Website Trust Problem?

wba88

Hi, i recently setup an online retail shop, but besides people i know no-one has ordered from the website. I dont think it is my prices as I think they are very competitive as I have AFAIK beaten a lot of the more known online UK retailers and by far most Irish shops. The only problem I can think of is that I can only accept payment via paypal (a lot of ppl still dont know what this is).


If you have any advice, criticism, solutions or anything please reply.
Thanks in advance.

Trojan

This assumes you're talking about Aces-Direct.com. Ignore if it's a different site. Apologies if this is a little harsh, I'll be as constructive as possible.

Getting traffic

I see you have Google Analytics installed so you can ask yourself:

- How many unique visitors do you have per day?
- What products are they looking for?
- How are you attracting new visitors?

Your site performs very poorly in the search engines. You have 13 pages indexed in Google in total, with 7 of these in the main index and 6 in supplemental. 7 pages for an ecommerce site is very poor, you should have a much bigger footprint than that.

You should invest some effort and potentially cash in SEO. Search for "seo basics" and similar to find out more.

You might want to jump start things by paying for traffic via Google AdWords.

I can help you out with that, and SEO - send me a PM for more info about my companys services.

Converting potential customers into actual customers

It looks like you haven't invested in site design at all - your site appears to be using a default template and looks amateurish. This does not inspire trust in potential customers. I think this is a much bigger problem than using PayPal.

In redesigning, make your call to action (Buy Now) button bigger. It gets a bit lost. Make each product page stand alone and sell the product.

Look to other e-commerce shops e.g. your competitors for inspiration. (Find them by searching for your product names)

Image & page load times are slow. Make sure you have a decent hosting company like DigiWeb, Blacknight etc. You should move your Analytics code to just before the </body> tag, having it high up in the html can slow down your page load times. You could move to a standards compliant template instead of the tables-based monstrosit^Wdesign you're currently using

Hope this helps, any specific questions I'll be happy to answer. PM me if you're interested in investing in your site.

Cheers,
Alastair.

misterq

Yup, having the best prices is only important if people know about them.

MB74

Ditto again.

But looking at your site, yeah all looks good price wise. Simple to negotiate, but perhaps you need to 'tart' it up a bit and have some more products. Not every product needs to be cheaper if you can offer the same choice.

forbairt

Having a look at your site ... I wouldn't buy from it ... it just looks too unprofessional to me ...

I've worked with oscommerce sites before and they can look a LOT nicer than the default install with some color modification .. sorry if its harsh .. but it looks unprofessional to me and as such I'd need a VERY strong recommendation from someone before I'd buy even if you have the best prices ...

As the others said ... how many unique visitors do you have to your site ... ?

BenjAii

I would say site design is your biggest issue here. It looks amateur, which does not inspire confidence.

Some simple things could make the difference. Why all the different colours & fonts on the main page ? Write ups for the products - where are they?

"We stock a vast range of products at competitive prices" - the first bit isn't true, so i wouldn't say it !

What is your marketing identity? You're selling quite divese things, how are these tied to the Aces motif, i don't get that.

But mostly it's the visual elements that need working on.

Hope this helps, good luck !

wba88

Thanks for all the input, its all appreciated (including the critiscism).

I dont have a lot of knowledge in the website area (as you can see), i was trying to keep costs low so i could keep prices low (i now see this was a stupid beginners mistake).

The reason I only have these products is because I have a limited budget and stock all items so I can ship them immediatly and therefore i cannot afford to stock more items till i sell the existing ones.

As far as seo's go i do not know much about it and have enlisted Trojan's help so i can learn and hopefully solve a few problems.

@ BenjAii (your statement about the 'aces motif'): The only reason i went for that name and design was because the name of the business was holding me back for quite a while after my original one was taken, so i went for that (it means something aswell).

Thanks again to all the replies.
Any other help what so ever is still appreciated!

wba88

Oh and ill try post a screenshot of google analytics tomorrow if i can

antoinolachtnai

The question I have in mind is what this site is actually about. Lidl is about inexpensive. BT is about luxury. Amazon is about variety. FedEx is about shipping stuff. What's your site about?

(I assumed when I saw the name that you were in the poker supplies business, not that that means anything.)

It's like you are just selling odds-n-ends. You have to have a theme and go for it, hard.

Good luck with it though, keep trying.

wba88

mainly electronics and such, but its about passing the savings on to the customer as you can see yourself the ridiculousness (excuse the spelling) of rip-off Ireland

stepbar

TBH honest i'm having the same problem as antoinolachtnai. Aces-direct = electronics etc. Where's the link? Your logo / website design doesnt link up. I thought I was going on to a card shop or something like that. Needs a lot of work.

wba88

stepbar wrote:

TBH honest i'm having the same problem as antoinolachtnai. Aces-direct = electronics etc. Where's the link? Your logo / website design doesnt link up. I thought I was going on to a card shop or something like that. Needs a lot of work.

hence the bit i said earlier

wba88 wrote:

I dont have a lot of knowledge in the website area (as you can see), i was trying to keep costs low so i could keep prices low (i now see this was a stupid beginners mistake).........
@ BenjAii (your statement about the 'aces motif'): The only reason i went for that name and design was because the name of the business was holding me back for quite a while after my original one was taken, so i went for that (it means something aswell).

stepbar

wba88 wrote:

hence the bit i said earlier

TBH you should have turned to Ebay and setup a shop. The website is poor TBH. You are lacking even the basic details - What is your registered business address / phone number / vat number? Returns policy? Shipping costs / locations ? About / Contact us page? etc

I even see you are selling clothing I mean you are either selling electonics and related products or clothing. You can't sell both on the same website. It's no wonder one is confused. I think you need to spend a bit money, either that you might as well shut up shop. The market you are in is already heavily saturated and in all honesty doesn't really need another retailer. As well as that people are not going to miraclously find your website, you need to advertise it.

Long and short of it - I would estimate that you would need in the region of 30 - 50k to get this show on the road, with the vast bulk of this going on purchasing stock to sell. You have to be realistic, you can't start up a webstore on a shoestring budget.

dc69

wba i typed in your adress wrong and it came up with the company that is hosting you r websites details,i was looking at some of their example and thought i would show you this 1 http://kdubcustoms.vstore.ca/ it is based on the same template as your but the owner has added pictures and changed the menu colours,i think this looks like a site i would feel confident buying from and its only difference to your site is a few things.just my 2 cents,good luck:)

wba88

@stepbar: I did 'business address / phone number? Returns policy? Shipping costs / locations ? About / Contact us page? etc' all that but for some reason it is not showing up on the site so i am having the ppl i bought the hosting from sort it out. I am selling a small amount of clothes because i can get them cheap enough and bought a small supply to see what the market is like. In relation to the advertising i already said i dont know about that sort of thing thats why i am seeking help. Please read full thread before commenting.


@dc69: thanks for that link. what did you mean in your first sentance? what did you type, pm me if you want

forbairt

word to the wise ... to the best of my knowledge .. advertising commercial products for sale .. is a no no so I'd remove them from my signature .. you can advertise your website ... but not products ...

stepbar

wba88 wrote:

@stepbar: I did 'business address / phone number? Returns policy? Shipping costs / locations ? About / Contact us page? etc' all that but for some reason it is not showing up on the site so i am having the ppl i bought the hosting from sort it out. I am selling a small amount of clothes because i can get them cheap enough and bought a small supply to see what the market is like. In relation to the advertising i already said i dont know about that sort of thing thats why i am seeking help. Please read full thread before commenting.

Why don't you know? Why didn't you find this out before you went live? All of the problems should be sorted before the website goes live. I suspect that you did little or no research (market or otherwise) prior to launch. It looks very unprofessional. I'm afraid you only get one opportunity to impress the customer. If you don't do it first time, they won't come back.

As for selling clothes on an "electronics" website, it's not the way to go. Two different markets with different demographics.

I'm sorry, but I'm being realistic here. Too many people just bang up websites / webstores without thinking it through propertly to see if there's a feasible business behind it all.

EDIT: Selling "Johnnies" on an "electronics" website takes the biscuit TBH.

Trojan

wba888: Do you have a business plan for this business?

If you don't have a plan in place then I wouldn't invest any more time or money without stepping back and looking at this from a high level perspective.

Do some start your own business courses. Ring your county or city enterprise board and ask to talk to someone about advice.

wba88

Well its aimed a lot at things which are highly overcharged over here e.g. the johnnies, video games, clothes, chargers etc

Im not only selling on the website, Im going to car boots/markets etc to try and see if there is money to be made

stepbar

wba88 wrote:

Well its aimed a lot at things which are highly overcharged over here e.g. the johnnies, video games, clothes, chargers etc

Im not only selling on the website, Im going to car boots/markets etc to try and see if there is money to be made

According to who? You? What research have you done that points this out? I'm with Trojan on this. I wouldn't waste anymore time on this until you have a properly costed business plan / strategy in place. Its pointless otherwise. Would be akin to building a house without plans / costings. Madness.

BuffyBot

I have to agree with what the others have said on this.

Your main problems are the site (layout, lack of contact details, returns policy, paypal only payment methods, mixed product range) and your strategy (not much prior research re: SEO, advertising).

Condoms, clothes, remote controls, LCD toy dogs - it's like your trying to be Woolworths with 0.2% of the range. You need to find a tighter focus, sort out your plan, sort out your website and then work from there.

nice1franko

No offence sir but that website is pants. I think you'd be better off with an ebay shop. The whole 'beat rip off ireland' idea isn't bad but... as buffybot said, it lacks focus.

If you want to sell all sorts then you need to increase the size of your range *a lot*.

Trojan

Or just market it better. Do or find some research that shows the top 200 most overpriced items on the market. Go price them in your local centra. Then post comparison prices on your site and market your research results. Show people how the items you're selling are actually all linked, they're "the Top200 from RipOffIreland" or something like that. You might be able to pull it off. You definitely need a different URL though.

wba88

To some up why the website looks basic is as i have already said i am not knowledgable in this area and i am trying to keep costs down to pass on the savings to the customers.

stepbar wrote:

According to who? You? What research have you done that points this out? I'm with Trojan on this. I wouldn't waste anymore time on this until you have a properly costed business plan / strategy in place. Its pointless otherwise. Would be akin to building a house without plans / costings. Madness.

Yes according to me I researched these products and their prices and i am confident i have beaten the majority of sellers in Ireland and many in the UK aswell.
http://www.condoms.ie/#pricewatch
thats a website which also watches the prices of condoms and i am beating all the prices on it!

BuffyBot wrote:

Your main problems are the site (layout, lack of contact details, returns policy, paypal only payment methods, mixed product range) and your strategy (not much prior research re: SEO, advertising).

As I already pointed out and am seeking help for.

nice1franko wrote:

The whole 'beat rip off ireland' idea isn't bad

That was my original idea.

Trojan wrote:

Or just market it better. Do or find some research that shows the top 200 most overpriced items on the market. Go price them in your local centra. Then post comparison prices on your site and market your research results. Show people how the items you're selling are actually all linked, they're "the Top200 from RipOffIreland" or something like that. You might be able to pull it off. You definitely need a different URL though.

I used to work in a centra for a while, so i know all of their prices and up-to-date price changes as i know people working in 4 different branches. The problem with a lot of the 'top200' idea is that they are things like cars, very expensive cameras, doctors fees etc, good examples on this page
http://www.ripoff.ie/ripoff_stories.cfm

BuffyBot

As I already pointed out and am seeking help for.

As we pointed out, these are all the things you should have planned pre-launch!

wba88

As I already stated!

wba88 wrote:

I dont have a lot of knowledge in the website area (as you can see), i was trying to keep costs low so i could keep prices low (i now see this was a stupid beginners mistake).

...and...

wba88 wrote:

Please read full thread before commenting.

EKRIUQ

wba if things are slow here set up a E-Bay shop selling goods but also with a link to your website for retuning customers or just to build up trafic

stepbar

It doesn't seem that you are listening to what we are saying. You should have looked at the problems pre launch. No good trying to iron them out when the site is up and running. I would have serious questions as to what market you are actually trying to target. The vast majority of people are pissed off with the rip of prices of many goods in Ireland. How in ever, it's not feasible to target each and every person. It doesnt matter what "you think", it's what your customers think. The fact that you haven't refered to a business plan worries me. TBH you might as well call it a day if you are not prepared to invest a realistic amount of money in the venture. As I've suggested a minimum of 30 - 50k would be needed.

Good luck in your venture but I seriously dont see it lasting (viability) to Christmas.

antoinolachtnai

stepbar: it will be as viable at christmas as it is now. This is costing him very little cash to keep running.

You don't need to spend EUR 30k-50k to set up an ecommerce shop. You should read my book when it comes out!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Impact-Online-Creating-Shoestring/dp/0713675454/ref=sr_1_1/026-9075978-2582038?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186325087&sr=8-1

I do think the OP needs some work on the ol' attitude calibration issues.

nice1franko

To me, the whole thing smacks of car boot sale. That's not just the website and all that entails (very poor navigation, crappy graphics, amateur html, domain name isn't great), it's the small mixed bag of stuff you're selling, no contact details, accepting paypal only, no return policy (edit - or rather, no return policy visible).

It looks like some badly hatched get-rich-quick scheme. I mean, I know you acknowledged your mistake of cutting corners on the website, but, when your only other presence is carboot did you really think you were going to be inundated with orders?

The old old "1% inspiration, 99% perspiration" applies here and if I were you I'd take the quality advice Trojan has given you. The top 200 idea is great. Obviously you can't sell doctors etc but find out what is in the top 200 (or even 100) that you CAN sell - I'd say razors is one? - and highlight the correlation between the products so it doesn't look and feel like a car boot sale.

edit- also, since your target market is Ireland, why not get a .ie domain?

stepbar

antoinolachtnai wrote:

You don't need to spend EUR 30k-50k to set up an ecommerce shop. You should read my book when it comes out!

I agree! but you have to stock it I did mention that. I am talking about the entire business proposition. Anybody handy with computers etc could divvy up a website and make a go of it. Stocking it and making a viable business out of it is another thing.

ircoha

As well as agreeing with all the above, I have to ask why u insist on date of birth and gender for your customers.

Neither are any of your business and without a very specific privacy policy for those who might be foolish enough to fill out the form, you could be accused of being in the identity theft business.

Ther are no contact details etc as listed above: it is exactly this sort of setup that gives the www a bad name

wba88

Ok so it took a while but the extra pages (contact us, shipping, privacy etc) have been sorted and are now showing properly.

@bingobongo: yeah i have been trying to sort out my old account with ebay for ages (it was hacked into and then i couldnt create another account with my email), after four hours of online live chat to them it has been sorted and i will be looking at ebay shop info this wkend.

@stepbar: quote 'It doesn't seem that you are listening to what we are saying. You should have looked at the problems pre launch.' im sorry but i cant go back in time. People make mistakes and can learn from them, everyone has to start somewhere so please try and be more helpful if you are going to post again. Also before I set up the website I posted here and the reply i got from you was 'TBH in the four days this thread has been alive you could have had your business name registered, a bank a/c opened and a domain name with splash page up and running. In fact you do the whole lot in a day. If you're going to be serious about this you need to do it ASAP!!!!!!'. I do not have 30-50K to spend which is why i am starting small and working my way up to that amount of money then i will be able to stock a lot of different items.

@nice1franko: what do you find poor about the navigation, its pretty simple in my opinion. I have explained that I dont know anything about HTML and am looking for help with that.
P.S. razors are notouriously hard to source wholesale and then they could be fakes your buying and you dont want them!

@ircoha: Didnt think about that before, only reason i can think of (for DOB) is because some games are 18+. Changed now.



How do I accept other methods of payment without owning say a credit card machine?
Does anyone have any advise on what to add/remove on the site?

stepbar

wba88 wrote:

@stepbar: quote 'It doesn't seem that you are listening to what we are saying. You should have looked at the problems pre launch.' im sorry but i cant go back in time. People make mistakes and can learn from them, everyone has to start somewhere so please try and be more helpful if you are going to post again. Also before I set up the website I posted here and the reply i got from you was 'TBH in the four days this thread has been alive you could have had your business name registered, a bank a/c opened and a domain name with splash page up and running. In fact you do the whole lot in a day. If you're going to be serious about this you need to do it ASAP!!!!!!'. I do not have 30-50K to spend which is why i am starting small and working my way up to that amount of money then i will be able to stock a lot of different items.

Yes a "splash page". Check out what that means. If you are not prepared to spend the money, there's no point really continuing any further.

wba88

I am prepared to spend money just not 30-50K. I am enquiring about getting a custom template made to make the site look more 'professional'.

stepbar

Well maybe the problem is that you don't believe enough in your business. I'm afraid if you want to look like a professional outfit and earn trust with your customers, you will have to spend the money. That's the bottom line.

wba88

Yes i said i am prepared to spend money and i am taking relevant steps to make the website better.

You seem to know a bit about websites, do you know of any way i can accept credit cards/laser or anything else?

stepbar

I have a masters in strategy, a degree in software systems and I work for one of the top banks in Ireland.

TBH you need to get a merchants a/c with one of the banks. Once you have that in place you can code your website to accept such payments. TBH you need to sit down and think this through, do you have a business plan? No point going any further if you don't.

antoinolachtnai

Why does he need a merchant account? What's wrong with paypal?

Why does he need 30 grand of stock? That could well be 6 months of stock. He only needs a few weeks of cover, he can always get more, the suppliers aren't very far away and if he runs out of a few items it isn't necessarily the end of the world.

If he loads this business with debt, he'll never be able to maintain the low prices, at least not without building up a lot of extra scale.

Business plans are all very well, but the OP won't learn the basics of how to come up with and run a money-making website from writing a business plan. It's an imaginative, creative, learn-by-doing situation.

I would say that the problems are much more fundamental than what stepbar says. Stepbar seems to think that the OP is doing the right thing, just not doing it well enough. I disagree with that. I think he's doing the wrong thing in a barely acceptable way. If he had the right products and positioning, his website would be adequate.

heggie

keeping costs low by not designing a website properly for a WEB BASED business is just stupid. I've seen blog's better looking that that 'site'.

Trojan

One (very important) purpose of a business plan is to force you to work through the business in detail in your head. I believe some of the people posting on this thread have underestimated the value of that.

It's possible to setup and launch an ecommerce site very quickly - yes, within hours even. And sometimes that might be a good idea. In this case, I think it's a terrible idea, because I think the site doesn't do the business justice, and the business will fail very quickly.

I still think the site owner should step back and reconsider how the site is marketed - including site name, URL, look and feel, etc.


(Details removed as not appreciated).

BuffyBot

Why does he need a merchant account? What's wrong with paypal?

A lot of a people don't want to (for whatever reasons) or won't register (to much time/hassle etc) with PayPal just to make a purchase. So you loose those who either object to PayPal and or don't have the will/time to go through PayPal's registration - remember, every extra step in a process loses you customers. Impulse buyers are just that

stepbar

I would estimate that you would need in the region of 30 - 50k to get this show on the road, with the vast bulk of this going on purchasing stock to sell

That's what I said.

You can't expect to run the business with 2 and 3 of everything. Demand picks up and lone behold you sell out. I'd imagine even buying 10 - 20 of those Creative Zen's would cost in the region of 2-3k. Re: Having a merchants a/c - it's the professional way to go. Personally, I couldn't be arsed registering for a Paypal a/c. Most people will be of the same opinion.

Advertising and Marketing is not going to come cheap. However, a scalable website must form the backbone of this operation. A business plan is definatly needed. If I was loaning money to this guy, I would politely tell him to come back when he had one. It's crucial. It's what keeps a lot of people focused. I acknowledge that business plans can change, but not having one is poor.

Pub07

Why would you buy off a dodgy looking site when you can buy off Amazon, etc.... I'd be more concerned with my order not arriving with at all than saving a few cent here and there.
I would take that site down now, reregister with a better name and focus on a particular type of goods. As has been said offering separate types of goods such as jonnies, clothes and electronics on one website only hurts your reputation more. If you're site is big enough eventually you could get away with but not with the range of goods your offering.

That site is dead in the water as anyone who's come across it won't buy from it in future and the name makes no sense. You have a good idea but it's all about the execution, by cutting costs on design you are giving yourself no chance. Shut it down, learn from the mistakes and do it better second time round. I definately think like the idea of beating all your competitors on price but you're gonna have to spend money to start making it.

antoinolachtnai

BuffyBot wrote:

A lot of a people don't want to (for whatever reasons) or won't register (to much time/hassle etc) with PayPal just to make a purchase. So you loose those who either object to PayPal and or don't have the will/time to go through PayPal's registration - remember, every extra step in a process loses you customers. Impulse buyers are just that

1. You don't have to register to pay with Paypal.

2. This has just not been my experience.

stepbar

<EDIT>

antoinolachtnai wrote:

I would say that the problems are much more fundamental than what stepbar says. Stepbar seems to think that the OP is doing the right thing, just not doing it well enough. I disagree with that. I think he's doing the wrong thing in a barely acceptable way. If he had the right products and positioning, his website would be adequate.

antoinolachtnai: I don't think he is doing the right thing, far from it. If it were up to me, I would close this website down. It won't be viable unless there's a business plan produced, an input of real investment, a more focused product range and better / smarter marketing (logo / website address etc). Too many people just think that an online shop is a licence to printing money. Even, at this stage, if the OP did up a business plan; I would suspect it would expose a lot of the flaws this business has. However, no business plan is perfect and may take countless revisions etc.

The OP could do with professional advice. Trojan has given a lot of practical advice already, as have the other posters. It's up to the OP to either take it or not.

mneylon

I think you main issue is the site's design, or lack thereof.

If you can get a professional look and feel to the site then you should see an improvement in sales.

I can't work out what the site is meant to be doing either.

You've a mixture of electronics / gadgets as well as condoms and clothes.

I'd recommend you choose an actual niche and stick with it

BuffyBot

antoinolachtnai wrote:

1. You don't have to register to pay with Paypal.

2. This has just not been my experience.

It's been a while since I've come across a site where paypal is the only option so you may be right (that alone says something, perhaps). However, a lot of people still don't trust PayPal, however for various reasons and that will put some off.

stepbar

I see the OP has an advert on boards now. It seems that he has taken none of the advice given here on this thread. TBH OP, you need to look at this thread and start making the changes that will make this business work. Otherwise you might as well forget about it.

CelloPoint

blacknight wrote:

I think you main issue is the site's design, or lack thereof.

Disagree. I think the main issue is the business model. Site design does not lead to sales in itself. I can't see how the guy can make money. It's not clear to me what the target market is, and I don't think he has the scale nor product range (like Lidl and Aldi do) to effectively communicate to bargain-hunting consumers.

I wouldn't shop on that site even if i was in the market for a pair of new runners. Why? Because "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM".

Welcome to the school of hard knocks.

antoinolachtnai

stepbar wrote:

I see the OP has an advert on boards now. It seems that he has taken none of the advice given here on this thread. TBH OP, you need to look at this thread and start making the changes that will make this business work. Otherwise you might as well forget about it.

It's the op's business and the op's money, and he can do it whatever way he wants. He might not make any money, but that's his business not ours.