I was asked recently why I keep adding new items to the store, instead of sticking with the few tried-and-true items that are really good sellers. The problem, presumably, is that many of these new items end up not being very good sellers, and the question is, why diversify at all? Why take a chance on losing hundreds of dollars on non-sellers instead of focusing on the few items that are the best sellers?

There are, of course, many answers to this. The first one is that there's simply no way of knowing what will become a good seller. More importantly, there's no way of knowing what new item will be a bigger seller than older items. For example, when I first started selling gemmy stuff on eBay six years ago, all I had were a couple of types of carved stone pendants. I sold a few every week; made a nice little profit. I happened to buy a few strands of chip beads with some of those profits, and it turned out that chips were MUCH bigger sellers than pendants! Business with the pendants was fine, but if I had not chosen to take a chance on the chip beads, I would have missed out on a bigger seller.

Another example is when I branched out into marbles and eggs. I got these mainly because I found a really good sale one day, and had an interest in collecting them myself. As you can see from the regular "Top Ten Items," marbles and eggs are consistently our best sellers! Had I stuck with my sure thing (chip beads) and not branched out into marbles & eggs, I would have not had the opportunity to discover these huge sellers.

The second reply to the "Why Diversify?" question is that a revolving product line keeps customers interested and returning. I work with over a dozen different wholesale companies. A few of them stay the same month after month, even year after year. I go to them when I need a particular item that nobody else sells, but don't browse their catalogs regularly, because their items never change. On the other hand, some companies change their product lines monthly or even weekly. These are the catalogs I enjoy looking through, because I know I can always find new stuff, and I order from these companies much more--often throwing in new items that I want to try out! I see Ephemerala the same way. If I stuck with the same 100 items year after year, you'd browse once or twice, get an idea of what we have, buy what you like, and then never return. Adding new items every couple of weeks keeps the place fresh and keeps folks coming back.

A third answer is that, on a business level, it makes sense to add different items, because different items attract different types of customers. I don't want Ephemerala to be known as a Bead Store or a Rock Store or a Jewelry Store or a World Art Store or an Incense Store. I want us to be known as ALL of this. By sticking to pendants and chip beads, I would never have the distinction of being a great place to find gem marbles, silk purses, strange musical instruments, or fragrance oils. We have some customers who only buy beads, some who only buy eggs, some who only buy fragrances, and so on.

Without a diverse product line, we would lose many of these regular customers. Finally, on a personal level, I enjoy buying new stuff. One of the best things about having a business is that I get to have all the things I used to covet--only I don't keep them; just hold them until their new owner buys them! I like surrounding myself with gems and baubles, even knowing they are not mine. I have a very large gift pool to pull from when gift-giving occasions come along, and in buying wholesale I can usually afford to give one or two of each item to my kids, who enjoy the stuff as well. My 10-year-old son even likes to set up a table down the street to sell jewelry to gain money for his various small expenses. Being surrounded by cool stuff is fulfilling, we learn a lot, and we have fun.

So, the bottom line is that, while a lot of the new items end up being duds and taking money from the business that could have been spent buying things that are more likely to sell, each experiment is worth it, because you never know when you might light on the Next Big Thing, and if you don't, you can just have a really good sale.