Even though you’re running an online business, it’s important to understand that building supplier relationships is one of the most  important success factors you can have!

There are many ways to locate legitimate wholesales suppliers. Trade shows and trade publications to name a few!

Suppliers are motivated to work with sellers who know how to move their merchandise. So once you make that supplier connection, don’t treat your supplier like an anonymous vendor.  Spend some time building a relationship with them.

It won’t happen overnight, but the more you get to know them and they get to know you and the needs of your business, the stronger your relationship will become.

As a supplier gets to know you,  the more likely it is that they’ll want to work with you. You’ll also be first in mind when it comes to letting their accounts know about the good deals, new products and special purchases.

When you initiate contact with a new supplier, focus not only on finding out what the supplier has to offer you, but make it a two-way street. Suppliers are in business to sell their products, just like you are. But ultimately, product sourcing is a people business (just like any other business).  And as you build supplier relationships, you’ll find that your effort and investment will be returned ten-fold.

Most people approach this backwards. They find a product they want to sell and then look for someone to buy it.

Unfortunately, that method rarely works. And when it does, you might search for years to find the right buyer.

However, these five mindset shifts will help you approach product sourcing differently.  And put you on the path to answering “What should I sell?” or “What else should I sell?”

Mindset Shift #1: When you start looking at what people WANT rather than “what to sell” your entire perspective on product sourcing changes.  To do this you must look outward, turn on your “receiver” and OBSERVE what is going on in the hearts and minds of the consumer.  Read what they are reading, listen to what’s being said. 

The biggest mistake you can make when sourcing products is to sit at your desk and “try and think of a product to sell”.

Mindset Shift #2: Consumer trends are indicators of what the buyers will be purchasing next.  No matter what category you sell in, you have to make it your business to know what trends are happening in that industry.  If you sell lamps, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of what type of lamps people are buying.  What new styles of lamps are coming into the marketplace?  What’s being featured in the consumer magazines?

If you skip the step of studying the trends, you’ll likely go straight to the step of marking down products that didn’t sell.  Why?  Because you weren’t paying attention to the trends and didn’t source the styles your customers want now.

Mindset Shift #3: Stop chasing mainstream products with the goal of selling what’s ALREADY hot.  If you’re just starting out, look at what’s currently popular and then “take a step to the left or right” and look at related products and niches.

Yes, iPods are hot and everybody wants to sell them.  But thousands of successful home-based businesses have been built in the multi-BILLION dollar iPod RELATED products industry.

If you’re already in business, focus on looking for new product innovations and then expand your reach by delivering additional products that appeal to your existing customer base or grow the scope of your target market.

Mindset Shift #4: Always offer different levels of the same product, i.e., entry level, mid-range and deluxe versions.  If you’re not offering different levels of products, you’re eliminating entire groups of customers who would otherwise purchase from you.

Without vertical versions of products, your customers don’t have the option to buy an upgraded or deluxe version from you.  Your goal should be to give your customers choices.  To offer options they might not even know exist – that is, until they find it in your store.

Mindset Shift #5:  Always test market products before buying inventory in bulk or making any long-term product line decisions.  Testing is the ONLY way you will know DEFINITIVELY whether or not a product is right for YOUR business.

Buy a few units representing different styles, colors and brands of products and see how your customers respond.  They’ll vote with their wallets as to which they like best.  Once you’ve tracked your test results, THEN expand on what works.

Product sourcing can be one of the most fun, creative aspects of running your business, when you do it right!

Get step-by-step training on exactly how to source the products buyers want with  Power of 10 Product Sourcing.

“Sell what you know and watch the profits roll in.”

“If you are passionate about it, your customers will buy it.”

Have you heard this advice before?

While these catchy phrases do make for great inspirational sound bytes, unfortunately they are not solid business advice.

In fact, all three statements leave out one important factor for success…

You can only sell what you love, sell what you know and sell what you are passionate about IF people are interested in buying those products.

If no one is buying,  it doesn’t matter how much you like a product, you won’t make money selling it online.

Here’s the Profitable Approach

Find products that sell and be open to new passions.

Let’s look at an example:

Adele has a love of decorative plates.  Her house is filled with an impressive collection.

She thought this passion might translate nicely to an eBay business.

Because she loves decorative plates so much, Adele was sure that buyers would flock to her listings and buy the plates she adores.

However, Adele ignored one of the important fundamentals product sourcing; she became attached to her product line.

Not only that, she didn’t do her research ahead of time on the market demand for the kind of decorative plates she was selling.

Her results were disappointing.  The plates didn’t sell well.

After several months, Adele started to think that maybe an eBay business wasn’t for her.

It wasn’t until she and I talked that she realized the business wasn’t the problem, her product was!

Once Adele went back and did her research on the market demand for decorative plates, she realized that the plates she loved were not desired by other collectors.

So, Adele went back to the drawing board. Several months later, Adele reported that she had found a new niche in the collectibles market and her business was moving right along.

But Can’t I Sell What I Like?

Absolutely!  You have to have an interest in what you sell or you won’t put energy into marketing it. And if you don’t have knowledge about your product line and passion for your offerings, your customers can tell a mile away.

But remember, there are millions of products in the world to sell.  So always keep an eye out, and an open mind for the next opportunity.

Your business will be much more profitable with this approach.

-Lisa Suttora

While starting your online business, you’ll likely have other responsibilities – a day job, a family, commitments to your community, a home to run. Time is a premium and often the consistent actions required to build your successful online business are edged out by “life”.

For example, you have great plans to work on your business on Monday night when you get home from work.  But Monday at the office was hectic, you had to take the cat to the vet after work, and your kids had soccer practice. By the time you wrap up the day it’s 9:00pm and all you want to do is sink into your comfy chair and turn on the TV.

It’s at this point a moment of decision occurs.  Write a blog post?  Work on the articles for submittal to Ezine Articles?  Or… take the night “off” and sink into the easy chair.  After all, you’ve worked hard all day, you deserve it.

Unfortunately many people will choose the latter – and push those business tasks off to the next day.  Only the next day something else happens that prevents you from working on your business again.  Before you know it, it’s the weekend and you’re in catch up mode – trying to cram a full weeks worth of work on your business in on Saturday.

And while you may think that working on your business for six hours each Saturday is equivalent to putting in an hour a day in the evenings – it’s not.

Because you’re not training your mind to think of your business as a business. Instead  you are sending the message to your subconscious that it’s a hobby.  A hobby that gets fit in “when there is time.” And that’s a powerful determinant of the results you’ll get.

When consulting with my entrepreneurial clients, one of the first things I tell them is this:

“Treat your business like a business and it will pay you like a business. Treat your business like a hobby and it will cost you like a hobby.”

Consistent daily actions are the secret to your success. Spending an hour each day focused solely on your business will guarantee greater results then cramming it all in on the weekend and being a weekend entrepreneur.

In addition to sending a strong message to your brain and your subconscious that this is a business, it also gets you in the habit of thinking about and working on your business on a daily basis – even when you’re not actively working on it.

When you work on your business daily, your  mind will be creating new ideas, problem solving, coming up with clever new headlines, and writing your next info product even when you’re not at your desk.

Don’t feel like writing that blog post on Monday? Do it anyway. Think today isn’t the day to track your sales? Do it anyway. Cataloging and listing inventory got you down? Do it anyway… Consistent actions produce consistent results.

• The business-minded entrepreneur spends time each day working on their business.
• The hobbyist works if and when they feel like it.
• The business-minded entrepreneur tracks their market, sales, and results and learns from that information.
• The hobbyist takes a shot in the dark and hopes for the best.
• The business-minded entrepreneur knows exactly where their business stands at all times.
• The hobbyist has “a feel” for how things are going.
• The business-minded entrepreneur knows that it takes time, work, tweaking, testing, and learning to build a profitable long-term business.
• The hobbyist wants it to happen “right now” and when they get bored or frustrated, they abandon the “business” to move on to the next one—unfortunately, usually with the same results.

Consistent daily actions work like compound interest in your business.  Taken on their own, a little bit each day may not seem like a lot. But when compounded over 5 or 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year- you will be amazed at what you’ve accomplished.

So the next time you’re tempted to forgo a business task because you’re tired or feel like doing something else – remind yourself that there’s a lot more at stake here than the accomplishing the daily task.   Remind yourself that your actions are the difference between building a business or a hobby.

Megan’s mom always wore beautiful leather jackets in colors like dusty pink and butterscotch yellow with fabulous jewelry to match.

And Megan and her family lived in a nice house adorned with dramatic decor.

But it was the day that her dad brought home the shiny, new red Bayliner speedboat that I was convinced Megan’s dad must be making the big bucks. (I loved that boat, and I’ve wanted one ever since!)

Megan and I only went to school together for a couple years and I never asked what her father did for a living. It wasn’t until several years later when we ran into each other while she was home from college on a visit, that I found out how her dad made the extra money to get all this stuff.

Turned out Megan’s dad was what I call a “Deal Scout”. He loved to find deals on new merchandise and then resell it through the local Classifieds.

For example, one time he bought out the inventory( for pennies on the dollar) from a hardware store that was closing and resold it to another store and made $20 thousand bucks on the deal.

Later on, when the local Classifieds got too expensive and less effective, he turned to Craigslist and eBay to resell in-demand items.

Megan told me her dad had resold almost everything over the years. From printers to concrete pavers. Jewelry to shoes. Nothing was off-limits when it came to buying and reselling (unless it was illegal!)

He preferred dealing in new consumer goods, claiming there were “deals to be had everywhere” if you just looked for them.

Well I can tell you from experience, Megan’s dad was right.

He was using a method I call Retail Resale. Buying new consumer goods in one market for the purpose of reselling them in another. And generating thousands of dollars of extra income a year.

Megan’s dad was my first exposure to someone who made some serious money with Retail Resale, and I didn’t think much more about it until 2002. When I used this exact method to start my online business.

Making Money with Retail Resale

When I started my online business back in 2002, I used this method to buy high-end leather kids shoes at deeply discounted sale prices and resell them on eBay to a global customer base.

For me it was instant profit. I knew about kids shoes, I knew what brands were hot, and it didn’t take me long to find deals locally and online for these in-demand brands. I soon figured out what I needed to do to minimize my sourcing risk, in the event that I’d chosen items that didn’t sell. I was off and running!

I used Retail Resale to generate the majority of my income that first year in business, and it continued to represent about 30% of my sales for the next two years.

• Retail Resale works great for start-ups sourcing products on a shoestring budget.
• But it’s also perfect for established businesses who want to create extra income without committing to a new product line.

Retail Resale works for any marketplace from marine electronics to toys. clothes and shoes. It works for car tires and cars. Jewelry and Halloween Costumes. You name it!

If You Know How to Shop, You Can Profit from Retail Resale

The principle behind Retail Resale is simply this, shopping for your customers. You can shop anywhere to get your inventory. Offline, locally, online from websites, from marketplaces like eBay, Amazon or Bonanza.

There are millions of products right now available for sale both online and offline, that are either under priced, deeply discounted, or in short supply and high demand that are prime candidates for profiting with Retail Resale.

Make Extra Income with Just a Few Hours of Work a Week

For example, the Nerf N-Strike Stampede is already the #1 selling toy on Amazon. Sales of this hot new toy have already increased in sales 1800% since July. Already sold out at Walmart, you can still find it for $44 + Free Shipping at Toys R Us (or pick one up locally).

It’s currently selling for between $59 – $108 (with a sweet spot of about $75) on eBay and demand is starting to rise. This one will be sold out before Christmas and prices will go up to reflect it’s in-demand status.

This is an example of a product that lends itself perfectly to Retail Resale.

Last weekend we were out at the mall, when we came upon a sunglasses shop that had MAUI JIM HOKU sunglasses on close-out for $120. A quick price check with a cell phone showed they sell on Amazon for about $208. On eBay you can pick up a new pair for $160. If I’m going to sell these Retail Resale, I’d sell them on Amazon rather than eBay.

There’s a lot of money to be made with Retail Resale!

In fact one of my favorite new books on the subject is Retail Resale by Chris Green.

-Lisa

First, I want to congratulate Wai Hong and his team!

This is a great example of how vision and a niche focus led to success.

Landing on Smart Company’s Hot 30 Under 30 list is no small feat. Smart Company is Australia’s leading online business site with news, information and resources site for Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners, and business managers. Each year they publish a list of the hottest and most successful up and coming entrepreneurial businesses in Australia.

And this is a pretty amazing list when you look at the demographics:

• The entrepreneurs had to be 30 years of age and under
• Their business had to have at least $1 million in annual sales
• This year’s recognized business owners have $100 million in combined revenue
• They employ well over 600 people
• On average, their start up costs were under $100,000 and in most cases their companies have been in operation for less than five years

What makes this story even more remarkable is that Wai Hong started selling on eBay Australia just under 3 years ago and today owns a business that boasts ten niche websites with projected revenues of  $1.5 million dollars this year!

And that’s why OZHut is the first case study in the Want to Have Success Online? Find a Niche and FOCUS! series, because it all started with a niche.

When Wai Hong Fong first became a member of my 2008 Business Growth Group, he had just completed our exclusive Holistic Business Review on his up and coming business. At the time, he was working with a relative on the business, and when they went on vacation for a month, Wai Hong was in charge of the store. He had a big vision for the business, but didn’t have the clarity as to how it would all happen.  The Holistic Business Review provided him with the organization, clarity and next steps to expand his business online.

OZHut started on eBay, like a lot of online sellers do, selling a variety of different products. The “variety store” model was working for OZHut, they were successful on eBay – but it soon became apparent that some product lines were making money and some were not. Some were easier to sell and ship and some were not. Certain items had a higher rate of return and others had a low return rate.

If you sell in the variety store model, you’ll find that your results are the same.

Wai Hong had already been thinking in terms of starting a niche websites. But with several successful products, the question was – which one to monetize on a niche site first?

The first thing I recommended he look at was which of his products on eBay were the most successful? Which had the highest profit margin? Which were the easiest to source, stock, ship and sell? Which products would lend themselves best to a niche website?

Wai Hong  immediately went to work to identify the right product line for a niche site and shortly thereafter, OzScopes was born.

Today, OZScopes is Australia’s leading niche telescope store. And after cementing that niche success and systematizing the process, Wai Hong went to work to build the next niche site.

Today the OZHut network of niche stores consists of ten niche sites, each focused on a separate niche. From the telescope niche to the baby pram niche, to a niche gadget store, Wai Hong Fong and his team focus on one thing – creating success one niche at a time.

When interviewed on his niche strategy for the Hot 30 Under 30 List, this successful 24 year old entrepreneur said:

“While others are seeking to build large online departmental stores, we’ve found that focusing on specific product niches via dedicated stores allows us greater SEO and online marketing leverage to create a strong presence in those markets,” he says

It all gets back to the 7 Reasons to Find a Niche and FOCUS. Had Wai Hong tried to build a department store site, he would not have realized success as quickly, clearly or definitively.

However by  focusing on a profitable niche he was able to:

1. Become a destination site in a niche

2. Know his market

3. Source the products his niche customers want

4. Clearly brand the business

5. Maximize his advertising  resources

6. Build a site that Google likes

7. Leverage his time and resources, and take actions specifically focused on niche success

Start With ONE Niche, Then Lather, Rinse and Repeat

It’s important to note that while Wai Hong Fong and OZHut stores have achieved massive niche success with sites in ten different niches, he didn’t build them all at the same time.

If he’d attempted to build all ten at once, spreading 10% of his efforts across each of his 10 sites, he’d still be trying to get the first one off the ground.

Instead he started with one niche site and a sole goal of making that niche site profitable.  It was only when that site was up, running and profitable that he turned his sites to the next niche.

How about you? Are you trying to build a business in multiple sites simultaneously?

If so it’s time to pick the most profitable one or the one with the most potential and put your energies into that site. Put the other one on the back burner for now.  Once the first site is up, running and generating a steady income, then you can focus on the next site.

Coming up next in the Want to Have Success Online? Find a Niche and FOCUS series find out how having an expertise in one niche can be monetized several different ways.

-Lisa

My answer to this question is always the same and it applies no matter what you sell or where you sell it.

Your best opportunity for creating a successful business on the Internet is to…

Find a niche and FOCUS.

* If you’re a jack of all trades, master of none, it’s time to find a niche!
* If you’re spreading yourself thinly between three different eBay stores and 12 different types of products and none of them are up and running profitably, it’s time to find a niche.
* If you’re selling information products on health and fitness, starting an eBay store that sells used computer parts and trying to monetize a green-cleaner website all at the same time, it’s time to find a niche and focus!

Over the years, in working with thousands of online sellers in11 different countries, selling in more than 2300 different niche markets, sub-niches and micro-niches – one common thread runs through the most successful businesses…

Each one is succeeding in a niche market.

You see, once you’ve identified a profitable niche to serve, you can monetize that niche many different ways. But without that niche identified you’ll find yourself chasing market after market, opportunity after opportunity, never making any traction or money.

Many would-be business owners find themselves dabbling in multiple niche markets, putting in 10% of their time and attention on each. But 10% effort in 10 different niche markets does not add up to a 100% income.

You need to first be 100% focused on serving a niche and maximize the monetization of that niche to enjoy a 100% income.

Because of the importance of this topic, I’m putting together a series here on my blog, showcasing some successful niche businesses and explaining why they work. Additionally I’ll be explaining how you can implement this in your business.

So let’s start first, by talking about 7 business reasons why you should find a niche and focus! (Note: There are many more reasons than this, but let’s start with 7.)
7 Reasons to Find a Niche and FOCUS

1. You can’t be everything to everybody. At first glance, this seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the number of business owners I see trying. This especially afflicts new Internet business owners, who see the internet business buffet and want to sample everything. The problem is that this sampling goes on long past “happy hour” and into the “main meal” – the point at which you should be building a business that is hearty, focused and nourishing to your bank account.

2. The money comes from knowing your market. What does your market want? What are their problems? What are they buying? How do they like to be marketed to? Where do they hang out? It takes time to really get to know your market. If you don’t know your market, you won’t know what to sell to them and how to sell it. If you sell baby products, how to make money with Google Adsense eBooks, and affiliate products for Pomeranians, you won’t have enough time to find out about ANY of those markets. So you’ll throw a bunch of stuff up on the Internet and hope someone buys. And then they don’t. Contrast this to selling baby products, eBooks about parenting and affiliate products in the baby niche and now you’re cookin’!

By the way, I call this my Niche Monetizer Method™, but that’s a subject for a later post.

3. It takes money to monetize a niche. If you sell physical products, in order to find the products buyers want, get the best inventory and stock your store, you need to attend trade shows, read industry publications, purchase information on your niche. This alone could cost you several thousand dollars a year. You may attend the Sporting Goods Trade Show a couple times a year, subscribe to a couple sporting goods industry publications and consumer publications. You may make a few other buying trips during the year to source inventory.

4. Google loves themed, quality sites. This means a niche site with content, audio, video and products all geared toward achieving the same objective. Want to sell products in the juggling niche? Your site must not only have products, but also content to go with it. If you have a site that is not niche focused, creating a quality, themed site is impossible to do.

5. Become a destination site online. As a small to medium-sized business, you need to be a go-to destination in your site in your niche. A well optimized site, featuring the products and services that people want is the path to becoming a destination site online. If I’m a customer looking for a unique prom dress, I want to browse a site that specializes in prom dresses, with a depth of selection and a knowledgeable customer service staff. If I’m shopping an eBay store for a prom dress, I don’t want to be looking at running shoes and circular saws being displayed next to the pink frilly prom desk I’m looking at.

6. Branding for the big bucks. Focusing on a niche enables you to build a brand. Your logo, the look and feel of your store and website, your blog, all play an important role in building your brand online. In my upcoming blog series, I’ll show you some examples of online sellers who have built a strong brand – brands which is now getting people to sit up and take notice!

7. The number of hours you have in each day are limited, with a niche focus you leverage those hours. The Law of Attraction says “What you focus on expands.” Lisa’s Law of Action says “What you take action expands.” And the way to leverage your actions is to get more than one benefit from that action. For example, let’s say that you’re selling info products in the sizzling hot niche, in-city vegetable gardening. You write the eBook (or have it written), create some article marketing articles, identify your niche keywords and put together your Keyword Bank™ – you can now leverage all these actions into more advertising and marketing. The article marketing articles are now re-purposed as blog posts or tweets, your keywords are used to optimized your sales page, and the associated products you are selling on eBay. And your eBook becomes a stand-alone product or a bonus for the physical products you sell or your new home study course.

In the span of two days, you’ve leveraged the actions you’ve taken in one niche.

And of course, once you get the system down for monetizing one niche, then it’s lather, rinse, repeat for the next one!
Ask Yourself Today. “What is my niche?”

How about you? “What niche do you currently sell in?” or “What niche will you focus on?” The answer to that question is key to your next steps.

Throughout this blog series, I’ll be showcasing businesses who are monetizing in several different niche markets.

Coming up first in our series…

1. From the Variety Store Model to Rapid Niche Success we’ll look at an entrepreneur from Australia who started selling in the variety store model on eBay, but whose business really took off when he started focusing on a niche.

- Lisa

In sports, a pivot point can set an athlete up to make the winning shot or run the distance for a touchdown. In business, “Pivot Points” are critical points where you MUST make a turn in your strategy in order to stay AHEAD of the needs of your online buyers.

I first identified the concept of Pivot Points(tm) in my own business back in 2002.

I realized that there had been several selling opportunities I’d missed because I wasn’t prepared. I started charting these Pivot Points on my business calendar my first year in business so that the following year they didn’t sneak up on me OR even worse, I didn’t miss them completely.

From that point on, JULY 4th was one of the most important Pivot Points in my online sales success. In fact, by acting on that one Pivot Point alone, I more than doubled my holiday sales that following year.

The next Pivot Point for etailers is the change of focus from summer sales to planning for fall and holiday sales.

So even though you’re currently in the middle of summer sales – it’s time to TAKE ACTION on this Pivot Point and shift a part of your attention to prepping for what you’ll sell this fall.

Here are Your Pivot Point Actions

==> The Back-to-School selling season starts July 5th.

==> 69% of holiday shoppers START their holiday shopping in SEPTEMBER.

Pivot Point Action #1: Take a look at what Back-to-School related merchandise (or information) you are selling. The beginning of July is the time to move that merchandise front & center. You have to start advertising this merchandise now. Capture the early bird sales. Don’t wait for the procrastination shoppers. Or you’ll lose a ton of income.

Pivot Point Action #2: What Fall/Holiday merchandise do you CURRENTLY have in your inventory? Start grouping that merchandise together on a spreadsheet so you can see where the gaps in your inventory are and determine what inventory buys you want to make this month. If you wait to order holiday merchandise, your suppliers will be sold out of their hot selling seasonal merchandise by Sept.

Benjamin Franklin, a very successful entrepreneur in his own right once said: “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” Taking action at Pivot Points will prepare you to SUCCEED!

Instead of chasing the seasonal sales, start early with preparation and watch your sales soar while other’s are playing catch up!

April

April may be the kickoff to spring, but in the world of online sales, there’s a whole lot of shopping goin’ on!

• Bathing suit season: It’s still too chilly to wear them but sales of bathing suits are skyrocketing now.  In fact, shoppers who wait much past May will find that all the best selection is gone! If you sell beachwear, it’s time to get it on your store homepage
• Prom wear: Online searches for prom wear are on the rise this month. Even though most proms don’ t happen until late May or early June, prom wear sales are increasing quickly with online searches up 60-80% from last month according to Google Insights
• Wedding season: Wedding season is in full swing as we approach June, one of the biggest wedding months of the year!
• April 4th: Easter: Easter is April 4th.  And there is still time to make last minute sales. According to BIGResearch the average amount Easter shoppers are expected to spend is $118.60, slightly up from the 2009 average of $116.59.
• April 22nd: Earth Day: Earth Day is April 22nd and sales of eco-friendly and green products abound during this time.  Don’t just look to sell traditionally “green” products. Look for the green in everything you sell. A bicycle is not only for entertainment and exercise, it is an eco-friendly way for your customers to commute to work or around town.

May

But that’s not all people are buying…

Bathing suit, prom wear and wedding season continue, but Mom boosts the sales this month!

• Sales of summer products ramp sharply in May (and June): Products for outdoor activities, clothing and outdoor living products for the home.  Don’t wait until June to feature these in your store or you’ll lose a lot of sales!
• May 4th: National Teachers Day. A week long celebration honoring teachers, if you sell gifts and decorative accessories your store should have a promotion around National Teacher’s Day.
• May 9th: Mother’s Day:  Mother’s Day is one of the biggest spending holidays of the year. Because it’s not just about buying a gift for your mom… there are grandmas, aunts, nieces, friends, co-workers and friends who are like a mom, who will all be getting gifts on this holiday too.  Recognize all the moms in your store promotions and you’re sure to increase sales!
• May 31st: Memorial Day: It vacation time, camping time, fun in the summer time and your last chance to make big inroads in summer product sales!

June

• June: Graduation. Grade school, middle-school, high-school, college and technical college – sales of graduation gifts increase in May and June! And don’t forget the little ones!  Pre-school graduation parties are all the rage.  What do you sell that would make a perfect gift for the graduate?
• June 20th: Father’s Day: Dad doesn’t fare quite as well as mom when it comes to Father’s Day spending but Father’s Day gift shoppers will be out in full force. Put together a Top 10 Father’s Day gift list and watch your sales of those products soar!
• June: 4th of July products: Remember the majority of product sales happen in advance of the holiday, so if you wait until July to pull out the red,white and blue – you’ve just lost sales to the savvy seller who merchandised their 4th of July products in June.  So get those 4th of July products out early, so your inventory is sold out come July.

As you can see there’s a whole lot of selling you can do from April through June! So it’s time to get out there and capitalize on these spring and summer holiday selling seasons. Looking for creative ideas on how to merchandise your products or source products for these selling seasons?  You’ll find them in the WhatDoISell Business Growth Center!

For many eBay sellers, the inclusion of “store in core” has been a boon for sales.  Many people are finding that inventory they’ve had sitting on their virtual store shelves for two years is now selling.

Other sellers who had enjoyed a  sole position in core, while their competitors left their listings in store, have seen their categories explode with many competing products alongside theirs where none were before.

But there’s no doubt about it.  No matter what changes you’ve seen in your sales on eBay over the past week or so, with the eBay changes and the arrival of spring, it’s time to refresh your strategy!

Today we’re going to look at 4 ways to get started doing just that!

4 Surefire Ways to Make More Money on eBay This Spring

Put Your Spring and Summer Merchandise Front and Center. Walk into any brick and mortar retailer these days and you’ll see the signs of spring.  Brightly colored signs, spring products in the hot new colors and a fresh array of merchandise to choose from. Spring is a time or renewal and rebirth, and people are wired for that.  They’re also very ready to make new purchases for spring and summer. And the eBay seller who actively markets their spring and summer products is the one who increases their sales!  Unfortunately, I see many eBay stores and listings that are not doing any spring marketing at all. Even worse, holiday messages and graphics remain. Fall and winter categories are featured in stores and spring merchandise is buried in sea of fall and winter products.

Mariya, is the owner of eBay Store Color Me Happy Boutique and also runs a  website under the same brand. Mariya’s business depends on keeping her inventory fresh and staying one step ahead of the seasons.  When you take a look at Mariya’s store, you’ll see that she even features a bright, colorful graphic reminder her customers that “Summer Starts in 75 days.”  Mariya is a community member in the  WhatDoISell Business Growth Center and she always puts her best merchandise front and center!

Take a look at your store and listings.  Will customers be excited by what they see when they land on your eBay pages?

“Top Up” Your Store Categories. If visitors to your eBay store can’t find your new merchandise, they won’t become buyers.  And part of putting your new spring merchandise front and center is rearranging your eBay store categories so that the new in-season categories are featured at the top. Many people list their categories in alphabetical order, but by doing that, you relegate your Spring and Summer merchandise to the bottom of your category list where no one will find it!

Keep in mind that a shopper’s focus is going to be “above the fold” which means you have to engage them with what’s on their screen BEFORE you can get them to scroll down to see what else you are offering. Always put your most popular 5 or so eBay store categories and in-season categories at the top of your store category list.  If you have a lot of categories, once you feature your top 5-7 categories you can continue your category list alphabetically.

Use Subtitles for Marketing not Product Details. eBay subtitles are the best marketing deal on the web IF you use them for the right purpose.  eBay listing subtitles should be used for one thing only – MARKETING.   Think of eBay listing subtitles as the banner you hang outside your store or the sign you place on a product that tells people what makes that product different, unique or special than everything else the customer is being offered.

The other day I was looking some forum posts on the eBay stores and noticed a thread where people were discussing a plan to remove ALL their listing subtitles since they were now using Item Specifics to further describe their products.

Two important things that every eBay seller must know.  eBay listing subtitle keywords are not included in core search, this means that if you are putting item specific keyword data into your subtitle in the hopes that it will help people find your products, it does not contribute at all to that purpose.

Item Specifics however, does exactly that.  So for search purposes, you always want to accurately complete the Item Specifics portion of your listing.

For marketing purposes you want to craft what we call in marketing a USP (Unique Selling Position) or a “headline”  – that will make people do ONE thing… and that is CLICK on your listing and go to your listing description page.

A listing subtitle has ONE purpose – to get a prospective buyer to CLICK on your listing and go to your listing description page where you then display the product information that will convert that browser into a buyer!

So what should go in your listing subtitle? Anything that showcases what’s different about your product or service.  The thing that sets you apart from every other seller.  Maybe, you’re selling a “Limited Edition Platinum Retro 60 Series”. Maybe your product is an “Exclusive Set.  Only Available on eBay”. Maybe you are fortunate to carry an item that is “In Stock with Same Day Shipping. Sold Out In Stores”.  Maybe your item is “Eligible for Bing Cashback”. Or the product your carry is “Winner of the Top 10 Toy Awards”.  In many categories these days “We Ship Worldwide” is a USP – there are a lot of eBay sellers who no longer ship worldwide. (Which is the subject for another blog post.)   Or your item is “100% Made in the USA”.

Whatever your USP is, don’t hide it in your listing description! Feature it in your sub-title and watch your click-throughs increase and your sales go up!

And speaking of click-through rates, you always want to test and track the strategies you use online…

Use eBay’s Search Visibility Analysis Tool to test and track your strategies. The most important key to success when running a business on eBay or anywhere else is to know what works for your business. Each business has so many variables to it, that you have to apply the strategies and then test them and track them to make sure that they are right for you.  eBay’s Search Visibility Analysis Tool will help you test and track changes you make to your listings as well as view the impact they have on your ranking in eBay’s Best Match.  For example, the tool will show you how many times your listing has been displayed to buyers and the number of times a buyer has clicked-through to view your listing description.  This information is critical to determining why your listings are or are not selling. If shoppers aren’t clicking on your listing, they definitely aren’t buying. With the Search Visibility Analysis Tool, you can pinpoint where the problem in the process is and make changes accordingly.

We’ll we’ve just covered four solid business strategies to increase your sales this spring.  There’s only one thing left to do now… apply what you’ve learned and implement!

If you liked these eBay tips and strategies, don’t miss my brand new e-series starting April 15th, “15 Ways to Make Money on eBay”.  Most people only know 2 or 3 ways to make money on eBay.  Starting April 15th, I’ll show you  15 ways to make money on today’s eBay!  Register here for this free ecourse.

-Lisa Suttora