Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Help Promoting New Online Outlet Store

Posted by jarcher on 1/28/2009 at 2:17 PM ET 350 Points
We are setting up an outlet store on our website, www.seekwellness.com. We currently have a store already set-up, but we have decided to set-up a second store on the site that offers volume discounts, buy-in-bulk, free products, etc. It's our way of helping our visitors during the tough economy.

Where we need assistance...
1. Do you have suggestions on how to promote this store without taking away from our existing e-commerce sales?

2. Are there any other products you can suggest for us to add to the store?

Thanks for your help!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 1/28/2009 at 4:39 PM Member
    Maybe you've already considered this, but what not create two separate stores? One with for your full margin merchandise and the other for your closeout items.

    Zappos is an example of a eretailer taking this approach. They have the main site with their awesome shipping guarantees, service, etc. And then they have 6PM.com where they sell heavily discounted, presumably slow selling shoes.

    Seems like an effective way to move closeouts without harming the parent brand image.
  • Posted by jarcher on 1/28/2009 at 4:46 PM Author
    I apologize for not being clear. We do have two stores.

    www.seekwellness.com/mystore
    www.seekwellness.com/outletstore
  • Posted on 1/28/2009 at 8:24 PM Accepted
    If you have the same domain name it's going to be difficult to convince two different target audiences that you really have two separate/different stores. Just putting them in separate directories doesn't quite do it.

    More importantly, the reason to have two stores is to appeal to different target audiences. You need two different positionings, one for each store, and delivering appropriate and specific benefits to each target audience. Otherwise your customers will be confused and probably go elsewhere altogether.

    This is a positioning and branding issue and you should take it very seriously if you're serious about wanting to build and sell through two different stores. It can be done, but there are many ways to screw it up and not too many ways to do it right.

    You might want some outside assistance with this.

    P.S. How are you planning to generate awareness of your stores? That might also help solve the branding problem.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/30/2009 at 8:26 AM Accepted
    I think you're going about this backwards. Why not combine the two stores into one, and offer a category of "specials" or "closeouts" for many of your outlet items (or offer product suggestions based on price range)? Right now, people shopping one store won't see the other offerings, and since you're targeting the same people, you have the potential for missed sales.
  • Posted by jarcher on 2/2/2009 at 6:56 AM Author
    Thank you for your feedback. I will present these ideas in our upcoming marketing meeting for consideration. I'd like to keep this up for another day or so, just to see if I can get some more insight on it.
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