Do you remove items from your store that don't sell?

[Caprice]

I can't decide if it's better to prune those items...or leave them in case they find exactly the right buyer who wants them.

Discuss.

[Barbara]

After selling a few products that hadn't sold in three or more years, I became hesitant to delete that kind of product. However, I've euthanized nonsellers now and then simply because I didn't like them. You probably ought to go through those wallflowers, checking for the possibility that they need better titles and tags. This never helped me, but you never know.

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[Windy]

Never helped me either, the idea of better titles and tags!

[Mariholly]

Yes, sometimes they are removed. Well I have learned a lot here and some of my designs now look out of place and need to be modified, as it is too much modification to be approved by Zazzle, I prefer to delete and redesign with a nice cover photo, improve the title and tags . I have found that putting a good cover photo also helps a lot and facilitates the sale of products that had gone unnoticed until now.

[Windy]

I had a super ugly product and I kept deliberating about whether to delete. When I finally entered the site one day, determined to do the deletion, I found that ugly wall plaque had sold! and then this exact same thing happened with another ugly product. Maybe I should make more ugly stuff.

[Barbara]

Years back, my mother had a shoe store. One of the suppliers told her she should buy half what she loved and half what she thought was ugly. She gave it a try, and wouldn't you know it--her total sales went up. She (and I) couldn't believe the taste some people had.

Colorwash's Home

[Windy]

This is so typical with shoes, though! Every time there is a sea change in shoe design, I think the new designs are horrid. Designers have a way to make those ugly things appealing in ads, so they do sell!

[Barbara]

You're correct about advertising altering people's perception, but how do people navigate in some of the shoes? I own nothing these days but Easy Spirit walking shoes because they're comfortable as all get-out. This attitude, however, doesn't translate well at Zazzle.

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[GinevraAndrews]

OMG, I'm laughing out loud. One thing I've learned during my 30+ years of being a graphic designer...ugly sells first.

[inspiring_gifts]

Windy, "Maybe I should make more ugly stuff." 😁

I also contemplated on deleting a product I made a couple of years ago with little views and no sales. I wasn't very happy with the way it looked, but a few days later someone bought it - sold a few more times after that. I didn't even make any changes with tags...

[PenguinPower]

I leave things... for the most part I'm more than happy with what I've got... I wouldn't have made it if I wasn't. There are a few things from my earliest days, that I might think about deleting/replacing, mainly because now there are far better tools (curved text, ability to tile groups ect.)  to pull off what I was doing and I could either simplify the customer experience customizing them or make them way more flexible, but for the most part, no I don't desire to turn things over in the way that Z encourages.. 

I know that it's a battle to get noticed, but it can pay off when you finally do. I have a lighter that I created in 2019 - barely even got a look until last fall, when it got an editors pick. Since then I've sold 33 of that design and and a few of my other lighter designs got some sales out of it too, as they are in the same collection. After having sold 1 or 2 lighters ever, I was selling close to a lighter a day over the holiday buying season and views were increased for all of them, all designed around the same time. I'm quite happy that I did not remove them as too old.. 

P.S. - for the ugly crowd.. I do indeed have designs I think are ugly... or at least that I wouldn't personally put in my own home. I don't think those designs are "bad" (one is technically a design I quite like, in a very different color palette though) ... just that they appeal to someone of different tastes. I do however remark to my SO each time one sells - that wow.. someone bought that ugly clock again 😝. 

One note - I don't do much in the way of invitations, wedding or shower merchandise. If I did I might feel more pressure to keep things more in line with current trends. 

[Barbara]

I've a couple things I simply remade because they never sold, and with good reason: They didn't have text templates when they really should have. Sadly, you can't add a text template using Replace.

On the other hand and when it comes to ugly, I've several designs I personally love that have never sold. Again, there's no accounting for taste. 😀

Colorwash's Home

[Cat]

Chuckling over this post. Just today I sold an order of FUGLY Save the Date magnets. Seriously, I almost didn't post it because it was so ugly. Contemplated deleting it numerous times. This is now the second time it's sold. It was a big order too! I guess taste is a matter of opinion!

Also today sold two other products that had never sold before. One was created in 2020, the other in 2019. So... I guess the answer is NO! Don't delete them unless something is seriously wrong.

[Caprice]

I'm enjoying this discussion.  You guys have convinced me to leave those products that haven't sold.  They might eventually find a buyer!  🤞🏼

[MadjackGG]

My rule of thumb is that while shop space is virtually unlimited, customer patience is at a premium. Remember, more than half of your customers will be browsing your products on smartphones and studies have shown that very few customers get past the third swipe.

This is why it's important to turn over stock that's not selling.

[Caprice]

You can't make me. 😝

[Barbara]

Mind you, I know nothing about trying to shop and buy on a phone (nor would I do so), but it seems to me to be a fool's errand on Zazzle, particularly for wedding suites where it's extremely text-heavy. When it comes to downloadables, wouldn't they go to a laptop or desktop for downloads? Last but certainly not least, I should think the short attention span is affected more by Zazzle's home page than our own store fronts, but Zazzle changes its home page quite often. Perhaps it might be important for designers with a web site to keep things fresh, but those of us without web sites are more vulnerable to Zazzle's marketplace than to our own store fronts.

An opinion not backed up by statistical research on POD shoppers.

Colorwash's Home

[MadjackGG]

Well, in December 2022 Zazzle saw 15.5 million visits and 57.5% of those were on a mobile device.

So for visitors coming through your storefront, many are probably going to be seeing six products at a time and are unlikely to swipe more than 3-4 times. My impression is that most Zazzlers don't organize with this in mind.

[PenguinPower]

I highly doubt customers are browsing by the shop very often at all… I suspect they are finding items by search more often than not and placing decently in the results is much more important than how your shop is organized or how much is in it.. I think collections and appearing in “other items you might like” factor more too. 

[Cat]

Exactly! I don't think the "clutter" theory of inventory makes sense in a digital world. @MadjackGG you might want to check out the "long tail" theory of ecommerce.

[MadjackGG]

Zazzle allows for many different approaches, but regards shop organization, I don't agree.

My experience has been that having a well structured, easy to browse store (where products get turfed if they've not sold after a couple of years), has been rewarded by Zazzle with better search rankings, resulting in better sales. And Zazzle themselves don't seem too keen on Zazzlers keeping masses of non-selling products on hand for long periods on the off chance they might sell.

[KeegansCreation]

I chase trends to some extent and so when the trend seems to be over I delete those things that did not sell. For example, chevrons, quatrefoil and ikat were trends that have now passed so I deleted those things that did not sell. Flamingos are on the wane but still holding up. I will probably delete non-selling flamingo designs in a year or two. Avocados and sloths are holding steady and don't seem to be on the wane so they stay (for now). 

Vintage seems evergreen so I don't anticipate deleting those designs at any point.

[Barbara]

Question: How do you figure out what a trend is? Are there sites that list current ones? Can you spot them when you go shopping? For instance, how did you know that flamingos were a trend?

Colorwash's Home

[KeegansCreation]

If I see something both on Zazzle and in Target I call it a trend. For instance, pastel cartoon unicorns are both on Zazzle and on girl's bedsheets at Target.

I'll also google for trends for year (current year). For instance, googling up interior design trends for 2023 I find neutral tones (actionable in our home decor department), Brutalism (not actionable) and surrealism (AI art is particularly handy here). Apparently farmhouse is on its' way out so we'll see if the "rustic" stuff fades.

[Barbara]

Last week I sold 30 drawer pulls on which I got both my royalty and a handsome Promoter referral, the total being $173. Those knobs were designed in 2016 and had never sold before. If I'd been in the habit of deleting old designs, that's a small pile of money I never would have made. I think, @MadjackGG , you may be making a mistake.

Colorwash's Home

[MadjackGG]

So a one off sale after seven years?
Congratulations on a nice sale, but I wouldn't base my Zazzle strategy on this.

To be clear, likely I do miss out on some long term sales, but my goal is to end up with products in a variety of categories that sell relatively frequently. I'm doing this because I don't think I can compete with the established high-end customizable stationery Zazzlers, who as far as I can tell, are the ones making the big bucks on the site.

[doggenhaus]

Sometimes yes. But most of time, the one I love, I will just try to change the description and everything else. Somehow almost all things I love, no one loves 😉

[CrazyMermaid]

Never, I have more important things to do in my Zazzle store. 

[Barbara]

Given that Zazzle has already told us customers don't necessarily hang out in our stores or ever even see them, I think we're wasting our time getting rid of items worthy of selling that may need no more than a nudge, either from us or from an affiliate. I doubt shoppers care a speck about who's selling what or what else is selling in a store other than in the shop's collection for a specific design or concept. So, unless we've an overload of products that require way too much maintenance, I don't see a purpose in deleting anything other than the poorest of relations.

Colorwash's Home

[SaraMira]

As a customer I was always looking at the seller and the shop. Unique designs on products are very rare to find actually internet is full of look alike ideas, starting from one of the biggest platforms - Amazon. If for example I wanted to buy journal with a floral design, omg there are thousands of them and if I narrow down 5 best, of course I will be curious enough to check on who's design is it and its shop. It will help me to make final decision. I mean, I shop online for the last 15 yrs or so, and I start to sell last month. I dont trust always what platforms are saying, as most of the time they say whatever is good for their business regardless of creators and their benefit.

Regarding products we dont sell and what to do with them..... every product finds has its customer. It all depends what is important to you as a creator. Your design on product or profit. From personal perspective, after a while some designs might not look as good as they did at start, if they dont sell, then why not to delete. There is no point keeping stuff around you if you wouldnt want to buy it yourself.