used product. You could though go with an ad slogan like. "When you're second best you try hard to be the best".

 

I'd like to thank everyone who has offered their advice to me. I really didn't expect to hear from this many people. I'll now take the next few hours to properly reply to everyone's questions thus far.