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MySalesStore.com Registers 3,000 in Two Weeks Through Promo

MySalesStore.com, an e-tailer selling home- and family-related merchandise, has registered 3,000 members within the first few weeks of the site's debut through a $10 shopping promotion.

The promotion offers new customers $10 off any purchase of the 1,200 items sold at the site, including lamps, pewter, globes, rugs, telescopes and quilts.

“For $10 we bring in a consumer to register. A portion of them buy on the spot, and a portion come back to purchase,” said Bob Ducey, president/CEO of Reno, NV-based MySalesStore.com.

To register, consumers must enter their name, e-mail address and a password. They also can opt to receive an e-mail newsletter detailing product offers and promotions and linking them to the site. MySalesStore.com last week dropped its first e-mail newsletter to almost all of the first 3,000 registrants, Ducey said, adding that the site plans to send newsletters on a weekly basis to all members.

The company plans eventually to include profiling questions in its weekly member e-mails, allowing it to send product-specific newsletters, Ducey said. He said it is too early to determine when this would be initiated.

As a customer retention measure, MySalesStore.com offers its members a discount of 10 percent of their previous purchase toward their next purchase. For example, the average purchase is $50, which would provide customers with $5 off the next purchase. Members can check their reward accounts at the site's myRewards section.

MySalesStore.com is advertising its promotion through the shopping sections of AltaVista and Lycos. The company also is marketing the site through GreaterGood.com, a network of charity sites in which 8 percent of each purchase goes to a selected charity. Ducey said his site has obtained almost 90 percent of its registrants through a marketing agreement with Commission Junction Inc. or www.cj.com, a pay-for-performance affiliate marketing network.

MySalesStore.com pays its advertising partners a percentage of any purchases facilitated by the participating site.

“Because we only have to pay per sale, we are building a customer base for free,” Ducey said. By combining the $10 promotional offer and the sales commission fee, the average cost to acquire a new customer is $15, he said.

The site targets primarily women, Ducey said. Further demographic statistics will be determined through profiling questions.

MySalesStore.com sells its non-commodity home- and family-related items through 25 suppliers.

“By selling non-commodity or non-branded items, we are removing the price pressures,” Ducey said. The company claims to offer its products at 25 percent less than comparable retail prices. He said that the company sells its products for twice the price it pays its suppliers, allowing it to profit from each sale but still offer its products at less than retail price.

The company has partnerships with importers, distributors and manufacturers, which are responsible for shipping single orders to customers. MySalesStore.com is solely responsible for marketing the merchandise, receiving and processing orders.

MySalesStore.com plans to offer more than 2,000 products through 40 suppliers by fall 2001. Ducey added that the company expects to have 100,000 members by Jan. 1 and 250,000 by June 2002 based on current registration rates. He would not disclose how many of the 3,000 registrants have placed purchases.

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