Retail suicide?

[Waikato Yamaha]

Would turning your back on TradeMe as a marketing/advertising tool be retail suicide?

[ynot slow]

Nope,if you have a good website and suchlike,the savings on the fees means you can add to discount,much like other outlets.

[Indiana_Jones]

I wouldn't see it as suicide. Sure you may lose some potential costumers granted.

Depends what you're selling. If it's a 'speciality' product, the chances are the buyers are going to look elsewhere apart from trademe.

Trademe is a first port of call for a lot of people, but as crazy as it sounds, people still browse other sites, open up the yellow pages and even use trade and exchange!

-Indy

[Indiana_Jones]

Nope,if you have a good website and suchlike,the savings on the fees means you can add to discount,much like other outlets.

Agree with the good website comment.

I hate going to a poorly layout and poorly updated website. Most people just go on to the next one if they're only interested in online shopping.

-Indy

[george formby]

Nope,if you have a good website and suchlike,the savings on the fees means you can add to discount,much like other outlets.

+1. I check out websites first, trade me second.

[imdying]

Would turning your back on TradeMe as a marketing/advertising tool be retail suicide?

What are you offering as an alternative?

[neels]

Not if you're selling the same thing for the same price elsewhere.

My preference is to price it from a shop and then have a quick look on trademe, if the shop price is near enough (particularly when you factor in freight on trademe) I prefer to communicate face to face with an actual person, and if you're lucky you might get some useful info/advice at the same time.

[YellowDog]

Many go to Trademe for convenience and pay way over the odds.

It's not just fat lazy bastards, some live too far from retail outlets and also just don't trust the internet.

Generally speaking Trademe is a trusted brand.

Some sellers even buy cheap crap from the Warehouse and also Mitre 10 and make a profit on Trademe.

The assumption that everything on Trademe is a bargain is far from the actual situation.

A retailer can run a store, run a website, and also have a presence on Trademe to cover all the bases.

The retail sector is extremely tough and to willfully overlook such a potential cash cow would be foolish.

Considering the huge number of potential buyers Trademe sells to, over the entire country - IMO - Not to cover the Trademe base may well prove to be retail suicide for some

[Maha]

How did retailers get on before Trademe?

[Scuba_Steve]

I still think of tradeMe as it should be, a 2nd hand trader. So when I go there, it's for "cheap".
I know since Fairfax brought them they've "sold out", got money hungry etc & now let everyone trade old or new, big company or small individual for ever increasing prices, but I still view it as some where I go to try & get cheap 2nd hand gear. When it comes to new I will still try website/store 1st, so I'd say turning your back on Google would be bigger suicide that TradeMe by far

[oneofsix]

hardly ever use Trademe, still think of it as 2nd hand goods and most of those over priced. I do use the internet and Google heaps.
A good web site, not over fancy but easy to navigate, don't get your marketing/sale guys only to ok it ask your mechanics etc.

[Smifffy]

Would turning your back on TradeMe as a marketing/advertising tool be retail suicide?

First up: Retail suicide would be making business decisions based on the opinions of those on KB.

Having said that, here's my opinion
(following questions are rhetorical)
First of all, why do you ask? Is it due to 1 or 2 deals gone sour?

IMO you need to do some analysis. What is the value that you currently get out of trademe?

• How many sales do you make on TM?
• How much time does it take up?
• What else could you do with that time?
• How much does each sale cost, considering time?
• What percentage of overall sales come from TM?
• Is there 'intangible' value in having a TM presence? EG branding, think pageviews and watchlist counts, plenty of metrics here too.
• Do you have an alternative that will bring more value?

I live in the Waikato, and used to hear your ads regularly on Hauraki, and thought you had a pretty good name. I don't listen to Hauraki anymore, since they changed their freq, and I can't get them clearly here, so don't know if you still advertise.

I will say though, that prior to the GFC, when I was shopping around for a bike I came into your store. It seemed like nobody in the store wanted to know me, and I browsed a bit and left without speaking to anyone. IMO that was retail suicide. Luckily at that time it was typical for all but one of the bike shops in the Tron that I visited. Since the GFC, many of the shops in the Tron have smartened up their act with regard to customer service. There is still one of your competitors however that I will likely not ever visit again.

Good luck with your decision.

[Beren]

Almost certainly not, there are many more businesses that don't use trademe than do.

I guess it depends largely on what sector you are selling in though and how large a portion of the market Trademe has in a particular sector. Though even if a particular channel has 90%+ of a sector there must still be a niche...

Trademe is a pretty expensive way to sell once you are talking about large volumes - so if you can offer a larger discount by getting people to your own website and promote it somewhere like... here for instance, you would potentially make more profit and give the customer a cheaper price.

[quickbuck]

Would turning your back on TradeMe as a marketing/advertising tool be retail suicide?

Interesting question....
If it is another "Base" to cover, then I would take a guess, that it isn't really the biggest, or best base.
As a consumer, TM is good for things that I can't be bothered going to look at in the shop, or stuff that takes a few days to get in.
Also they are items that I don't need/ want to try on for size.....

So for Helmets (only ever buy new, and well fitting), Gloves, jackets, trousers, boots etc. I will always buy for the retail store.
Things like Knee Sliders, leavers, wheels, are bought via TM.... Actually, I can't think of anything else I have bought re motorcycling from TM.

The way I see it is, if I want to save a few $ from buying from the Internet, then best I don't moan when my favourite bike shop shuts it's doors.

So, all that said, I suggest the Show Room is where MOST of the energy goes to. Your own Web Site second (As pointed out, Good!). Somebody else's Web Site.... Only if you have the energy/ resources.

[Maha]

First up: Retail suicide would be making business decisions based on the opinions of those on KB.

Nothing else need be said...