How Much is the Competition Selling? Is It More Then You Are?
I got a call today from a women who wanted to build a ecommerce site and has been interviewing us. She is selling what I would consider a commodity - clothing related apparel. Has a good chance to make money. Well known brands etc.
She asked me this, “Ian, I am really considering this, but I need to know that this idea will make some sales online for us before I can commit to the costs of building the store.”
I answered, “Well do this….. Go to the site you said you would be competing against and place an order on the 1st of the month and then another on the 30th of the month. Look at the order #’s and see how many order have been placed between your orders - now you know about how many they have taken online. Multiply that times the avg order amount and you can predict their sales for the month.” SNEEKY!
This is CHEAP research on the competition. Also gets you a look at their packaging which is very important!
Ian