Choosing your market niche
By Mikal E. Belicove: Director, Community & Education - Doba
If you and I were to decide to go into business together, and we chose to open up a brick and mortar store on Main Street, there's no way we'd sign an 18-month lease, order display furnishings, install carpet, hook up a phone line, and hire employees without first knowing what we're going to sell. Yet, online retailers--or, more accurately, casual sellers who want to become successful online retailers--do it every day.
Without giving much thought to a company name, product line, or business or marketing plan, new online sellers sign up for services like Doba, work with a third-party vendor to build a webstore, and only then get around to asking, "Hey, what should I sell?" They head to eBay, see what is selling, and then decide to sell the same products--usually consumer electronics--for slightly less than the competition. They end up being disappointed, mainly because their profit margins are so low.
Giving Away the Store: Competing on price alone
By Mikal E. Belicove, Director - Community & Education, Doba
Almost every new online retail merchant makes the same mistake. They figure they can earn a lot of money simply by selling merchandise for a little less than the competition. They soon discover, however, that competing on price alone does not work. Every retail expert on the planet is well aware of the fact, but everyone seems to need to learn this painful lesson on their own.
If you made the mistake of trying to compete on price and price alone, don't feel bad. You're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last. Just stop doing it. If you need some convincing, that's what the first part of this article is all about. Here, you find seven good reasons not to compete on price alone.
1. The "Big Boys" will pummel you
The Wal-Marts of the world have a distinct advantage when it comes to pricing products to sell. Here's why...
Curb Shopping Cart Abandonment
By Mikal E. Belicove, Director - Community & Education, Doba
In traditional retailing, customers rarely abandon their shopping carts. They may take one or two items out at the last minute, but you don't see many full shopping carts just sitting in the aisles. Online, retailers, on the other hand, estimate that 30 to 35 percent of shoppers leave their shopping carts behind.
A well-designed checkout process can reduce these abandonment rates significantly. This article offers some suggestions.
Streamline the checkout process
Online shoppers want instant gratification, so make the ordering process as smooth as possible:
Use a consistent design. Don't throw something totally new at your customers - keep the design and functionality of the checkout process consistent with the rest of your site.
Don't require registration. Make registration optional.
The Benefits of Tax ID Numbers and How to Get One
By Mikal E. Belicove, Director - Community & Education, Doba
The IRS doesn't require certain small businesses to have a TIN (Tax Identification Number), but more and more businesses, some of which you may want to do business with, require a TIN.
What is a TIN or EIN?
A TIN is like an SSN (Social Security Number) for businesses. It identifies your business entity to the IRS and to any businesses or individuals who may want to do business with you. Like an SSN, a TIN is nine digits, but the nine digits are arranged a little differently. Instead of appearing as 000-00-0000, a TIN appears as 00-0000000.
The IRS officially refers to the TIN as the EIN (short for Employee Identification Number), because the number was originally intended and is still primarily used by companies who must process payroll taxes for employees. The number is usually referred to as a TIN when used to identify a business and as an EIN when used to report employment taxes, but TIN and EIN are just different names for the same thing.
Do I need a TIN?
Depending on how you've structured your business and whether you have employees on your payroll...Read More
Entrepreneurial Marketing: Getting Noticed on eBay and Beyond
by Stuart Lisonbee, Doba Education Specialist
Search for a product on eBay or any number of other online marketplaces, and you're likely to find yourself inundated with product listings that look pretty much the same. All things being equal, you're going to click the item offering the lowest price, right? Or maybe you weigh price and trustworthiness, and you order the product from the big-name retailer that offers the lowest price. After all, when prices are comparable, why would you risk ordering from an unknown merchant?
It's tough to admit, but that's pretty much how online shoppers arrive at their purchase decisions. To encourage shoppers to break that routine, give them a reason to buy from you. Reach out to them to attract their business, brand yourself as the product expert, and prove to customers that you're as reputable as the Amazon's and Wal-Mart's of the world. This article shows you how to take an entrepreneurial approach to marketing—to pursue business rather than waiting for it to come to you.
Giving yourself a corporate makeover
People prefer to buy products from a company rather than from an individual, so the more you can make yourself look like a legitimate business, the better chance you have of attracting new customers. To give you a more professional look and feel...
Holiday Merchandising Quick & Easy
by Stuart Lisonbee, Doba Education Specialist
The holidays are stressful enough with family gatherings, extra house cleaning, cooking, and keeping up the family traditions. When you add shopping to the list, some people start having anxiety attacks. They don't know what to buy for their friends and relatives, they have little time to wrap presents, and they sure don't want to leave anyone off their lists.
As a retail merchant, holiday stress provides you with a golden opportunity to better serve your customers. During the holidays, customer service often means removing some of the stress by making shopping less of a chore.
Getting ready for the holidays doesn't require a complete site overhaul. By implementing a few simple tactics to build on your existing merchandising, you can maximize sales and profits during the biggest retail season of the year.
Create a holiday gift center
People go shopping during the holidays in order to find gifts. Make it easy for your shoppers to find those gifts. Here are some tips...
Building Customer Loyalty with an eNewsletter
by Stuart Lisonbee, Doba Education Specialist
A well-designed eNewsletter, packed with valuable content and exclusive offers, can help you walk the fine line of keeping in touch with your customers without annoying them.
In this article, you learn:
How to design an attractive eNewsletter that increases your brand presence.
What to include in your eNewsletter and what to leave out.
How to encourage customers to subscribe without being pushy.
How to automate distribution to save valuable time.
Designing an attractive eNewsletter
Whenever you contact a customer, you have an opportunity to impress or disappoint, so you want your first attempt at an eNewsletter to be impressive. In any publication, your first impression hinges on...
Every single day, enthusiastic entrepreneurs start about 2,000 new small businesses. Three years from now, about 1,600 of those new businesses will have failed.
Being in the business of helping others break into the retail business, we've had a ringside seat to witness competitors battle it out retail arena, and we've identified the 12 differences that separate the champs from the chumps.
In this article, we reveal those differences and use our observations, experience, and expertise to steer you clear of the most common pitfalls and ensure that your business becomes part of the elite group of successful startups.
Poor management
People launch their own businesses for a variety of reasons. Some think it will be fun and easy. Others aren't happy with their current lifestyle and seek to better themselves financially. Still more look at their boss and think, "If he can do it, then I sure can!"
But the truth is that 80% of new businesses fail within the first three years. The number one reason small businesses fail is, by far, poor management.
Recognizing the essentials of good management
Good management boils down to developing a solid business plan and then effectively executing your plan or adjusting it to meet the needs of the current situation. Effectively managing a business, big or small, requires the following...
