Why Online Selling?
The world has gone online, everyone is now on the web. A lot of things have changed ever since. The way we interact, the way we work, and how our economy works. In the past few years, we have seen the emergence of some giant eCommerce sites like Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, Rakuten, Tokopedia, etc. that stimulate people and even companies to go online selling. The presence of these eCommerce sites has radically changed the world’s economy.
eCommerce sites have been one of the best platforms to sell your products. From a traditional store into something innovative. You can sell your products 24/7 with broadened reach. This availability will be more convenient for your customers. Nowadays, with our very tight schedule, the 24/7 online store will give more choices for the customers.
eCommerce or your website is one of the most efficient marketing tools. You can scale up the reach of your store/brand as it grows. There are tons of marketing strategies to help you develop and cope with your brand.
There are some aspects that you need to consider before you start your adventure in online selling. The first aspect is deciding the products that you want to sell. This should be the most important aspect of your online selling plan. Everything will revolve around your products, i.e; your target market, your SEO plan, etc.
There are lots of stories about people raking up thousands of dollars from selling products that are out of the box. This can be attained because of the unique marketing strategy that they use. Despite all of those stories, choosing the right product to sell will ease your start and make it better.
The great thing about online selling is that you can start selling something that you are comfortable and familiar with. Selling products that you are familiar with will ease everything up and it will also make the flow to run smoothly even though it is a frivolous product. This is better than selling something that looks, or sounds fancy and sophisticated that you know nothing about.
Most well-known online stores/businesses are mostly ones with a very segmented market. It is to be noted that people nowadays love things that are segmented and things that have a personal touch. Along with the massive progress in the online world, people get to know a lot more information, and they can pick and choose any information that they would like to know. This fact makes the society to be even more diverse than ever before.
That’s when marketing strategy starts doing its magic. There are plenty of platforms for online marketing. You can start from something that, we believe, you are familiar with; social media. Social media like Instagram or Facebook can be a very essential tool for starting your online selling. As soon as your product has markets, you can then start utilizing eCommerce platforms or vice versa.
Email marketing, video marketing, or content marketing are some marketing strategies that can greatly impact your business. You must choose your main strategy before you jump into online selling.
Online Selling Success Story
There are many success stories about online selling, but Jack Haldrup is something else. He is selling a product that is very common and he has to compete against some giant companies; yet, he can rake up 6 million dollars in just a year. The product that Jack sells is a soap bar; a daily essential.
The product that Jack sells might be a part of our daily essentials – but with the help of online selling, he was able to target a specific market better. His customers are not the type of people who would come to your regular supermarkets. Most of his customers usually buy organic soap as regular soap makes their skin dry.
Jack’s story can be an example of how small businesses with tailored customers can indeed make huge profits. An example of a much-segmented business can also be found in the fashion industry. The most important thing is the marketing strategy; and in online selling, the business and marketing strategy is almost limitless. As your business grows, the scope of your sales will also be wider.
The key to online selling is the flexibility of time. You will be able to make a transaction in the middle of the night while also in the middle of nowhere. This is practically impossible to be done in the offline/conventional stores. Offline/Conventional stores have scheduled work time. Despite the time flexibility, you will have to wait for days until the product is ready in front of your door. Both online selling and offline selling will have their pros and cons. The decision is ultimately in your hands.
The Potential Gain of Selling Products Online
You may be wondering what the advantages of selling products online are. Well, below are some of the advantages for you to consider:
– Time and cost-efficiency
Let’s say you currently have a shop to run your business. Little did you know that the cost of setting up an eCommerce website or joining marketplace platform is lower than an offline business. Most platforms don’t even charge you to sign up to their platform. Apart from that, the whole sales system for eCommerce/marketplace is automated online. So, you will be able to save on staff, wages and other business costs, such as electricity bill, and rent costs. The money that you will have saved then will be able to be used to develop your eCommerce website and expand your product.
Once your eCommerce website has been set up or once you have joined a marketplace platform, you will not need to spend as much time running your business. This is because the whole process for the customers’ ordering and making payments will all be automated through the online system. This will give you more time to determine ways to improve your products, such as offering special deals, tracking your daily profit, or even developing new products to sell.
– A wider range of customers
Most eCommerce and marketplace platforms these days are competing to develop their mobile apps to make their sites to be more accessible to the customers. This fact will enhance customers’ experience in a lot of ways. A stay-at-home mother to the busiest of businessmen will be able to enjoy online shopping through their mobile phones without needing to sit in front of their computers. So, in essence, anyone will be able to gain access to their platforms with a lot less hassle.
Another hidden fact is that there is no such thing as opening time restrictions in online selling. Meaning that you are not restricting your potential customers to visit your store, as they can visit your website or your profile in the marketplace and shop at any time. Let’s not forget that some people are indeed very busy, most do not have time to go out shopping. eCommerce and marketplace make it easier for customers to shop anywhere and at any time. In a business perspective, this means that you are maximising your sales and profits.
– More platforms, more money
The more platforms you sign up to, the more profit you will get. You can always sign into different platforms at the same time. No law that forbids it.
eCommerce selling can take on many different formats. Each channel has its unique audience that sellers can reach. Giant marketplace like Amazon and eBay allow specific audiences to look for a specific product. You can always use a mix of different platforms to engage multiple customers at once.
How to kickstart Product Online Selling for Beginners?
Not sure about where to begin? You can start by following these steps to begin your journey:
– Join Online Marketplace Platform
You can start by creating an account in one of the platforms of your choice. You might want to start small by joining one platform, and see how it goes. Each platform offers different methods of selling and various features to promote your products. Some are user-friendly, while others can take time to get used to. You can always move on to different platforms that suit your needs. Most platforms allow new users to sign up for free. You are now off to a good start by basically owning an online store for free.
– Create eCommerce
When thinking about starting a new business from scratch, an eCommerce site can be quite promising, but before you start thinking about your profit and selling products online, you will need to first create an eCommerce website. It might seem like a difficult task for those who are new at this, but it is not at all that difficult. Let me tell you how:
The very first thing that you need to figure out is the platform that you’re going to use. Once you’ve made your mind up on that, the next thing to do is to create an account. You will only need to provide an email address and a password. Once you’ve successfully signed up, you can choose a plan based on your preference. Once that’s done, you can then start to create your very own site. You can then spill all your creative ideas on this part! Last but not least, you will need to make sure that you connect your domain before you can publish your eCommerce site and get it live. The final steps would be to set up your products on the site, your shipping rules, and your payment methods. Finally, you’re ready to publish your website live on the web!
– Digitally Transform Your Business
Now that you have the two most fundamental things in your hands to start an online business, it is time to completely jump into the arena by digitally transforming your business. “What am I supposed to do then?” You may ask. Here’s the answer:
You can start with data automation. Please keep in mind that when starting from scratch, it is most likely that you cannot afford to hire someone to do all the operational work for you. That’s why you need a system to help you run the business.
When looking for operational systems that support automation, as a merchant, you should focus on whether or not they can deliver on one or more of the following:
a. Making sure that your inventory is updated in real-time so you won’t receive orders for the items that you can’t fulfill
b. Syncing orders with your accounting system to avoid manual counting errors
c. Receiving goods by scanning purchase order barcodes rather than manually counting stock
Conclusion
Online selling is a solution for your business to get a wider range of customers. Even if the products that you are selling have a very niche market, you can globally reach your customers. Moreover, your customers will be able to conveniently purchase your product without being limited by business hours. To put it simply, you essentially have a store that is open 24/7. The most familiar platform to help you out on implementing online selling is online marketplace & eCommerce.
However, there will be some aspects that you need to consider before executing an online selling strategy. Firstly, you will need to decide on the product you want to sell. No, it does not always have to be a tangible product, it can vary. The products can be either goods or even experiences. Secondly, please ensure that the market segment is not too wide or too niche; just about right in the middle. If your market segment is too wide, you will not be able to focus and will have many competitors that you have to deal with. Likewise, if your market segment is too niche, you will find it hard to develop the market. Thirdly, you will need to generate your own unique digital marketing strategy. The most commonly used and known platform to execute the digital marketing strategy is social media. You can most definitely start from there.
There will be some potential gains if you successfully implement an online selling strategy. Time & cost efficiency are the first ones. Do you know how much you will need to spend to open an offline business? Rent, Electricity, and other types of expenses will burden your cost. And you need to keep in mind that those are fixed costs. Which means that you will not be able to change or compromise with this. Once you go online, you will remove most of the fixed costs from building an offline store. Another thing to note is that since your product can be globally shown, it means that people around the world have the same opportunity to access your product and gain information about it.
Here are some tips that you can use to kickstart your online selling strategy. Before you understand how the system of eCommerce works, you may join the online marketplace first to deeply learn the system. Once you know how the system works, it is recommended that you build your eCommerce. Why? This is because “Data” is essentially the new oil. If you can get the data from your customers, you will be able to better understand the behaviour of your customers digitally. The improvement of your product and services will be preserved with great sustenance.
If you want to take your online selling strategy to the next level, digitally transforming your business is the key. However, you will need partners to ensure that the process of digital transformation runs smoothly. You can partner up with a professional software house company to assist you and get you going with confidence as you will receive the best recommendations and assistance that you require.
At the end of the day, it is important to enter the online market as soon as possible. Online marketing is not only essential to sell your products, but it can also help you to widely spread the information of your product & business. If you need help creating the most spectacular and fully-customizable eCommerce website / mobile app, SoftwareSeni is more than happy to be your partner and get your business going and running with confidence.
