Annoying BestSeller

[jadedev]

Hi guys,

I notice in some website, there is a bestseller menu. Do you thinkthis thing helps customer to buy more? I personally find it annoying because what buy is different to what other people are buying

[vincevincevince]

Good for buying gifts when you're stuck for ideas. If it's selling well then it may well be something your intended recipient would like.

Good for SEO as it adds direct links to hot products from the homepage, helping to clear even more of them.

Good for freshness as it changes regularly.

[jadedev]

I am a real newbie. SEO? what is that?

[vincevincevince]

SEO = Search Engine Optimisation. The process of doing things to websites and about websites to help them get good rankings in search engine results.

[ispy]

I wonder how many of them are really best sellers? Or is it just the ones the store needs to sell more of for some reason.

Of course you find it annoying, like the rest of us you have a brain. I always get the wiff of a dispicable sales babbling idiot when I come across these types of psych tactics, anyone else will too, most people are just to conditioned to respond with anything other then the usual politeness.

[jadedev]

I guess this is only useful for people who are not too sure what to get, so go with the flow. For example, there are 12 different type of carnation flowers, but which one to get. If in doubt, go with the flo, buy one that is popular, can't go wrong.

[particleman]

Interseting topic. I have been torn adding a best seller list on my front page. From experience I find it very helpful when I'm on sites that have this. Often times it's a great starting place for items you may not be in the loop on.

Looking at the feature from a webmasters perspective my main concern with adding the feature is pointing out to my competition exactly what my biggest products are. Without going into the details of my site we manufacture custom items and have many listed on our site, but it's not clear to anyone what sells better than others. I would hate to point out to my competitors, "hey look this is our bread and butter products here". Perhaps the benefits outweigh the concern? I would be interested to hear from others about this also.

[sonjay]

I'm very task-oriented when it comes to shopping: Find the product I need, buy it, and get out.

I like the best-seller features (and the "you might-also-be-interested-in" type promos) because they often make me aware of related products that I might need or want -- which I wouldn't have seen through browsing, because I wasn't browsing and wouldn't browse.

[jsinger]

I wonder how many of them are really best sellers?

Several of our competitors have used such lists. They are top selling products, I know. But are those lists automatically generated and in precise sales order?
(and over what time period, which is rarely stated.

I'd like to hear from anyone who shows such a list on his site.

It's smart to showcase a few hot sellers but I don't want competitors knowing our top 10 in order.

[jadedev]

in this case, you use feathures products rather than best seller

[DryFire]

I think everyone is a little too concerned with their competition and not enough with just being the best they can. We use a best sellers list on our site and I can say for a fact that it improves conversion rates. It gets your products that are most likely to sell in front of your visitors. It also keeps things fresh and automatically updates for seasonal changes. (hypothetical example: Swim trunks show up on the list in the summer and winter coats show up on the list in the winter….).

[sem4u]

Personally I do like looking at bestseller lists, especially CD/DVD retailers. However, I won't always buy from them. Who would want all of the top ten CD albums even if they could afford them?

Not all bestseller lists actually reflect sales figures. Often higher margin products are listed to try and shift as many of those as possible.

[piatkow]

When it comes to CD/DVD purchases I would much rather be able to see what are recent releases.

[ridgway]

other names for bestseller lists:

- List of products we make the highest margin on

- List of products we want sell out so we can discontinue

- List of products we have too darned many of