Table of Contents

Featured Article: 7 Fundamentals that will get Retailers Successfully to the Super Bowl

By Jake Sabey, Education Specialist - Doba

In most things there are basic fundamentals, that when understood and followed, will assist you in reaching a greater success. The principles and fundamentals of running an online retail business can be compared to those of coaching a successful team in any sports. In this article I will compare and discuss 7 football fundamentals that will get you, as a retailer, prepared to play in the Super Bowl of the retail market – the Holiday Season.

Last Thursday kicked off the regular season for The National Football League (NFL). Football season for sports fans that means a lot of things; tailgating, trash talking, road trips, chest paint, parties, fantasy leagues, foam fingers, etc. As for NFL teams it means an opportunity to do better than last year, a new shot at winning the coveted Super Bowl Although coaches and players eat, drink, sleep, and think "football" year round, it was back to the drawing board in Mid July with Training Camp; where the first item of business is knowing, understanding, and perfecting the fundamentals of the game.

1. Conditioning

• Football: What shape are you in physically? Analyzing your physical abilities will determine what position you should play. Hitting the weight room, running sprints, and doing drills will improve your physical abilities and prepare you for the necessary physical requirements to play 4 quarters of hard-hitting football; don't get burned out in the first quarter.
• Retailer: What shape are you in physically and financially? Analyzing your physical and financial abilities will determine what resources and markets would be best for you, and how much to put on your plate. Make any necessary adjustments and condition your overall business to meet the given requirements. Endurance is the key, condition yourself in preparation for 4 quarters (365 days) of online shopping, saving some energy for the holiday season.

2. Know the Rules

• Football: Not knowing and following the rules and regulations will in most cases cost you a win in the end. Unexpected penalties could interrupt your momentum. Knowing and following the rules will keep a level and fair playing field for everyone and help you create the best approach for winning the game.
• Retailer: Know the policies and procedures of the markets you are selling in. What is required? What is prohibited? Knowing rules and regulations within the market you sell in as well as any state laws will help you determine your marketing strategies and help you reach the highest potential success.

3. Know Your Playbook

• Football: You're down 7 points, there's 5 seconds left in the game, and you have 20 yards to for a touchdown. What plays do you have that will work best for this situation? A run or pass? Knowing your playbook will make you more organized, ready, and prepared during crunch time.
• Retailer: Holidays are around the corner, and special events are coming up. What approach are you going to take? Do you have research tools, listing tools, and other resources that will give you the extra push to save money and time? Do you send out emails, offer free shipping/combined shipping, or add free gifts for orders over $50. Knowing your resources, strategies, and capabilities will keep your business organized and prepared for most situations.

4. Know your Opponent

• Football: Know your opponents and the game they play. Scout them by watching film of their previous games. What are their strategies and formations? Where do you need extra coverage or attention? Then, prepare to meet their strengths and attack their weaknesses come game time.
• Retailer: Know your customers (retail competition as well) and what the want. Scout by researching their previous activity, know what they are going to do before they do it. Knowing your customers, the products they want, and their behaviors will give you a better idea on how to approach them, what strategies and principles to implement, products and services to offer, and how to gain the best return on your investment.

5. Take it One Game at a Time

• Football: Have realistic expectations. You can't win the Super Bowl in the first game of the season. Each game gives you experience to learn from and help you prepare for the next game. Concentrate one each game, one play at a time. Use them as stepping stones on the path toward your end goal; the Super Bowl
• Retailer: Have realistic expectations. You can't supplement or replace your income in your first week as a retailer. Each listing/sale gives you experience to learn from and helps you prepare for future listings/sales. Hard work, dedication, and commitment will get you closer to the holiday season as a prepared and ready retail business.

6. Have a Backup Plan

• Football: Things happen that are out of your control. There will be turnovers, penalties, mistakes, and lost games. players will get hurt, and you may lose games–it's unavoidable. Prepare ahead of time for when that happens. If you have an offense centered around passing the ball, then you need to have a couple of good backup quarterbacks that can throw the ball, and multiple receivers that can catch it. Don't let any unforeseen speed bumps keep you from being a strong contender.
• Retailer: Things happen that are out of your control. Marketplaces will change fees and procedures, products may not sell, orders will get canceled, products will go out of stock, and product returns will happen. Be prepared for when these situations present themselves. Use creative marketing strategies, list in multiple markets, have multiple product sources, and/or house small product inventory as a form of backup. Be effective, efficient, and professional in your approach to take care of the situation; keeping your goal of customer satisfaction and brand recognition in mind.

7. Work in the Off-Season

• Football: Success doesn't always display itself in an undefeated record for your team. Work even during the off-season to condition and prepare for the next season. Analyze your team; renew player's contracts, make any necessary trades, cuts and decisions that will best benefit your team for next season. Use the experience of previous seasons to be a better and more successful team in the future.
• Retailer: Success doesn't always show face in the form money. The retail season is 365 days a year, with no off-season. Work hard every day to improve and progress as a business. Success will come with hard work, dedication, and experience.

Just like in sports, practice makes perfect. In the retail market, the same can be said. Practice the fundamentals of retailing by researching, testing, and implementing different strategies, tricks, and ideas in your marketing. Knowing, understanding, and perfecting these fundamentals will prepare and label your retail business as a favorite during the regular season, as well as the Super Bowl of the retail market; the holiday season.

About the Author:

Jake Sabey is an eBay Certified Consultant and an Education Specialist for Doba. Jake's educational strategies and methodologies help online retailers meet and exceed their business-related goals. Prior to working for Doba, Jake was a team leader, supervisor, and trainer for Toys R Us, Sinclair Oil, SBC, and AT&T.

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Marketplace Spotlight: The Ugly Side of Retail - Returns

By Jeff Knight, Vice President of Marketplace - Doba

No retail strategy is complete without considering and implementing a customer service and return policy. Different retailers take very different approaches and the successful retailers often incorporate their policies into their identity. Nordstrom’s is famous for their extremely liberal return policy while big box retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City have very restrictive policies in place. More important then the policy itself is the transparency and communication of your return restrictions and service options to the consumer. As my group manages the fulfillment and product returns between suppliers and Doba retailers; I see the process first hand and the effect that a retailer’s policy (or lack of) has on their business, and their likelihood of success/failure.

First, there are a lot of different aspects that you need consider when devising your return policy. The category (electronics versus clothing), the marketplace (your website versus eBay/Amazon) and your product pricing strategy all affect the policy in different ways. Without a doubt, Nordstrom’s liberal policy is the product of the consumer expectation of a category (clothing has high returns due to sizing, taste, seasonality, etc), and their pricing strategy – while they have semiannual sales, Nordstrom carries brands and clothing that caters to a more expensive demographic overall. However, this strategy does not come without consequences. Nordstrom will struggle with attracting a larger demographic and since they maintain a large physical footprint and carry a larger breath of products within their category – it is very hard for them to compete on products that are more price sensitive. Simply the products they do sell must carry the financial weight of all the non-sellers and returns.

Next, and this is where I see the most problems arise, is the communication of your policies. A lot of retailers, especially starting out, make the mistake of having a reactive not a proactive approach in dealing with returns. What I mean is this – instead of researching the policies of competitors, pricing their items to carry the financial burden of a bad sale, understanding the particulars of the products they are selling, and carefully examining the policies of their suppliers; they wait until a customer is trying to return a item before they become aware of their philosophy. Coupled with that, is the tendency and need for small retailers to depend on marketplaces like eBay and Amazon that give the consumer a lot of power to influence return policies through feedback mechanisms. Simply, a lot of new retailers have a tendency to compete on price while not clarifying with the consumer – prior to the sale – the reasons they will take a return. As in previous articles, I am going to repeat that competing solely on price is not, in my humble opinion, the best strategy. However, if you are going to adopt this philosophy – you must take measures to understand the goods you sell and account for the risks.

As a general rule, approximately 10% of goods are returned. This, of course, depends on the category, item, etc. I have always found a good strategy is to set a low and high threshold that you can absorb. If you take 10% returns, it will hurt but not ruin your business. On the other side, if you keep returns to 5%, then you can adjust your pricing, keep the extra as margin, loosen up your policy, etc – whatever fits best with your particular business. On top of internal thresholds, you should maintain ‘report cards’ on your supply base and hold them to the same standards. To help Doba retailers, understand the supplier policies and performance; we are going to show more ‘report card’ data on every product to help you make these decisions. Understand that you can only hold a supplier to realistic standards and for aspects that are within their control. If you sell jeans and a customer orders the same pair in three different sequential sizes – you can be safe to assume that unless the customer was a triplet (with one slightly larger and one slightly smaller sibling and they are starting a band) – the customer will ask for a return of at least 2 of the 3 pairs. If the suppliers ships the three pairs in a timely fashion and the jeans arrive as the supplier described them - the return acceptance or refusal is a retailer issue not a supplier issue. As retailers get larger, they undoubtedly will push and squeeze suppliers to take more of this burden – but understand at a cost, the supplier has accounted for the big box retailer’s behavior before the return occurs.

Finally, it is important to briefly address issues that are more specific to Doba retailers. While drop-shipping lowers your up front costs and reduces your risk of non-saleable inventory – it also means that the retailer must sell the item based off the information the supplier provides. While the information the supplier provides should be the base, retailers do themselves a disservice if all they can communicate about an item is in the brief description. If you don’t any more of the particular details or specifications; you can always add examples and information on the brand. Another possible direction is to just simply explain that this is all you know about the item and the price reflects that the lack of information but your return policy guarantees against mistakes in the description. Every situation is different but being transparent with the consumer is the key.

Lastly, when you consider the cost of returns – do not overlook shipping. One of the largest shortcomings of ecommerce is the cost associated with shipping. Shipping is a fixed cost that is absorbed by the supplier, retailer, or consumer in every return. It is not margin nor lost time, but a payment to a carrier that must be paid regardless of the return reasons (with the exception of carrier related damage). Be mindful of the cost of the goods themselves versus the costs of shipping. In many cases, the retailer will be better off to ask for forgiveness of the consumer, let them keep the return and give them a refund instead of eating three shipping charges on a replacement. Again, this is a retailer policy issue and only you can create the strategy that will work best for your retail operation.

About the Author:


As the Vice President of Marketplace, Jeff Knight is responsible for all aspects of the merchandising strategy, supplier acquisition, and vertical category management and fulfillment operations of Doba's marketplace. Prior to Doba, Jeff was Director of Merchandising for Overstock.com where he developed the growth and management of the Computer and Home Office category. Jeff's background includes merchandising and technology leadership roles at DealDeal.com and BCI International. He earned Bachelor and Masters of Arts degrees in Communication from the University of Wyoming.

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Member Q&A: More eBay Changes

By Rick Limon

In this month’s member Q & A, we will address the recent changes announced by eBay. In case you missed it or would like to review, here is the link regarding new pricing, incentives and changes designed to bring more buyers to eBay: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200808200704212.html.

The listing fee for fixed price items will be lowered to 35 cents and the listing duration will be extended to 30 days with an option for automatic renewal. This will take effect on September 16th. In addition, there will be an increase in final value fees. In certain competitive categories eBay will actually lower final value fees. Here is the link to the fee schedule: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/August2008Update/BasicFees/.

Some of the other changes include free shipping incentives and limits on shipping/handling charges in the most competitive categories. An electronic checkout process that is faster and more reliable. Effective November 1st, eBay will now require Minimum Detailed Seller Rating of 4.3 across all four DSR categories. Also, eBay will be changing their search algorithm designed to make shopping faster and easier.

This is a brief overview of the changes and I would recommend looking at the links to get the full information. It is important to look at these changes from the perspective of your individual business. Keep in mind what you want to accomplish with your business. Follow your business plan or if you don’t have a business plan, get one.

We Want to Hear from You! Want to see your question featured in the eNewsletter Member Q&A? Well we want to hear from you! Please email education@doba.com if you have any non-account related questions or topics you would like us to write about. If you have questions concerning your Doba account, such as billing, product or order questions, please search our knowledgebase site content or contact our Customer Support.

About the Author:

Rick Limon is an eBay Certified Consultant and an Account Manager for Doba. Working directly with new online retailers, Rick assists retailers in meeting their business specific goals by helping them take full advantage of the resources and services Doba offers. Rick holds experience as a Behavior Specialist and Mental Health Worker with Lackland ISD, Southwest Mental Health Center, and Parent Child Incorporated.

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Supplier Information: New Suppliers Added to the Doba Product Catalog

Starting an online business is relatively easy. Making it a success takes hard work and the right mix of products. To help you achieve your business-related goals, we recently added new wholesale suppliers and manufacturer to the Doba Catalog:

Arkansas - Supplier of Golf Videos are guaranteed to help golfers improve their golf game.

Halen - Supplier of home decor and furnishing items such as handmade quilts, bedding sets, fine furniture, bathroom vanities, window decor, drapes, nautical decor, Table ware, etc.