Using additional stores just for niche collections?

[Zee]

I struggled with deciding between one store or many as I have multiple niche media accounts to promote to.  Seems most people recommend one store, which is what I went with, but I don't want to link to that store because it's combining niches that I don't want to mix while promoting.  Would it be a viable solution if i created additional stores based on each niche and added collections for that niche from the products in my main store, to give me a fresh branded store to market to my niche that won't want to see my "everything" store? 

In other words, I create a store with the brand name for niche1, add collections with only products from that niche that were created in my main store, then promote the niche store on social media to that specific niche account to drive people to there instead of the main store?  Will this work ok or is there a downside I'm not seeing?  I hope I explained this ok.  I really don't want to send niche1 to main store.  But I only want to do product creation from one store.

[ColsCreations]

That's a really interesting idea. What comes to mind first though is that on the product pages where it shows "designed for you by", that's the name of (and link to) the store the product was created in.

So if someone goes to Niche1 Store and clicks to view an item in the collection, it will show on the product page that it was designed by MainStore. Also if they add something to their cart, the personal message that pops up would be from MainStore. Also if they buy, the receipt in the package would show it was from MainStore. All that stuff is tied to the store a product came from.  I think that all would be pretty confusing. Anyone can add products that aren't theirs to a collection but all the "credit" for the product off course goes to the store that made the product.

[Zee]

Since my main store is simply my own real name, i think that will be ok.  They all know my name so I think it would be less confusing?  My niches have brand names with matching websites and social media but my real name is used all through out them.  Any emails I use have my real name.  They call me by my real name.  I think that can still work?

[PacifierCity]

@Zee I am an advocate of multiple stores.  Depending on how varied your niches are.  One does have to be careful not to accidentally produce/publish to the wrong store.  If you do, you have to republish, so catching the error early is important so you don't lose any stats the product may have when you remake it/move it.  This is a frustrating mistake for products that have to go through review...ie masks.  But I find this method helps me keep track of what is selling and when.  It also helps me focus my efforts on which stores need more products and what type of products.  Plus I like that each smaller store has its own zRank.  Though it is a bit of a mystery how it works... I've been able to see higher zRanks in certain stores through certain actions that I could not have done as easily in 1 large store.  I too use social media in conjunction with single stores.  I am going to be expanding that effort soon too...

A few things I've noticed though, what Col's pointed out above, + chat links back to your profile, and sometimes Z shows "other collections from this designer" and those will not be niche only but from all your collections across all stores.

And if you want to separate things, then I would wipe out the main store thinking.  Each store is a main store for its niche.  If you want to create a variety store to showcase your talents across niches, you can do that, but who would you market that too?

You can visit my links in my signature to get a feel for what you may be seeking... Mind you, I have some cleaning up to do and a bunch of products to move and a few accidents along the way that I did not catch before they started selling...  But I think what I'm doing/trying to do may fall in line with what you are thinking about as far as niche organization, not the niches themselves...

PC

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[Zee]

Thanks, more to think about.  I really don't want to create products in multiple stores or start manually moving things out of the main store and into new stores, wiping out any sales data for that product.  What a shame we can't move products from store to store as they are.  

What if I made the main store private instead of public?  Would that stop zazzle from promoting collections from the main store that I don't want visible in the niche stores?  Or would that just cause me even more problems..... like would I possibly lose sales from zazzle's customers in the process because they can't visit the store?  Or do zazzle's customers rarely go into our stores to begin with?

[PacifierCity · Accepted solution]

@Zee It sounds like you are in a good position to drive traffic to individual stores.  Especially if you have socials and websites tied to a particular niche.  Most people don't start in that position...

Being able to move products from store to store is something we have asked for many times.  Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't.  There might be tech issues that we are not aware of that have prevented the ability... so fingers crossed that it happens sometime in the future.  I have started getting in the habit of moving things that get hidden by Zazzle after they have not been viewed in 15 months or so.  I update the design and move it to the proper store.  For me personally, and after a few errors, I find it pretty easy to manage my different stores.  Plus adding designs is less likely to negatively affect Z rank because I could create 20 new designs in a day, but they go to 2 or 3 stores... thus affecting a product to sales ratio less, which I believe is part of zRank.  So more stores allows me to keep a higher zRank across my stores which, in theory, should help in MP searches, etc... and it allows me to add more products which should lead to more sales...

While it is true that customers do not usually visit our stores, you may be in a different position than most as mentioned above.  For most of us, people find our products through Z MP search, social media posts (yours and others), Z's own advertising of our products, google searches (or other search engines) and through other affiliate marketers.  So most people first arrive at a product page, as opposed to Z's main page or your store's url.  I think this may be part of the reason that there are so many other products on a product page besides the one the customer found in internet land.

There is little you can do to stop Z from showing collections that you may not want shown... actually nothing that I know of.  Setting a store to private will not help.  Even having a bunch of niche stores won't stop a collection from a different store from showing up from time to time.

Best of luck in how you decide to proceed.

PC

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[Zee]

Ok I have a lot to think about.  Thanks so much!  It would be helpful to know exactly how zrank works as I'm afraid I might hurt the zrank by breaking up into different stores but all part of what I need to think over.  Thanks so much!

[PacifierCity]

@Zee This is a long term game.  Make your changes now and grow over the next however many years...  As you grow as a designer and promoter your views about how to do things will evolve too.  But you just need to put the ball in motion... make mistakes, have successes, learn and grow.  I'd like to say it gets easier over time, but as you succeed you will set the bar higher and higher so the challenges continue...lol.

Best of luck!

PC

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[CreativeLeahG]

yes, I do this.

[De]

I have found many stores lose the customer if they are redirected to a different source to ship or check out simply because it is not the original choice, so therfore feel misled and not as likely to follow through with their purchase.