What gets you buy online? (1 Viewer)

[Joker741]

What gets you to buy online?

Posted this on anouther site, thought I would try here.

As some of you know I own a clothing company and I am wondering what gets you to buy online? I get tons of traffic to the website (almost 70,000 hits) and very few online sales. At the tracks I sell a lot, but can't seem to get the website to produce orders. I have done several website changes and have offered many specials to get people to buy. I even have people doing Google searches for my site and still the site isn't doing much. So, I was wondering, what gets you to buy online?

Please don't delete, I am not trying to sell anything in this post, just trying to get some information and new ideas.

Thank you for any input you have, I appreciate it.

 

[willy]

Give me a link there, John..and I'll give you an unbiased opinion.

I don't see your request as advertisement.

 

[downtime]

Same here. A link would help and if it is against rules to post it email me at [email protected]

 

[Joker741]

Joker Race Wear

There you go, and thank you.

 

[r2]

I already went to the site, and having been in this industry for more than 20+ years, this is my opinion... You have to give the buyer, me, more than a few words or logo on a shirt unless you are Hart&Hunnington or O.C.C because everyone wants to be cool... They are simply to plain looking IMO... But I have never figured out this market yet either... Many have tried and failed... It is not an easy business to be in, unless you are cutting edge or just plain lucky... Give a few to racers to walk around the pits in, and if someone sees a racer wearing one, or catch it on TV they will inquire on how to get their hands on one or two and so on... Like I said, it is a very tough market John... Best of luck, and a great question for us marketing types...

 

[downtime]

Initial impression (before thinking about it).

If the primary purpose is to sell clothes, it does not look like a clothing site...

It looks like a racing site with clothes as a sideline.

Initial thoughts, before looking at pricing, is a preconceived notion that branded items are expensive and there is no way to try on a size.

Ladies buy clothing as much or more so than men so the site needs to appeal more to the female demoraphic, in my opinion. Also, guys that will buy at a track are not likely to be searching online, but their girlfriends or wives might as a birthday or holiday present.

If you want to sell cloths, make the primary focus the clothes and use the racing as a backdrop. I think what you have built is more of a "fan" site than a commerce site.

As much as my wedding services and IT services support my racing, those site do not focus on the racing. For commerce I have a link off my championnetworks page called "domain signup". It is where I sell internet services. There is a picture of my car but it is not the focal point to the site. The v-nup.com site will have links to the championnetworks site and to the tntdragracing site very soon, but the focus is on weddings.

I have a wedding this Saturday night because the bride wanted to be married by a racer (she thought it sounded exciting), but the focus is on weddings, not racing.

Perhaps you should buld a separate apparel site with some cross links to help generate traffic?

Ok... Those are initial and unrefined thoughts. I'll think some more about this and hopefully other people (that usually know far more than me) will chime in as well.

 

[PJ]

I'm a purchasing manager where I work and spend much of my day and time online buying items. I've seen all kinds of websites

The site seems cumbersome. I have fast internet and never have to wait for pictures to download but I did here.

On the product page I would have the shirts as thumbnails with an easy click taking the viewer to the larger pic and ordering page. Currently having it on the side it takes to long to compare and they are too small to see.

Much like Ray said they're simple shirts. Nothing wrong with that but for 20$ a bit much. People at the track will dole out larger sums, it is part of "being there" and being caught up in the atmosphere. Searching the web people can compare your shirts and prices to a million other sites. That same 20$ will not be spent as easily online as it is at the track.

Good luck

 

[Joker]

I think the site is ok, matter of fact I even like the black hat with white lettering on the back of it. You just might convince me to buy it! I do agree though it does look more like a racing site than a appareal site. I think the pics need to be a little bigger. Are you advertising anywhere?

And ofcourse online will never sell like being at the track. I like the shirts, but I too think they are a tad plain but alot of shirts are. I myself like wild, colorful shirts but thats me. If I were you I would have some kind of Joker face or something that jumps out at you on the home page along with some shirts or something instead of the racecar pic. I think thats what makes it appear more of a racing site.

Also, I dont like having the slides up and down on the left and having to load them to see them. I think a page full of larger thumbnails would be better. You click on the pic and it brings up a large pic with the details and cost. I dont think its bad, just could use some improvements.

 

[r2]

Simple is a much better word then Plain John... Sorry bout that...

I've done alot of Drag Racers shirt designs, and what sells besides it being their favorite driver are colors in the design, the bigger the overall design the better... You cannot imagine how hard it is to put a drivers name, wording, logo's etc. along with a drawing of the car onto the front or back of a simple T-Shirt... I think your logo is cool... But I do not have an answer for you, other than come up with more designs that are not as simple... It works great for H&H, OCC, Under Armor, Nike, again etc. etc. etc. I agree with the changes to the site itself as well... This is a fall on your face and get back up and try it all again business... It is not easy to keep getting back up... But if you don't just give up, and do what you are doing here... Asking for suggestions, I think that will help you in the long run... Look how many people may go and look now that you asked a simple question... Take all of the advice, and make it work for YOU...

 

[Just Paul]

I don't think it's you, I bet if you had the data on the merchendise sales from the NHRA track Nitromall, and from the Online Nitromall, there would be a big difference.

 

[Joker741]

Thank you guys for all your feedback, I really appreciate it a ton. I have been at this for 2 years, starting my 3rd and have been working hard to improve and grow. I have changed the site more than once and it looks like I will be working on it some more. I figure asking questions is the only way to help grow at this point cause I am getting frustrated. I have some new designs in my head, and I am working on them as we speak. I am not great at graphic design, but I can create images well enough to get the idea across to my printer.

Again, thank you for your help, gotta love the racing family.

 

[Joker]

By the way, I really do like the joker logo.

 

[Mike]

John, I got married so I wouldnt have to shop. I hate it! Online is perfect for me.

 

[Joker741]

Thanks for the replies, I have some work ahead of me now.

 

[PJ]

Now dont' forget we expect commisions for all of our great ideas.....even Ray's lord knows the boy tries

 

[Joker741]

Now dont' forget we expect commisions for all of our great ideas.....even Ray's lord knows the boy tries

CHeck's in the mail, all you have to do is wait by the mail box till it gets there.

 

[Joker]

Hey John, I thought about this today. Why dont you set up a myspace page. That way, once you get your friends built up you can mass bulletin hundreds/thousands of people every week or so and tell them to take a look etc. Just a thought.

 

[mick]

1st off, i agree with PJ, your site loads very slowly.
2nd - spend some $$ if you can and put yourself higher on web
search lists.
"drag racing apparel" & "drag racing shirts"
i googled both and did not find you in first 4 pages (40 selections)
usually i will not look past 2 pages for anything.
good luck with your business.