How To Sell Online

We are in the digital age, selling products and services has never been this easy. Many are embracing this trend of shopping online, which is why more retailers are beginning to learn the tricks of selling their products online. While the idea of selling online is exciting, it is not as easy as it sounds, to be successful with selling your products online, you have to familiarize yourself with the know-how so it doesn’t seem like a total waste of time. In this article, I will be running you through what it takes to sell online. Stay with me!

Choose Where To Sell Your Products

There are two options in this case: selling via your own E-Commerce platform or selling via other established marketplaces.

  1. Selling Via Your Own E-commerce Platform

This is oftentimes preferred because in this case, you are in control of how the store is being run. You have a say in what products go up there, and how the design of your store looks like. You can also make changes to your store whenever you see fit, instead of waiting for a superior body to endorse your actions.

The common issue that comes with owning your e-commerce store is the cost of establishing one but with some online store builders available, you can easily construct your own store without worrying about the cost it will take to establish one traditionally.

The trusted platforms for establishing your own store are:

  • Shopify
  • Wix
  • Big Commerce
  1. Selling Via Established Marketplaces

Selling via established marketplaces is another alternative to put up your products out there. The most prominent online marketplaces are Amazon, E-bay and Etsy. Using these marketplaces to sell is advantageous because there are a beehive of shoppers regularly visiting these platforms every day for the purpose of shopping, so you are basically tapping into such privilege.

  • Selling on Amazon:

This is a marketplace that has built its reputation over the years as one of the best marketplaces to purchase products like books, electronics and DVDs. This explains why there are lots of retailers patronizing this platform. Amazon also has friendly delivery options that will make it easy for your customers to get their order(s) in due time.

  • Selling on Etsy:

Like Amazon, Etsy is just another marketplace that has gained its reputation over time as a trusted platform for buying products; only in this case,  it is basically designed for those selling art and crafts.

  • Selling on EBay:

This is quite different from the aforementioned marketplaces as selling is done by bidding; which is quite worrisome as the buyers are not obliged to pay immediately for the goods purchased. You can sell virtually anything on this marketplace.

  • Selling on Facebook

Facebook has a Business Page and with the recent addition of the “buy” button, selling has been made easier on this platform. All you need to do to sell on Facebook is to open a business page and attract traffic to it by creating quality content, running promos, etc.

Develop A Strategy For Selling Online

Once you’ve had an idea of where you will be selling your products online, the next step is to develop a befitting strategy that will enable you to have an edge as you storm the market. Developing a strategy is not a one-way street, you have to provide answers to some important questions to enable you to develop a good strategy for selling online.

  • What does it cost to produce or buy the products and how much are you going to sell?
  • What is your target within the next 1 year?
  • Who are your competitors?
  • What sells more online?

Once you can be able to answer the questions above, you are an inch away to developing a strategy that works.

What Products To Sell Online

It is always better to sell what is in demand than selling what isn’t. You want to be sure that there is a market for the product you are about to sell. This will be sub-categorized into three:

  • What products sell online?

To know the product that sells online, you can simply use Google Trends, do keyword research, read product review sites, learn from big online stores that are already making waves in the industry or simply follow your passion.

  • How do you source products to sell online?

This is another important question because if there is no means to get the product you want to sell online, there won’t be any product to sell in the first place. So basically, you have to figure out if you are buying from a wholesaler or you are producing the product yourself.

  • How do you present the product you want to sell online?

Now that you have an idea of what product to sell online and how you are going to get them, another hurdle you have to cross is the presentation of the product online. The two natural ways to present your products online is by putting up captivating photos of your products and writing sizzling product descriptions that would convince your customers to consider buying your product(s)

Figure Out Your Shipping & Payment Methods

Of course, after a customer has placed an order from your store, payments for the products have to be made and also the goods will have to be delivered to them. You have to select an option that works best for your business.

Delivery

There are five common delivery options, in which you will have to select one :

  • Rate by order price – customers can get a discount depending on the number of goods purchased.
  • Real-time quotes – the delivery fee is calculated based on the product size, weight, and destination.
  • Flat-rate – the delivery fee is fixed for all types of products.
  • Store or Local pick-up – customers can come to pick up their orders themselves.
  • Free shipping – customers don’t pay a dime to get their products delivered to them.

Payment

There are lots of payment options you can choose from, they include PayPal, Payoneer, Skrill, credit and debit cards, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, and crypto.

When selecting a payment option there are some factors you should consider:

  • The charges imposed by the payment platform on each order.
  • The number of countries covered.
  • The ease of use of the payment platform.
  • The limitations on products.

You want to make sure the above factors are highly considered and favorable to your customers and you.

Customer Service Channel

You have to put up your contact details – it could be your phone number, email, etc. – on your online store to make it easy for customers to reach you when they have complaints.

Security and License

If you are using a personalized e-commerce platform, you need to make sure it is secure enough to avoid theft of personalized data and information. Also to be able to sell on the highly recommended e-commerce platforms, acquiring a license is pertinent to ensure the smooth running of your business and also to initiate trust between you and your customers. You can surf online to know how to go about acquiring a license.

As rightly mentioned earlier, selling online is not a walk in the park; if you can follow the steps discussed in this article judiciously, it will definitely be a success.

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