Q. What products should I auction?
A. It’s a tricky question as it will largely define your business. The first rule is – market products that will appeal to your costumers.
And we’re not talking about market segmentation here. If you already have a successful e-commerce website that offers, let’s say hunting equipment or diving equipment or any other special niche range of products, this doesn’t mean that you should open a penny auction featuring the same line of products.
Keep in mind that choosing highly targeted products for your auctioned items will significantly narrow down your target audience. Always ask yourself, will these items be able to attract a sufficient amount of active bidders and keep your auctions alive longer. If your auctions will end quickly because there are only a few bidders on your website not only will it result in revenue loss but also in low levels of engagement of your clients and soon even the few bidders you have will lose interest.
It’s a good idea to think about products that are popular in your country or region, something that can attract and engage a lot of people. Surprisingly you may find that it’s not necessarily expensive products like iPads’ or Plasma TVs’.
Although our experience suggests that quite often the lower the country’s GDP per capita the more expensive products are required to be auctioned in order to reach the required critical mass of interested bidders to keep the business growing.
Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “Like”, we appreciate the support.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Penny stories #3
“Find a penny pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck” probably most of you heard this saying somewhere at some time but does it still stand? Of course over 100 years ago a penny had substantial buying power and with the civil war starting in 1861 and the great depression following it a found copper-nickel penny was a sure sign of good luck.
At that time you wouldn’t see Lincolns figure on the coin instead a profile of a man wearing an Indian feather hat was placed on the head of the coin.
The Penny is strongly tied in with human history and culture, if you look around you’ll find that rumors and urban legends formed around pennies. And the word itself will always be pleasant to the human ear. People are still ready to try their luck with just a penny, or a penny auction for that matter.
Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “Like”, we appreciate the support
At that time you wouldn’t see Lincolns figure on the coin instead a profile of a man wearing an Indian feather hat was placed on the head of the coin.
The Penny is strongly tied in with human history and culture, if you look around you’ll find that rumors and urban legends formed around pennies. And the word itself will always be pleasant to the human ear. People are still ready to try their luck with just a penny, or a penny auction for that matter.
Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “Like”, we appreciate the support
Friday, February 17, 2012
Penny stories #2: New Ford for a rare penny
Here’s a story for you.
In the 1940’s a rumor captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans across all states, spreading rapidly like a wild forest fire. Imagine you could get a brand new Ford car for just a penny! But not just any penny - it had to be a 1943 copper penny.
What was so special about it?
During the war there were a lot of emergency cutbacks across almost all sectors. One of the emergency measures demanded that all 1943 US pennies were made out of steel instead of copper, but before the bill was implemented a small amount of 1943 copper pennies where stuck and somehow entered circulation.
Wanderlust of the idea of getting a car for just a penny moved a lot of people. Some tried to hunt down the original copper cents, some tried to counterfeit fake ones.
But rumors are rumors, I’d like to think there a happy end in this story. I wonder if a penny auction will ever start such a powerful story, a deal of the 21st century.
Have a nice weekend!
Anthony
Softmedia.biz
In the 1940’s a rumor captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans across all states, spreading rapidly like a wild forest fire. Imagine you could get a brand new Ford car for just a penny! But not just any penny - it had to be a 1943 copper penny.
What was so special about it?
During the war there were a lot of emergency cutbacks across almost all sectors. One of the emergency measures demanded that all 1943 US pennies were made out of steel instead of copper, but before the bill was implemented a small amount of 1943 copper pennies where stuck and somehow entered circulation.
Wanderlust of the idea of getting a car for just a penny moved a lot of people. Some tried to hunt down the original copper cents, some tried to counterfeit fake ones.
But rumors are rumors, I’d like to think there a happy end in this story. I wonder if a penny auction will ever start such a powerful story, a deal of the 21st century.
Have a nice weekend!
Anthony
Softmedia.biz
Friday, February 10, 2012
Q and A on Penny Auction Software #3
Q: My question isn’t software related but I’d be grateful if you could give your opinion. It seems that the economy is still suffering through rough times, is this really a good time to start a PA business?
A: We keep an eye out for any news on the entertainment industry. From what we can tell, numerous marketing researches show that in 2011 there was a significant raise of interest towards casual gaming and online entertainment. There seem to be two main reasons behind this.
First: Casual games are a light and easily available form of entertainment. They don’t require you to spend a lot of time or money to relax and take the edge off of day-to-day stress. Traveling, going to concerts, planning a trip to Las Vegas or getting in to a new AAA video game release are all great but they get left beyond the reach of a lot of people.
But we all still want entertainment. So spending 10 to 15 dollars couple of times a week without leaving the house seems like a good alternative to a lot of people, and as in the case with penny auctions if there’s a chance to win a bargain of a prize, well it just adds to the more interest to the experience.
Second: Stats show that as wireless devices notebooks etc penetrate deeper and deeper in to various demographic layers, more age groups get exposed to online and interactive forms of entertainment. In 2011 gamers aged 18-49 made up 53% of the total community and people over 50 made up 29% and growing. In addition more than 55% of all of them use hand held devices (source: Entertainment Software Association).
Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “like”, we appreciate the support ;)
A: We keep an eye out for any news on the entertainment industry. From what we can tell, numerous marketing researches show that in 2011 there was a significant raise of interest towards casual gaming and online entertainment. There seem to be two main reasons behind this.
First: Casual games are a light and easily available form of entertainment. They don’t require you to spend a lot of time or money to relax and take the edge off of day-to-day stress. Traveling, going to concerts, planning a trip to Las Vegas or getting in to a new AAA video game release are all great but they get left beyond the reach of a lot of people.
But we all still want entertainment. So spending 10 to 15 dollars couple of times a week without leaving the house seems like a good alternative to a lot of people, and as in the case with penny auctions if there’s a chance to win a bargain of a prize, well it just adds to the more interest to the experience.
Second: Stats show that as wireless devices notebooks etc penetrate deeper and deeper in to various demographic layers, more age groups get exposed to online and interactive forms of entertainment. In 2011 gamers aged 18-49 made up 53% of the total community and people over 50 made up 29% and growing. In addition more than 55% of all of them use hand held devices (source: Entertainment Software Association).
Feel free to send us more questions to blog@softmedia.biz
And don’t forget to comment and “like”, we appreciate the support ;)
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