You want to buy a spoon. What are you going to do, right now. There are no stores nearby.

Selling used items on Ebay got me started in Internet Marketing.

Walmart IS niched. So are those other chains. Read "Made In America" for details including how wide he determined his aisles should be. Walton was not trying to sell to everyone: his store appeals to a segment of the population who want low prices and in return can stand crowded aisles, poor lighting, and mediocre customer service.

Frankly I can't stand Walmart and every time I can choose to shop somewhere else--somewhere with better lighting, aisles clear of product pallets and junk, and good customer service--I will.

Go to a Harris Teeter here in NC and you'll find an pleasant shopping environment, no family reunions in the entryway or drug dealers hanging around out front, even better-looking people shopping there. The higher prices are a very good trade for me.

I've looked at many ecommerce stores, usually as a consultation on behalf of a client, and they are so often a thrown-together junk shop of stuff the store creator likes. No theme. No potential for laddering. They wonder why they're not selling anything. Here's just one of the posts I've made in answer to these types of questions.

Walmart does NOT "sell everything." They sell consumer products that have a high probability of moving in volume to people who value low price as the main determining factor of their purchasing decisions.

An AMAZON General Store. Amazing.

What is AMAZON?

As Jason pointed out, Sam Walton TARGETED a certain crowd. The chain TARGET also has a specific niche it appeals to, as does Macy's and even Costco.

Can you give an example of "good stuff" vs "junk", and who would want it, and why would they shop or buy from you when a push of a button gives them the best prices and services of all the Amazon vendors? How have you set up the store to appeal to your target market and how are you driving traffic to it?

I think, your THINKING has doomed you from the get-go, can you show some examples of a successful GENERAL Amazon store with higher quality items which is doing well?

Why not rethink what you are doing and select a few items and build it up from there, an appeal to everyone is an appeal to no one.

GordonJ

Hello Wizbang


I started in IM by trying to sell ebooks on ebay, made US$408 for my whole first year. Then I met a guy in a chatroom, finally convinced him to mentor me and that changed my life. (He adopted me, took me into his business and since then we have built multi million dollar businesses together)


This is something I posted in a thread about Amazon in 2013. It really shows the formula we have used to build all our businesses. Targeting your audience or market is the way to success:

Also keep in mind that Amazon did not start out selling "everything". They started out just selling books.

Another good example is Wayfair.com. Originally, they had more than 200 separate niche eCommerce websites before they decided to combine them together and create Wayfair.

Is anyone familiar with pricewatch.com? I discovered it in the late 1990s via word of mouth. Initially they only marketed PC stuff. Over the years they've moved into everything and they're flourishing. I don't think Amazon is a bad thing, and it's a starting point. It's kind of a test site for me to waht's selling best. All I wanted to know is where did your first sale come from? I can adapt from there.

Some of the most successful people in this forum replied to your questions and comments, yet you did not acknowledge them? Why?


Don't be surprised if some of the most success full people in this forum ignore you because you ignore their help. Learn this.. Help Us Help You.. Answering questions is the first step and using the Quote Button helps us to know who you are replyimg to.

You choose a niche because you can't be good (competing) at everything.

Sam Walton's niche focus was on discount retailing.

You can read more about his story in his book, "Made In America", which he wrote on his death bed.

And even Amazon didn't start by selling everything all at once.

When he first started out, Jeff Bezos focused on just selling books. And dominating the book market with Amazon.

Once he became the king of that...

... he added another niche line he wanted to dominate...

... and so one and so forth.

So:

Just because you see some great successes that aren't seemingly niche today, doesn't mean that's how they started out...

You may grow out of niche-ing down eventually.

But starting out, it may be easier for you to dominate small ponds, and gradually work your way up.

Back in the day I did several things like selling websites on eBay. You would laugh at how basic they were but they sold like hotcakes.

Then I had a high end dropship business that made me lots of money but dropshipping requires so much time, effort and headaches of dealing with customers and manufacturers. It got old after a few years so I moved on to another business model.

Now it is mostly passive income through various systems that I have developed over the years, affiliate marketing of high end merchandise, automated sales funnels for my own digital products and the occasional one-on-one coaching engagement. I also have a sizable domain/website portfolio that I frequently get unsolicited offers for.

My advice to the OP would be to not compare yourself to Sam Walton, as his success took decades to achieve, like many of the successful warriors here. Most of us developed our own unique strategies because twenty years ago there were no gurus to ask or books and videos on how to make money online, we had to try things for ourselves to see whether they would work or not.

So hang in there, look to the future and good luck to you!

Selling ebooks got me on the internet. Never sold items or stuff. I let amazon do that^^.

I sold my 2 wheeler and hair dyer at a comfortable price in olx recently, which is my first sale!

My first online sale was the best ever! I built my first sales funnel overnight ( simple squeeze page, thank you page, download page), bought some traffic and sold my information product. What a way it was to celebrate my birthday

Then i scaled thing up and grew the business fom there.

You have to ask yourself what problem are you solving, why would someone care about your site, and what makes you different.

"Whats in it for me?" is always the question in the mind of your prospect.

So whats in it for them to buy whatever from you rather than amazon?

If there is no reason you can think of maybe rethink your approach.

Or get really good at targeting a customer type to a product that is high value.

That way you can create a customer profile and now you got them on your site.

And now they may think, hmm, I need this thing too. And this thing.

But give them an incentive for buying.

Like a $5 amazon card for a purchase more than "x" amount.

Just thinking outloud here.

Every incredible business is super duper niched. They may sell many items but have a hyper clear image of a particular customer in mind.

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Social media is the best place to genete idea's for what is selling, you only have to visit Pinterest, check out your competitors, see what they are marketing, if they are concentrating on individual items then there is a reason for that. Having an Amazon store that sells many things from Amazon, people might look at that and think to themselves, why should I shop here when I can go direct to Amazon.


My advice is to take a step back and concentrate on heavily promoting 5 products with plenty of useful information and images about those 5 products, explain the benefits and you will see a staggered rise in your conversions.

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