5 Random Thoughts on Product Selection

1.  Do I sell one thing or lots of different things?

A question that will have as many different answers as there are retailers.While there is no straight answer, there are things to consider. We can’t all be the walmarts or amazons of the world. These super stores carry a narrow selection of a great many things. In other words, they sell lots of kinds of products, but just a handful of selection in each of the categories. Time and time again it has been shown that small companies do better when they specialize.

2. Keep true to your store name

A lot of times your store name or URL will answer the product selection question for you. Bob’s Store could sell anything, but boathardware.com had better not be selling diamond earrings. Remember, just because you COULD sell a certain product, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. With each product you consider selling, think about how it would go with your other products. Does the new item blend in, or stick out like a sore thumb. If you had a real physical store, and you had these items next to each other on a shelf, how would it look? Remember that your customers are coming to your store for a specific reason. Adding weird and unrelated products can cause confusion and hurt your credibility.

3. Choose a nitch and stick with it

Yes it is here twice; yes it is that important. Specialize, specialize, specialize. It is of paramount importance to find a product you are an expert on, something you have an inside track on, or something that no one else is doing, and be the best at it.

4. One supplier can help with shipping estimates

Having one supplier makes things really easy. There’s no confusion as to where to send an order, you’ve got one point of contact for any and all issues, and you’ve only got to keep up with one set of price changes (and product additions/deletions/etc.). It also makes shipping costs a breeze. If everything is shipping from one zip code, it’s a whole lot easier to use weight and get an accurate shipping estimate. By contrast, if you’ve got 10 vendors from all over the country (as I have), shipping can be a nightmare; you often end up loosing on some shipping, and being unfair on others.

5. One thing puts all your eggs in one basket

However I am not a fan of single source drop shipping. If you have really defined your nitch and there is only one really good drop ship supplier available, then fine. But I think most stores will have the need for enough variety in products to have at least a few vendors. Which is good. Now you do lose the ease of shipping. But one supplier does put all your eggs in one basket, so to say. What if that supplier suddenly goes out of business, suddenly greatly increases your prices, or becomes the most unreliable shipper in the industry? With multiple suppliers you have options. It’s hard to fire a supplier when you’ve only got one. And sometimes you may need to hand out a pink slip or two.

One Response to “5 Random Thoughts on Product Selection”

1. Nathan Says:
   January 15th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

   I agree about #5 Variety is a must. Nobody gets rich selling just one thing. To really profit you have to move many items…

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