Do you think a small headphone niche business could work?

[Nicholas Ene]

I opened a new little headphone store recently (http://www.ambientsounds.moonfruit.com) , but sales haven't really taken off, people have been going to the site in November alone 200 site visits alone but sales haven't taken off, if possible could you check out the site and give some constructive criticism and also say if you think it could succeed if no, please state why not, if yes please state why
Thanks.

[Vili]

I always buy them on ebay. So in addition, put them on auctions on ebay, i always check sellers feedbacks before even thinking of making an order through them.
Make some 'buy one get one free' packs, or include promotional t-shirts,keychains etc. and sell as feature packets, with dedicated adapters for the most popular ones and sell them as device dependent so the user will be sure it will fit inside their device socket,

the price looks quite allright, but the return/defective/unsatisfaction policy is one i don't like, too short, how about no question asked return policy for an additional price, where shipping is not covered.

[Oliver]

yes hell yes my friend

[Happiness Starship]

I think what your website needs is some specialist advice - how to choose the right set of headphones for you, comparing price vs usage etc. This would increase your visits, and encourage sales.

I also think your site looks a bit 'low-tech', not very impressive.

The only other problem I see is - well, how many pairs of headphones does one person need? Could you add more accessories to encourage multiple or repeat purchases? Otherwise, you have find new customers every time instead of developing a customer base of loyal clients.

I don't see any other faults, and I see no reason why your business shouldn't work. Good luck.

[Pr]

Apparently, getting an online sales 'conversion rate' of only 1 per cent is an achievement.

As mentioned by one of your answerers you need to learn to "follow up" and also to "upsell".

Also, experts do advise first try selling on the auction sites EBay and Amazon Marketplace et al. The reason being the brand (their's) plus the payments and distribution are taken care of almost perfectly. In other words they have a proven infrastructure.

Then, if there is sufficient demand consider either a 'CMS' (Content Management System) or a fully bespoke 'e-Commerce' website. A very good all-rounder CMS is the blogger Wordpress with various commerce plug-ins.

Whatever, a free template site like yours is very ineffective. Firstly the designs are quite plain (they look more like 'Web 1' level). Secondly, the search engines hardly recognise them. And thirdly, if you do suddenly do well, the provider (Moonfruit) might restrict (legally) your expansion etc.

However, you are on a hosted site, so might as well make it work better.

First thing, I think, is to amend your About Us (the grammar could be better and you claim you're the "leader"!). Is this true?

Secondly, have a look at Google's free analysing tools 'Google Insights' and 'AdWords Keyword Tool'. These will show you what you can do to attract more visitors and even buyers.

Thirdly, consider using AdWords for 'sponsored links', though be cautious, as it's 'PPC' (Payment Per Click) means you could pay Google more than you receive in sales.

Fourthly, definitely use your Twitter blog more and with #hashtags on *every* tweet. I have noticed you address individuals directly, which I feel is rather too pushy. Instead use those generic hashtags and preceded by the country (#Britain; #UK). This will much widen your consumer range.

Fifthly, if/when you find your business doing quite well (TBH very few indeed do very well or even just well!) then choose a Wordpress CMS or bespoke e-Commerce website. And at the same time replace that Gmail webmail account to your own 'sales@Ambium-Sounds.co.uk'.

Lastly, learn about 'SEO' (Search Engine Optimisation) and consider getting a consultant to word your website for optimum consumer traffic.

Good luck...