so why does MY ecommerce site not sell?

trooperbill · #1 (**permalink**) 06-07-2006, 05:05 AM

Hi there, having read the other thread, some people have been asked to post outside the thread for advice, so heres one...

My site is www.iosilver.co.uk a small jewellery store created around 18 months ago. its pretty high on yahoo, msn and google for the terms 'jewellery' and 'silver jewellery' as well as lots of other minor phrases that drive around 300+ unique visitors to the site... but the conversion is dire (0.01%) the products are uniqueish with only a few other retailers selling similar products and i undercut the prices of these because i'm not bricks and mortar...

any help will be appreciated.

p.s. cuzz googles broken our G listing is now page3 and expected to rise back to page 1

Mark
Jewellery

timmathews.com · #2 (**permalink**) 06-07-2006, 06:28 AM

Well, "silver jewellry" is actually a mis-spelling in the us.
I think if you made your keywords more specific, such as "wrap mans silver ring", and you added more content to the respective product page, you would do better. You have one or two lines for your product descriptions. I think if you added more relevant content on the products you are selling, you would see results. Perhaps you could even use a paragraph in each product about the history, or the origon of that respective product...

bathgems · #3 (**permalink**) 06-07-2006, 06:44 AM

You have nice looking merchandise and it is displayed nicely. As a former goldsmith and jewelry designer of 15 years, my thought is that silver jewelry is not that popular as a high end product.

As a low end fashion statement a lot of silver gets sold but your prices reflect the high end.

Maybe it is different in the UK but my view is based on the US market and I am guessing you would like to do more biz with us Yanks.

Steve

trooperbill · #4 (**permalink**) 06-07-2006, 07:14 AM

the sites getting revised design iosilver.co.uk / wip (i dont wnat it indexed yet) with more up market design - and lots of perhipheral information on jewellery and rings - i intend to add in more product images per product and show how it is worn also expand the descriptions (ive been watching qvc to see how they describe items) - yes the price of our items is high for silver, its still cheap compared to our competitors and the items are 'designer' in their nature and not kit heath or one of the other mass brands that are around - so we have the fact that theyre a bit different to work on - anything else?

A. Smith · #5 (**permalink**) 06-09-2006, 11:41 PM

I disagree with Steve (sorry) as I don't think that a 12.99 pendant (even in British pounds) is a high end price. Seems to me that you have a good range of prices.

A few thoughts (from a shopper, not a techie):

1) Try taking some pictures with the jewelry (or jewellry ;)) on a black background. One of my best friend is a silversmith, does amazing pieces of jewelry, and her ppieces render best on a black or dark grey background.

2) For a long time, the cost of silver was low. I know that this has changed dramatically recently, but it is likely that the perception from the consumer (the ones that don't keep up with stock markets and commodities markets) is that silver is cheap. It may just be that you need to wait till that perception has changed, or it may be an opportunity for you to educate your customers.

3) I couldn't tell if you sold in the US as well. If you do, make sure that you have all the measurements in imperial as people do not know the metric system here. You may want to indicate your market area on the home page, too.

4) Use more "Sales" phrases? I don't know what your competitors' prices are, so unless I have read your post here, I don't know that you are pricing lower. Don't price too low, or people will assume that your stuff is not of as good quality.

5) Your description tag is: <meta name="description" content="silver jewellery" />. My understanding is that this should describe your products in more details. Since you say you get the traffic, this may not be important.

Best of luck!

Peter (IMC) · #6 (**permalink**) 06-10-2006, 10:07 AM

Microsoft JET Database Engine error '80004005'

System resource exceeded.

/inc_iobasketdetails.asp, line 76

That´s what I got various times. Perhaps I just got bad luck, but maybe this happens a lot. You might want to investigate.

Quote:

Hi there, having read the other thread, some people have been asked to post outside the thread for advice, so heres one...

The other thread mentioned the "catalog" issue. Your site is a catalog.

Just think of what goes on in a jewellery store. People enter the store and start looking around, they will then interact with a sales person that is going to show them all kinds of jewellery. They generally want to see them laying next to each other on a velvet pillow, often a black or red color.

Try copying some of the real world store experience into your website. The site needs to be much more than a catalog if you want to increase sales.

bathgems · #7 (**permalink**) 06-10-2006, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. Smith

I disagree with Steve (sorry) as I don't think that a 12.99 pendant (even in British pounds) is a high end price. Seems to me that you have a good range of prices.

It is not me saying it, it is the market. He has very nice pieces and decent prices but the market for silver jewelry is loaded with low end junk at prices 1/4 to 1/2 those shown. I have no idea the mentality of sterling shoppers because I only ever designed gold and platinum so it is hard to say if the buyer will have a problem paying $25 for a nice silver pendant when a cheap crappy one costs $5.

In my market a marginal increase in price like that would not have made a difference but silver is a completely different market. And it is probably very different between the UK and the US as well because there is more respect for silver in the UK.

Steve

Peter (IMC) · #8 (**permalink**) 06-10-2006, 06:11 PM

Competing on price is useless in this market. There are way too many sites out there with rediculous low prices. You need to differentiate yourself from all the other sites. Just for being different your sales may increase.

But´s that just my opinion,. :)

bathgems · #9 (**permalink**) 06-11-2006, 01:38 PM

I can agree with that. Not everyone needs to shoot for the largest market where there is intense competition. Being the only one serving a small niche is often the best strategy for a small retailer.

100% of 1% is sometimes better than 1% of 100%. Marketing is certainly easier.

Steve

timmathews.com · #10 (**permalink**) 06-12-2006, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bathgems

100% of 1% is sometimes better than 1% of 100%. Marketing is certainly easier.

Steve

Wow. How very true this is. It really made me think.
Very good.
Cheers

trooperbill · #11 (**permalink**) 06-21-2006, 12:56 PM

thanks guys - i hope my plan to introduce multiple images and jazz up the descriptive text will cover a lot of whats said here. im also working on creating different sites selling the same products to increase the products footprint on the net the idea is that if im 1,2 and 3 using different domains for my target phrases i have more of a chance of getting people to buy..

heres hoping anyway

any more comments?