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New Site Sales Numbers Question

by n_touch
9 replies
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Hello all, just wanted to get a quick opinion of some fellow warriors. How do these numbers look for a site that opened on Dec 12th of last year.

Dec- $1,884
Jan- $1,564
Feb- $1,822

Site is college apparel and merchandise, only offering products for one college. Thanks for your input.
#numbers #question #sales #site
  • Profile picture of the author Big Kahuna SEO
    Depends….are those profit numbers or sales numbers? Also, you've given us no idea of your start up costs or other information. Might be good might be bad…we need more info
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  • Profile picture of the author yoangov
    If this is profit, then numbers look really good.
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    • Profile picture of the author n_touch
      I do apologize, I should have included more information in the posting. The site is www.whoopu.com. They are a client of mine, that recently went live on 12/12/2013.

      As for their start up cost, they opened a retail business on the same date so they are selling both online and in store. The numbers listed were for total sales, not profit.

      They have had problems since the beginning of the launch in determining how they wanted to do shipping and how to charge for it. I was able to convince them to change the way they were charging shipping and go to a flat rate, and even now offering free shipping for purchases over a certain amount.

      Traffic is not an issue, they are getting a good amount of traffic, conversions right now are. I attributed many of the abandoned carts from launch to be due to shipping.

      Ex. Shipping for the first two months would have been $8 plus dollars on a t-shirt with the initial shipping charges they had set. That has since been changed.


      We are seeing less abandoned carts, but still are converting at a low rate. With the numbers that they have had so far, I am optimistic that with the shipping changes, and the addition of new items that sales will pick up.

      I know I posted the site before for review and got some great feedback. Even implemented some of the changes that were mentioned. If you have any other suggestions that we could look at, I would appreciate it.
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  • Profile picture of the author kjamesnv
    What is the conversion rate?
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    • Profile picture of the author n_touch
      Right now less than 1%. There are a couple of things that have hurt the conversion rate.

      1. They ran a groupon that was in store only. There was an influx of web traffic from groupon, but since it was an in store only thing, none of the referrals bought anything online.

      2. The shipping costs that were there before. From the launch till two weeks ago, all shipping was done through a fed ex api. They estimated all of the box sizes and just went with what rates they could get. I believe this caused some serious problems. I was seeing abandoned carts on a regular basis. The only thing that I could come up with is that they were turned off by the shipping charges upon checkout.

      Since both of those happened at the same time, it is hard to get an actual conversion rate based on the changes that have been made. I am just looking to see what if any other problems that I am not seeing may be there.
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      • Profile picture of the author kjamesnv
        Originally Posted by n_touch View Post

        Since both of those happened at the same time, it is hard to get an actual conversion rate based on the changes that have been made. I am just looking to see what if any other problems that I am not seeing may be there.
        If you use Google Analytics (which is free) you can get Conversion rates every day. Even by the hour if you like. Within 24 hours after the shipping glitch was fixed you should be able to evaluate the conversion rate.

        If its still under 1% then there are other issues.

        There are a ton of thing you could do to help the conversion rate but here are 3 quick observations:

        It took me a few moments to even understand what the site sells. IMO EVERY ecommerce site should have a tag line near the logo that describes what the site is about. For example "The #1 Source for A&M Gear". Why make customers search around to figure out what the site is about?

        You have image sliders on the front page. Research consistently shows that sliders HURT conversions. Unless you have done split testing to show they work for your audience then you should remove them.

        Why don't you have some featured items for sale on the front page? Perhaps some best sellers or new products.
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        • Profile picture of the author n_touch
          I watch Google analytics constantly so I can see what the numbers are.

          To answer your questions as to the layout of the front page. That is all customer choices. There is a site that they are trying to compare with that has been in business for over 20 years. The other site is www.aggielandoutfitters.com.
          It took me a few moments to even understand what the site sells. IMO EVERY ecommerce site should have a tag line near the logo that describes what the site is about. For example "The #1 Source for A&M Gear". Why make customers search around to figure out what the site is about?
          The traffic that we are targeted is very specific to Aggie gear and clothing. I agree that there can be more for someone that just stumbles on the site, but most 90% of the traffic that we are getting is done so with keywords related to the University and the merchandise that we are selling. I will look into seeing what they will allow me to do to make it a less confusing.

          You have image sliders on the front page. Research consistently shows that sliders HURT conversions. Unless you have done split testing to show they work for your audience then you should remove them.
          They like the sliders, as mentioned before, they are approaching it like the site above. They believe since they have been in business for that many years, that they are doing something right. What they are not taking into consideration, is I do not believe that most of that businesses sales are coming from online. They are less that 10 minutes from the college campus, so for them online sales are just additional revenue. My clients are over 90 miles from campus, so most of their sales will have to come from online.

          Why don't you have some featured items for sale on the front page? Perhaps some best sellers or new products.
          We had them on the front page. They did not like them. They wanted the site to have a more comfortable feeling, and not one of an e-commerce store.

          Unfortunately I am strapped as to what I can and can not due with the site. They have an idea, and that is the way they are wanting to go. I am doing my best to try and find the other areas, that I can help them and increase their sales.
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          • Profile picture of the author kjamesnv
            Originally Posted by n_touch View Post

            The traffic that we are targeted is very specific to Aggie gear and clothing. I agree that there can be more for someone that just stumbles on the site, but most 90% of the traffic that we are getting is done so with keywords related to the University and the merchandise that we are selling.
            Well if 90% of the traffic is highly targeted and the site converts <1% this should send up MAJOR red flags. Clearly the site is not appealing to consumers.

            If you are the designer / consultant its your job to educate your clients. They need to decide what their goals are. Do they want to make money online or do they want to copy a 3rd rate site that has tons of flaws?
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            • Profile picture of the author n_touch
              Trust me, I am trying. It is quickly becoming a losing battle. I know there are problems with the site.

              This may just be me, but I do not see many issues past the first page that would hinder someone from buying. The site is easy to navigate and make a purchase. The things that I have no control over are the items that they are selling, and the prices that they are charging. I believe that plays more into the problems that they are having. (I may be biased, but that is why I am looking for opinions of others.)
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