MARKETING ON EBAY

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Marketing on eBay



Marketing on eBay

Introduction

Marketing by itself is an important aspect of a business. Better marketing ensures bigger sales. Most prominent companies promote their brand through marketing as it is one of the surest ways to reaching out to prospective customers. The same needs to be adopted when selling on eBay since marketing is a powerful tool. The number of areas where your product is marketed and the various ways in which it is promoted makes a big difference so; independent marketing definitely counts in staying ahead of the competition (Cohen, 2003).

Discussion

When you're selling on eBay, and you have created a distinctive eBay store with a unique look and feel, you have the advantage of the built-in marketing engine that eBay itself promotes. eBay of course, is a widely recognized brand, and as the owner of an eBay store, you ride on the coattails of that brand and derive benefit from it (Lynn, 2006).

Because of this “coattail effect”, many eBay sellers mistakenly believe that they do not need to do any independent marketing. Thousands of people get the idea that they can make big money on eBay, simply by opening an account, taking a few pictures, and creating listings, and letting eBay do the rest. Regrettably, that's not the case.

The marketing power and brand recognition of eBay is just a start. Suppose for example, you open up an eBay store called “Dragon Jewelry”, and you specialize in jewelry in the shape of dragons. Nobody has ever heard of “Dragon Jewelry”, but they have heard of eBay, so you'll pick up a few sales just by being there. But, the operative word there is “few”—eBay gets you started, and it's up to you to take your business the rest of the way.

The best way is to advertise off eBay. Listing your items on eBay gives you great visibility, but you should remember that there are thousands of other sellers and millions of other products. It's easy to get lost there. Don't rely solely on eBay to drive traffic to your eBay store. Instead, be proactive in generating leads by driving traffic on your own, through things like pay-per-click advertising campaigns, email marketing and newsletters (Daniel, 2006).

Vary the product mix which you have chosen. You've found a successful set of products, and they're moving well. Why not stick with it? Simple—because other eBay sellers will notice your success very quickly, and you will get more competition before you know it. Your customers will disappear and go to other vendors offering the same thing. Stay one step ahead of the competition. When something is selling well, take advantage of that while you can. But at the same time, keep your eyes open for new product opportunities at all times.

Try to make your own brand. When you tell people, “I'm an eBay seller”, you're just one more of the tens of thousands of eBay sellers out there. You have no distinct identity as an eBay ...