DTC Tactic: Relaunching 'Dead' Shopify Stores
An opportunistic e-commerce strategy involves scraping the web for dormant Shopify stores and acquiring their assets at a low cost. Entrepreneurs then relaunch the brands with improved conversion rate optimization and marketing, capitalizing on neglected inventory and established domain names.
- Tools like ScrapeBox and Domain Hunter Gatherer are used to find expired domains that still possess valuable traffic and backlinks, which are key assets in this strategy. Marketplaces such as Acquire.com and Flippa also list existing online businesses for sale, connecting buyers with sellers. - The acquisition cost for an e-commerce business is often valued at 2-3 times its annual net profit. However, prices can range from a few thousand to over one hundred thousand dollars, depending on factors like brand recognition, traffic, and inventory. - A primary risk involves inheriting hidden liabilities from the dormant company, such as unresolved tax issues, pending legal actions, or undisclosed debts. Due diligence is critical to ensure the company has a clean history before acquisition. - In Shopify, an "abandoned checkout" is recorded when a customer enters their email but does not complete the purchase. This data, which includes the customer's contact information and cart contents, is stored for three months in the "Orders" section of the admin panel before being automatically deleted. - A key conversion rate optimization (CRO) tactic during the relaunch is streamlining the checkout process, as research indicates nearly 20% of shoppers abandon carts due to complexity. This can be achieved by offering guest checkout, reducing the number of form fields, and displaying all shipping costs upfront. - The relaunch strategy often involves more than a visual rebrand; it can include teaser campaigns leading up to the launch and prioritizing improvements to the customer experience before overhauling the brand identity. - Specialized e-commerce business brokers and M&A firms like Archstone Business Brokers or Acquisitions Direct facilitate these transactions, offering services that range from valuation to connecting entrepreneurs with viable acquisition targets. - Potential buyers should investigate why the original business became dormant, as it could be due to unresolved issues like poor supplier relationships, negative customer reviews, or an outdated and inefficient technical infrastructure that requires significant investment to fix.
