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Anidazen · 10-19-2006, 06:35 PM

Hehe, I'm not gonna charge you for help conducted through a forum Caroline!

I was just trying to emphasise the point before. A lot of work can be done on your ratio before you start a serious marketing effort.

I'm interested how the business works, because this effects what I believe is your approach. (Do you carry an inventory of posters yourself?)

I started writing quite a few tips on purely and simply boosting sales, but I deleted that paragraph. Instead, I think we need to look at a slightly more fundamental problem.

Businesses catering to a niche market often do very well. You are definitely taking this route. The problem is that you are targeting a specific market within a specific market. Dorm room posters is a specific subset. Dorm room posters featuring just dogs? Well you're probably the world's biggest seller in that field!

You'll get very little customer retention or viral rate in such a tight niche. When you do find that rare customer, are they realistically gonna buy more than once? People don't spend all that much on posters. What I'd suggest is that if you're serious, you broaden your focus. Either start stocking a wider range of dorm posters (you don't need to inventory, get yourself a deal made of some sort, there's probably open-ended affiliate style programs available), or you start stocking a wider range of dog-related merchandise.

Really you need to make one of these two niche markets your main niche, and restrict the second niche. So you do dorm posters with a wider variety that includes a wonderful selection on dogs, or you do dog posters with perhaps a specialist page making that additional pich. (That's all the dorm bit is really, a sales angle, not a business defining concept - a custom page could make that pitch when it applies.)

Another concern I mentioned was cart-value/customer retention. You can be the best dorm-room-dog-poster seller in the World, with amazing prices and the best service - but the average student's never gonna buy a second poster. What else do students buy? You can be damn sure they're buying a lot of paper pads, exercise books etc, and I'd be willing to bet stationary with good dog designs is a sure-sell to someone who likes that on their dorm room wall. You never know, people might come back for that too.

Think about your angle. "Personality" would be a word I would go with - and say "personality" not "personalise". These products show personality, etc.

Anyway -- hope this does you some good. I know some of these suggestions seem impossibly ambitious, but ambition is a prerequisite for success!

10-19-2006, 06:35 PM	#32 (permalink)
Anidazen Inactive Join Date: 10-15-06 Posts: 12 iTrader: 0 / 0% Latest Blog: None	Hehe, I'm not gonna charge you for help conducted through a forum Caroline! I was just trying to emphasise the point before. A lot of work can be done on your ratio before you start a serious marketing effort. I'm interested how the business works, because this effects what I believe is your approach. (Do you carry an inventory of posters yourself?) I started writing quite a few tips on purely and simply boosting sales, but I deleted that paragraph. Instead, I think we need to look at a slightly more fundamental problem. Businesses catering to a niche market often do very well. You are definitely taking this route. The problem is that you are targeting a specific market within a specific market. Dorm room posters is a specific subset. Dorm room posters featuring just dogs? Well you're probably the world's biggest seller in that field! You'll get very little customer retention or viral rate in such a tight niche. When you do find that rare customer, are they realistically gonna buy more than once? People don't spend all that much on posters. What I'd suggest is that if you're serious, you broaden your focus. Either start stocking a wider range of dorm posters (you don't need to inventory, get yourself a deal made of some sort, there's probably open-ended affiliate style programs available), or you start stocking a wider range of dog-related merchandise. Really you need to make one of these two niche markets your main niche, and restrict the second niche. So you do dorm posters with a wider variety that includes a wonderful selection on dogs, or you do dog posters with perhaps a specialist page making that additional pich. (That's all the dorm bit is really, a sales angle, not a business defining concept - a custom page could make that pitch when it applies.) Another concern I mentioned was cart-value/customer retention. You can be the best dorm-room-dog-poster seller in the World, with amazing prices and the best service - but the average student's never gonna buy a second poster. What else do students buy? You can be damn sure they're buying a lot of paper pads, exercise books etc, and I'd be willing to bet stationary with good dog designs is a sure-sell to someone who likes that on their dorm room wall. You never know, people might come back for that too. Think about your angle. "Personality" would be a word I would go with - and say "personality" not "personalise". These products show personality, etc. Anyway -- hope this does you some good. I know some of these suggestions seem impossibly ambitious, but ambition is a prerequisite for success!