Economy killing Internet sales?

[Marcie]

I want to pose this question. Prior to reading 4HWW I had a cafepress store. Last year, I sold about 20 t-shirts (just one example) for St. Patrick's Day. This year, only one. Also, the tests I did for muses in 2007 showed promise, but I am struggling with sales in 2008. Has anyone else noticed a similar trend - esp. those of you with web sites with some history? Thanks for adding to the discussion :)

[daelx]

Yes, I've noticed a significant drop in sales. So far I'm tracking 20% less than last year.

I've been selling online since 1998, and this is the first year I've seen a drop in sales. So 20% is very significant.

I'm just watching it carefully and moving to offline marketing sources.

[webgal]

I just started this year with an actually product to sell so I have no comparison figures. However, many of my clients' sales have dropped significantly.

My work slowed down the latter part of last year, too. I've not had a slow period in over 10 years and am usually turning down more work than I can take. I had to re brand and do new marketing to reach a more global audience. It worked but it wasn't fast. And if I did not have faith in knowing that what I was doing was the right way, I'd have given up sooner.

This year is better as a result of going after a new target market but I've noticed I'm getting TONS of email requesting me to do something free or for $150. I've even gotten requests to "take a quick look" at target market campaigns that would require weeks of my time. It sort of reflects a sense of desperation.

We ran a charity auction this year and I've been on that committee for 3 years. It was TOUGH this year getting donations. But we matched last year which was a miracle.

So it's not great, that's for sure.

[Livingit]

I haven't seen any drop in sales. I have seen the market get a lot more competitive, with huge spikes in PPC costs, etc.

[Marcie]

I haven't seen any drop in sales. I have seen the market get a lot more competitive, with huge spikes in PPC costs, etc.

Hey - thanks. Can you tell me what kinds of things you are selling?

[TimW]

I saw a 10% decrease in sales from 06 to '07 numbers. Since the majority of my sales are for goods that are fairly durable, and are geared toward military and police, there's not usually a lot of repeat sales for the same items. When soldiers are getting ready to deploy is when I see an increase in sales.

TimW
Phoenix