Creativity in times of crisis

by David Espino

The online auction marketplace has continued virtually unabated through the terrible events that hit our Nation in September and the current concerns that are being reported in the news.

Consumers, perhaps anxious for a little escape, have been shopping online even more than at "brick and mortar" locations.

eBay recently reported an increase in activity, showing surprising sales strength in times of crisis.

While the events of September 11^th may not have hit the online auction business directly, the ensuing ripple effect on the economy may still have a negative effect.

It would be prudent to prepare and begin to open up new avenues of sales in order to ensure that your income continues and /or grows.

Here are a few ideas that may help in bolstering your online auction business:

Expand your attitude - Don’t be afraid to try new ideas, new products, new strategies. Do a little bit of creative web-surfing, find a hot new product that will sell, step outside of your normal ways of thinking, break out a notepad and begin writing. When we use our creativity to solve problems, it’s amazing what we can come up with. Consider "brainstorming" with your spouse or best friend, read some books on successful entrepreneurs and gain inspiration from that.

Sales down? List more! - When things are slow, that’s when it’s time to "charge!". Move forward, don’t wallow. List more items. List a bigger variety of items. Go out searching for unusual items that you wouldn’t normally list. Try new things! Don’t let the circumstances get you down, alter and change the circumstances. You can do it!

Diversify - Horizontally and Vertically - Diversification simply means "not putting all your eggs in one basket". By diversifying, you are increasing the possibilities for success. Be careful not to diversify too quickly or too broadly, though! Vertical diversification means that you are adding products that are directly related to your main product. Horizontal diversification means that you are adding products that are not directly related to your product, but that the same customers will be interested in. An example of Horizontal diversification would be at the car wash. When you take your car to the car wash, you are there for a wash. But when you go inside to pay, you are greeted with all kinds of ancillary products, some for your car and others that are "impulse buys". Most of these impulse buys are the car wash’s successful "horizontal diversification"! Find ways to diversify and add similar or related products to your line.

Investigate new sources of merchandise - There are approximately 65 new products created every day in America. Search out the best ones, the profitable ones, the new ones that haven’t hit yet. Contact suppliers, develop relationships, expand your contacts. Always be on the lookout for new products!

Stay in touch with existing customers - Your customer list is valuable, but many of us are not re-contacting our customers to tell them about our current auctions, or to tell them about a sale on our website! This is the most efficient and powerful form of marketing. How else can you achieve so much for such a small cost? In a recent article I wrote for SuperSeller, (8-6-01 - Customer Management: The key to online sales success) I explained how to do this and gave some tools for managing your customer base. If there’s anything that can catapult your business to greater success, this is it!

As the ripple effects continue to spread throughout the economy, it would be a good idea to step back, sit down and begin to formulate new plans with new ideas and get some new results.