Is this online business an interesting concept? Details inside...
Our goal was to create unique, risk and hassle-free fundraising program for schools, sports teams, non-profit groups and other community organizations.
I am looking for opinions on the website, service, as well as ideas on how to market it. Please visit the website ( http://www.iecocommunity.com/ ) and provide me with any and all feedback.
For example:
-Do you understand the program?
-Would you use the program or shop at ieco? Why or why not?
-What do you think of the layout, design, and information provided on the site?
-How could we improve the site and service?
-What marketing strategies would you recommend?
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M$8 Answers
There isn't a lot of content on the site besides the description of the idea. The first thing I'd want to know is what products you offer, and at what prices. Maybe you find that out after registering, but I don't register for sites on spec!
Whether it is a viable business probably depends greatly on two things...
- Can you get a big enough volume of business to cover the overheads?
- Can you give away 15% of sales revenue, and still be both price competitive and have an adequate sales margin?
My gut feel for those is that it would be tricky to achieve either of them. I could be dead wrong though, knowing so little about the project.
The trouble with something like this is that potential donors would need to both want to support one of the orgs that have decided to use you, and want to buy the products you're offering, which don't seem to be specifically tied in with those community orgs anyway. I suspect only a minority of people that want to donate to a cause would want to do it like that, and if only a minority of donors would use it, there's limited reason for an organisation to use the service.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you plan there.
Anyways, remember there are other also plenty of other ways of fundraising online, like these:
http://www.justgiving.com/
http://fundable.com/
As for how to promote the service... I think apart from getting the product info on the site, you also need some success stories of orgs that have raised funds that way, and then you need to find a way into the networks of community orgs. That last part could be pretty tricky, as small community orgs don't necessarily have any formal links with each other or to any central bodies.
Maybe a better way in might be to position yourself as an Eco-Shopping site, that happens to give 15% of sales to charities of your customers' choosing. Then concentrate on ecologically minded shoppers as the main target market rather than the community orgs.
Sorry for the not-so-encouraging feedback, and I hope I'm wrong and it all works out great for you.
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M$
Ques. Is this online business an interesting concept?
Ans. This is indeed an interesting concept, although not an unique one. There are similar programmes running to help the poor, hungry and starving people around the world; patients who cannot afford treatment; children who cannot go to school and hundreds of such noble causes. Yours is indeed such a noble cause. My regards for that. I hope people (communities for whom this programme is meant and their supporters) will like it.
Ques. Do you understand the program?
Ans. Yes! I understood the programme thoroughly. Putting straight, this is donating a portion (15%) of the profits you make from the sales of the products.
Ques. Would you use the program or shop at ieco? Why or why not?
Ans. Of course! I would like to if I find products of my choice and the prices are competitive (as any person with an average income would do). But I haven't found anything of my interest so far (most of the products I saw are either cosmetics and health-care products). What about the products for those communities to whom this site is dedicated (schools, sports group, non profit social service organizations etc.)?
Ques. What do you think of the layout, design, and information provided on the site?
Ans. As far as the layout, design and information are concerned, they are just fine.
Ques. How could we improve the site and service?
Ans. Here are my suggestions;
i. First and foremost, you need to include products for those communities to whom this site is meant for, i.e. schools, sports groups etc. You can list products which are used by students, sports-gear etc. You know, it is but natural that like minded people prefer to help the like minded. So, a sportsman would like to help another, a teacher or student will help another and so on. So, if you include product of their choice, these communities will be interested in your site and your sales will rise. It is difficult to sell cosmetics to a school-boy or to get a beautician interested in helping the sports-persons. Hope you got my point.
ii. The link which directs to the list of products is named as "Start Shopping Now" which may be confusing for some. Why not name it as "Our Products" or something simpler but more appealing.
iii. The home page/landing page is very short and gives a psychological impression that the site has not much to offer inside. Make it a bit longer (not too long to rob somebody's interest while scrolling down).
They are entirely my personal opinions and not criticism. You may differ from that.
Ques. What marketing strategies would you recommend?
Ans.
i. You should first start try a mailing list (you can buy it from a genuine source or get it even for free) and send the link of your site to everyone in the list.
ii. Try to post your links in as many relevant forums, discussion threads, groups, community sites, answering sites as possible. It is free and effective.
iii. You can try Google Adwords to increase traffic to your site. However, it is a paid service.
iv. You can try free or paid advertising sites.
v. You can put advertisements on Television, magazines, journals, news-papers and other forms of media.
vi. Try Twitter.
These activities will increase traffic to your site and will eventually raise the sales, your ultimate target.
Hope that helps you. Thanks
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M$
I liked the look of the site and found the concept interesting, but I'm not sure that it would be very easy to get people to actually use it. Why? Because like it or not part of the reason school fundraisers work is that we all feel guilty telling their smiling, hopeful faces "No."
If the child just hands you a card and says please order from this website to support my school (or organization), then it's far easier to say yes and never follow through.
Also, where does the customer input the name of the organization that they want to support? Is it on the checkout form? I didn't go there since I don't live in Canada and can't use the site, but I think you might want to have a very obvious link to "Choose your Charity".
Is there a place where the charity can track their sales during the two months between payments? I know that if I were fundraising, I would want to be able to track to see how we were doing and if we needed to do another push.
Finally, and this is probably something you need to debate yourself, I'm not sure I would put the percentage up for customers to see--maybe you could have a separate apge with information about fundraising to target the non-profits and schools, but here's my thinking:
Fifteen percent seems low. As a member of several non-profit organizations I know its about average, but as a consumer I'm thinking you want me to spend $10 for all natural bug spray and all the kids are getting is $1.50? When kids come to the door selling cookies or wrapping paper, I can at least pretend that they are getting a bigger percentage of the overpriced item I am buying. That doesn't mean I think your prices are bad--for all natural products, they aren't. But if I were just a consumer, that's how I would see things.
Good luck with the project!
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M$
Thanks for your feedback.
To answer your questions:
There is a drop-down menu on the checkout form from which shoppers can choose the organization they want to donate to.
Registered organizations will be provided with a user name and log in to which they can access a different area of the site which will list the orders that have been placed through their organization and track their donation proceeds as they accumulate.
I understand that 15% seems kind of low, but as you said, it is about par for the course as far as fundraising campaigns go. We're hoping that people who would purchase these products anyway would opt to shop at our site rather than a larger store, since they're paying the same prices and getting the same products while helping their community.
Thanks again for the feedback!
http://www.trsunderground.com
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M$
That's a good idea. I'm thinking that I will likely write up a press release and distribute it to local papers.
I appreciate the offer to post a link on your website, but, at present, we are only marketing and selling to Canadian companies, so that may not be the best option, but thanks.
If I were a school principal I might use your program if you marketed it correctly. You would need to send representatives to school board meetings.
Once a school agrees to use your program, you send a young, inspirational, engergetic pair of speaker-demonstrators to my school. They would need to have cards to hand out to the kids. The cards would need to have the website url on them, and the name of our school. Your demonstrators show the kids how to hand these out to their neighbors and extended family members.
I myself would not shop at Ieco. I am a cheapskate!
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M$
The problem with this kind of marketing programme - for someone trying to make a living from this - is the ratio of effort to the amount of money made could be very poor. Two demonstrators, who maybe would spend say three hours each in prepping, travelling, demoing etc... a whole person-day worth of work. And the return to the company is just the *margin* on the sales generated from one school. i.e. What is left in the company after paying for the goods, giving 15% to the school, paying overheads etc.
You need to crunch the numbers and see if this kind of thing makes sense, or you will just work very hard and go broke in the process.
You can probably figure out things that will work, but you'll avoid a lot of grief if you check the viability of ideas a little before giving them a try.
Don't be afraid to think up a lot of ideas, and drop the ones that are clearly not going to work.
Thank you for your feedback. Although it may appear that the question was just a way for me to market the site for free, since it is currently only open to Canadians (although we would, of course, like to expand this down the road), I don't think that most of the users here would be able to sign up.
Thanks for the marketing ideas - giving the kids cards to hand out may be a great way to get the word out.
It is therefore best to re-design your home page so that it cater for either the non profit organization, or the shoppers.
Beside the fact that 15% of your gross revenue will be donated to a charity who refer the paying customers, your website is essentially a "shopping site". As a online marketeer, I would strongly suggest that you design your home page so that it target the shoppers, and move all information on "how non profit organizations can sign up" to a mini site or sub-domain.
The reason for this is that you will likely to contact the non profit organizations personally via real-life contacts, email, offline promotions, etc. You can therefore lead them to the mini site directly, using URL such as http://www.iecocommunity.com/charity-partners. On the other hands, you want shoppers to visit your website and start shopping. Just place a nice logo/slogan to remind the shoppers that their purchases will help the charity they support.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I understand the concept as it was explained perfectly well in the opening page. I also like the fact that customers can shop year round for products so the donations can be an ongoing thing due to repeat customer loyalty.
Pricing is a bit high for my tastes and product selection is a little weak. Add more products to gain better customer base.
Marketing to the non-profit organizations should include the fact that customers can access the products all year round so the fund raising is not limited to just once or twice a year.
Another suggestion would be to offer this service to a more broad group of organizations. Only being able to ship to Canada from a website on the Internet means a small business. Check into shipping overseas or at least to the United States. Even sellers on e-Bay offer overseas shipping.
I understand the business is new and needs to gather more working capitol before adding more products or service. As far as I can see, this is a noble venture and I hope it succeeds. Good luck.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Good points, and I do appreciate the feedback, regardless of whether it is positive or negative.
I didn't realize that it was difficult to get to the shopping area of the site - anyone can visit and browse through the products we offer without signing up by clicking on the "start shopping now" link at the top of the site - no registration necessary. Looks like we'll have to make some adjustments to make this clearer.
The idea and goal behind the project was to make fund raising much easier for organizations that have limited time and resources to do so. Schools, sports teams, school bands, even Boy Scout troupes have to hold regular fundraisers in order to be able to have special field trips, activities, etc. If you've ever been involved with one of these fundraisers, you know that it takes a lot of work to organize. However, in my experience, people are usually willing to buy things they need or don't want in order to support a loved one, neighbor, etc. (I know relatives that regularly buy hams that sit in the freezer for years to support my cousin's hockey team.) We're trying to provide natural and eco-friendly products that people use anyway (toothpaste, deodorant, etc.), rather than the useless items offered through other fundraising campaigns.
We take care of all the order taking, shipping, organization, etc. for the organizations, so it makes for a hassle- and risk-free fundraising opportunity. Rather than collecting for, collating and distributing orders, all the organizations have to do is send their supporters to the website, so we're hoping that they will do a lot of the marketing for us.
Thanks again!
@kalane... it is a worthy cause, and I wish it well. My comments are based on having been involved in businesses and non-profits myself, and coaching people developing small community projects.
Personally if I were fundraising for one of those things, I think referring people to a shopping site that I get 15% from would be a lot less effective than having some fun event with a more definite "call to action".
Also bear in mind that what communinity orgs usually have is willing workers happy to put in time and effort, and what they don't have is any money to spare.
Glad to hear the product info is there somewhere!
I suggest you use the phrase "Browse Products" or "Browse Offers" instead of "Start Shopping". The latter sounds too much like I'm committing myself to spend money, when all I want to do is see what you have and figure out what the site is all about.
Maybe you need to clearly differentiate the parts of your site that are for the shoppers and the parts that are for the community orgs. Those are two distinct types of user, with different requirements.