Hey there. I’m home for the holidays on the coast of Maine. It’s oddly warm here with no snow as far as the eye can see. But I’ll take home over Michigan with no complaining.

Sales weren’t what we’d hoped this Christmas. I wonder if our clients were just too busy buying for others to buy for themselves. I personally buy more for myself while I’m out shopping for others. It’s part of the fun of shopping! But our women that we market to were otherwise occupied.

Last year we did better in January than December! And each month was progressively more successful. I’m hoping for a repeat of that. I think we are going to really focus on a change in our product line. We are planning on having a large sale to clean house, and get some new exciting merchandise in. It’s just not moving fast enough for Lee Ann and I. And this week, after Christmas, sales are so sleepy. It’s a bit scary. But such is the life of a small business. It makes me thankful that we didn’t get in over our head when sales were through the roof earlier this year. It’s been a substantial ebb and flo this year. I’m looking forward to picking up some more. The business is obviously much for exciting when your clients are buzzing about your new loot.  Wish us luck to find what we are looking for. We start in a week or so. (more…)

Hey there folks. I am what I call “in the weeds”. Lee Ann, my business parter had to rush to the hospital with gallstones…IT’s THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS!! She’s freaking out. I’m freaking out. Did I mention that it’s the week before Christmas? Wow, this brings up so many issues. The most important of which is that it’s so crucial to know what everyone in your business does! Thankfully, I’ve packed up orders before. Typically Lee Ann handles all fulfilllment. I’m just the web page queen. I run the store, she handles all customer service. And right now, I can’t seem to get into my 1-800 number voicemail to return phone calls.

An update on a previous blog…I turned on Google for a week or so. I was curious what it would do for us. I just had to see. It’s done a little, and my conversion rates are acceptable…meaning it’s costing me a reasonable amount to make those sales. Of course I’d prefer not to be paying Google, but to pump gift givers in, it just seems like a no brainer. I think our product line must be more pleasing because we are doing better than we have in the past. I also set my budget much higher, and even though I’m not even coming close to using all of that budget, it ensures that I place high, and that’s important. It just stinks that even though you place high organically, that being the first few on that page is crucial to making those sales!

ok, gotta go work on getting into my voicemail..

Does anyone out there have any experience with featuring and discounting one product each day? I am curious what that would do. I would hope that it would keep people coming back on a daily basis to check up on the deals. But it could just be a lot of work for nothing.

This month’s Practical Ecommerce profiles a site called Woot.com, and it looks like they always have a promo going, this week it’s a half dozen bottles of wine for $59. We highlight products every week, but we don’t necessarily discount them. Discounting them may offer more incentive to return. I like the lighthearted tone of their site. It’s funny to go through. I enjoyed it.

Business is going quite well. It’s hard to believe that we are in the full swing of the holiday. It comes and goes so quickly, only another week and a half of real shopping left! I don’t know if we’ll hit our sales goals yet, but it’s looking good…