I could then sort these numbers by clicks , sales , and items ordered .
Clicks on affiliate links are a useful measure of readers’ interest in buying a film camera. I’m very clear about where such links lead on Analog.Cafe; thus, every “click” is a deliberate action by a reader.
As you can see from the above, Analog.Cafe’s readers showed the most interest (on average) in film cameras during the winter months of #1: December , #2: January, and #3: February. In fact, December appears to be nearly three times more popular than January!
Exactly as expected? This may seem like an obvious observation. I worked in retail for many years while attending high school and remember figures of over a hundred thousand dollars in a single day in December at a medium-sized athletic wear store (that was during Boxing Day sales, a Canadian version of Black Friday ). But while the hindsight is 20/20, I could never be sure what the next few weeks would be like in terms of sales for my Etsy shop .
For example, the relatively good sales figures in January and February are contrary to the trends in clothing and homeware retail . The brick-and-mortar shops had a long lull starting immediately in January all the way until June.
Vintage film cameras, on the other hand, are doing OK in the late winter months.
My best guess is that film cameras are the kinds of purchases a photographer has to make. Buying a gift for someone who shoots film can be daunting as there are tons of options and no guarantees that something you may’ve researched for weeks can even accept modern film. Perhaps photographers are more likely to know what they want and where to get it; those winter past-holiday months may provide an excellent downtime at work for some shopping, maybe using money one got as a holiday gift.
Months for bigger purchases. September is not a particularly popular month for film camera sales. The clothing stores I worked at boomed during the back-to-school sale seasons, but that doesn’t appear to be a thing for film cameras. Film photography simply isn’t taught at schools very often.
However, another metric reveals that the few people who are interested in buying a film camera in September are willing to spend more .
EPC, or earnings per click, is the average sales or commissions earned for every interested visitor to the third-party store. The average EPC value for my September sales is $0.103 (which ranks it at #3) — roughly half of the leading December’s EPC of $0.200 (no surprise there). But looking back at the click rankings (where September is dead last), the third spot in place for EPC is a useful insight:
September may be the time to spend a little on ads to sell the most expensive photography gear. Based on my data, it’s not as effective as December, but ads may cost more then, too.
These data-based insights may not apply directly to you as they are based on averages for mostly US sales facilitated by this blog. Nevertheless, data like this is often closely guarded by shops and businesses as it can give an edge to those who possess it. I hope you find them helpful as selling stuff is always harder than buying!
