Serious online retailers should not forget about eBay stores, as it seems that most successful online retailers use eBay stores as a place to generate brand awareness and also to get new customers.
There are approximately 500,000 online eBay stores and regardless of the recent increases in eBay stores fees, eBay stores still offer good value for money. It is worth researching which one of the eBay stores is best for you and your business as there are several different types of eBay stores to choose from with a huge variation in subscription prices: Basic, Featured and Anchor, with a basic price of 14.99 per month and rising to 349.99 for an Anchor store. However, the eBay stores do offer some great features and may be just what your business needs to boost your sales. Some of the eBay stores features include:
1.A place on the web to boost your brand
2.Tools to personalise your eBay stores
3.eBay stores home page plus product pages
4.eBay stores can use longer listing durations and lower insertion fees
5.You get your very own eBay stores URL so you can drive all online buyers directly to your eBay store.
6.eBay stores logo appears next to your store name in your listings
7.All listings include a See All Items Listed in Your eBay store link
8.Listings show up in eBay Stores gateway search and browse results.
9.Customised newsletters and promotional emails are available
10.You can analyse your eBay store traffic to improve your strategies
eBay has strict rules about advertising your website within your eBay listings, and you cannot link from a listing directly to your website, but an indirect feature offered by eBay stores includes the ability to advertise your web site and link to it!
So directing traffic through eBay stores is the only way that you can advertise your brand and product line on eBay in a cost-effective (and legal!) manner. You can list your products in eBay stores for as little as 1p per item per month (not with the Basic eBay stores though), and eBay stores items get cross-linked from your featured eBay listings bringing you more visitors and lots of targeted traffic.
With so many websites fighting to get high search engine rankings and with eBay getting most of the auction traffic, eBay Stores is an essential factor in any eBay business. For a relatively low investment you get high visibility and extra traffic, but it is only worth doing if you have enough products! So as some of the less profitable sellers may get squeezed out of eBay stores, lots of bigger, more knowledgeable ones will be arriving and setting up their own eBay stores to get a piece of the action!
by Amanda O'Brien - 1st May 2009
