What are your needles?
I recently came across an article at Top Rank Online Marketing called 5 SEO Tips for Online Retailers. Like many of Top Rank’s articles, this one has great points, and two of them — add fresh content to your website, and, eliminate repetitive copy — really got me thinking about the notion that if you sell drop ship products online, you should be selling needles, not haystacks. Let me explain.
Haystacks are easy to find and identify. The biggest haystacks contain nearly every product ever created. Doba, with our 1.4 million wholesale drop ship products, is quite a large haystack in and of itself. But the key to selling online is to find your needles (and I say your needles because what you view as an opportunity might not be so to some other online retailer). Successfully identifying, sourcing, and marketing your needles is the key to being a profitable online retailer. Your experience and interests, the business model you deploy, your marketing tactics, and timing — don’t forget about timing — all influence which products are considered needles worthy of a spot in your pincushion.
In essence, you need to always wear your needle goggles. The good news is that for many start-up and medium-size online retailers, Doba has haystacks full of needles, along with the tools to find and market them.
"It’s not sound strategy to take on thousands of products and blast out your own haystack to the world."
While we provide the technology, insight, and education for you to be able to identify and leverage the needles found in our virtual inventory catalog, we don’t do everything (which takes me back to the article I referenced at the outset of this post). One of the most important things you can do for your business and the shoppers you hope to attract and turn into paying customers is this… make the products you find and sell from drop ship suppliers — like those found though Doba — your own. Change the product descriptions; edit them; add to them; and, in the process, make them your own. Apply your own unique selling proposition to the products you promote. It’s not sound strategy to take on thousands of products and blast out your own haystack to the world (Amazon, Target, Walmart, and thousands of other retailers already do that). One needle… one product… something unique that can be successfully marketed, is infinitely more valuable than hundreds or thousands of poorly marketed products.
One macro level complaint about online retailing is the notion that everyone is selling the same products in the same places, and you — the new online retailer — can’t compete. But consider this… everyone has the potential differentiate. And here’s the kicker: Almost all products can be needles in a haystack if you’re willing to do the research and work necessary to make them your own.
dear jeremy
just read your article,it was very interesting and helfull.although i only read the article and not the inserts yet i feel more confident to to start my new venture.i will read the inserts and let you know how it will work out.my web site is still not up.hopefully today or tomorrow. brightparadisemall.com thank you carmen
Hi Jeremy,
I signed up with Doba for a year when I started my online sales adventure a few months ago. I got started with a company called Unim. I got to the point where I needed to navigate Doba to find my “needle”. I read the educational info and listened to past webinars. They indicated that I should pick something that I am familiar with. Well, I picked kitchen items. To my dismay Doba did not have any kitchen items that I wanted to sell on my web site. I am a total newbie at all of this and got frustrated in navigating Doba and picking a “needle” to promote. Now it is time to “fish or cut bait”. Do you have any program that would help me navigate Doba and pick an item to put on my website? I would rather “fish” and am open to any suggestions. Thanks
Carol
Hello Jeremy
As for myself, I am as new at this as they come and your entry just reinforces everything that I have studied thus far. I think I am at the same cross-road as Carol, I am ready to go. Just don’t know how to find that Gem, that Hot item, that Needle.
Just when I think I have something that will net a little profit and give a really great deal, well, somebody is out there giving it away and as best I can tell they are not making anything at all. Why would they do that?
Just feeling a little bewildered and wondering what can I do differently so that I am not just spinning my wheeles and wasting a lot of time.
Thanks so much
Tina
Carol,
The advice to sell something you’re familiar with is very good advice, unfortunately, it sounds like Doba’s product selection, although large, wasn’t complete enough in that particular category. I think your next strategy is to find suppliers to supplement Doba, something we encourage, or look into product categories Doba has and start learning a new category.
Tina, the best thing you can do is to find a way to make those products different. People don’t always only shop on price. If you can build a trust with your customer, write product descriptions that make the products feel more like they’re yours to sell, you can find ways to compete. And yes, people do sell products for nothing at all or even a loss, because they are not trying to do things in unique and innovative ways.
Best of luck!
Hello Jeremy
Merry Christmas and thanks so much for the response. Am looking forward to the new year and all the occasions/opportunities that it will have to offer. I am going to take your advice and see if I can learn some creative writing skills to put that “personal touch” on my listings. Still learning how to use templates and color grapics but I know that LANGUAGE has its priority. Thanks I hope your having a wonderful Christmas and please have a Happy and safe New Year.
Tina