GCU Forum - Slow sales?

Trish_136241 Senior Member artist Posts: 440	Re: Slow sales? Reply #45 - Aug 1^st, 2009, 5:14pm Thanks for the input everyone. I knew there was a reason. Can you tell that math is not my strong suit? You guys really are sweet! Here's to abundant sales for all!
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Avis_134613

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Re: Slow sales?
Reply #46 - Aug 2^nd, 2009, 5:33am

Hi Pam and Tom,
I'm afraid I'm useless when it comes to math and figuring out these percentages! I downloaded that Open Office thing Tom, but haven't a clue how to set it up and get that graph you use to figure out your sales history. Does that come with any tutorials I wonder? Huh

.......but I digress..... Cheesy

So I took a look at the June v July (as I haven't got figures for last year either!) and I'm down quite a lot from June to July, June being the better month. Down by almost a third I'd say!
The clicks were close, July 348 v June 325
Clicks per sale July 87 v June 29 (? does this represent people doing a lot of looking but not buying much?)
Store visits down from June 57 v July 47

May was a much better month for me....sales were up nearly 100% compared to June!
Is it seasonal ie. types of cards bought for specific holidays? Is it the economy? Is it seasonal for different reasons ie. summer hols. and people busy and out of town?
My take is all of the above. Though I would hazard a guess that the economy doesn't have a lot to do with it....they're cards not cars! People will probably send them no matter what.

That's my two cents! Wink

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Tom_133317

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Re: Slow sales?
Reply #47 - Aug 2^nd, 2009, 6:03am

Avis - great job looking your numbers.

I just crunched the GCU July numbers and overall card sales per day are down almost 10% vs. June but up 23% vs. last July. Last July was real strong for GCU, up 30% from June08, so I'm not sure this is necessarily a seasonal slump this year as it wasn't at all last year.

Since my sales were off 33% from June, but GCUs was off less than 10% from June, suggests that GCU is still doing relatively well. Their 5-or-more cards/order promo has tended to keep the cards/order statistic holding strong as it dropped less than 3% in July vs. June.

Others - please run your numbers. You don't have to state specific numbers of cards if you don't want too but just provide a percentage change for July vs. June or vs. July 2008.

Enjoy the day!

Tom

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Jeff_135713

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Re: Slow sales?
Reply #48 - Aug 2^nd, 2009, 7:04am

Lots of good information here, it helps to know others are experiencing the same slumps.

I think the economy is impacting card sales but July is traditionally a slow sales month for many industries.

I don't have any figures for last year, but my sales were down 11% in July vs. June. My clicks were off 20% but my store visits climbed 150%. My clicks per sale dropped 10%!

I didn't add that many cards percentagewise the last 2 months so these figures should be pretty accurate on an overall trend for my store.

-Whisper-

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Kathy_131728

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Re: Slow sales?
Reply #49 - Aug 2^nd, 2009, 9:30am

Interesting thread. First the good news for greeting cards. Recently I read that greeting card sales traditionally have gone up when times are bad. People may not be able to afford a present, but they can afford a card and people want to stay in touch when times are bad. This should be good news for us all.

When looking at my store, I too noticed July sales were off vs. June sales. For me they were down 37%. This is kind of interesting because last July my sales were better than last June. I did have a bulk order this June though that I did not have in July.

Tom, your sales comparison year to year is outstanding. My sales are up compared to last July, but no where near how much yours are up. Congratulations!

When looking at clicks per sale in June mine were 13 and July they were 16 with a long term average of 17. If only I could get more clicks that could turn into sales (I digress)! Back to the facts...

My average commision in June was .43 and July was .54.

Have noticed a trend in the last 10 days of a click downturn of about 25%.

Thanks to all who have shared!
Kathy

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Tom_133317

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Re: Slow sales?
Reply #50 - Aug 2^nd, 2009, 11:11am

Great posts guys.

Kathy, my numbers compared to last year are so good because I was really just getting going last year. I started in late February 2008.

Also, Kathy, your clicks per sale are so much better than mine telling me that I have a lot of people looking over my cards for a free chuckle but hold off on buying, which is interesting. I've never been under 30 clicks per sale, but now being at 54 is sickening. Tongue

Your -37% vs. June is rather close to my drop - also interesting. Jeff you've done comparibly well. Congrats!

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