by Kathy Terrill | Sep 28, 2016 | eCommerce Tips
Online sellers are turning to me asking for my hot tips for 2016 Holiday sales success! Sellers want to know what are my insider tips to really sky rocket their sales on eBay, Etsy and Amazon! I give them my super duper insider tip. Want to know what it is?
Keep the customer first.
Some will respond to me, “Kathy that’s too simple.” “OK” I say, “Take a few minutes and think.”
When you pick inventory to sell, what are your major concerns? You consider cost and if the item will sell.
The bottom line for sellers is, you don’t make money if customers don’t buy what you’re offering.
Do Your Products Sell?
Discovering and then selling what shoppers want, that is keeping customers first.
When you list your product online on eBay, Etsy, Amazon and your own website, you take clear pictures to showcase your inventory. Your item’s title and description is crafted using carefully selected words ( keywords) that shoppers would use when searching for your product online.
You offer a generous and hassle free return policy to gain and maintain customer confidence in you and your products.
All of that is keeping your customer first. You are crafting a listing and business policies that keeps your shopper’s needs up front and center. The customer is first.
Once your item is sold, you carefully package the item with the intent of protecting your customer’s purchase so that it arrives safely.
The purchased item is then sent off quickly to satisfy the eager customer.
Doing all this, you are keeping the customer first. Should there be questions or concerns at anytime of the purchase or afterwards you quickly and politely respond.
It’s All About The Customer!
From start to finish it’s ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER.
With all the sourcing, listing and packing of product in addition to posting on social media, the primary focus of one’s business can get lost. The fundamental truth for any successful business is that it’s ALL about the customers.
Selling customers what they want, and wowing them with your care and speed of delivery gets you repeat business and profits.
So the number one key to Holiday selling success for 2016 ( and any year) is, all during the frenzy of the Holiday selling season, keep asking yourself one question.
“Am I taking care of my customers?”
by Kathy Terrill | Jul 31, 2016 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay
I’ve just returned from the exciting eBay seller event eBay OPEN in Las Vegas!
When you get eBay sellers together, you know that they are interested in hearing about increasing their sales!
2 of the eBay OPEN workshops for sellers dovetailed nicely. The 2 workshops were Marketing On eBay and Using eBay Stores To Build Your Business. Both workshops were targeted to eBay store owners.
Nick Shah, a Group Manager at eBay for B2C Seller Growth was joined by eBay‘s Gaurav Jain, Adi Behara and Deepak Pillai in the Marketing on eBay workshop. Dylan Henryson eBay‘s Senior Director of COO Seller Experience and Kevin Clark spoke at the Using eBay Stores To Build Your Business presentation.
Both teams explained the 1-2 punch for eBay store sellers of using paid Promotions integrated with Promotions Manager.
Powerful eBay Sales Combination!
For paid promoted listings, the Marketing on eBay presenters clearly explained that eBay store sellers ONLY pay the promotion fee IF the item selected is sold from a customer clicking and buying through the promoted link. If a customer finds the promoted item from a Google search, or through social media work the seller does and buys through those searches, the seller DOES not pay a Promoted Listing sales fee for those sales.
eBay‘s Promoted listings is NOT pay per impression.
Dylan Henryson in the eBay Stores presentation compared Promoted Listings to Google adwords. Dylan emphasized that with eBay‘s Promoted Listings the seller only pays for the sale from a customer clicking and buying the item through the Promoted listing. There are no fees for impressions without purchases.
Gaurav Jain pointed to Promoted Listings as a powerful tool to increase the visibility of seller’s eBay Store listings, eBay store categories and the seller’s entire eBay store.
Let’s say you sell coffee mugs. When you promote 1 multi quantity mug, most sellers find increased traffic and sales to that eBay store category and their entire eBay store. The promoted mug works to increase customer traffic overall in the seller’s eBay store
Get Customer Traffic With Promoted Listings!!
You’re only paying a fee when the customer clicks the promoted link. The residual traffic is a bonus!
Promoted Listings are available for multi quantity fixed price items in an eBay store in certain categories. Click Here for the FAQ information from eBay.
If the seller only sells 1 of a kind items I have discovered a work around. Let’s say you sell coffee mugs. You have no multi quantity fixed price items as your mugs are each unique and one of a kind. Go on eBay, or a local retailer and buy 2 of an interesting mug. Go on eBay and list the multi quantity mug. Then go to your growth tab in Seller Hub, click the Marketing tab to access Promoted Listings and select your promotion rate and launch your promotion.
This short video from eBay shows you how to set up a promotion in Promotions Manager
Test different promoted items and categories and see what works best for you and your eBay store. eBay gives you the data you need in your Promoted Listings dashboard.
Ready for part 2 of the 1-2 punch to increase your eBay store sales? Part 2 is using Promotions Manager.
Deepak Pillai stated that eBay has data showing that sellers using Promotions Manager see a 10% increase in sales across their entire eBay store. He further stated that 75% of shoppers are looking for some kind of deal, sale or promotion.
Shoppers Look For Deals, Sales And Promotions!
eBay is a very competitive marketplace.
Online selling competition will only increase. When you showcase an item in a Promotion through eBay‘s Promotions Manager you greatly increase the likelihood of a shopper browsing and buying from you. An effective promotion with Promotions Manager helps to keep the eBay shopper in YOUR store. Experiment to see what groupings and what promotions in Promotions Manager work best for your items.
I find micro niching promotions effective.
To get ideas of content I look at shopping blogs and brick and mortar retail to see how they are grouping products. I also use Terapeak to investigate my competitors and see what Promotions they may be using.
Deepak Pillai encouraged sellers to use Promotions Manager to get traffic during retail moments (Back To School, Christmas etc), to put the spotlight on newly arrived inventory and to clean out stale inventory.
Adi Behara pointed to the importance of firing Promotions with Promotions Manager at the best time to get traffic. He reminded sellers that eBay spends enormous amounts of money to bring shoppers to eBay around retail moments. Targeting Promotions to these moments has immense value. Promotions in Promotions Manager also have social sharing buttons for the sellers to use to gain additional traffic from Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
eBay helps sellers target their Promotions with a retail calendar in Promotions Manager.
eBay Retail Calendar!
eBay Retail Calendar
Back to School shoppers are on eBay now! With my FREE The Ultimate Guide To Back To School Products target your inventory for Back To School shoppers and score sales!
Use fixed price multi quantity listings in Promoted Listings. Combine that with Back To School promotions in Promotions Manager now to increase your eBay store sales! Click HERE to get your free guide!
Adi Behara emphasized that every eBay store is different and it’s important to test promotions and tweak promotions.
Promoted listings done right are an effective tool for sellers to drive traffic to their eBay store. Once there, targeted promotions through Promotions Managers fired at the right time converts shoppers to buyers!
All the eBay staff at both presentations at eBay OPEN emphasized the importance of sellers testing and finding the right combination for for their shoppers. Both Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager offer data and suggestions to help sellers make effective choices.
eBay Store Owners using these Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager see increased traffic and sales!
eBay gives sellers the tools to increase visibility and sales with 1-2 punch of Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager!
by Kathy Terrill | Jan 15, 2016 | eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay
Online sellers from eBay, Etsy, Craig’s List selling and Amazon come to me sadly saying “Kathy, if I only knew…”. Yes, if they only knew!
When you first dip your toe in the water of online eCommerce often sellers are making money as a hobby. They are selling personal items from their home and/or a few things they pick up locally at thrift stores and yard sales.
A seller will chose to grow their business or not.
If you chose to grow your online selling business entrepreneur make sure you don’t make this serious mistake!
Don’t neglect to plan!
Do you use Google Maps on your phone when you travel?! I do. I type in my destination and my current location and bam in a matter of seconds my phone is guiding me in the right direction.
Google Maps cannot help me if I don’t give it my current location and where I want to go.
When you haphazardly source and sell, for the most part you will get haphazard results.
Professionals in all businesses plan.
Write in a journal, loose leaf binder, post its, Evernote, what and wherever it works for you but write it down. Look at your gross sales numbers for this time last year. What is your goal this month? 20% increase? 30%? You want to set a goal that challenges you and that is attainable. To say you want to double your sales, sounds great but unless you have massive amounts of new inventory coming it’s unlikely to happen. Why set yourself up to fail entrepreneur?
Pick a goal that is a stretch, but attainable!
Inventory bundles are an awesome misunderstood and under utilized tool by sellers on all platforms! That includes those of you who sell on Amazon, eBay and Etsy!
Products bundles are a low cost way for sellers on any online platform to grow their business! They have the BONUS effect of increasing your products search results which can also help INCREASE your sales. Bundles are a win-win to grow your sales profits!
My hit class Secret Spice For Online Sales gives you over 50 ideas for product bundles to sell as you grow you online business!
My hit online selling class help you grow your business!
Success Takes Planning!
Planning your business growth is exciting. Sit down and grab your pen and paper or favorite app. Start thinking through what and how you want to grow this year! Then get busy taking the next right step entrepreneur!
Don’t Just Dream!
The business that you want to have may start in your dreams, but it comes to fruition through your planning and hard work! I can’t wait to hear about your business growth this year. Take some time now to plan and you are on your way to your best selling year yet!
by Kathy Terrill | Dec 8, 2015 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay
The Holiday shopping countdown is on and it’s time to make sure your goods are sold and your online customers are thrilled!
Time to thrill online shoppers!
If you’ve been using the tips found here on this blog and my hit class Secret Sauce for ebay Sales you’re busy packing ebay sales!
Follow these 4 tips to continue your successful selling on ebay, Etsy and your online website. These will work now and right up to Christmas!
- Answer any and all questions as fast and accurately as possible. This time of year fast, polite and calming customer service is crucial to capture the sale. If you don’t answer a potential customer quickly, your shopper will find a seller who does!
- Whenever possible ship the same day that the item is ordered. Fast shipping is a must this time of year.
- Offer free and or paid shipping upgrades. If a customer wants an item overnight or in 2 days, you want to be the seller that offers that to them.
- Be sure to keep sourcing inventory to offer buyers! Online sellers ran away with Black Friday sales this year which means many brick and mortar retailers will be deeply discounting item to meet sales goals. Keep an alert eye out for inventory for you to acquire. Fresh inventory bring shoppers back again and again as they browse your newest finds!
Shoppers are tired and frazzled.
Shoppers are tired and frazzled. Keep this in mind as you answer questions and swiftly pack orders.
Offering great products, kind and professional customer service and quickly dispatching customer’s purchases brings you happy and satisfied customers singing your praises.
Aren’t happy customers the true goal of a successful Holiday selling season?
Fa la la la.
by Kathy Terrill | Dec 4, 2015 | eCommerce News, eCommerce Selling Tips, Selling on eBay, Social Media Tips
It’s 3 week til Christmas.
Are you wondering where are the shoppers?
Sellers if you are enjoying great sales that is fantastic! You have 3 weeks to continue to do and grow what you are doing in your ebay and Etsy business! Continue to list, run sales, and create and use promotional coupons. Post your most attractive items to Facebook, Twitter , Pinterest, Google Plus and Instagram. If you’re not doing it consider taking it up a notch and boost some of your Facebook posts with a Facebook ad campaign.
For sellers that are a tad discouraged right now, take heart!
Time to stop and think!
Pause for a minute.
Calmly take a look at your inventory. Decide what is gift worthy. What do you sell that is new and sealed or a wonderful collectible gift. Those are the items you need to focus on. Jump on ebay or Etsy and check prices. Prices can change with lightening speed at the Holidays up or down. In order for you to move your inventory quickly carefully consider the best prices to be offering right now. For some categories you may need to be checking prices daily to stay competitive and sell with maximum profits.
If you’re on ebay use ebay’s Advanced search to see if the items you have listed are being bought by customers. Take some time to dig deeper and see what the hot items are in your categories. You can do this quickly and expertly with the excellent research tool Terapeak. It’s not just a matter of listing on ebay. As a successful seller I want to source and list what has a good sell through rate.
If you are having a slow Holiday season it’s crucial that you find out what is hot NOW and see if you can source it. Terapeak can help you locate the current top sellers so you can get profits quickly, not in a year.
In conclusion, if you having a banner year continue and look to take it up a notch.
If you’re floundering stop. Assess your most saleable inventory. Then check your prices and know that you may need to check prices daily in very hot categories. Do some research to see if the items you have for the Holidays are selling at all. Advanced search and Terapeak will give you this important information. To maximize Holiday sales use Terapeak to do a deep dive into ebay categories to find the current hot products and look locally and online to source these items fast and increase your sales now!
ebay and Etsy sellers it’s time to jump in and grab those Holiday profits!
