6 New Year’s Resolutions to Skyrocket Your Private Label Sales
So, now you’re in the thick of holiday sales. You’re probably ready for a rest, but as we discussed last time, there’s still too much to do! Your after-holiday preparations will help you power through to the new year, but if you want to grow as a business and increase your sales even more in 2019, you have even more work ahead of you.
Here are six new year’s resolutions you should make right now if you want to skyrocket your private label sales next year.
Expand Your Product Line
If you’ve seen success with your first private label product, then it’s time to expand that product into a product line. Admit it: You’ve already thought about other products you could add to your Amazon storefront. Regardless of your current offering, there are probably dozens of other options you could add.
How can you choose and source these additional products? First, consider your brand. If your private label products support your business—such as a life coach, chef, yoga instructor, or other business—then many new product options may be obvious. Next, think about what your competitors are doing. You may want to attempt to outsell them on particular items, or you could use that information to help you choose items that aren’t already saturating the marketplace. Finally, ask your customers! What would they like to see you sell? Buyers love to offer their feedback, and they’re always very excited to see that feedback put to good use.
When sourcing your new products, we always recommend the Canton Fair, which takes place in April. It’s the best way to find manufacturers with whom you can build relationships, and hot new products that haven’t hit the market yet. We’ll talk about that a little more later.
Improve Your Marketing Techniques
We talk about marketing techniques a lot here, but that’s because it’s so important. Yes, marketing can be a large expense, but you must consider it an investment into your business. You know the old saying, “You have to spend money to make money!” That’s never truer than when talking about your marketing and advertising.
You may have even put some of our suggestions into practice, including social media posts, videos, and SEO. The truth is that there’s always room for improvement. Let’s consider some of the marketing you could put into place in the new year.
Social Media
Having a Facebook page isn’t enough. While you might show up in searches on occasion, you won’t receive a lot of organic traffic. You’ll need to update your followers on a regular basis so that you stay top of mind. Provide images and video of your products at least three times per week. Invite your buyers to provide reviews so that you can share them with your Facebook fans. The more you post, the more likely you’ll be to show up in the timeline feeds of users.
The same is true for Twitter. In fact, the half-life for a Twitter post is so short that you might want to consider multiple posts per day, or at least one per day. If your posts are especially engaging, evoking emotions like humor or nostalgia, then you’re more likely to experience a longer life as people like, retweet, and reply. Sometimes just a little more attention to the content you share makes all the difference.
Finally, consider the effect that some sponsored posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter might have for your business. When you post to these platforms, you reach only those who already follow you—and in some cases, their friends will also see the post. With carefully crafted ads on these platforms, you can reach your exact audience, even those who’ve never heard of your products before. You can choose various goals for your ads, from increased brand awareness to increased sales, so you can alternate between building your audience and increasing your bottom line.
Website Marketing
Your single most valuable marketing asset is your website. We’re not talking about your marketplace storefront on Amazon, but rather a website that is dedicated to your brand and your products. If you don’t have one, then it’s time to build it now.
Through your website, you have the chance to increase your SEO results so that you appear in searches before any of your competitors. With a website, an Amazon storefront, and social media accounts, your brand could take over a large majority of the top search results, which directs customers to you first.
If you do have a website, then resolve to make it better this year so that you can reap more benefits. If you’re only blogging once per week, increase it to two times per week, so that you can increase the number of pages that Google will index. If you haven’t paid attention to labeling your images with titles and alt text, start taking care of that now. And, of course, make sure the user experience is always at the top of your mind so that buyers who visit your site never leave in frustration. Good navigation, working links, and easy-to-read text can go a long way toward improving buyer happiness.
Create Positive Customer Experience
There’s no better way to bring more customers to your private label business than to make the experience for your current customers as wonderful as possible. Why? Because they go tell others!
There are a few ways to improve your customer experience, starting with your check-out process. If you sell products on your site, be sure you have a powerful and easy-to-use ecommerce platform. Another option is to link directly to your products on Amazon. The easier it is for buyers to check out, the more likely they’ll be to complete the action.
A great check-out experience is just the beginning, though. Your buyers should know they’ll get terrific service before, during, and after the sale. Be ready to answer any questions wherever you may receive them, whether by phone call, a comment on your website, or through social media messenger apps.
Go to China!
As we mentioned, there is no better way to source and import products for your private label business than to attend the Canton Fair in China. We don’t recommend that you attempt this trip on your own, however. That’s why we offer a group trip, complete with classes and one-on-one instruction on how to build relationships with reliable suppliers in China. If you’re looking to increase your private label sales in the new year, then you’ll want to be with us when we attend the fair in April. We only have two spots left, so be sure to sign up right away!
With these resolutions in mind, you’ll be well on your way to skyrocketing your private label sales in 2019. As always, we’re here to help any time you need us. You can schedule a call or join our private Facebook group for answers to your most burning questions.
