Advice on ways of selling a small but changing stock range

Do you have a good relationship with your supplier who allows you to buy a few of each model ie 5x bmi A320 5x Baby 735's 2 x MYT A330 etc or better still can you find someone who can provide you with models on demand so you can list a few on the site and offer "Any model available (almost any)" type offer asking customers to contact you. Good luck

www.anglosino.co.uk

Hmmm, tough one.

Personally while you are still "testing" your idea I would keep it simple. Display all your models on a nice simple clean website, make sure you can easily be contacted with enquiries, market the backside off it and see how it goes.

Displaying everything you can offer is wise. Even if people have to wait while you get it yourself, if it is what they want, and you keep them in the loop, from my experience they will wait (not forever though).

Then once you have enough "feedback" as to its potential, then you can look into online ordering, what e commerce to use etc etc. These choices are much easier to make once you have at least some quantifiable idea as to what return you will see from your initial spend.

Thats my penniesworth, hope it helps. Just to let you know, I did exactly the same with a product I messed about with and it proved to be the right idea. I just built a simple, clean but appealing site, put all the info and product pictures on there and my contact info. Marketed the best I could on zero budget and waited. Once I got to a regular number of calls and emails from people enquiring about purchasing I then looked into online ordering etc etc. I sold three this week !!

Best of luck

Kane

Hi,

Having an ecommerce website with few products can make some visitors think 'small fry' and click away - but that does depend on how your website looks. A website can be created typically for a small business with varying products - you just have to ensure the site is created to reflect this.

I have seen some websites where the front page seems to show a huge, well established business that is second to none in their field - but stock just 4 products (when compeititors stock hundreds more) - this does put customers off. Be honest with visitors from the home page, explain the benefits of the site (constantly changing new products). Inticing people to sign up to newsletters (to email them with new products), regular updates to show there is someone behind the site and a message board would work wonders for return visitors.

The message board is a good idea, especially if you can entice people to post message because not only will this create a 'commmunity' but people (and customers) feeling part of a site generally are more loyal and are great for marketing (and word of mouth). Just need to keep the message board busy because a message board like a ghost town, and very few products may turn people away.

Also don't overlook search engine placements as 'Model Aircraft' is searched on approx. 3,100 times each month from the UK (based on Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Alta Vista and Google) - so a well optimised website can work wonders for turning a small business in to an established business which would also allow your products to grow.

I also have helped small business stablish their presence on the net and can generally provide a solution or ideas within most budget ranges so if you would like any help please do not hesitate to contact me through my website.

Kind regards,

Dean

C2 Web Design

http://www.c2webdesign.co.uk