Online shop

erniethemilk

Hi, just wanted some advice/opinions on getting traffic etc to our online shop selling items & gifts for the home.

We have the Twitter and FB pages and a blog, but what else can we do?

Many thanks

:-)

Wywth

erniethemilk wrote: »

Hi, just wanted some advice/opinions on getting traffic etc to our online shop selling items & gifts for the home.

We have the Twitter and FB pages and a blog, but what else can we do?

Many thanks

:-)

Use existing on line selling sites such as ebay and amazonmarket place to offer your goods for sale. They already have very large traffic figures of people looking to buy things.

If you are lucky enough to sell anything, enclose a small advice with the article (perhaps even a receipt or just a thank you for purchasing from you slip) that includes your website address.

gb12345

erniethemilk wrote: »

Hi, just wanted some advice/opinions on getting traffic etc to our online shop selling items & gifts for the home.

Is there a niche to your items or are they just general homeware?

You could consider adwords advertising (or Facebook ads) if it is possible to come up with some reasonable keywords for your products.

Have you considered offering discount vouchers on your facebook/twitter pages or (building on what Wywth suggested) put a voucher for next order in with shipped orders.

erniethemilk

thanks for comments, we are trying to be niche! its nice items for the home, hoping to grow more into niche.

Some of our items are not allowed to be listed on Ebay as the place we buy them from do not allow this so its a bit more difficult.

Will look into Amazon. We have some cards we put into orders with website on.

Thanks :-)

paulwf

If you are going niche I'd try and get some of the items reviewed in magazines or by bloggers. It's free advertising and very targeted. You just have to be prepared to not get the review items back...perhaps try and get a deal from your suppliers for items you are sending off to be reviewed as it benefits them as well.

erniethemilk

Thanks for the comments, we are working really hard, got a competition ending this week, but its so hard getting people to look in on site and buy! So all ideas are gratefully received

erniethemilk

We have had another quiet week, lots of new products but no much business, any other ideas welcome

vintagebrighton

Maybe you could add your website to your profile so people could have a look?

paulwf

erniethemilk wrote: »

We have had another quiet week, lots of new products but no much business, any other ideas welcome

Post a link to your site in your profile (not directly on here as that isn't allowed). It may be there are some problems with your site or the selection of items you have for sale. The basics have to be done exceptionally well before people will choose you over the thousand other alternative sites out there.

erniethemilk

Thanks, I think I have done this on my profile :-)

paulwf

On an operational side...personally I want to know the delivery cost up front, generally stated at the top of the page and something really simple like all orders £3 p&p or free p&p on all orders over £30. I'd also expect 1-2 day delivery not 1-5 day. All of the major retails sites are now really hot on delivery, although it is impossible to get the same deals with couriers you need to get close.

Again as an operational thing if there isn't a proper address and just a mobile number that inspires less confidence.

As to the stock there isn't really that much and spread over far too many categories so you have to keep clicking on different departments to see 3 items. You really need 10 times the amount of stock that you currently have.

Although the gifts are nice the range is unfocused i.e. there doesn't seem to be one thing you are known for or one area you are really strong in. A lot of the stuff is fine but the sort of thing you might pick up when randomly browsing the gift shop at a national trust property or whatever. I can't see anything I'd really go out of my way for to get from your site rather than one of the large department stores online or in the high st.

I'd make the site much more personal, explain who you are and what kind of designs and trends you like and why you have chosen the collection you have put together. Then put a collection together with a really strong theme and build around that. I really like the site layout and the gifts you have are great it just needs a lot more focus and "purpose".