Sales hit by Katrina?

[stephenmunday]

I was wondering whether other sites have experienced the same phenomenon as me: Since just after the beginning of September, my sales have really plummeted. Nothing else about my site or traffic quality has changed (except I think I am getting a little more traffic than before.) I was wondering whether this is due to the economic uncertainity and giving to charitable causes that has been sparked by Katrina.

I don't begrudge people giving money to those who have nothing. I just wanted to be sure that it is that, and not some serious issue with my site.

Has anyone else experienced a similar effect?

[brian.mark]

We're not in the same industry at all, so I don't think we're really a fair comparison. We're going to be sending a lot of supplies to help rebuild, so our sales are naturally up a bit. Ivan was kind to us last year as well. We don't like the storms or the toll it takes on our country, but the rebuilding sure sparks our sales.

I'd imagine that many online businesses are feeling a little pinch right now, but I've never been on the other end to know. Nearly all of my online life has been spent building a site that helps with rebuilding the real world in cases such as this.

Brian.

[nottheusual1]

All of our retail sites are down - some as much as 50% - but activity this week is up to previous levels, although not making up the missing numbers.

Our two "big ticket" sites (over $1k per product/sale) are also down, but not as much with current activity looking like it's going to make up the difference.

Bottom line - the higher cost-per-product sales don't seem to be adversely effected because they are purchases that are planned over 2-3 months time. What will be interesting is to see if this is impacting the planning stages of customers who will be placing orders in 30-90 days - will there be a "whiplash" effect on future sales?

[jestep]

We have been seeing a small decline in purchases, but this may have also been due to summer being over with, or other factors. We did loose several hundred businesses that were located in New Orleans, and by the looks of it, who knows when they will be back in business. Definitely a much greater effect from loosing our existing customers than from loosing new customers.

[brian.mark]

We have been seeing a small decline in purchases, but this may have also been due to summer being over with, or other factors. We did loose several hundred businesses that were located in New Orleans, and by the looks of it, who knows when they will be back in business. Definitely a much greater effect from loosing our existing customers than from loosing new customers.

Wow... I hadn't really thought about it that way. We've been too busy taking orders and sending them out to think about the 100 or so customers we've had in the past several months from there. Nothing huge volume, but something to think about none the less.

Once UPS ships there again, maybe we'll have an email sent out to those customers offering discounts on remodeling tools and supplies. We've had some donation requests alrady as well which we are evaluating, but we can't do anything yet since they won't be used at the moment and can't get shipped there.

Brian.

[stephenmunday]

Yes, it's true that it is different depending on the industry. As you can see, my site is for pure consumer items. They are not at all necessary for life, and I suspect that it is these kinds of sales that are being affected the most.

[stephenmunday]

I'm starting to see sales and customer interest beginning to pick up again now - September 15th here in Japan. Anyone else seeing the same?