Been doing some market research lately and came across some tidbits that might interest you. The number one thing that motivates people to buy from the web (instead of off line) is price. Now I know that a lot of people complained about price being cheaper somewhere else before the internet came along. Now they have a whole lot more companies to use as an example of being cheaper than thou. All they have to do is jump on eBay and there’s dozens if not hundreds of examples of “what your price should be”.
I know a lot of people thought (and still think) that it was the cheap Asian imports that killed this industry. But jump on Trade Me (the NZ equivalent of eBay) and you will find even cheaper Asian imports in abundance. All of whom who are trying to outcheap the competition. Otherwise known as the next eBay store that comes up in your search.
Just in case you didn’t know (or didn’t care) price is about the worst thing to be competing on if you want to run a successful business. Service, performance of the board etc is what you want to be selling if you can convince people it’s worth more than the internet price they found…