Shopping For Discount Merchandise

Discount shopping is now big business. In every shopping mall and out of town stores big business is fighting for your dollars. This is nowhere more apparent than in the women’s clothing industry. Women everywhere want to be up to date in what they are wearing-they also want to know how to achieve the designer look without the designer price tag. But, as with everything else; when it comes to shopping for discount merchandise it pays to shop around. You should also remember that just because something is cheap, or has been discounted, that you are not always getting value for money. Discount jewelry may look like you’re getting something for nothing but a lot of people have bought what they thought was gold or silver, only to find their fingers turning green within a few weeks. So the first rule of shopping for discount merchandise is be wary, if something looks too good to be true then it probably is.

J. C. Penney, Target and Walmart have all climbed on the discount clothing bandwagon. They have updated their women’s wear sections with better fitting and designer inspired clothing-however, you have to do a lot of sorting through the racks in order to come up with something that might be considered suitable. With the designer craze happening all around the country, and infiltrating every shopping mall; if you’re not careful you could end up looking as though you have raided a celebrity’s bin. The Learning Channel is good for advice on what not to where, and how to succeed in buying decent discount clothing.

The big stores have fallen for the designer craze so hard that they are even hiring their own designers to produce the clothes. The problem with this is that shoppers can often be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of merchandise that confronts them-this can result in a tiring and fruitless shopping experience.

When it comes to buying discount food then shoppers really do need to have their wits about them. Always plan before you go ahead and buy only what you want-just because an item is discounted it doesn’t mean you have to buy it. If you do decide to buy an item that is not on your list then knock something else off. Superstores and warehouse clubs are good if you are bulk buying non-perishables. You really can save on grocery shopping this way. Best advice when it comes to food is do your homework, don’t shop on an empty stomach, and limit your impulse buying.

Shopping Cart Comparison: How To Convert Reports Into Money

When making shopping cart comparisons, take note of how extensive the reporting features are. Reports can save you money and make you money.

Here are three examples:

Filter Sales By Customer

If your shopping cart software allows you to filter the database according to client, you will be able to see where most of your sales are coming from.

The report should give you the volume of sales from each client to enable you to target or give special attention to the top clients on the list, perhaps offering special discounts for bulk orders.

Filter Sales By Date

Use this feature to see if there are specific times in the year when sales volume dramatically increases. You may have a general idea and know which month(s) are the peak sales months.

However, by using a Sales By Date feature you can pinpoint specific times in the year you may not be aware of where sales volume is higher than normal, especially if those times are spread over just one or two weeks. Increase advertising dollars and promotions accordingly at those times and bring in even more sales.

Filter Sales By Credit Card

Do you know which credit cards most of your customers are using? Probably Visa or Mastercard. What about other cards such as Diner’s Club, Discover, Delta, American Express? What are your merchant account charges for those other cards? By checking on Sales By Credit Card you will see whether it is economically viable to continue offering those cards as an option relative to the number of sales you get. If it’s not, drop the uneconomical ones and save money.

This brief exercise has shown the importance of making sure shopping cart software has a comprehensive reports feature when you are making a shopping cart comparison

Is Merchandise Cheaper At Online Sites Such As Ebay

Bidding for goods on sites such as Ebay has become a favorite pastime for many people. Thousands of Americans surf the net each day in search of a bargain. They know that if they search long enough, and are precise enough in the terms that they use, then they will find cheap merchandise. Whether that merchandise is cheaper online than elsewhere is dependent on a number of factors.

So you’ve had a good look round and it looks workable to you-it’s time to wet your feet and start bidding on Ebay or some other online sites. First of all there are a number of factors you should consider. It is up to you to estimate how much you can afford to bid on a particular item-this can be problematic when you are starting out because you have no idea on how high your bidding should actually go. The way round this problem is to have a look at past auction results to see how high you may have to bid in order to obtain the item. What may look incredibly cheap and reasonable at the outset could prove an expensive move-so check it out before you decide to place your bid.

Can you get items cheaper on Ebay than anywhere else? Well, that depends. As with any kind of shopping that you do; you have to research your market first if you want to get the best price. Search online stores and other auction sites; have this information ready at your fingertips before searching Ebay and making your bid. When dealing with online auction sites make yourself as aware of the item as you possibly can before making a bid. Read the product description, examine the photo if there is one and consider any issues noted about the condition before you make your bid. If you’re not sure whether any damage is repairable then it might be worthwhile contacting the seller and asking before placing a bid. Email the seller if you think there might be something amiss with the article, or if you feel that the description and photograph are not very clear. There maybe something that the seller has overlooked and it never hurts to ask before risking your dollars. Sellers may not always know the true value of an item they are selling, this is where you have a chance to act the detective. You never know this could net you a really excellent bargain-at the very least it might prevent you bidding on an item that is not worth the money.

Finally, and most importantly check out the seller’s profile and reputation. A seller may be offering something that looks like an incredible bargain-but if there is no information on who they are, or their reputation is less than credible you could end up losing a lot of money. See if there is any feedback on this seller, and whether they are making some outlandish demands even before the bids go up. Bottom line is, if you’re really careful, do your homework well, and bid wisely-then you could find that buying merchandise at online auction sites is worthwhile

Ecommerce: I Second That Emotional Connection

“We are much more emotionally attached to products for which we feel some involvement. So true personalization and customization makes a real difference.” – Donald Norman (author)

There is a psychology to the products we use most. In truth, there may likely be a product that is less expensive and equal in many primary ways. However, the use of a product has certain emotional ties that link the product with a particular response. We may not be able to articulate why the product is superior; we simply know it is the only product we want to use.

As a netrepreneur involved in ecommerce it may be important to work toward finding ways to assist your customers in developing an emotional link to the products you carry.

“Creating an emotional attachment is to go beyond designing Web sites simply for usefulness and focus on meeting desires as well as user's needs. When this occurred, people would start integrating those products into their lives and start to incorporate it into daily rituals.” Kelly Goto (Gotomedia – Australia)

When your customers begin to use the product and gain an emotional attachment to it you will likely discover a highly motivated client who willingly tells others about your product.

Some of the best advertising has allowed consumers to develop an emotional attachment to a product they may have never used. For instance just mentioning products like Hallmark, Smuckers, Coke or Nike often causes consumers to think about connections that bridge their emotional response to the product in question.

The emotional response may have to do with a successfully emotive marketing campaign; word of mouth advertising from emotionally connected consumers or a special moment when the product was used. That connection should not be minimized or misunderstood.

Ultimately the uniqueness of the product you are marketing will subside. If you wish to continue the sale of the product long-term you need to work to establish an emotional connection to your ecommerce product.

"Over time, competitors will imitate, patents will run out, buyers no longer can tell the difference among similar products. When the product effect dissipates, what's left is people's attachment to the brand. Strong brands recognize this." – William Dillon

One of the ways to add the potential of an emotional connection to your product may include a forum where members can talk about the effects of your product. You might also include emotive testimonials from those who already have an emotional connection to your product. Finally, include articles that place the product in a light where an emotional connection can take place. If you begin to see emotional connections to your products be very grateful.

Ecommerce: Profit in Data Feeds?

You’ve been to a shopping engine online. You know the kind, a place where you can do comparison-shopping online before you actually make a buying decision.

If you are a netrepreneur you may wonder if it is even possible to have your product considered for price comparison sites like, Yahoo Shopping, Shopzilla NexTag, Shopping.com, Froogle and PriceGrabber.

It is possible, but your inclusion into the world of online price comparisons relies on significant work from you in the area of data entry. Product information must be supplied to each of these sites in the form of a data feed. These feeds may vary from one location to the next, but primarily require model number, StockKeeping Unit (SKU) and price.

Tamara Mendelsohn, a principal analyst at a Forrest research analyst said the following in an interview with E-Commerce Times. "Almost three quarters of U.S. households are connected to the Internet, and the majority use it for researching products online. Retailers can't afford to ignore their multichannel consumers anymore,"

Engines that thrive on comparison-shopping care less about your site and more about your product. If your product is sought and you have a credible data feed for the product your site will likely be included in the price comparison.

Some ecommerce professionals believe this is the next wave of site optimization. Instead of dealing in keywords or phrases the customer is directed to your site specifically because you have a product for sale that they are motivated to purchase.

Forecasts predict a significant amount of growth potential through the use of data feeds for product comparison search engines.

The primary caveat with the ‘possibilities’ of shopping engines is that the ongoing work in data feeds can be exhaustive while the benefits come with a price tag. The principle is very similar to Pay Per Click (PPC). When a customer clicks your link to check out your prices you will pay an advertising fee to the search engine.

If you provide a price that is competitive and have a reputation that is strong, the use of a shopping engine may make sense. If you are tentative about the use of a shopping engine you should investigate the finer details and see if this labor-intensive service can provide enough customers to offset the costs in labor and advertising.

Ecommerce is as ever-expanding and sometimes complex device that can be simplified in certain situations. It can also be highly complex, but useful if you have the time, resources, knowledge and drive to learn and apply ecommerce skills.

Customized Oscommerce Site, To Meet Your Business Needs

The days of having to maintain and build a web site with little or no knowledge are gone and this is especially true when it comes to the fact that more and more people are logging on in hopes of making money. The reason behind this is the new customized oscommerce site that is now available. Oscommerce, or open source commerce is a valuable tool in the hunt for money from the internet. All you really need to do is have a good business plan in place and the site will do the rest. A customized oscommerce site is a great improvement over the old days of online stores and so on. There is nothing that one cannot do when it comes to this very simple, yet useful design. A customized oscommerce site is a uniquely designed web site and online store all rolled into one. There is standard inventory control, as well as visitor counts, database programs and so much more.

A customized oscommerce site is one of those things that people are looking at when it comes to building a new online business. The competition is stiff is just about every area of web sales and service and a person needs to make an impression on the visitors, with something that is above par and very functional. With standard web design you have the issue that you need to figure out how to start making money from it. Well that is not the case when it comes to a customized oscommerce site. The idea is already there, all you need to do is plug in the right products and produce the right people who will visit the site and you have all that you need. In comparison, you will have a lot more success if you are using a customized oscommerce site then you would with the standard web site when you are selling physical goods. This is due to the fact that the customized oscommerce site is designed to specifically sell goods, and will help you to keep control of the inventory and so on without having to build complicated databases and so on.

More often than not a customized oscommerce site is the right tool for the job when you are selling products online. There is nothing to say that you cannot make it happen in the right way without one of these sites, but there is the matter of wanting to make as much money as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time.

Shopping Cart Program Guide: How To Do Customer Profiling

Your shopping cart program should come with filtering tools. These can be invaluable for defining segments of your customer base with special interests or needs.

Rather than taking the buck shot approach, just spraying everyone and everything with the same advertising message, you can use the rifle shot approach, precision targeting for maximum results.

Here are two suggestions for building your own customer profiles:

1. Define customer segments by email address

How many of your customers have AOL email addresses? Why not do a check. In your shopping cart program search interface you should be able to search your client base by email address and also email domain. Just putting “aol.com” in the search field will show up all your AOL clients.

How is this helpful? Because AOL is largely a consumer based ISP. If you are selling business-to-business you may need to change your approach somewhat when you broadcast or email this section of your client base as their outlook and needs will be different.

2. Define customer segments by State or Country

Your shopping cart program should be able to search for customers by state or country.

Getting to know the demographics of various states can help you in developing your promotions. Government web sites often provide much statistical information which can help you identify a need and fill it.

This information is worth its weight in gold. By educating yourself on customer profile information and then using the filtering mechanisms in your shopping cart program, your advertising results will be taken to a new level.

Selling More of Your Product Online in 2006

One of the most important things to consider when selling your product is, who are you selling your product to?

There are many opportunities online to sell your product online. You can spend money on advertising using products offered by companies such as Google, you can submit your business to several directories, or you can develop relationships with others with content driven information relating to offering consumers information that is beneficial to their future.

An example of selling products by targeting your market would be to use Google services that can market your product to a selected territory. Perhaps through research you have identified possible locations by city or country that would benefit from your product or service. You have uncovered market information that this could be a possible successful area for sales generation.

Targeting your clients is also important in understanding the future of your business. There are certain reasons why consumers may choose your product over others. What makes your product stand out, is it past success in solving a problem or does it provide something new for innovation. A good way to create such a plan is to design a benefits analysis.

Cross marketing situations can be beneficial for businesses in related industries. One such example could be the financial industry. People need bank accounts, loans, insurance, mortgages and a wide variety of financial services. If you are a provider in this industry and you have an online service or software solutions then perhaps linking with others that target may be beneficial to your business.

A final opportunity area would be direct advertising with sites. You can check into various sites you can put your ad on whether they are major search sites or content driven sites that provide information.

A final option would be liinking with other content driven providers, you will have to take the time to search and choose who you would like to deal with in search of future business relationships.

In summary, this is a realistic way you can get started in developing your online business for success in 2006. All the best.

Mr. Des Marais has operated small businesses for over 20 years. He has been a consultant and held positions in some of the fastest growing franchisees in Canada.

He has increased sales by 200% in 2 months for an herbal doctor; increased sales by 30% in 4 months for a major Canadian Big Box Retailer; 200% sales increase 3 times in a row for a service-based small business and helped several entrepreneurs develop and sell their business. His expertise is in the area of growth and business development. He has also been involved in developing business chapters.

Should You Invest In Dedicated Server?

There are millions of websites out there, and most of these websites are hosted on shared servers. The owners of these websites know that they are to getting too much traffic, so it's smarter to outsource their hosting and have them hosted on someone else's server. Outsourced hosting costs $10-$100 a month, and it is a great solution for webmasters who are just starting out, and have a small site or sites. But what about dedicated server? At what point does it become worthwhile to use one? Dedicated server is, simply put, a server that is owned by someone else, but you have exclusive use of it.

Dedicated server may cost $500-$1000 a month to use. You can alternatively buy your own server for a one time cost, but this requires having a technical person who will be able to address any problems, so if you don't have a technician at hand, dedicated server is your best option. What will you gain from using a dedicated hosing server?

1. A more reliable host - you don't share your bandwidth with outer webmasters, as you do in the shared hosting situation. This promises a more reliable connection that will not be interfered with what other webmasters are doing.

2. Faster load time - you're not sharing resources with other sites, so your site will upload much faster

3. You can consolidate all your websites into one server - this will lower the over all costs, if you have more than one website.

4. Better security - your own dedicated server is much more private that shared servers, where others can prey into your business. This in itself is a prime motive for many businesses to use dedicated hosting.

To conclude, dedicated hosting is recommended if you take your website seriously and conduct some real activity on the web. This can be even more true if you conduct any kind of ecommerce or password based activity, that require greater security. Just make sure you use a professional company that will take good care of your website.