Hi!
I've tried multiple times to make a shop for flowers, fossils, DIYs, materials and etc., but I never seem to get enough traction?
For example I see some people's shops going for 4 pages or more but I struggle to even get 2 pages?
I feel like I have relatively low prices, too so I'm not sure why people aren't taking interest?
I have a link to the newest shop I made in my signature, please give advice if you can.
I'm wondering if it might be how I lay things out? But this is the first time I went through the trouble of trying to make it relatively nice lol
While I don't have an active shop on the forums myself, I do have a bit of experience trading/selling in the past, so hopefully this helps...!
Basically running a successful and popular shop is going to come down to two things: You want to offer products and or services that people need or want, and the shop needs open at a time that a good number of people can see it. You've already got a great start on both categories, so don't feel discouraged there.
I do feel that at current the main "problem" (and it's not even really one!) is that you're not offering too too much that people are looking for at the moment. You have a lovely selection of flowers, fossils, and DIYs for example, but they may just not be what people are after. As you update your stock and toss more items in there I really do think you'll see a lot more business. You could even offer other services like cataloging sets or items that people may be searching for as well.
I'm just thinking the Nooks Cranny is very competitive and fast moving.
Shops that tend to stay on top are like people with big catalogues or huge inventory. They pull in people who want full furniture sets.
You got ones who exclusively don't want to hunt and post their wishlists where they will buy with IGB or NMTs. We know how much people love NMT.
Then there's traders who want 1:1 sorta deal with DIYs. People who don't want to burn a hole in their wallet or nook miles like those.
I think your shop is just on the smaller scale (although I've seen small threads) where once the high demand items are bought out, then you lose people's interest. Like someone already offered to buy the most popular DIYs. Or if someone yanks the hybrids, most aren't interested in base flower colors.
it's just fast moving, even when i post for thing i'm looking for it gets pushed to 2nd page really quick. shops with rare items and huge catalog get more attention even if they require higher prices or more nmt.
I had a shop briefly but have it on pause since I recently reset my island, but I found that business comes in waves. I plan to reopen once I build up an inventory again and I primarily sell NMT (at market rate) and spare DIYs (where users can name their price).
The forum moves fast and you just have to have the right items at the right time to attract buyers who are currently online. I know I had days where I didn't get a single order and some where I was busy back to back for a hours trying to fulfill the rush. All you can do is stay positive and patient while keeping your stock up.
a lot of this is actually super helpful, i had no clue why my flower shop wasn't doing too well - of course, i'm pretty sure my prices for base colors were rather high and other issues because of stock, plus other reasons. my hypothesis is that you really have to be adamant about bumping your thread if you don't get a ton of traction immediately or else it'll just fall to the depths of the board. i remember one time i bumped it late at night and got a ton of orders while all the times during the day i didn't really get any. just different people with different needs. i'm working on a more expansive shop thread now, i won't be TTing as much anymore though so i won't be getting as many flowers or mom's items and such, but i hope my catalog is good enough for now haha
while i’ve never owned a shop on here, i have done my fair share of trading. what i’m tending to notice is, unless a shop offers a large catalogue/rare diys/out-of-season diys or furniture/rare hybrids, not many shops will get that much traffic. on top of that, nook’s cranny moves pretty quickly and it also depends on what time you’re posting - you might get more traffic posting more during the afternoon/evening rather than super early in the morning or at night.
another thing i’ve noticed is people don’t like making offers - they prefer a price to already be set as they don’t wanna offer something that’s too high or low. and thread organization and appealing colours/designs/etc never hurt, too.
that being said, since i just purchased from you, i think your thread looks lovely and it was fun trading with you. but you also posted that thread yesterday at about 4am (est), if i remember correctly, and the forums doesnt get a lot of traffic around that timeframe aha
I don't have a shop in NH, but I ran one back when New Leaf was a thing (although things didn't move nearly as fast as they do now, and there are a number of things I would have done differently if I could run a shop again). Most of the advice that people have given is advice that I would agree with (e.g. pricing matters, what you have in stock matters, etc.), so I won't repeat what has been said. However, one thing that I will add is that being efficient helps tremendously. The faster a trade is completed, the better. Sometimes, there are occasional issues with people being online at the same time, miscommunication, and the like, but as long as you make a good faith effort to resolve these in a timely manner, then you'll be fine.
