Hello, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams! Glad to see you!
Here comes that good old saying many of us see, hear, and that we repeat to others too. "Don't Place Your Eggs in 1 Basket"
So, here we are another day, another blog, another posting, and what shall I do? Hmm....I know! Let's talk about How Many Storefronts Do You Really Need? We often come across this issue, thought often comes to mind to many of us, and we repeatedly ask ourselves...Do I need another store? Will I make more sales if I have another store? How many stores is enough, and how many is too many? Many questions asked, and with very good reasons too.
The theory behind this is something like the more shops you have, the more eyes that you will attract, more visitors, more traffic, and all of that. There is no right, or wrong answer to this. You must find what works for you. What will work for you, and what you are more comfortable with yourself. Sorry, but I will not be able to give a single answer to this that will cover all sellers. Many mixed feelings, and ideas about it. Some sellers find that having everything under 1 roof works for them while other sellers find they can do better if they separate things into different stores.
First, ask yourself if you should have 1 store per type of product you will be offering, or do you want 1 big store with maybe multiple categories in it. One thing to consider depends on the product you are selling. It may not all be for the same audience, or the customers you serve. The example I will use here would be like selling electronics, and clothing within the same store. Will it work? Is it appealing to you? Try to maybe see it through the eyes of a customer too.
Then again if you have everything into 1 single store it could be helpful because you would have more listings, you would have more people coming in to check things out, could bring you more traffic, the customer would not have to chase around with stores, and so on. Doing this could make a little bit more work making sure you have categories to cover everything of the products you have to offer, and to help assist customers when they do enter your store to visit, browse, and shop. My first thought was kind of like a catalog you would browse, and shop with. Also, Simplicity. If we can keep things closer together in 1 place then how much easier is that not only for us, but also for our customers too.
So, IF you did split things up into separate stores, how much should you have in each one of them? Honestly, I have seen it said many times, and have read it too. You should have at least about 100+ items per store to pull in some descent traffic to your stores, and to better help with trying to get placed with google searches. I am thinking SEO. Actually it would help you with any search engine.
Ok, if you have separate stores should you have all your stores located with multiple market places. Should you have them spread out with different locations. Consider fees, and time spent doing all of this too. It would really depend on the type of product you are offering, and if it would really be necessary to do this too. Ask yourself it is would be beneficial to you.
I do apologize again I cannot give you a right, or wrong answer to this. I have seen many people do many things that work for them. Some have experimented till they found the way that works best for them. I see numerous sellers having 1, 3, 5, 10, 12 shops and more too. They have found this works for them. I am thinking....WHEW!! I myself have had up to like 5-6 shops, and did not really like it. Helps with not duplicating things for sale in your stores, but it was very time consuming to go from store to store, maintain this store, need to do this at that store, and then have to hold up on doing things because I have to get this order ready for shipment from this other store, etc. Ok, this item sold, now which store did I have that listed in. Did I duplicate it, and if so, better get it out of the other store as soon as possible so I do not have a double sale happen to me.
I have narrowed down to 3 stores now, and debate if I should still have 3, but maybe 2. I am testing the 3rd store right now, and see if it is one to keep, or if I should use just the other 2 instead. For me, I will need at least 2 stores because not everything I sell can be considered vintage. Some of it is collectible pieces not old enough to be considered vintage, and therefore cannot be listed with 1 of my stores. So, that is where the 2 stores for sure would come into play for me. Some people are at a venue where they can house everything under 1 store. Hey, I did it with Ebay many moons ago, and I did great with it there! Like everything else, time happens to us, and we feel the need to move on.
Well, I hope this little topic is enough to have you think about what you are doing with your store/stores, and if you feel it is the right path for you to be taking. I wish you all well, and the best of luck with all your decisions, and sales of course too!:) Always Welcome to visit LilacsNDreams, leave comments, and share with us your experiences too. Thanks again everyone!
