Looking for opportunities to expand and grow your business by selling online?
Most of the time, sellers would start promoting their products through their own social media or website. It is definitely one of the ways to grow a steady group of customers. Nevertheless, there is another potential way to sell products online, that is to start on eCommerce platforms.
There are quite a number of well-known eCommerce platforms available online. However, finding the right platform for your business is not an easy feat. Here, we list some of the well-known eCommerce platforms for you to consider:
- Shopee
- Lazada
- Shopify
- Facebook Shop
- eBay
- Amazon
Benefits of selling on eCommerce platforms
1. Quick and easy to get started
For starters in eCommerce, starting off through platforms such as Shopee and Lazada isn’t too bad of an idea. These platforms are specifically made so that even newbies are able to use with ease. Furthermore, multiple online tutorials and webinars are available to help new sellers prepare to sell online.
Any sellers can quickly sign up, set up their products online and start selling. You won’t have to worry about setting up store designs or integrating necessary tools. Everything you need to sell online will be there for you.
2. Established platforms
Well-known eCommerce platforms have been around for some time and have undergone much development. We can expect a generally stable platform for use.
Besides, they would also have all the necessary in-built features and integrations needed for a successful eCommerce business. For example, Shopee and Lazada are directly integrated with shipping logistics. Hence, sellers can easily generate and print shipping labels for orders received on the platform.
There are various marketing tools and programs as well that sellers can take advantage of. For instance, shopping campaigns, discount codes, bundles, free shipping and cashback rewards.
3. Large customer visits
Moreover, established eCommerce platforms are already attracting traffic. Thus, you won’t have to spend additional effort to draw in potential buyers. Plenty of buyers are on the platform to purchase something they need. The success rate of selling to these buyers will definitely be X3 higher than normal circumstances.
On top of that, these platforms cover local and international markets. It is a great opportunity to quickly expand your business online.
5 factors that determines the success of your eCommerce business
1. Product Demand
One of the core factors that determines how well your product can sell is the demand in the market. Research and identify if the products you want to sell are needed by customers. Take this opportunity to also understand which customer base would benefit from your product. As long as you are selling in-demand products, you won’t have to worry about not making sales.
2. Quality product content
Considering the huge number of products being sold on eCommerce platforms, of course it would be competitive. Thus, to gain the upper hand, you’ll need to enhance the visibility of your products.
Keywords used in your product title and description is equally important to make your products searchable. In addition, displaying attractive product images can catch the eyes of potential buyers. This can be easily achieved with the Product Watermark tool.
3. Promotional efforts
Every customer loves a good offer! It can be in the form of discounts, promotional codes, free gifts and even bundle sets. These efforts can help your business stand out from many other sellers. When there is a good deal, customers are bound to buy from your store and boost your sales performance.
4. Automation
As you grow your online business, you’ll be facing challenges in managing your workload with the time constraint. How well you organize and reduce your workload will determine how far you can grow the business.
Take a look at some of the areas of your business that you can improve and automate on:
i) Fulfillment
Fulfill orders 50% faster with the shipping label printing! Also, reduce packing errors with the order fulfillment assistant and carrier manifest tools.
ii) Finances
Utilize tools to real-time track and monitor your business profits. You may also reconcile any profit loss due to shipping charges with the Payment Reconciliation tool. This will tremendously save your time in re-checking and tallying your business payments.
iii) Accounting
You may also opt to automatically sync all order payments to an accounting system for easy bookkeeping. Not only will you save time in manually handling your accounts, you’ll also prevent bookkeeping mistakes.
5. Customer reviews and ratings
Customers are your business pillars. Customers that buy from you keep the business going and the same goes to their feedback. Consequently, happy customers would leave you with great reviews and help build the trust of other customers. It’s indeed a precious reassurance to others that your business is trustworthy and of quality.