Ever increasing numbers of promotional products companies have begun to use the internet as a shop window for promoting and selling their products. This enables them to offer cheaper prices and quicker lead times, as well as meeting customers' demands for convenience and immediate gratification. The best promotional products websites take customers step by step through the entire sourcing and selection process.
This trend was confirmed by PPAI's latest survey* which found that online sales of promotional products in the US have continued to grow slowly but steadily, increasing from $1.6 billion in 2003 to $2.7 billion in 2006. (Online sales are defined as those that result from orders placed through a website or online store.) What is equally interesting to note is that this rise was reflected across the board, irrespective of the size of firm.
The Internet is set to become an increasingly important factor in distributor sales due to the fact that a large proportion of promotional products buyers now belong to Generation Y, which encompasses anyone born after 1982. This generation is most at ease when establishing and developing relationships - both on a professional and personal level - online rather than face to face.
Although Internet marketing is finally gaining pace amongst promotional products distributors, the industry as a whole still depends primarily on personal selling which remains the major sales channel. However, what we are likely to see happening more often is a complementary blending of channels, with the Internet used for business transactions and the sales force employed to provide consultation services for promotional products.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Narrow Your Niche And Explode Your Online Sales
In the online business world, less is definitely more and that couldn’t be truer than when it comes to online retail businesses. The number one mistake internet business owners make is that they try to sell everything under the sun, on one single website. They may have a site that sells pet carriers, lawn furniture, and fishing equipment. This is not good. A lot of times the online retailer will try to run their business like the big box retailers. After all it seems to be working well for the big box retailer to sell hundreds of different products, shouldn’t it work for me? The answer is a resounding, no! This method simply does not work on the web.
For a successful online business, you want to narrow your offerings down to reach a targeted niche market. Such as....gifts for golfers, gifts for fisherman, gifts for left-handed people, well you get the idea. Unfortunately, there are many out there that will have you believe you need hundreds if not thousands of products to sell on your website or in online auctions, if you want to make any money. This is simply false. Actually, a site with a tight niche selling a handful of products can do quite well, in a lot of cases exceptionally well.
Why do you want narrow to your offerings down to a particular market? Because it is easier to market to one specific group than it is to try and market to several groups at once.
I am going to share a secret with you…contrary to popular belief it is not the product that is most critical, it is the market you are trying to reach that is most important. Many online business owners make the blunder of saying, “I need to find a hot product to sell online to make a lot of money.” What they don’t understand is that it is not the product they need to find, but the market of people they need to find first and then find a product to sell to that group of people.
Let me ask you a few questions, do you know who you are trying to market to? Do you know the best ways to reach this particular market? If you don’t know the answers to these two questions then you may need to go back to the drawing board. Finding a product to sell online is not what makes an internet business successful, it is the individual person’s ability to find a market to promote the product to, that is the secret to a successful business. Narrow your niche, focus on a particular market. By narrowing your niche and focuses on one particular market you will be able to reach your audience easier which translates into customers and making more money online. At the end of the day running an online business is not so much about selling a particular product but reaching a particular market to sell your product to. Remember that.
For a successful online business, you want to narrow your offerings down to reach a targeted niche market. Such as....gifts for golfers, gifts for fisherman, gifts for left-handed people, well you get the idea. Unfortunately, there are many out there that will have you believe you need hundreds if not thousands of products to sell on your website or in online auctions, if you want to make any money. This is simply false. Actually, a site with a tight niche selling a handful of products can do quite well, in a lot of cases exceptionally well.
Why do you want narrow to your offerings down to a particular market? Because it is easier to market to one specific group than it is to try and market to several groups at once.
I am going to share a secret with you…contrary to popular belief it is not the product that is most critical, it is the market you are trying to reach that is most important. Many online business owners make the blunder of saying, “I need to find a hot product to sell online to make a lot of money.” What they don’t understand is that it is not the product they need to find, but the market of people they need to find first and then find a product to sell to that group of people.
Let me ask you a few questions, do you know who you are trying to market to? Do you know the best ways to reach this particular market? If you don’t know the answers to these two questions then you may need to go back to the drawing board. Finding a product to sell online is not what makes an internet business successful, it is the individual person’s ability to find a market to promote the product to, that is the secret to a successful business. Narrow your niche, focus on a particular market. By narrowing your niche and focuses on one particular market you will be able to reach your audience easier which translates into customers and making more money online. At the end of the day running an online business is not so much about selling a particular product but reaching a particular market to sell your product to. Remember that.
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