Filling Up The Shop

Well it's now mid September and time to be focusing on new designs and upcoming holidays for my store. As you know with any business or store you have to be ahead of the game with your marketing.  Zazzle has given us a list of upcoming special days and celebrations that all shop keepers should be planning for. If you want to catch early sales and stay on par with other stores you have to be working on these things early, way before the holidays arrive. 

I have to admit I've been concentrating more on the marketing end of things and haven't been designing very much over the last few months. I realize now I better get hustling and fill my shop up with trendy and unique designs on products that will begin selling this fall and winter season.  

I've been inspired the last few days to play around with my paint program and have created a few new designs to share with you. Another great thing that Zazzle has recently added for the benefit of designers is that now all images can be transferred to any product. So if you see a design that say is on a t-shirt but you would like it on a coffee mug then you as the customer can go ahead and choose to have it placed on the cup.  That's a pretty cool feature and should benefit designers. 

Visit the Shop

Holiday Selling Tips for Your Online Shop

I hope you’re working hard and steady on your marketing strategy for the busy holiday season. Here are a few tips to get your shop ready for the holiday selling season. I feel like I've been working on Christmas and holiday designs for awhile already.  I’m sure you know that the stores in the shopping malls have already got holiday items on their shelves. Seasonal and promotional items, holiday and Christmas displays are popping up everywhere. It seems before one holiday or event is over the next one is in full swing. 

Big box stores have decorated Christmas trees and many holiday themed items on display. When people see these items it starts the ball rolling and many people start purchasing their gifts earlier and earlier every year. Personally I feel it is a little too early for me to see Christmas items in the stores in October but as an online small business owner I understand that one has to get on board and be prepared well in advance to have our online stores and websites prepared for those early shoppers. 

Marketing research and trends show that more and more people are shopping online and this surely will only increase with the convenience of shopping from the comfort of one’s home! 

So how do you get your online store ready. Well, first off you must have a plan, this is so important. Take a look at your inventory and decide what you need or want to showcase in your store. What are the trends and items that will attract customers to buy in your shop. What will be your big holiday sellers this year? Is there something particular that you want to feature? Do a review of what items sold well for you last year and what items didn’t move at all. With millions of online businesses the competition is fierce and just thinking that the customers will come and buy from you without you putting in some serious marketing efforts is pretty silly.

Use all available social media platforms that you are active in. Just do it subtly, nobody wants to just see a big push of your items, add something of value when you can. Perhaps offer a sale coupon or a contest.

When marketing add appropriate hash tags, like #holidayspecials, #holidaydeals, #blackfriday, etc. This will help when people are searching for shopping deals.  Don’t leave it too late or you seriously might miss your window of opportunity. The shopper’s will buy elsewhere and you don’t want to miss out on the sales!

Here are some of the latest products I've been designing for Designs by Shell. 

Green Bicycle Socks

Ice Cream Cone Socks

Ice Cream Cone Towel Set

Holiday Decor Towel Set

Keep working toward your goals!