What’s a Realistic Amount to Sell Per Month from My Online Store?
Last night, I received a question from one of my students and VIP clients. It’s a tricky (loaded) question and I think the answer will help not just Grace, my client, but everyone.
Side Note: I use Slack with my team and VIP clients to communicate quickly – I only work with 6 coaching clients at a time so it works GREAT! I’m not an affiliate, I just love the app because it reduces my # of emails.
Here’s how the discussion went down…
graceA [7:50 PM] @grace I have a goal go sell 800-1000 units at new price ($125) per month – is that unrealistic?
janehamill [7:50 PM] @grace at the moment it’s probably unrealistic but it may not be in the future. Are you talking all of these sales to come out of your retail store? If so, write that down into the number of units per month, per week, per day. And, of course, not all months are created equal so consider that as well. Then figure out if I need to sell 10 dresses per day how many people need to enter the store to have a conversion of 10 units per day.
graceA [7:55 PM] @janehamill No, I want most to be online sales.
janehamill [7:57 PM] @grace Ohhhhh – that changes everything! For the better…OK. To sell that much online, you can work it backwards… 800 units sold = $100,000 in sales per month. Absolutely doable but not quickly. You need to determine some key numbers and in all honesty, you’ll be guessing at a lot of this in the beginning (planning is guessing – but it’s a good place to start. What % of web traffic will place an order, what’s the total # of unique visitors you need per month. What’s the dollar amount of each order? If you want to sell $100K/month, you need to know the average purchase amount from each customer, and how many of your web visitors will become actual customers.
janehamill [7:59 PM] @grace Wait a sec…how about I do a Podcast and explain this in detail?
So here we are, taping a podcast with the answer…
Download this episode on iTunes or Stitcher Radio. You can also click here to download it to any device as an mp3.
Want this as a PDF?
There’s math involved in this episode. While I LOVE crunching numbers – # of visitors needed to site, conversion percentages, average pricepoint, # of units per sale – I know it’s not everyone’s favorite thing. So I put together a handy PDF for all of you visual learners.
Here’s what’s cover in this episode…
- The 5 things every online store needs to get consistent sales
- The actual math around driving enough traffic and getting enough conversions
- Organic growth vs. fast growth including what your budget has to do with it
- The 4 main factors to growing your site organically for long-lasting success
- “Typical” conversion rates for an online apparel store and what Grace can expect from HER Shopify site
Now it’s YOUR turn.
Was this episode helpful?? Let me know what you think in the comments – I LOVE hearing from you!
7 Responses
Hi – this was a great listen. I’ve been signed up to your newsletter for ages but not really listened/read anything you’ve done before because I didn’t feel I was ready.
I’m just about to take some seed investment in to my business which has been trading for just a year. Revenue in the first 12 months has been £70k and I’m currently operating in profit. I want to get this to £200k at least by December 2018.
I only sell online and the £200k is to come from online sales only. My current website conversion rates are 1%. There were 6,500 unique visitors in August to my website with about £30 ad spend.
There’s lots I can be doing – my background is marketing – but I want to put together a focused marketing strategy that means I get the best ROI for my time and money and could do with someone who has grown a start up and benefit from their experience.
Can you take a look at my website http://www.callashoes.co.uk please and let me know if you think I would benefit from your experience/advice.
thanks!
Thanks Jane for the encouragement and insight! I appreciate you 😉
Hi jane
Loved this. How do you figure out what your conversion rate is?. Do you look at it as people or dollars?
SMPO is totally worth taking. I got so much out of it.
Hi Jane,
I love this podcast! It is so helpful to watch you go through the numbers.
I know it is a guessing game, but the more you can fill in with ‘somewhat’ accurate numbers the better. Having the 2% number makes a huge difference to my calculations. I know the information is probably available online but honestly I didn’t even know to look it up.
Thank you!
Thank you, Jane! I’m ready to begin again after a 3-year hiatus.
Meantime, all your emails were archived and I’ve spent the past several days reviewing & digesting them.
It’s interesting to see how much more technology now plays a role than it did in 2012-13-14; sooo good to
see that you’re offering classes that address online marketing.
I appreciate your teaching & sharing style, that you are still the real deal, and are such an approachable
individual in the fashion community.
Wow, what a great podcast! Love how you get to the point and give solid examples instead of talking just theory. It’s also helpful that you put it in context of the numbers that small start-ups can relate to…. and what is realistic. I’m at the beginning of my journey, but have already learned so much from your published content. Thank you!
Thanks Sindy! It is my mission in life, actionable advice. It’s nearly impossible for somebody to take action when they’re just learning theory and that’s not what I’m all about. ?