#3 Brands & Suppliers
Welcome back as we continue our Out of the Jungle: Product series! We hope you enjoyed the first two volumes, and in today’s blog post we’re going to cover the performance of your brands and suppliers — and, as always, introduce some killer moves to get you ahead of your competitors.
Brands
Every shopper’s preferences are different. Some people like to buy on huge marketplaces, others favour shopping from small niche shops, and some shoppers prefer to shop by brand. Many eCommerce platforms easily allow you to create various brands and assign them while editing or creating a product. By adding your product’s brand name, you can help your shoppers to find what they’re looking for faster, a strategy which positively reflects on your conversion rate.
| Tips & Tricks |
Having a brand name for your product is optional for your storefront, but in the event you’re selling via other sales channels (for instance eBay and Amazon), these may require a brand name to list on their marketplace. What details should you pay attention to while creating brands?
- Brand names
- Page titles (that shows up in SERPs)
- Meta keywords and descriptions
- Search keywords (that shows up in SEO)
- Brand images
- Brand URLs
- Template layouts
If your products are handmade or you are the sole manufacturer, consider creating your own brand name from your website or business name. Your original brand is how people perceive you wherever they interact with your business. Independent eCommerce is thriving despite sites such as Amazon thanks to smaller niche brands because they are focused on doing what marketplaces cannot — providing exclusivity, experience, and personalization. In contrast to generic brands, these businesses are more capable of convincing consumers that they offer the best value irrespective of the price when selling niche products.
Optimizing Your Brands
Knowing the number and quantity of orders per particular brand along with the brand revenue allows you to track which ones are in demand (relative to others). This will help you reveal brands that are not selling and desperately need optimization. You can either decide whether to fix them or remove completely.
Simply put, you need to be responding constantly to changes in your online store and fluctuations in your customers’ preferences. Don’t be afraid to shake things up and offer new brands, so long as you are staying true to your customers and delivering them value.
Did you know? 3 in 5 people would try a new brand if it led to a better service experience.
Suppliers
Choosing a good supplier is also very important to your eCommerce business. They must be able to provide a quality product on time. After all, if your product falls short on any measure, it’s you that customers will hold responsible, not your supplier, and this can be a tragic (and preventable) way to lose business. On top of all this, you must find a supplier whose price is low enough to provide you with a healthy product margin.
There are many different types of suppliers you can choose from. What works best for you will depend on your business model. Let’s say you invented your own product, and rather than making it in-house you want to rely on a manufacturer. You can also cooperate with a regular supplier (manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor of existing products) or a drop shipper who supplies products and fulfills orders for you so that you do not have to carry any inventory.
| Tips & Tricks |
There are some important considerations when choosing a new supplier, regardless of whether they are domestic or foreign.
- Minimum order quantity
- Product price
- Turnaround time (manufacturing and delivery)
- Customer service (so that you can reach them 24/7)
- Payment terms and security
It’s easier to communicate with domestic suppliers, the shipping is faster, quality of products is higher, and there is usually better payment security. On the other hand, it can be more expensive and you may have limited choices when it comes to products. If you’re more into low cost manufacturing, diverse product choices, and don’t want to stress about finding suppliers, you may also consider looking into foreign suppliers (from low cost manufacturing nations). Just know that with these suppliers you get lower quality, longer shipping times, less payment security, and potential language barriers.
Choosing The Right Suppliers
Monitoring orders per particular supplier, along with the related costs and profits, allows you to track which suppliers are performing the best as well as to reveal those that are dragging you down. Yet again, it’s completely up to you whether to improve the terms of your contract with a supplier or move onto someone new.
The cost of poor suppliers can be significant as you run the risk of losing business, incurring additional costs for delays, and handling returns and replacements. Definitely consider having multiple suppliers to avoid these problems, rather than putting all of your eggs in one basket with a single supplier.
Did you know? 52% of small businesses are home-based.
We hope you liked this post! Feel free to share your tips and tricks with us in the comment section below. And as always, stay tuned! The next volume of the Out of the Jungle: Product series, Part #4 Hot & Cold Products, is coming in a month. :-)
