How can we increase the sales of our merchandise?

Selling your products and services online can be a valuable new tool for your sales arsenal, however, the complexity of online transactions and marketing can be daunting to the small business owner.

At AFAB, we've worked with a variety of clients to implement solutions which meet their special needs and their limited budgets.

For PetesClass.com, the purpose of the site is to offer a sales venue for the Pete's Class Fitness Video Series.

Resources were limited at the start of the project and a variety of challenges came up, including international sales and the collection of GST on Canadian orders.

To resolve these problems, a combination of mail order and online purchases were implemented. Customers may choose to make their purchases through a third-party transaction processor (with no set up costs and low fees per transaction) or through a mail order system which allows them to print their order and mail it in with their payment.

The Western Hockey League also faced some challenges when they were looking to present their extensive catalog of league/team merchandise online.

Because the WHL was not capable of accepting credit card orders online, we initially developed an online catalog to display each of their products and encouraged visitors to contact the WHL office with their orders.

For the 2000-2001 season, we took this catalog one step further by allowing fans to select the items they wish to purchase and have them added to their shopping cart. Once they are finished shopping, they went through the online check-out where their order was emailed to the WHL office. The visitor then just had to print off the order form with their purchases already displayed and send the form in with their payment.

Another challenge that the WHL faced was offering some of their "collector items" for sale to their fans. During the 1999-2000 season, the WHL had a limited number of autographed hockey sticks available and they wanted to sell them at the highest price possible.

We implemented an online auction for the sticks were visitors to the web site could place their bids and the sticks would be sold to the highest bidders at the end of the auction.

During the season, we held 2 WHL Auctions where a total of 6 autographed sticks were sold to fans across North America. The auctions resulted in higher prices than initially anticipated and provided a good source of additional revenue to the league.

If you're considering the sale of products and/or services directly from your web site, Contact AFAB and we'll discuss the possibilities with you.

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