Has the lousy economy hit us or am I a moron and missing something basic (or not so basic)?

I understand that there is more I can do from an SEO perspective but that is not my current concern. We've been selling online since 1997, have a good core of repeat customers and generally steady sales. On November 15th, our site was down for 12 hours (another story) and since then we haven't had one sale. Nothing I can see has changed as far as our site goes, although it now seems a little slow. Keyword positioning has not measurably changed and visitors are up from a week ago.

Can anyone see the problem(s)? Or, anyone in retail (or with customers in retail) seeing similar sales drop off?

Thank you for your help.

__________________
Margaret
Christmas Ornaments by Tree Treasures

Hi Margaret,

We've seen the same question asked recently. I think it's safe to say that things are slowing down right across the board.

Unfortunately, we're in a recession and vendors selling comfort or luxury items are seeing the biggest drops in sales.

I've seen a decline in sales but not in traffic. I'm seeing that users are comparing prices and that if they return, they'll usually buy on the second visit. Overall, the value of the purchases don't seem to be any larger or smaller and while one day might be slow, the next is busy as all get out.

I'm assuming that it's due to prospective clients being much more careful with their spending. Christmas is just around the corner, as is year end and tax time.

Long story short, if you want to succeed in the current economy, your site is going to have to be better than your competitor's site, your pricing is going to have be be more aggressive, your product offering more broad and your customer service is going to have to be outstanding.

Holiday shoppers are inundated with increased advertising these days, especially at this time of year. I'd suggest that you take a look at what your competition is doing to rope in new customers and reevaluate your advertising efforts.

It's tough to launch an ad campaign when the cash isn't rolling in but it's probably exactly what you need to do.

.02

__________________
.
Printer ink & toner cartridges in Canada | Integrated Web Payroll, Online HRMS Tools with Employee Time & Attendance

Dubbya,

Thank you for your well thought out response. It certainly appears that economy is the culprit. Historically our sales have been 85% US, 10% Canadian and 5% other. In my opinion, while there are worldwide economic problems, the worst situation is in the US. It is our US sales that are down the tubes. Canadian and oversees sales are actually up a small amount.

Internet sales are just one part of our business and, to date, we're a little over our internet break even point so we're just going to stay the course. We're positioned to weather this storm. Our inventory is unique and does not become dated so what doesn't sell this year will sell next year. We have done some promotion recently but as we sell very small ticket items, cost effective advertising is hard to come by.

__________________
Margaret
Christmas Ornaments by Tree Treasures

I hear ya!

Hang in there... Business will improve once people realize that they should stop believing everything they see on CNN.

__________________
.
Printer ink & toner cartridges in Canada | Integrated Web Payroll, Online HRMS Tools with Employee Time & Attendance

On the plus side, tough times will weed out some of the competition.

__________________
Margaret
Christmas Ornaments by Tree Treasures