Highly unstable retail figures

[conran]

Something I hadn't considered when starting my business was how unusually unstable sales levels are!

I guess physical shops must have days where they sell nothing. But my site seems to go up and down dramatically.

Keeping a running record of visits, sales, profit and so on every month does show that things are gradually climbing, but it's so disheartening to have 10 sales one day and then absolutely nothing for three.
I go through stages of thinking I've finally reached a point of having a successful growing business one week, with two orders Monday, four orders Tues, Wed, Thurs, and then... it all stops and I can have a week without even the cheapest product being sold!

I'm trying to work out whether it's something I'm doing in the way of promoting or engaging an audience somewhere that is affecting this.
For example, it could be active involvement in a specific forum, or it could just be the dance of Google moving my site around in the listings.
Anyone have experience of this, and maybe found causes?

[Rainee Bows]

i would imagine the main cause would be the fickle general public, no loyalty perhaps ? echoing the dying off of the high street in favour of retail parks ?

Rain
xxxx

[conran]

i would imagine the main cause would be the fickle general public, no loyalty perhaps ? echoing the dying off of the high street in favour of retail parks ?

Rain
xxxx

 
Aw, you made me so sad.
It is depressing isn't it? People constantly go on about making moral choices and choosing small business over big, and then they still go after the big retailers for their lower price. It's good to have a moral opinion, even if there's zero dedication to that opinion. 

People show their disgust when corporations are exposed for using child labor in India, but they still buy that product because it's cheap. It's a mad world.

 

[Rainee Bows]

And likely to not be improving in the current climate, moral choices with anything are only possible if you can afford to make them ?

Rain
xxxx

[seamus]

People show their disgust when corporations are exposed for using child labor in India, but they still buy that product because it's cheap. It's a mad world.

 

the general public have no morals at all, they like to bleet about taking the moral highground, but thats only because it sounds good, they would have no problem handing over their cash to a company thats known for using child labour and such like, purely because a bargain is more important than taking a moral stand, they moan about the decline in small businesses, the disapearing butchers etc, then go straight to tescos for their weekly shop,

same with politics, have all the opinions in the world and have no inclination to do a single thing about it, BAWS is what it is

[Baa]

To be fair though a good deal of small independent shops have allowed the big retailers to take over by remaining stale in the way they do business.

[Rainee Bows]

To be fair though a good deal of small independent shops have allowed the big retailers to take over by remaining stale in the way they do business.

I'll admit the majority of businesses we come across doing what we do that seem unable to embrace the current trends with regards to marketing and the way they trade is frustrating to say the least, you HAVE to move with the times, living where we live you would be surprised at the amount of businesses that limit their potential.

Rain
xxxx

[scotserve]

To be fair though a good deal of small independent shops have allowed the big retailers to take over by remaining stale in the way they do business.

I'll admit the majority of businesses we come across doing what we do that seem unable to embrace the current trends with regards to marketing and the way they trade is frustrating to say the least, you HAVE to move with the times, living where we live you would be surprised at the amount of businesses that limit their potential.

Rain
xxxx

There is also the blame culture - many businesses like to blame the big boys for their own insufficiencies, some people like to play the victim.
Retail is extremely difficult whether online or offline, add in the current financial crisis and it really is not the best time to step up to the fore unless you have sufficient capital to see you though to the good times ahead.
This idea of throw up a website and be independently financially secure perpetrated by some in the dropshipping industry gives a false impression of the amount of work effort and money that needs to be ploughed into ANY business to achieve success.

[Rainee Bows]

To be fair though a good deal of small independent shops have allowed the big retailers to take over by remaining stale in the way they do business.

I'll admit the majority of businesses we come across doing what we do that seem unable to embrace the current trends with regards to marketing and the way they trade is frustrating to say the least, you HAVE to move with the times, living where we live you would be surprised at the amount of businesses that limit their potential.

Rain
xxxx

There is also the blame culture - many businesses like to blame the big boys for their own insufficiencies, some people like to play the victim.
Retail is extremely difficult whether online or offline, add in the current financial crisis and it really is not the best time to step up to the fore unless you have sufficient capital to see you though to the good times ahead.
This idea of throw up a website and be independently financially secure perpetrated by some in the dropshipping industry gives a false impression of the amount of work effort and money that needs to be ploughed into ANY business to achieve success.

its not just capital though, people need to think outside the box to take businesses forward these days, and actually be bothered to put the effort into their marketing and identify where they could target that would bring fresh customers .... i sound like a stuck record dont I ?


shushing now ....

Rain
xxxx

[Baa]

Couldn't agree more.

3 shops around here used to carry a jewellery making magazine from the US that I bought for some years but gradually stopped. I went into the two shops that were newsagents to ask if they could order it in and was told no, not for delivery or pick up, I'd have to have a subscription and have it delivered, one even walked off while I was talking!

The 3rd offered to get it in for me, had to be pick up since they didn't do any deliveries ... the shop ... The Co-op

It's a ridiculous situation in that this is where we little guys are able to excel over and above the big corporations.

Why are we so blinkered to that one sale and can't see the loyalty and additional sales made when a customer pops by for that item or to see if it's in stock yet?

[conran]

Another problem, like you raise above, is that a lot of these smaller businesses don't cash in on alternative technology either.

As per your example, that magazine could offer a lower price digital version, paid every month through something as simple as paypal. With a global market they could make a hell of a lot more money.
Also, why can't they operate a pay-per-issue themselves?
You set up a direct payment on their website to go out every month and they send the mag directly to you.

The very basic methods are there to give the buyer plenty of options, and they can be implemented for next to nothing.

It's the same everywhere though. My employer (a successful local security company) for my "day job" is so blinkered when it comes to new revenue streams.
I suggested two years ago that we should have a paid newsletter service for our customers to subscribe to in which we alert them to recent incidents, local threats to their business and provide additional advice on security.
They could receive this once per week for a minimal charge of £1 pw.
It would cost nothing to create other than a couple of hours of my shift per week. With 2000 dedicated and loyal customers we'd have at least another couple of hundred £ coming in every week. Plus, telling customers that they have travelers in their area (I hate to make the accusation, but it's true!) or that a neighbor or competitor was broken into increases our revenue for routine patrols.

It seemed like an obvious opportunity, and yet they still haven't moved on it.

I also suggested they update the web site (it really was atrocious) and that I could create a modern, attractive one for nothing, and include a social structure for employees to find paperwork to print out themselves (saving us printing costs!) book holiday, request uniform...
They updated their website, and paid a fee, and it's no better than the previous one, just a different colour! 

I have no idea how our company has lasted as long as it has.