Well established dropshipping stores with a big client database often sell a wide array of products. It takes hard work to delineate nice, neat product categories and a clean shopping experience that makes buying easy. And, of course, since it’s dropshipping, no inventory is held so, by definition, everything sold is new.
The Missing Link
Guess what a lot of the drop-shippers are missing? A simple “New Arrivals” page. Most ecommerce stores spend the vast majority of their efforts driving traffic to one of these destinations.
- Homepage
- A Category or Collection Page,
- A Product Page
- A Landing Page
- A Content Page, such as a Blog Post
Why bother creating a New Arrivals page on your website? Shouldn’t you invest that in maintaining and updating very precise, well stocked and carefully monitored store categories? A New Arrivals page sounds gimmicky at best. After all, just because it’s New to You doesn’t mean it’s genuinely new.
Your job is to just find the next great deal for your customers, whether it’s a new trend or an old staple, right?
Wrong. Turns out, your customers want “new.” New has always been a big draw, and customers are busy. They want you to curate for them, picking the best per category and also separating out what’s new. New Arrivals is, therefore, a great place to showcase new trends. While this is happening, though, offer to inspire your customers with ideas that are profoundly novel as well.
As a result, a New Arrivals page will increase average time on site, a significant metric that will help you lower your advertising costs. Time on site also helps boost sales, especially in cases where customers don’t immediately convert. The longer they are on the site, the more likely they will discover a valuable proposition and purchase at that point.
Twelvefold Increase
To illustrate what we mean, here is an example of how we increased revenue by adding a separate category for New Arrivals. Prior to this we used to just disburse them across dedicated apparel departments like Jeans of Tops where they are rarely celebrated and quickly buried.
Originally, it was easiest logistically to divide new arrivals up by category. Stores then promoted these products over email and social media, driving traffic to either the category page or the product page itself.
The first screenshot below is of an email campaign that promoted these disbursed new arrivals on the last Saturday of October. However, it only generated just under $30. The second example, though, tells a better story. Two Mondays later we had a New Arrivals page all set up. We drove our traffic to that for 12 times the revenue!
There weren’t many other differences; the New Arrivals Page generated virtually the same Open Rates and Click-Through Rates, but a lot more revenue.
Before
After
These results are because of the customer’s motivation to buy, for example, jeans from unknown brands. They could have chosen more established brands, like H&M, Gap, etc. But their desire to be unique, to feel like someone special who won’t be dressed in the same pair of jeans as thousands of people in the same city.
Answering the Call for New
Therefore, people who are looking for something different will be very excited to see what’s new in your store if you curate it for them. Then they can be relatively assured their purchase will not only be unique, but that they can be the first one in their social group to own the item.
For this reason, as part of the curation value you provide (because you’re not getting paid for your manufacturing knowledge, after all), celebrate your new arrivals with big, bold, well informed captions and verbiage:
Of course, a New Arrivals page does a lot more than merely highlight the newest products within your online store. It’s also a great way to reveal seasonal items or new collections you’ve recently added to your catalog.
Shoppers love getting great deals online, but they also want to be trendy. Finding something unique before anyone else is going to satisfy their shopping desires. They’re looking for new ideas, new products and simple inspiration.
Having a new arrivals page will help deliver on that.
Important Tips
If you are adding new products regularly for testing but not featuring those in “New Arrivals” page, you should definitely start doing it. And if you are just relying on a few products that worked for you, you should try adding something new to the website.
Keep in mind that keeping this page fresh is key. People don’t want to visit a page that’s constantly featuring the same products month after month. Start updating it monthly or biweekly to keep it fresh so that more and more shoppers over time will set aside enough time to visit it regularly.
What if you don’t often source new products? Just rename your page “What’s Trending?” “Popular Items” or “Hot New Game Changers,” etc. Whatever it’s called, don’t forget to link it prominently, not only in your main nav bar, but from customer service emails like shipping notifications and surveys.
Have you run a site without a New Arrivals page? Also, what about your About Us Page? Does it convey a compelling brand story or is it just a placeholder? What about your Returns Policy Page — is it explicit, inviting and helpful or is it designed to minimize returns? Tell us about your experiences, and if there are similar pages you could (never) do without.
Anna Hrychukh and Thomas McClintock
Hustler Marketing
