eCommerce seller’s will say to me , “Kathy I know, Mother’s Day is coming, but I don’t have any Mother’s Day gift ideas in my store inventory, help!”
And I respond, “it’s time to re-think Mother’s Day and let’s look at your inventory!”
Do you sell collectibles? Then you can offer your online and brick and mortar shoppers the gift of memories!
I recently blogged on this for my online store offering my customers gifts for their Mom’s of a beautiful ceramic dish from pre World War II and another choice from the 1980’s. NYC Fitness Family Finds Online Blog on Mother’s Day Gifts of Memories!
‘But, you say to me, I sell auto parts or electronics! Well, don’t loving children buy their Mom a new set of hubcaps, or replace her spark plugs? Does Mom still play CDs? She might be due for a new CD player, as i tunes are not her idea of a way to listen to music.
The point is for you take some time and look at your inventory and think.
After all, Mother’s Day is more than clothes, jewelry and perfume!( Not that those aren’t terrific gifts and I hope my son is reading this).
Mother’s Day gifts are ipods, ipads, computers, a dinner out, plates, glassware, any number of collectibles, DVDs, flowers, jewelry, power tools, auto parts, books, crafts supplies, fabric, mugs, her favorite tea, bubble bath and and just about anything you can think of because there is a huge assortment of Moms out there all with different lifestyles and tastes in what they love.
So, entrepreneur it’s time to rethink your approach to Mother’s Day for your customers! Make sure you have a Mother’s Day category in your store and a Mother’s Day Board on the social media platform Pinterest.
Fill your eCommerce Mother’s Day category and Pinterest Board with the best of the wonderful variety of goods you sell and welcome shoppers in!
Happy Mother’s Day, for your grateful customers and you!
Do you take a break busy entrepreneur? Yes you?! And no walking to the kitchen or your local Starbucks is not what I’m thinking about.
A quick walk to your kitchen or local Starbucks is not an appropriate break from work!
Meet a friend or relative who has nothing to do with your business for lunch, or coffee counts as a refreshing and restorative break.
Going for a nice long walk counts, preferably in pleasant surroundings that have nothing to do with your line of work.
Taking a few hours to soak in a museum, watch your child play a sport, play with a child and or go to a movie (preferably something silly) counts.
Too often an entrepreneurs and business people we work from dawn til dusk, constantly dealing with one aspect of our business or another eating at our desks and or on the run.
Go ahead, and walk away for a few hours, or at the very least 30 minutes.
Too often an entrepreneurs and business people go from dawn til dusk constantly dealing with one aspect of our business or another.
When you come back, you’ll find you’re refreshed and so much more productive. I find I accomplish so much more after enjoying a break.
This week I had a nice 45 minute lunch with my grown son. I listened to the many events in his life. It was wonderful. When I returned my desk I accomplished so much more and I had a smile on my face all day and the added benefit of a loving text from him later in the day telling me what a great Mom I am.
So you, yes you… it’s time to take a break And then… yes you can get back to that work you enjoy!
A meal with someone you love is a wonderful break from a long entrepreneurial work day!
Entrepreneurs will say to me, “Kathy, my ebay sales are down, what do I do?”
If they have an ebay store one of the first places I’ll look to help them increase their sales is at their ebay store categories.
As an ebay store seller ebay gives you 300 categories to use to organize your products.
The categories you chose matter. They help your customer find your items and also buy more than one item from you when they are shopping in your store.
I have found the two best ways to pick ebay store categories is first to check the ebay site and see what ebay category ebay is using with my item.
After I’ve done then I look at the large brick and mortar store websites. Macy’s is one of my favorite places to go. I had pajamas and robes to sell for the Christmas season.
On Macy’s site the way they list ladies pajamas is under the primary category Women’s Clothing. The subcategory they use is pajamas and robes. So that’s what I used!
Macy’s spends thousands of dollars researching keywords. So, being a savvy seller I take advantage of their research! If I sold fishing equipment I’d be looking at Bass Pro Shop. Get the idea?
Your ebay store categories do not show in your store until you put an item into the category. Each item can be placed in two ebay store categories, so consider that when you’re setting up your categories.
For instance back to my pajamas and robes. My ladies pink pajamas went into the pajamas and robes category and I also had a Christmas Gifts ( with a Gifts for Her sub category).
I chose to alphabetize my ebay store categories and I find most successful sellers I recently surveyed do the same. After I alphabetize my store categories I then manually order one or two categories by dragging them to the top of my store categories to feature that category.
For instance at Christmas and the Holiday season I drag my Christmas category to the top. After Christmas I keep my Christmas category and alphabetize it and I drag Valentines Day to the top of the list.
Here’s a short YouTube video I did to show you easily how to do this!
So, with some quick research you can pick keyword rich ebay store categories and order those categories to help shoppers find your products easily and to browse your items increasing your potential sales and the size of your sales!
Here is a link to a recording of an appearance I did on the ebay radio show on February 10th explaining all these tips in detail for you.
I know, I know you’re thinking it’s Valentine’s Day in a few weeks and your inventory has nothing to offer gift shoppers!
You don’t sell candy, flowers, lingerie or smartphones and tablets. You sell clothes, books, automotive accessories, collectibles and/or media let’s say.
What is a savvy entrepreneur to do?
Rather than writing off the holiday ( no, no no Nanette!) a smart seller pulls out the list of their inventory and starts thinking to themself, “how can I re-purpose my items for Valentine’s Day shoppers?”
Do you sell collectibles?
If you do great! Now smart entrepreneur, which ones can be showcased for Valentines Day as collectible gifts? I feel a great Pinterest board coming on!
Do you sell clothing? Come on, who doesn’t want a great jacket, sweater or skirt for Valentine’s Day?
Are you an automotive accessories vendor? Terrific, now look at your inventory and ask yourself , “what would make that Mercedes Benz owner smile?”
Shoppers look for great and unique gifts to give their sweethearts on Valentine’s Day, so it’s time to step up and help them find what you’re offering.
Themed Pinterest boards are a great way to invite customers to browse and buy with you. If you sell on ebay using the free marketing tool of ebay collections is another awesome way to help your items get seen and sold!
So select your inventory for gift shopping customers and enjoy pinning them on Pinterest onto tightly niched boards and creating inviting collection on ebay!
Valentine’s Day is not all about chocolate!
Well, maybe some chocolate and a thoughtful gift to go with it!
The perfect Valentine’s Day gift is lurking in your inventory!
Christmas is over. Look at your business’s profit and loss.
Look at your inventory on hand.How did you as an entrepreneurial business do so far this year?
Did you do better or worse than last year? Are you on target for 4th quarter sales?
If you’re on target or way up congratulations!
If you’re down, don’t despair there’s time left to turn your 4th quarter results around.
I live in NYC which is one of the biggest retail cities in the world. Do you know what most of not all businesses are doing now? Yes, they are running sales.
Already I’ve gotten countless emails offering me deep discounts from eCommerce sites and large brick and mortar retailers.
Do you want to increase your profits and move inventory?
Do what the big brick and mortar and eCommerce sites are doing now and run a sale! Discount as deeply as you can and promote your sale on your social media sites.
After Christmas customers are looking for deals. Give them what they want and you will reap sales and profits now.
Now is the time to get busy, please your shoppers and you and your business will reap the benefit in one word, PROFIT!
What are you waiting for?!
Even if you’re 4th quarter sales are down, you can turn your business around!
It’s seven days til Thanksgiving and that means, drum roll please it’s eight days to Black Friday!
Your Holiday products are on your stores shelves and they are listed on your website and ecommerce selling platforms.
Do you have a social media planner ready to go to promote your products and help your customers find you?
The Holidays are here! Can shoppers easily find your products on the internet?
If you don’t, now is the time to grab pen and paper or your favorite online app for notes and count ahead.
Seven days from now is Thanksgiving, seven days from tomorrow November 21 is black Friday and seven days from Monday November 24th will be Cyber Monday December 1, 2014.
If you are on an auction platform like ebay you can use these dates to plan auctions or short term fixed price listings to attract customers.
On all selling platforms Amazon, etsy, ebay and your own website you’ll want to leverage and plan your social media posts so that customers can readily find your products from the thousands if not hundreds of thousands waving at this year’s Holiday online shoppers.
Make a list of your Holiday items and decide when and how and where each item will be promoted.
Make your list now of your items and which Social Media Platforms You Plan To Use!
What’s best for that item your selling and it’s customer demographic?
Will you be posting on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and or Instagram?
You can create a schedule on an excel spreadsheet or do what i do and set one up using Google Calendar which is free! With Google Calendar you can even pick colors for the different Social Media Posts!
Regardless of whether you’re using excel, or Google Calendar or another planner now is the time to think through your promotions for the fast approaching Holiday Black Friday Weekend!
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