3 Tips to get the Clicks on eBay!

My apologies for not updating much this week. Because of the lovely snow storm, I was stuck in Brussels for days... Oh well, at least I am back now. And hopefully you will still be interested in reading this blog! 

I guess getting the clicks is the initial step to any selling activities on eBay, so I have put together some tips which I have gathered through reading different articles and attending meetups.

1. A picture tells a thousand words
The first thing people see would be your products' pictures hence this can really make a difference. It has the potential to make your listing stand out and you can consider using it to communicate a marketing message (NOTE: eBay is making changes to the policies so no text, borders or watermarks are allowed after this autumn!) . Another tip: use high resolution images taken from different angles. Although it does not show on the listing page, it optimises your product page a lot. Since people cannot see the real thing they would like as much pictorial information of the products as possible. 
For more information regarding image optimisation read this: http://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/7412852-10-must-know-image-optimization-tips#axzz2MkJc0OCK

2. Product titles
Make your title as appealing as possible. Consider listing your product name with your USP. List out all the possible keywords and experiment with different combinations. My suggestion is to try searching for a product yourself, or even better, with your family and friends. Sometimes people can come up with search terms that you have not considered. After you are happy with your title you should try to make it stand out. You can use special characters such as # or <, or use capital letters to highlight keywords. Experiment with them and see which one works the best!

3. Best Match
After you have sorted out the pictures and the listing title, the most important part has arrived - to appear at the top of the search list! The Best Match concept was introduced 2008, and it is extremely important, especially when you are selling highly competitive products. According to eBay, items are sorted based on the following 
- Seller standards (top rated seller get a boost)
- Impressions (how often the listing was shown in search results)
- Recent sales (how many items have sold from multi-quantity listing)
- Title, value, free P&P
- Auction listings are sorted based on 'time ending soonest' as well. 



Briefly speaking, the golden rule is 'search history to conversion ratio'. When buyers running a particular search, and they view, bid or buy the product you listed more often than the other listings, your search ranking will go up. Hence the key is to boost the ratio by keeping your impressions low and view/sales high. Consider sending your 'fan base' private messages with the direct link to the product page. This way you can boost the view and sales without increasing the impressions (since they do not go through the search to reach your product page).

Then the second rule is your DSR. The better the rating the higher the search ranking. One way to boost DSR is to offer free shipping. This way you can always get high scores for 'postage'. 

There are of course many other factors which can help with your search ranking under the Best Match system. I am no expert and these are just what I heard and read from others. Hopefully you would find this helpful :) 

North West Online Retailers MEETUP!

On 13 March, a nice clear evening in Manchester, 3P Logistics hosted a meetup event for e-tailers from the North West. With tables ladened with food and beer, the event was kick started with a mingling session among online retailers - great opportunity to talk to like minded people who all have great passion for selling online. It was then followed by three presentations by Carlos (shaping cloud), Ian (3P Logistics) and Artem (Linnworks), who share insiders tips and information regarding cloud technology, outsourcing and multichannel selling. 

3P Logistics would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the great crowd last night, along with the excellent guest speakers. Everyone's enthusiasm helped make our time together both productive and fun! 

We would be hosting another meetup soon so keep your eyes peeled! Why not bring your friends along, have a beer and a laugh, and learn more about e-commerce? Join us here:
http://www.meetup.com/NORTH-WEST-ONLINE-RETAILERS-MEET-UP-GROUP/

How to REALLY annoy your (online) customers.

Remember when I was still in university, we have to vote for 'the most annoying online retailer ever' in our first digital marketing lecture. I am not going to disclose which company got the title, but that webpage hit the following criteria to successfully annoy us:


1. Unrelated Ads and pop ups. 

Yes, we are interested in your products when we visit your website, but no, we are not interested in someone else's products, especially when they are completely irrelevant to what you are selling. These adverts can interrupt customers' experience and can create a negative attitude towards the advert, as well as to your website, aka your brand.

Pop up questionnaire or email sign-up box are also quite popular and they can annoy users when they come up in the wrong time. Often they pop up before people have the opportunity to start reading the page. Consider putting these at the side or at the end of the article to minimize interruption.


2. Many Many clicks
You can blame it to the society but people are becoming less patient now. When they want some information they want them quick. No one likes being dragged around, making circles. Extra click is a big no no. If you want to lead people to watch some clips or images, allow them to view them alongside the information that they are looking for. Clear and easy navigation is the key so that users can find whatever they want efficiently. Look at Amazon, they have everything so well sorted, and they even have one click purchase to make life easier.






3. Play music/ video automatically
I guess that is why the mute button is on so many keyboards nowadays. People like to have things under control and when there is some music popping up unexpectedly they tend to mute the page or even close the browser. Especially when they are in public place and some music start playing in a coffee shop/ on the train. If they want to listen to music I am sure they would have their own playlist. You can still put video and music on your website but make sure they only play upon clicking.

North West Online Retailers Meetup 13 March

If you`re keen to stay attuned to the latest developments for all things online then our meet up group is for you. City Centre Manchester on Wednesday 13^th March will be the location for our next meet up event which promises to be an eventful evening.  We have three industry speakers and a great chance to mingle with fellow online sellers in a relaxed and informal gathering - who knows we may even throw in a beer and bite to eat!

With Linnworks, Shaping Cloud and 3P Logistics already registered to speak on the night it promises to be an enlightening evening.

l for one will be looking out for any top tips on all things multi-channel, cloud technology and order fulfilment.

View our meet our group today and get yourself along to future events. http://www.meetup.com/NORTH-WEST-ONLINE-RETAILERS-MEET-UP-GROUP/

3P Logistics Partner with Linnworks

Linnworks is an order management software and stock control system that integrates the entire multi-channel sales process. The software handles everything from order fulfilment to shipping, stock control and inventory management, and integrates with eBay, Amazon, Play.com, Pixmania, Magento and all major website carts.

The growing trend of online retailers branching out into multi-channel selling continues at a considerable pace. In order to maximise multi-channel & cross-channel opportunities, both order fulfilment and stock control are of paramount importance.

John Scully - Business Development Manager at 3PL adds:

“3P Logistics and Linnworks are a natural fit”

“Together we provide the ideal combination for any online retailer seeking to expand its market place and grow its business. The partnership has already seen us subscribe over 20 of our online clients to the Linnworks platform and they are now reaping the benefits of automation and increased sales.   The process of outsourcing your order fulfilment and expanding your selling channels is simple and has never been more affordable”.

For more information visit www.3p-logistics.co.uk

For more information visit www.linnworks.com

Anchor Pricing - does it still work?

Today I was looking at business strategies and the term 'anchor pricing' came up. People said this is the key to develop a successful pricing strategies. Econsultancy interprets this term as 'to establishing a price point that your customers then use as a reference point for all future purchases' - sounds complicated to me. Although I am not a retailer, my curiosity urged me to look into this. 



Basically, when you are presented with an offer, the key element in the decision to accept or reject is whether you think it is a fair deal or not. Usually people would have a 'pre-set' price for a product or service in their head, and they will use this price to judge relative value. For example you know you would not pay £10 for an orange. right? Applying this to sale items. Do you notice that the original price is always listed along the sale price? This can give customers a reference point to 'anchor' onto, so they feel like they are saving money when they buy the items at sale prices. 

Anchor pricing does not apply solely to sale items. According to Neuromarketing, the key is to implant the numbers into customers' mind through any media, and this can impact the price they are willing to pay for various items. This works particularly well for unfamiliar products. You can display numbers on posters, or on other products. Believe it or not, it can still have an impact on their 'anchored price'!

The problem is, this may not work as well today since more and more customers are visiting the internet to compare prices before they make a purchase. Hence customers tend to have an idea of the 'real price' already before encountering your products/ services. I am not saying anchor pricing will never work again, but the key is to have accurate pricing data before you set your price. According to Econsultancy, 'your data source is the actual key to enable the development of an effective pricing strategy'.

From another point of view - why not set your own anchor price? Redefine your products and your services can weaken the tie to anchor pricing set by other retailers. Neuromarketing used Starbucks as an example. It has different ambience, food, display, and even coffee names (instead of small medium large, it even uses tall grande venti!) etc., to distinguish themselves from their competitors. This way they can set their own coffee price without a strong association with their competitors. 

F-commerce, Yay or Nay?

No one can deny the power of Facebook. Being one of the most visited site with an active user base of 1.06 billion, Facebook store should have great potential for ecommerce practices. According to Deloitte, Facebook economy could worth £13 billion at the moment, and this figure will continue to rise in the future. This hype has even generated the term 'f-commerce'.

However, brands like Gap and Nordstrom have all closed down their Facebook stores after giving it a go. So why is this happening? 

Main reason: sales volume is low on Facebook. According to Practical ecommerce - for a lot of merchants, percentage of sales on Facebook is still in the single digits. The general public have already associated Facebook with social networking. People go on Facebook to party (social) instead of shopping. This belief puts a lot of businesses off. According to search engine watch, 'the use of Facebook as a direct sales channel reached its peak in Q2 2010, with just over 10 percent of marketers reportedly using F-commerce at that time. It steadily declined until another brief peak in Q2 2011; now, just over 5 percent of Facebook opportunities relate to commerce'. With so little businesses participating in such 'shopping mall', people will be even more reluctant to use this function. 

In my opinion, all businesses should have their own Facebook page since it is capable of driving brand awareness and site traffic. It is an excellent platform to engage with your customers, which is vital to maintain your business' social credentials. Moreover, Facebook has a wealth of data of users' likes and interests, which is a bonus compare to other sales or marketing channels. The store function is great for promotions, giveaways or flash sales (quoted from Julia Priddle, Channel Advisor), and should be integrated with your other sales channel seamlessly as part of a marketing mix. Treat it like a place for 'window shopping' and customer services. Afterall, Facebook is still a social networking site - instead of building social features on your own website, why not encourage transactions through engagement on Facebook?