Sales down ?

[Peter222]

My sales have not been on par with what is the norm. They were down over Xmas for sure. Is anyone else seeing this ?

TY much Peter 222

[Westerngirl2 · Accepted solution]

Yes, it seems that many of us are experiencing dismal sales. I've been on Zazzle for 12 years, and my Jan & Febr sales are down drastically....back to 2015 sales levels, I believe. I've always experienced an annual growth in sales (and number of products I have available), but the dive started late 2023, and seems to be getting worse, unfortunately.

Best of luck to you! I'm trying to hang in there, but have to come to a point where I'm realistic about time spent in relation to revenue earned.

[Peter222]

TY, looks like we all are feeling it

[Peter222]

I really think we need to come together and demand Z to address this and FIx it. 12 years of work seems gone. I never want to be a problem , or advocate, but my store is dead. So I have to ask that we band together. Maybe a group post to them.   I dont understand it, because our sales loss, is there sales lost.

[BN_Stationery]

I've been on since 2012 and my sales are 80% less of what they were last year, back to my early years...(even during the pandemic I was still in growth) it doesnt make any sense. I design mostly stationery and used to make a lot during christmas and wedding season and now hardly anything. I havent changed anything about what I'm doing to contribute to this. 

[Tamathaa]

I think it’s thee economy, if people having trouble affording groceries, they’re not gonna buy a new pretty pillow, I’m sure Zazzle struggling too. Hope it changes, such a bummer.

[MOM]

I agree with Tamathaa. Where I live (the San Francisco Bay Area) so many restaurants have shut down or are closing, Shopping Centers are winding down and Downtown San Francisco is literally dead, one empty store front after the other. Heck, even Dollar Stores are going belly up around here. And I also believe that it will get even a lot worse with AI advancing so swiftly this year putting even more folks out of a job. 2024 is a turning point in so many respects. Because the people who will be replaced by AI or reduced in work hours will have less money to spend on nice things, be it now a pretty pillow or just a nice haircut. It will all trickle down and effect  also people who have jobs which will not be replaced by AI (like a hairdresser) because if people generally have less to spend they will prioritize (house and food first, than the rest maybe…) so everyone will be effected. Even though I’m still a Zazzle newbie I do not believe that Zazzle is responsible, it’s clearly the economy in my opinion.

[TAngelone]

Spot on! The economy is one of the root causes for the decline in sales. Particularly in America which is where Zazzle is based. Americans are Zazzle's biggest demographic.  78% of Americans as of 12th, July, 2024 are living paycheck to paycheck. So it stands to reason that all shopkeepers within the Zazzle eco system are seeing a decline in sales.  Thank you MOM and Tamathaa your posts are on point.  No one can afford anything but the bare essentials. Americans are literally too poor and disenfranchised to afford anything at the present time. Hopefully that might change post election. I do see a lot of shopkeepers blaming Zazzle for the many bugs and glitches it has. However I believe the waning economy is primarily to blame for the decline in sales for all. 

[Wesha]

8th day of July gone by without a single sale ... gathering royalty to the minimum threshold is becoming so difficult 😓 3rd party sales are also not coming for a long time !

[TAngelone]

The economy is what is causing a decline in sales for all. Consider the fact that 78% of Americans as of 12th, July, 2024 are living pay check to pay check. Most Americans who comprise 84% of Zazzle's customer base are too cash poor to afford anything but the bare essentials. The economic downturn globally is also to blame. No one has the money to spend on anything at the present time. Very sad indeed. 

[sanainvi]

Just already getting fed up .. my views are increasing then they were before (which is again a good thing) .... but  why no sales ... i don't why but my this month sales are near to 0 .... never happened this before .... it's seriously striking my mental health.

[CreativeLeahG]

Views might be up due to data scraping and bots that mimic human behavior hence no increase in sales. High bounce rate if there was a lot of bot behavior over night might impact? But should return to normal. When bot activity ceases?

[Artistry-Aura22]

Yes same thing happens to my store..i got more views but no likes and sales

[Wildart]

I might have just discovered something. I have not been actively changing anything on site since before Xmas,(aside from hiding/unhiding. Over the last 7 days, I have been editing and adding cover pics to some of my images, and since then sales have picked up again, could this be coincidence, or is it linked? 

[MissPaperFarm]

That's great news! All I know is that Zazzle encourages designers to upload nice cover photos and to continue being active in your stores, so maybe it does something to the algorithm. Probably it favors the most updated and fresh looking designs. 

[MadjackGG]

Not to pour cold water, but I've done nothing regards cover photos but have seen sales pick up this last week as well. 

[Beautiful_Vibe]

Another Zazzle slump that we all hear about every few months about sales being down? Or are they actually?

Mine are. I feel like I did better with 15 crappy designs as a noob 5 years ago than I do now actually trying with a few 1000 designs. I really do. 

It'd be neat to start making a chart of sorts to see when sales are down for certain people. 

Wow, though .. they are really bad

[BN_Stationery]

same, my sales for fall and this year are half what they were last year

[Boki]

I feel invisible,... No sales from my stores for days,... 😞

[Susang6]

Honestly, I think it isn't easy to keep the customers that you generated from the link you shared on Facebook, blogs, and social media because as soon as they come to our landing page they see other designers' stuff including AdSense.  They may get distracted and scroll down to see the other stuff. They do not click on "more details" and just like that the customer that you worked so hard to get is gone.   (in my opinion) then there are other problems our products are missing from our categories, our new products are slow to be added to the marketplace and now no image is shown when you share to Facebook.  All those things must hurt sales overall. 

[Boki]

I don't know what exactly is happening, my sales have dropped so much that I haven't sold anything from my stores for days. So much advertising and work, and I feel invisible,... As if there is not enough advertising for the link to my stores. I'm glad when someone sells something, but where am I with my work and effort and Sales?

[KelliC]

I just want to say that you are not alone, this is the case for me as well. Zazzle is my full time job and only income source. I usually receive around 30 orders a day but the last few weeks it has been tapering down and the past few days I haven’t received any orders at all which has never happened before. I hope whatever is going on with the algorithm is corrected for us soon! 🤞 

[orientcourt]

I feel for you KelliC!  30 orders a day is way more than most of us would make!  I think the Zazzle algorithm now maybe now controlled by Google or other entites!  Just saying! Have you made cover photos for products?          

[Peter222]

They sure as hell did something.  We lose money, and so do they if they would realize the big picture. I know the economy is down, and so on, but we ALL cant be experiencing this significant drop ih sales. Now all I do is spend time doing The "mock ups",BS , we were just fine before it, unhiding products because I have a huge store, and Zero time creating. After 15 or so years, I all but give up all that work.

[Joco]

Same here. I have never gone this many days- nearly a month- with no sales at all. This has never happened to my store in the years I've been designing. 

[Susang6]

have you updated your top sellers to cover photos and updated your collections.  It is my understanding that Zazzle algorithms is to promote products with cover photos and collections...at least that is what i read.   When you look at the marketplace the majority of products have cover photos and products without seem to be buried.   maybe that could be hurting your sales, no exposure in marketplace?  I know you work hard at promoting your products and you  have many wonderful designs.  I wish i had the answer, my sales are off also. 

[onshidesigns]

Been 5 days for me with no sales or it's not updating correctly.    

[GwenDee]

Same here.  Nothing at all and I always sold a lot in Jan - March. I have not had one sale.

[RMorganSnapshot]

If I get one sale about every 2-3 weeks now I'm doing good. Even views of products that HAD been getting daily views have basically stopped.

[Peter222]

There has to be a reason, I mean even in the Pandemic I still made sales,  but I suppose some of that could be attributed to them being home more. The price of food and Gas has not changed "all that much", that I have seen. So since we all are experiencing it, something is not right. Even my 3rd party sales  are all but gone .    Z if your out there, can you look into this issue, I imagine you are feeling it too. If you have changed anything, reconsider it, and seriously consider lowering prices.

[Tamathaa]

So many stores closing now & groceries double! Has to hurt Zazzle. 

[whimsywhim]

Food and gas prices have increased substantially since 3 1/2 years ago.

[Sugspc]

I agree. The cost of living has gone up, but not by so much that people can't afford to buy. They are spending their money on vacations and travel. The ATL airport has seen RECORD travel. When people travel, they aren't shopping online. So we have to wait this out until people get back to normal. Everyone who didn't travel or couldn't because of Covid, is now getting out and feeling safe to do so. It's not the economy. 

[MadjackGG]

My impression is that things took a turn in April and the suspicion must be that something else is contributing rather than the economy is slow. 

[Perelandrian]

It's nothing we're doing, or Zazzle is doing, I think. Folks are spending a lot less nowadays in general, between inflation and the impending dollar collapse. I just read that Dollar Tree/Family Dollar just announced they will be closing over 1,000 of their locations due to customer spending being as low as it is. Here's some other retail stores that have been closing down over the past 4 years. Some of them had survived the Great Depression, too: 

Kmart

Sears

PayLess

Circuit City

Bed, Bath, & Beyond

Pier 1 Imports

Mervyn’s

RadioShack

Fry’s Electronics

Borders Bookstore

Sports Authority

KB Toys

Toys R Us (now merged with Macy’s)

Walden Books

Sam Goody

Sun Coast

Blockbuster

Hollywood Video

Discovery Channel Store

Disney Store

Warner Bros Store

Club Libby Lou (it was a dress up and party center for girls)

Crazy Eddie (the founder Eddie Antar was a crook so there’s also that)

Zainy Brainy (it was an educational toy store)

Movie Gallery

Papyrus (it was a paper and greeting card company)

Stein Mart

Yellow and Surge

Tower Records

A&P (grocery store)

• Lord & Taylor. The first ever retail company founded in 1824! It survived not only World War I and World War II, but also the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the Great Recession, but the “pandemic” was the straw that broke the camel’s back and they all shut down in 2020!

Stocking up on food is never a bad idea, either. You can't eat greeting cards and phone cases.

[Westerngirl2]

I agree. Food is only going to get more expensive, too. I'm not really a "prepper", but because we live in a very remote area where roads are sometimes closed for weeks at a time, my family calls me the "Queen of Stock-Up". These are times when it doesn't hurt to look into a bit of long term food storage....there are many internet sites that can help you with that. Remember, there are 4 things that destroy stored food....light, air, temperature and, of course, insects and rodents. But, IMO, it is wise for us to have a bit stored up in times like this to get our families through at least short times of disaster.

[Perelandrian]

@Westerngirl2 very sound advice! Mylar bags and buckets are perfect for dry goods like rice, beans, etc. I remember growing up, my Gramma had a huge freezer chest and a pantry room in their basement stocked with canned goods. No doubt having lived through the Great Depression she learned the value of always being as prepared as possible. We too live in a remote rural area a good 30 minute drive from grocery stores, but have been blessed with a huge amount of gardening space. We all would be wise to try to grow as much food as we can and make friends with local farmers, as well as familiarizing ourselves with native edible plants. Agriculture is the backbone of society and when and if the grids go down, economy collapses etc., having the knowledge and ability to sustain ourselves will be a crucial skill.

[Westerngirl2]

And if anyone uses mylar bags, be sure to put in oxygen absorbers, which you can get on Amazon, along with other places. I also found a neat little tool there that removes air from jars, and I've found that, if I need to reseal an opened jar, it really does preserve the food longer. Even if it is canned fruit and refrigerated. Once the air is gone, the food stays good much longer. Living remotely at 8600 ft in the mountains has made me learn quite a bit about food storage....and clearing snow, too...lol!

[Peter222]

Absolutely true, if you just pick up a extra item or two each time you shop, you will qucikly find you have something anyway  If you can just start with rice and beans, and extra cases of water you will be doing good to start

[MOM]

I mostly agree with Perelandrian. Times are hard and will get even worse for most I’m afraid.

Nonetheless I’m wandering why Zazzle is displaying promotional ads for super cheap items (like Temu offers as an example) and when I look at the Fanny Pack section right now (and I love those, never had one in my life but I’m thinking now about it to get one for my self) I don’t understand why Zazzle would advertise customizable Fanny Packs for as cheap as $1.11. 😱🤯

Potential customers might follow our leads and then just jump on a super cheap item when they scroll down because yes, times are hard. 😐