Trend Or Fad? What To Ask Before Choosing Your Product Line
While its important for every online seller to keep their eyes on consumer buying developments in their product market, its equally important for them to understand whether those development are trends, or merely fads. Its easy to confuse the two; but to source the right products for your E-Biz customers, you need to be able distinguish between them.
Short-term Thinking
Fads are random sparks that catch on with a group of people, explains Lisa Suttora, founder of trending site http://WhatDoISell.com. They come out of nowhere, burst into a full-blown buying frenzy, and then quickly fizzle out. The problem occurs when you mistake a fad for a trend. By the time you recognize a fad products popularity and begin sourcing and selling it, that product is already on its way out. Prices spiral downward, and you end up holding a lot of inventory no one wants.
Selling fads is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Because fads arent fueled by consumer wants or needs, theres no repeat group of customers to whom you can continually market. You may successfully supplement your regular...