How to sell online in 6 steps

Do you want to start an e-commerce business? You have chosen a good moment to do it. Today, eCommerce is present in almost all sectors. From furniture to groceries to cars and clothing, opportunities abound for all types of sellers. But regardless of what you want to sell online, there are several steps you need to take to be successful. Read on for more tips on how to create an online store and start accepting your first online orders.

How to sell online?

1. Create your online store
2. decide what to sell
3. Determine how to supply your online store
4. Build your eCommerce plan and brand
5. Choose where to sell
6. Promote your store and your products

 

1. Create your online store for sell online

The heart of any eCommerce business is its online store. Although you can sell online on marketplaces like Amazon, it’s worth creating a website to sell that serves as your brand’s main store. An online store gives you total control over the experience of your users, your brand and the information of your customers.

First you will need to choose the eCommerce platform that is right for you. Consider a platform that gives you enough flexibility, along with features to manage and grow your business. Wix eCommerce, for example, offers you a website builder that requires no programming knowledge. This allows you to:

• Build a page from scratch. You can choose from a wide variety of online store templates professionally designed . Easily create everything from category pages to product pages, and spruce up your site with animations and multimedia, all without applying any programming knowledge.
• Create an experience that adapts to all mobile devices. Mobile sales typically account for 73% of eCommerce sales, according to Statista , so it’s essential that your page accommodates all of them. Wix pages are mobile-friendly by default and can be customized however you want.
• Import and organize the information of your products. Wix works seamlessly to manage all your product information. Manage your pricing strategies , product listings, shipping policies, and return policies from one place. Wix maintains consistency between your store data and other third-party channels.
• Accept and manage secure payments. Wix Payments, Wix’s payment solution, allows you to accept online payments from all major credit/debit cards, PayPal, and more. So you can control all your transactions, payments and returns directly from your dashboard.
• Keep track of your business and manage it smoothly. You can process and track all orders in your store, from purchase to delivery. Wix includes features to simplify inventory management, multi-channel expansion, analytics, tax, and more.

2. Decide what to sell online

It goes without saying that a well-designed product catalog is needed to develop a strong brand. If your online store is starting from scratch, consider profit potential, sourcing methods, and your personal inclinations when evaluating product ideas. To find the right product, we recommend following the steps below. Similarly, read our article on profitable online business ideas .

Start with something that you yourself need

Often the best starting point is to start with what you already know. For example, are you a young parent looking for a toy to entertain your child while you work at home? Or are you a chef looking for a cookware store, not very expensive but with good quality?

Whatever the case, think about the problem you are facing and the existing solutions and offers. Where do these solutions fall short? What can you contribute in terms of comfort, price or quality that others cannot?

Determine your target audience

Use external sources to better understand the consumers you plan to target with your products. As they are? Where they live? What matters most to them when looking for products or brands like yours?

Use social networks, forums, surveys and everyday conversations to find out the preferences of your target market . Develop the profiles of your buyers, a characterization of your direct consumers, which will lead you to think about the primary and secondary users of your products and their particular needs. The profiles of your buyers will also be useful in making decisions about messaging, the design of your website and your marketing strategies in the future.

Also Read : Landing Page, what is it?

Research your competition

Competition is inevitable. Even if you haven’t sold a single product yet, you’ll want to know who your potential competitors are and what they’re doing to gain market advantage.

Search for your product ideas on marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy and locate the top sellers in your category. Follow relevant hashtags on Instagram, TikTok, and other channels.

You can even take advantage of keyword tools like Semrush or JungleScout to find out what products are being searched for on Google, Amazon, and other popular sales channels.

Pay attention to the prices, messages and opinions of your competition’s customers. This will not only give you a better idea of ​​how you should position your products, but it will also help you identify gaps in the market.

Pro tip: If possible, talk to the people in your competition’s supply chain, the ones who actually make, store, and ship those products.

They could provide interesting information on production costs, customer behavior, return rates, and other considerations.

Follow product trends

Trends come and go, so it’s important to avoid relying entirely on viral products that have no long-term gains or staying power.

While it’s good to keep up with trends, be sure to anchor trending products with more permanent items. You can use social media and free tools like Google Trends to see what products are gaining momentum on the internet. Pay attention to brands, product types, and fashion collaborations that might be helpful in planning your catalog.

3. Determine how to supply your online store

When considering which products are worth selling, think about the costs and the steps to source them. There are several sourcing strategies you can choose from:

• Manufacture or handcraft the products on your own
• Work with an external manufacturer
• Buy from a wholesaler
• Dropshiping

Dropshipping is one of the fastest and easiest ways to stock up. It is a method in which you sell online products from a third-party vendor, who then ships the items directly to your customer when they place their order.

This process is popular because of the advantages it offers, such as low initial or storage costs. This approach makes it easier to get into eCommerce without the overwhelming task of manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping products.

4. Build your eCommerce plan and brand

Now that you’re all set to bring your product to market, it’s time to create your eCommerce business plan. A solid business plan is essential for any online brand, as it helps you document how you plan to structure, operate, and manage your business.

Through this process, you will begin to bring together the different components of your brand. This includes:

• Choose a name for your company . Putting a name to your business is absolutely necessary. Think of something easy to read, say, and spell, as your brand name will appear everywhere.
• domain name Choose the correct . Try to match the name of your online store exactly to the domain name. This will help your customers find and remember your brand online. Keep in mind that your domain name affects your store’s position in search results.
• Create a memorable logo. Your logo is the center of your brand and will represent the essence of your store’s personality. Follow this guide on how to make a logo or use the logo maker . Wix
• Set up a business email . Include your website’s domain name in your email address (for example, marko@markofashion.com) instead of using a generic email from any platform (for example, markofashion@gmail.com). This helps clients identify who is sending the emails.

5. Choose where to sell online

In addition to visiting your online store, your customers will jump between channels like Amazon, eBay, and social media to research, compare, and ultimately purchase products.

Therefore, it is in your best interest to establish a solid multi-channel sales strategy. Online marketplaces not only allow you to reach a larger audience, but also access customers from all over the world.

That being said, each company has different needs and requires a particular strategy. Identify the sales channels that best suit your target audience. Take the time to understand what makes each channel so popular, and study the types of products and content that work well on each channel.

Also, you’ll want to understand what it means to enter those channels as a seller. Each sales channel has a precise algorithm and participation rules. All this without mentioning that the operations can be complicated if you do not have the adequate preparation. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

6. Promote your store and your products when sell online
   

Once you’ve figured out your sales channels, it’s time to promote your products. Don’t wait around for customers to come to you. Instead, lean on smart eCommerce marketing strategies, along with tools, to drive more traffic to your business and generate more sales. Consider these eCommerce marketing tactics:

• Master search engine positioning (SEO). When shoppers use search engines like Google to search for products like yours, your goal should be to rank high on the search results pages. Build a solid SEO plan that takes into account your meta tags, URLs, structured data markup, and more.
• Launch ad campaigns . There are a number of advertising platforms that are worth experimenting with. Google, for example, offers SEM and Shopping ads that help you reach the 40% of consumers who start their search for products on search engines. For its part, Facebook focuses on arousing interest through highly visual ads. Check which channels your eCommerce platform offers and expand your reach with the help of paid campaigns.
• Chat with your customers. In our experience, sending products to customers via live chat has helped drive up to 71% more sales. Sellers who have responded to users’ chat messages have also seen conversions increase by 65%.
• Offer coupons. Creating coupons , redeemable at the time of purchase, is a very common way to offer discounts to your audience. Most stores use them regularly, but mostly to get customers to buy for the first time.
• Make lightning sales. Flash sales, or limited-time discounts, have proven to be incredibly effective. They can help you sell old inventory and, according to Wix data, have helped online stores increase monthly Gross Merchandise Value (GVM) by a whopping 64,000% .
• Recover abandoned carts. Nearly 70% of your customers will abandon their cart at checkout, according to the Baymard Institute . One of the most popular (and effective) ways to recover an abandoned cart is to trigger an email to be sent when it is detected. These emails with small reminders can convince customers to sit idly by just when the sale is finalized.
• Engage customers through email marketing. Email remains a concrete way to build lasting relationships with your customers. The best eCommerce platforms offer integrated email solutions that include pre-built templates and editors to make your newsletters look great right from the start.
• Customer retargeting. Retargeting (also known as remarketing) is when you remind your audience about your products through ads that follow them as they browse the web. These ads are normally managed on channels like Facebook or Google; they require adding a pixel to your page, i.e. a specific piece of code that allows you to track your audience once they leave your store.

Start selling today

So, are you excited to start selling online right now? Excellent. You’re well on your way, and you can come back to this blog as many times as you like as you go along. Enjoy the wonderful experience of transforming your ideas into a business, and even better, into profit. Ready to create a website to sell online today?

Frequent questions

1. How to sell online?

Start by choosing your products based on your audience. If you are going to sell your own products, think about what items you can produce that will be profitable.

To save space and start-up costs, start your eCommerce business through dropshipping. Next, choose an eCommerce platform that offers you professional business tools and a fully customized design. There are plenty of website building platforms to choose from, including Wix.

2. What is the best platform to sell online?

An eCommerce website builder like Wix offers affordable plans, highly flexible design capabilities, and professional tools to manage your online store, all from a single platform. Set up your online store with Wix using professional Wix eCommerce features .

3. Where can I sell products on the Internet for free?

You can sell online your products for free on a variety of sites, including an online store or other channels like Instagram, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, and more.