ARTICLE ARCHIVES Make Your Site Sells with Real Bargains.
Everyone loves bargains. Shoppers will flock to your site if you can offer quality branded goods at deep discounts. Not only that, these shoppers would be more than eager to share their best buys with friends, colleagues and relatives. They may even volunteer to buy on behalf of those who do not have access to the Internet.
Studies have shown that online shoppers are more price-sensitive. A look at the financial statements of listed online retailers revealed an unhealthy trend - cost of sales is much higher than revenue. In other words, most online retailers are resorting to cut throat pricing to increase sales.
While analysts pointed their fingers at new competitive pressures presented by companies that help buyers compare prices online, I believe consumers are simply not motivated enough to make more purchases online if stores do not offer their products at below regular retail prices. In the impersonal environment of an electronic store, consumers' inherent desires to seek out good bargains become a dominant factor in deciding what and where to buy online.
How could you sell quality branded goods at 50% off without losing money? Quite simply by securing alternative sources of products. Many manufacturers and wholesalers are flooded with overstocked and surplus goods in their warehouses. They must liquidate millions of dollars worth of top quality merchandise at "distressed" prices every month to make room for new products.
Merchandise can become "distressed" for several reasons:
Overstocked goods are sold as closeouts.
New models make previous models obsolete.
A product line is discontinued.
Changes made to the product's color or label.
A large contract order is cancelled.
A manufacturer is forced to close and must liquidate its goods.
A manufacturer is forced to liquidate its goods to generate operating capital quickly.
A manufacturer has limited warehousing space and must move its inventory to make room for new merchandise.
Refurbished products that are as good as new.
Product over-runs.
Whatever the reasons, "distressed" goods are still quality products and they carry the full manufacturer's warranties just like the regular goods.
Most of these "distressed" products are bought by wholesale clubs and online discount stores at prices way below manufacturing costs. Although these products are resold at discounted prices, the profit margins would still be fairly comfortable to turn in good profits with a high sales turnover. Online discount stores that adopt this business model includes NASDAQ-listed FragranceNet, DesignerOutlet.com, OutletMall.com, 1bookstreet.com and GotItDirect.com.
You do not have to operate in the same scale as these online discount stores. Neither do you have the warehousing facilities and resources to compete with these established discount stores. Acting as an affiliate of these discount stores will not work either, as shoppers would have gone to the online stores directly on subsequent visits.
The objective of offering bargains to your target audience is to entice them to visit your site as often as possible. Its acceptance will open up many other opportunities to sell your key products and services. A viable approach for small businesses is outlined below.
Adopt a highly selective product strategy
Keep your business simple by staying focus on one product or a narrow range of products that are complementary to what you are offering at your site. Treat the business as a form of providing value-added service to attract and retain visitors to your site.
By focusing on a single supplier, you will have more time to attend to enquiry, process orders, and arrange for delivery of goods to consumers. Your supplier will also recognize your commitment to his company and products by giving you a better deal and more co-operations than he would give to someone who represents many suppliers.
Get supplier to drop-ship products to consumers
Operate your business without holding on to any inventory. You can get your supplier to ship directly to your customers after you have secured and received payments (ideally) for the orders. There are many suppliers out there who are willing to drop-ship your orders anywhere around the world. You can find them at the following sites:
Well, in order to sell products online, you must operate a shopping cart. It is an electronic platform, which allow users to browse through products; place selected products into a shopping cart; and make payments online through a secure server.
In this respect, we are pleased to introduce our ClickItPro e-commerce solution to you. It is developed specifically for the small business operators like you. Besides offering one of the most competitive rates (only US$ 14.95 per month) in the e-commerce industry, it also provides a wide range of services that will make your job easier.
No programming skills required.
Support multi-level catalog of up to 1,000 products.
Customized store design and built-in content editor.
System capable of accepting mail and telephone orders.
Your small discount outlet is now ready. There is no need to incur any fixed charges in inventory, shopping cart and secure server. Let ClickItPro and your supplier take care of the operations while you focus your efforts on marketing, promotion and affiliate recruitment.
If done properly, you can expect shoppers to flock to your site regularly in search of the best bargains, provided your target audience is interested in the specific products that you are offering on sales.
You can afford to price them lower than other established discount stores as your cost of operations is relatively lower. It has the potential to become a major money-spinner besides fulfilling its role to open up other lucrative business opportunities. Try it! You have nothing much to lose, but plenty to gain with this business venture.
