Ecommerce Strategy - How to Sell Musical Instruments

The great thing about selling musical instruments online is that profit is not restricted to the occasion. You can make money anytime of the year, as long as you regularly update your product catalog with new items and keep in touch with new or old customers alike.

This holiday season, a good ecommerce strategy is to capitalize on selling musical instruments that people are likely buy as gifts to their friends and family.

eBay lists the Gibson Electric Guitar as one of the top musical instruments being sold and traded online. That is, with the exception of the iPhone, of course. (Haha.) A lot of people who own used Gibson electric guitars or manuals are selling them on eBay, while others auction brand new items. And others build their own musical instruments store as their Christmas ecommerce strategy.

If you're thinking of the same thing, you sure have a lot of competition to beat. But if your ecommerce strategy is to provide more value-added incentives to your buyers such as free shipping, gift wrapping, or discounts, then you're likely to take a bigger market share.

Ecommerce Technology Tip - Gadgets and Games Sell Best Online

Competition is tough for online electronic gadget merchants. But despite this ecommerce technology trend, online marketing experts report that computer and electronic gadgets are the best selling products online. The demand even tops apparel and other average consumer items. In eBay alone, electronic gadgets such as the iPod Nano, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 are on top of the hot items list for Christmas 2007.

Ecommerce technology has broken the limit on what merchants can and cannot sell online. Because people have more freedom to compare prices, read reviews, and research on an enormous number of gadget stores, they are more encouraged to buy.

Online retailers should of course take advantage of this opportunity. By capitalizing on in-demand items such as the iPod Nano 8 GB or other popular gadgets, they can make a good profit this holiday season. The best part of it is that with the help of fast changing ecommerce technology upgrades they can bridge their brick and mortar and online stores, converting mere visitors into buyers.

ECOMMERCE STRATEGY - Are you Selling to Impulse Buyers?

Online shoppers buy on an impulse mostly because they are merely "window shopping" or are indecisive. For example, sometimes I go to flea markets without anything exact in mind to buy, but when I do find something nice, or something that I will probably need in the future and is offered at a low price today, then I buy it on an impulse. Even online many merchants take advantage of this "indecision" as an excellent ecommerce strategy.

And yes, you are familiar with this ecommerce strategy that even McDonald's and other brick and mortar fast food stores use.

People also buy on impulse if the products are on sale on a limited period of time. The temptation to buy and save money on the purchase is overwhelming enough to let the opportunity pass. As an online merchant, the more you can exploit this ecommerce strategy by offering "more for less", the better you will make a profit.

ECOMMERCE SOLUTION 13 - 4 Essential People for Ecommerce Success

Selling online is never entirely a game of chance. Many merchants have been groping in the dark because they know so little how ecommerce works. They set up their store before they actually know what to put in it. Worse, they make their ecommerce web sites flashy and colorful as a way to attract online buyers.

Now, there's nothing wrong with a good ecommerce web site design. But before you hire your well-paid web designer, hire an SEO expert first! I've seen so many highly interesting and quality ecommerce sites languishing on the bottom of the pile. The search engines do not reach them, and if they do, they cannot be found on the first pages of search results.

If this is your problem, then you have made ecommerce web site design your enemy, not your friend.

The SEO seminar in Asia I attended back in October 2007 taught me a lot about the relationship of the web site designer, programmer, content writer, and webmaster. These four people are essential in making your online business a big success. A webmaster directs all marketing efforts and overall ecommerce set up, a programmer sets up the site according to SEO instructions, a content writer makes sure all text are search engine friendly, and a web designer works on the ecommerce web site design's goals to make the store an exciting place to shop and visit.

If you have these key people to help you build your online store, then you're not taking chances. You know you're likely to succeed.

How to Build Your Ecommerce Name - Step 3 E-mail Addresses

E-mail addresses play a crucial role in doing business online. I had my own free as well as company accounts and I use them however the situation requires. Often, when I correspond by using free e-mail accounts such as @hotmail.com, @gmail.com, or @yahoo.com, I don't get responses or I get refused when I sign up. What is wrong with using free e-mail accounts?

Obviously, if you are using a company e-mail address it is a sign that you're doing business professionally. Does your ecommerce package allow you to create custom company e-mail accounts? It may not sound like a big deal but in business, sometimes the little things mean big things. Your ecommerce package should be able to host custom e-mail accounts for you.

Free e-mail accounts matter not just to your customers, but to other merchants as well. Doing business to business ecommerce requires more professionalism, because your target market are fellow merchants. Your ecommerce package is key to showing them that you are willing to invest on B2B ecommerce. You don't want them to be signing up to your services using free e-mail accounts too, do you?


How to Build Your Ecommerce Name - Step 1 Domain Name
How to Build Your Ecommerce Name - Step 2 Web Hosting
How to Build Your Ecommerce Name - Step 4 Should You Spam?

ECOMMERCE STRATEGY 11 - Selling Online is Like Hiring

Do you know how much contact information about your company matters in your ecommerce site?

When I was out of college and was looking for jobs I didn't know the first thing about aggressive and efficient job hunting. Of course, I was a newbie. I needed work and learning about my prospective employers' background wasn't one of my biggest concerns. Back then, I had worked with all kinds of employers, and yes, some of them were unscrupulous, who didn't have good credentials, didn't pay government taxes (underground), and sometimes never showed up in the office! I learned a great deal after so many years of switching from job to job. Eventually I soon found out that when searching for a good job, the first step I would do is to check out my employer's background.

It's the same thing when selling services or products on the web. All merchants who own an ecommerce site should provide decent contact information online. This is one of the best ways to earn buyers' trust.

If I have access to a company's office address, phone number, email address, and even a short background on the owner and his staff on his ecommerce site, I can easily make inquiries. And if I can talk to the company representatives, that sets my mind at ease! Trust is a big deal when doing business online. Let your customers reach you, so they can trust you!

WEB ECOMMERCE OPPORTUNITY 4 - Affiliate Marketing

Another possibility in ecommerce and small business is partnership through affiliate marketing. This gives opportunity to merchants who have only as little capital as a "personal blog" to earn money through promotion of relevant products. Google Adsense is famous for this democratic money making scheme.

Advertising has been the backbone of most existing businesses today. Ecommerce and small business owners pay for web space, bandwidth, design, maintenance costs, and other facilities and resources in order to give their products and services good exposure online. At the same time, they can also affiliate with other merchants who also sell relevant products and advertise them on their site for x amount of revenue.

Many merchants have made good money on affiliate marketing. If you are an ecommerce and small business entrepreneur, this is just one of the many avenues you can take. You either become a merchant who offers the affiliate program or the affiliate marketer itself.

ECOMMERCE WEB SITE DESIGN TIP 3 - SEO WWWHATT?

People who have browsed the web long enough will attest to the fact that most of the websites appearing on Google search engine's top results page pretty much aren't heavy on the design department. In fact, most of them are simple web pages that have nothing but text on it. If this is the case, why do merchants have to spend so much on ecommerce web design?

Well, to attract more visitors of course. These days, with more and more people being glued to the "interactive tube", an engaging website design is one step to being ahead of the ecommerce merchant crowd. A plus is knowing an attractive ecommerce web design concept merging with good SEO techniques.

So if search engines crawl no-frills websites better than elaborately primped ones, why bother with ecommerce web design? The latter is still necessary to show that you are a professional dotcom business who is concerned about enhancing your customers' shopping experience. Simplicity of design, on the other hand, will favor promotion and more visibility of your site. Think of how awesome the results will be if you strike a good balance between the two.

ECOMMERCE WEB SITE DESIGN TIP 1 - Watch out for your designer's promises
ECOMMERCE WEB SITE DESIGN TIP 2 - Content is the Meat and Potatoes

ECOMMERCE STRATEGY 9 – What's Your Favorite Color?

I like buying stuff from Victoria's Secret store a lot. I either visit their brick and mortar store in Texas or browse on their ecommerce web site. One thing I appreciate about VS is that although they don't employ the best web site design, they allow me to see the dresses that I prefer in various colors. They do this by letting me click on the color patch. Then the model's dress changes to that shade that I have picked.

If you cannot provide this ability for your customers to see the outfits (or any product) in the colors that they pick, there's a high likelihood that they will not buy. I would say this is where employing this type of shopping flexibility becomes handy for your ecommerce web site. If you can't work this tactic, a customer might just abandon the shopping cart halfway.

So take notes. Victoria's Secret is well known for classy, sexy, and affordable outfits for women. Their ecommerce web site may not be the most impressive (their models are, of course), but they allow me to see the dresses that I like in my favorite colors. This is a huge convenience if I'm not able to visit their landbased retail store on a stormy day in the Lone Star state!

ECOMMERCE STRATEGY 7 – Underpromise, Overdeliver, Not a Cliche!

Underpromise, but overdeliver. How many times have you heard this statement in the online business circles lately? You can almost call it one of the biggest cliches in web ecommerce 2.0 today!

But here's the deal: merchants and customers can't live without this cliche. The bigger the surprise, the better. In fact, it is outstanding for an online merchant to exceed his customers' expectations by "underpromising, and overdelivering".

One perfect example is when you ship products ahead of expected receiving date. This will astonish your customer and immediately give you positive feedbacks. Success in web ecommerce does require you to still stick to tradition sometimes. You can also make this trick work to your advantage if you are a merchant who sells digital or downloadable products.

In this web ecommerce era, everyone lives by the power of a mouse click. Therefore if you are selling digital files (software) online, try your best to give your customers access to the full version as soon as they have purchased. Their satisfaction will always reflect on your sales.

SHOULD WAL-MART'S ECOMMERCE STRATEGY BE EMBRACED BY SMALL RETAILERS?

Ecommerce shipping success brought about by Wal-Mart's example has spawned a good number of online retailers now offering buy online, in-store pick up option. Can this be the beginning of zero shipping costs and quantum leap on sales conversions by online retailers? Is this going to be the ultimate ecommerce strategy that will break the "shopping cart abandonment tradition"?

Who knows, but this is when finding the answer to the question really matters. Why? Because since the trend has been set by big online retailers such as Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware, many smaller retailers aren't likely to follow their footsteps. An ecommerce strategy that would allow buyers to find the product by going to the nearest store itself after showing the intention to buy it from the online store may cost them more money than profit itself.

For example, niche apparel stores such as Nike, American Eagle, or Callaway Golf may find it actually more difficult to profit by shipping smaller or fewer items to fewer stores nationwide. Sure, they can adopt Wal-Mart's ecommerce strategy but they would have to ship products on longer time frames -- weeks, instead of days, to save costs. I'd say the question now can only be answered by individual small retailers themselves.