"'Set' your Products to Sell" If you spend any length of time
selling products on the Internet, you’re going to find out that
it’s very hard to sell “very low priced” products.
What? Why is that? You’d think that people would LOVE to pay
Very Low Prices for products! Well, that’s true, when they’re
getting value for their money. But there is one thing that will
make your customer back up so fast, they’ll have to make a
“beeping” noise, like a big truck in reverse: Shipping charges.
Ah, yes. Shipping Charges. The bane of the Internet Retailer.
Ground shipping, air, motor freight. Residential delivery
surcharge. Shipping insurance charge. Signature release charge.
They get you coming and going. (Literally!). We sell brand name
products on the Internet using the Drop Shipping method. We have
genuine wholesale distributors who will fill our single-item
orders by wending the products we sell DIRECTLY to our customers
from the warehouse, with our business name on the package. Very
low cost and effective. BUT…they still have to charge us
shipping, which means we still have to charge our CUSTOMERS
shipping. Normally, that’s just fine. Internet customers
understand shipping charges, and with most products, it’s not
even an issue. However, what happens when you have a site that
sells an “accessory” type product that goes along with your
general product line, but only costs about $5 retail? A customer
comes along and wants to buy that inexpensive accessory, but
during the process of completing the order, they realize they
are going to have to pay about $7 in shipping. Ouch! $12 for a
$5 accessory? Don’t think so. So what do you do? Are you going
to deprive your customers of the “accessories” that go along
with your general product line, and possible lose that
customer’s attention for good? Not your first choice, is it?
There’s a way around this problem for many types of products.
Suppose your site sells those cool Velcro-type dart boards that
parents love to give their kids, because Velcro tips won’t put
holes in the walls, or in the other kids either, for that
matter. The dart boards come with a supply of plastic darts.
However, we’re talking about KIDS here. Plastic darts break.
They disappear. They go running off down the road taped to the
tail of the neighbor’s cat. Someday, little Johnny is going to
want to play darts with a Dart Set that has no darts. There will
be crying involved; I have three kids and a grandson, and I know
that sound. Some parents will think ahead and buy some extra
darts from you when they order the Set in the first place. Most
will not. Ok, someone comes back to your site and wants to order
another set of three plastic Velcro darts. You sell them for $5.
The shipping cost is $7. $12 for three plastic Velcro-tipped
darts? Guess what…Johnny’s Mom or Dad is going to decide to
spend some time convincing Johnny that the Dart Set was never
any fun anyway. It won’t be easy, and Mom or Dad will probably
blame YOU for that, whether they should or not. :o) So what can
you do about that? It’s very simple. You can "group" those
little accessory packages of darts, and sell them as "sets". For
example, group FOUR of those $5 packages of darts together as a
single product on your site, and call it a “Complete 4-player
Dart Set” (each player uses three darts while playing, so 4 sets
covers 4 players.) That way, you have something you can charge
$20 for (or a little less, since you’re moving them in bulk),
and the $7 shipping charge suddenly doesn’t seem like so much to
little Johnny’s Mom or Dad. Think about how happy THEY’LL be
with the idea too…EXTRA sets of darts for the NEXT time Johnny’s
darts skip off into the Twilight Zone of Lost Toys! Stretching
it a bit? Sure I am! It’s a story, for the sake of illustration,
but there’s a solid truth at the core: When you sell products
that require accessories from time to time, you should also be
able to supply the accessories in a manner that will be
comfortable for the customer. Think about this too: the products
don’t HAVE to be accessories. This works for ANY individual
products that just happen to be very low priced to begin with.
Be creative! Grouping products into “Sets” can’t be done with
every product, but you should be able to think of a way to do it
for most! Chris Malta WorldWide Brands, Inc. For more
information, visit http://www.YouCanDropship.com
About the author:
Chris Malta is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He has
worked with computer Systems for 18 years. He's been involved in
eCommerce systems, networking and site design for more than 6
years. He developed The Drop Ship Source Directory, and he and
his partners at Worldwide Brands, Inc., publish the Directory
and run eCommerce sites of their own using Drop Shipping as
their only business method.
