Last shot at this, looking for any help on increasing sales please

#1

Hey guys, been on Amazon for a few years now, and just recently was asked if I would like a 1:1 from Amazon on our account after having posted in a previous thread about lack of sales, but then I got to thinking, the amount of great advice I’ve seen here from other sellers who probably have a better understanding of what’s going on, I’m reaching out to you guys before seeing how a 1:1 goes.

So, basically, we sell all handmade, shampoo bars, conditioner bars, soaps and other products which are on our site but not on Amazon.

When we first started we did do a pretty decent trade, it absolutely helped pay the bills and we are making good profit. Then about a year in, things slowed up, just a fad I thought, then gradually nothing and it’s been like that since. I even deleted all our listings and started again with slightly different descriptions, etc, but our sales on Amazon just have not picked up.

I will admit, I don’t know the Amazon system 100%, but I know enough to list, sell and fulfil without any problems, just don’t know if our listings could be any better or whether we’re just doing something wrong.

Any advice gratefully received :slight_smile:

#2

are you doing FBM or FBA ? and are listing exclusively in Handmade ?

#3

FBM and yes, all exclusively listed in handmade :slight_smile:

One of our products@

#4

do you do any advertising - on or off amazon ?

#5

I would start with a few simple things.

  • Update imagery, you only have one photo on the listing. Add Lifestyle images, dimensions and what the product looks like fully packaged.
  • Update your content. Five bullet points is optimal, but add them at the start of the content, short and to the point, people shop quickly these days and if they have to read to much information then they are likely to switch off.
  • Review your titles. Add eco friendly to the title, and handmade.

You are number 6 in Handmade Hair Shampoo, what are your competitors doing? Review their listings and without copying anything, adapt your listing.

If you can afford to do so, try either Seller fulfilled Prime or FBA, they can be a huge boost to sales ranks and therefore sales.

#6

We did, tried Amazon, no conversations as well as Google, little to no conversations there too, it’s obviously a highly competitive market and I can’t even begin to imagine how much money goes into some marketing budgets, unfortunately having already dipped our toes in advertising with no success it’s a frightening prospect to try and throw big budgets at it.

#7

That is absolutely on our to-do list

On it :wink:

On it :wink:

As for the other points, absolutely will take a look and see what they’re doing that we’re not, we did do that before after sales slumped and it didn’t appear to make a difference, but we’ll certainly go back again and see if anything has changed.

#8

I’m also in Glasgow…I like the “Sea You” !

#9

Think it takes a ‘weegy’ to get that one :slight_smile:

#10

With regards to titles, do not just try and throw as many keywords in as possible as it makes them look messy.

As a complete side note, I had a look at your website, products look great. I particularly like the half bar testers, fantastic idea. Maybe run with that premise and do a Half Shampoo and Half Conditioner set. Could be a good product to market as a eco friendly gift, the complete hair washing kit. (although I dread to think how painful setting that up as a multivariation listing would be)

#11

Def not, I’m working my way through the listings right now and will be cautious of that

We have steered clear of the variations till now, wasn’t available on handmade previously but is now, it’s def something to think about, could be a good showcase for the other products :slight_smile:

#12

Variations on these types of products would be superb and would also highlight the rest of the range.

#13

The products look good to me. I did search for one of your bars and it came a long way down the search results which will not be helping your sales at all.

I can see from your feedback it looks good but then just stopped. I think it is a shame you deleted the original products as this may have removed any reviews and sales ranking you had but you should be able to recover from that.

I would look at some of your content in your product, I got lost reading one about being a god or goddess. I get what you are trying to do but there were too many words trying to make me interested in the product.

Your products you have a good price point and I like the fact that you use no plastic in any of your product packaging. FBA may help sales but you may have to end up putting your items in poly bags or extra packaging for Amazon which will negate a good selling point you have.

I think you just need some good sales to improve your rankings. Definitely work on some of your content to help with this. As I said to someone else on another thread if you have scope to reduce price temporarily this can sometimes help to drive sales and push your ranking up, but not sure you will have the scope as your product is competitively priced.

I do really like your products though I think they look good I hope you make a success of it.

#14

Loving all the help so far guys, noting it all down :sunny:

Noticed that myself which is why I’m so open for any advice :slight_smile:

Yeh, definitely a palm on face moment in hindsight

Believe it or not that’s the shortened version lol !! Will mark this suggestion down too and keep it short, sweet and brief.

We’re totally aiming for zero waste, we’re there with the bars, and we do liquid shamp/cond in PET recycled bottles, sometimes it’s just really difficult to keep the plastic free promise, we’re hoping to do jelly body soaps too and may have no choice but to put them in plastic contains, but we really do try to go PET recyclable as much as possible but it still puts some off I think.

Really nice of you, thanks, we’re not down and out on Amazon yet hopefully, but it’s one of those situations we’ve got used to, the site still draws good profit, but it would be nice to get more exposure from Amazon to help :slight_smile:

#15

from this enquiry, I’ve found your website
as a daily swimmer (in an outdoor pool :cold_face::cold_face::cold_face:) the 1/2 size shampoo & conditioner set in a tin is defo something I’d consider

#16

We’re def going to list that on Amazon shortly, just working our way through all the suggestions to get a final list of the changes we’re going to make to the existing listings :slight_smile:

#17

I too think your products look lovely! Presuming that they aren’t tested on animals I’d like to see that in the product description as well as the eco friendly credentials.

Some thoughts for advertising:

Send a press release and sample to magazines. As you have your own website you’d probably want to send any customers there rather than here, but…

I’m in the process of converting my car/van into a micro camper and am spending a lot of time looking at ‘van life’ videos on YouTube. A lot of them are vegan and environmentally conscious, especially if they are going to be disgorging their ‘grey’ water into the countryside. Most shower at gym chains so would probably rather not be lugging heavy bottles plus they also need to make the most of their space in the van. The biggest plus point though is that they ALL seem to shop on Amazon and a lot of them have Amazon affiliate links. Could you possibly send a couple of samples to the ones with the biggest following and ask them to review them (either with or without an affiliate link?)

#18

Definitely not, everything we make is pretty much tried and tested on ourselves, family, friends and a few select customers who we think would be interested.

I’d need to investigate this more admittedly, but any time we’ve seen potential to be included in magazines, etc, there is always a price involved and it’s quite a hefty price tag, but I will have to look further in the hope we are able to find someone who is willing to include our products because they like them, rather than because we’re simply paying for them to include them :slight_smile:
The camping/gym market is a great suggestion, we have incorporated a conditioning ingredient within our shampoo bars too and for the majority of people with short hair this would be a great time saver, those with longer hair may still need a conditioner afterwards but any opportunity has to be explored and I’ll certainly give that one a try :slight_smile:

Rather spookily, I’ve only just discovered the whole van life on YouTube myself and found it quite interesting to watch, at some point the thought did cross my mind about those with limited space, etc, but it was one of those thoughts that literally came and went, but thanks for poking me on this one, def worth more thought and investigation.

#19

I don’t know which type of magazines you have approached but I worked in the magazine industry for 40+ years and there is no charge to be included on their news pages?

I think you must mean advertorials which do have a cost but literally, all you need to do is put together a one page press release, some images on a DVD and a sample and mail it to whoever compiles their news pages.

#20

Since someone mentioned that you are in Glasgow, these two are travelling Scotland at the moment! 8.14 subscribers.