From Wholesale to Retail

With the economy such as it is, many merchants have had to reinvent their sales models to take advantage of new and changing markets.  Most of them say that opening an eCommerce storefront was what gave them that edge to prosper in a challenging environment.   

Tuxedo T-shirts Online and Dog is Good do most of their business wholesale.  Todd Walbridge of Tuxedo T-Shirts Online has a screen printing business.  Jon and Gila Kurtz and J. Nichole Smith of Dog is Good sell humorous products that celebrate the dog-human relationship.  In the late 2000s, each business opened their first eCommerce storefront.  Since then, the move has helped them improve their profits despite a Recession. 

“I’m thankful we did it,” says Todd.  “After the downturn, our business dropped off 30 percent because we were dealing mostly with businesses.  Now that we’re going directly to consumers, I picked up that 30 percent again.”

 

 

Dog is Good’s eCommerce storefront now accounts for more than 10 percent of the company’s revenue.  "Our web store may be a small percentage of our business, but it brings us a good-sized profit margin,” explains Jon.  “For something that costs us, say, $5.50 to make, we can sell it wholesale for $10 and retail it for $20.” 

Once businesses open an eCommerce storefront, their multi-channel selling possibilities open up even more, as markets today increasingly incorporate mobile platform selling, sales on social media sites, and other sophisticated online eCommerce tools.

Sell One Thing and Sell it Well

ProStores merchant Todd Walbridge has a screen printing business and sells humorous T-shirts online.  He carries tuxedo T-shirts, security T-shirts and T-shirts that raise money to fight multiple sclerosis, but instead of selling them all on one web store, he has three separate sites--Tux-Tees.com, security-tshirts.com and MSTshirts.com.

Todd learned from experience.  “In the beginning, I was trying to be a mini-Amazon.  I thought I’d appeal to a lot of people with a lot of different products.  Then I realized that I was never going to be Amazon, and I started focusing on niches.”

Having niche products on discrete web stores allows Todd to avoid having to compete with superstores.  He can instead focus on specific SEO keywords, attracting shoppers further along in their buying process.  “Because you’re so niche, you get more searches,” explains Todd.  “That’s what the Internet is about."

You might recall that the same thing happened to Dealzer owner Albert Farajian.  He opened his online store with 25,000 products.  When in the the first month he sold just two products, one being a hydroponic gardening system, he realized that he was better off focusing his inventory.  

“The best thing to do is start with a niche web storefront," he says.  "If it gets popular, then you can start expanding.”   

 

eCommerce Marketing in 2012

Now that 2012 is upon us, many eCommerce merchants are using the New Year to revamp their online marketing.  With the Internet continually evolving, they know that last year's techniques may not always work in the new selling environment.  The marketing trends this year point towards mobile devices, video content, and social media sites.

Practical eCommerce has listed five great tips for the New Year in a recent post.  Read the blog's 5 Effective Online Marketing Tactics for 2012 and you'll learn more about using:

1. Text Marketing

2. Mobile Optimized Merchandising

3. Subscriptions

4. Trigger Emails

5. Video Content 

Happy Selling in 2012!