Start-up mobile accessories retailer CellPig.com wants to be the niche expert in Apple-related accessories, and to get there is planning to drop hundreds of accessory SKUs it currently sells and only sell products that work for Apple devices.
Cell phone cases, screen protectors and other products for Apple’s mobile devices already make up more than 50% of all sales for CellPig.com, No. 996 in Internet Retailer’s Second 500 Guide, says co-founder Mike Kane. But the retailer is discovering that it is unable to show up high on search engine results because its limited resources don’t allow it to optimize its web site for all keywords related to accessories for all mobile devices. “We’ve always focused a little on everything and we’ve found that it’s not working, especially SEO-wise,” Kane says.
Launched in late 2009, CellPig.com brought in about $300,000 in sales last year. The retailer does most of its search engine optimization in-house and spends $750 per month with an outside SEO firm.
So over the next two months, CellPig.com will liquidate all non-Apple-compatible products through discounts on CellPig.com, by unloading inventory at a discount to competitors and on eBay and Alibaba.com marketplaces, Kane says. By the end of the year, it should have around 700 SKUs, all products for use with Apple products.
“It just makes so much more sense if we manage all keywords from one brand,” Kane says. “I’d rather be great at one thing than mediocre at a lot of things.”
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