Sell Custom Products Online
Launch your online selling business
Sell Custom Products Online
Launch your online selling business

How to Sell Online – A Complete Guide For eCommerce Sellers

Everyone wants to start a profitable online business but how many sustain in this booming industry?

You are not alone if you want to learn how to sell online.

E-commerce sales are expected to continue growing: According to eMarketer, global e-commerce sales are projected to reach $6.54 trillion in 2022 and could exceed $7.66 trillion by 2023.

The eCommerce sector is a huge and ever-growing market, which has been boosted greatly by the COVID-19 epidemic. Naturally, the decline in in-person activities has increased the popularity of online buying. With so many ways and venues to generate money online, knowing how to sell items online might be intimidating.

Whatever you’ve heard about beginning an online business is most likely correct. It’s a competitive environment that tests even the savviest entrepreneurs, but the general opinion is that you start learning how to sell online right away.

One of the finest advantages is that you may sell online outside the limits of your city, country, or continent without ever leaving your workstation! Once you’re up and running, nearly anybody on the globe can become a customer.

But where do you begin?

To get started, consider the following key steps to starting selling online In India.

 

Advantages of selling products online

Selling online offers several advantages, ranging from convenience to client reach. Starting an eCommerce business has numerous advantages over opening a physical store.

Because more people choose online purchasing, selling things online in India has enormous potential. According to recent projections, the increase in eCommerce will accelerate significantly in the following years.

The value of the Indian eCommerce business is expected to reach $200 billion by 2027.

If you are a start-up that does not want to spend a lot of money on promoting your brand, you can simply get online with a free website. How?

  • By creating your company’s presence on various marketing platforms.
  • By personally connecting with a large number of people to advertise, sell, and cross-sell your goods.
  • A well-executed campaign may help you improve brand recognition and establish a plan that will help your organisation gain income in the future.
 

Some advantages of selling things online are as follows:

 

A 24/7 store

Traditional marketplaces only allow you to sell things within specific hours. Online retailers, on the other hand, may operate around the clock, allowing you to earn money even while you sleep. Simply create an eCommerce store, smartphone app, or social media channel to engage with your customers and take orders throughout the day.

It is critical to select a platform that can host your business 24 hours a day, seven days a week so that you can receive orders from your customers without delay. Your online store will never sleep if it is available around the clock.

Also, ensure that your eCommerce business is free of technical difficulties.

 

Minimal investments

You may start marketing your business online for free. Simply choose the best eCommerce platform for your company to help you reach new customers. Assist you in establishing an eCommerce shop or mobile application to boost your company’s online exposure.

 

Larger consumer base

Selling online may help you raise brand awareness and reputation among your clients. Make your presence known to your customers by using the power of your content. Remember to optimise your social media presence, as it will assist you in customizing your products for your potential customers.

Collaborate with an eCommerce platform that can help you manage all of your social media profiles on one platform. Track all of your marketing channels on your own and provide the greatest items to your consumers.

Selling online may help you raise brand awareness and reputation among your clients. Make your presence known to your customers by using the power of your content.

 

Adaptability and accessibility

Online selling allow you to reach out to your customers whenever and wherever you desire. If you have an online business, you may work on it whenever it is convenient for you. Furthermore, if you like, you can start a business while working full-time.

You may also provide your customers with the option of accessing your items through several devices. Furthermore, eCommerce businesses make it simpler to reach out to clients to expand your business.

 

How to start selling in India?

1. Conduct market research

market-research-to-sell-products-online-qikink

 

Market research is the process of obtaining background information on the many aspects of the business in which you intend to start an online business, such as its profitability, target market scope, and trends. This is an important step to take before you begin selling online.

There are two kinds of market research:

Primary: You obtain data from the target market through surveys, experiments, or interviews.

Secondary: This kind includes acquiring and analysing publicly accessible data, such as that found on government websites or in research papers released by various firms and organisations.

When performing market research, two major factors should be considered: industry niches and competitors.

After deciding on a business, undertake more study to determine which niche to join. This will assist you in developing more successful online selling techniques and narrowing down the competition. 

For example, if you’re interested in the apparel market, you may specialise by offering men’s products. To investigate different keywords and their popularity, use tools such as Google Trends and Ahrefs Keyword Explorer.

You should also research your competition in your selected business segment. Examine their strengths and shortcomings, company strategies, and industry positioning. Discover their unique features, products or services, pricing techniques, and target audiences.

Perform a similar study on your business idea and compare the results. This can help you decide whether your company has a chance in the niche. Semrush and Sprout Social are some effective tools for conducting competitive analysis.

 

2. Determine your target audience

how-to-sell-online-define-target-audience

 

Knowing who to target is also an important element of learning how to sell online. Your target audience is the exact set of people within your target market who would most likely be interested in the products or services you offer.

Knowing your target audience can help you create more successful and targeted marketing initiatives as well as better customer connections. Using the data obtained from market research, create personas to help you determine your target audience.

A persona is a fictional figure in marketing who represents a certain customer type. It assists you in determining the attributes, requirements, and habits of your target audience. Marketers should create three to five personas, according to experts.

 

When designing personas, consider the following factors:

  • Gender, Age, Location, Income
  • Education level, Job, Marital status, Interests
  • Channels of communication
 

In addition to defining who your target audience is, consider who your target consumers are not in order to reduce your target market even more.

When your website is live, leverage tools like Google Analytics to collect data on your online store visitors and increase the accuracy of your personas. Examples of this information include your traffic sources and most-viewed pages.

 

3. Choose which items to sell

choose-products-to-sell-online-qikink

 

You can skip this section if you already have things to sell online or are intending to sell handmade products online. Continue reading to learn how to choose and source items for your online company.

You can skip this section if you already have things to sell online or are intending to sell handmade products online. Continue reading to learn how to choose and source items for your online company.

What types of products can you sell online?

Online, you may primarily offer three types of products: physical, digital, and service-based. Physical products include any physical commodity — clothes, cosmetics, furniture, home décor, etc. Check out our blog on how to start a clothing brand to learn more about selling online.

Digital products are a successful product category to offer online. Non-tangible things such as ebooks, courses, and templates are included. 

Online platforms are a wonderful approach to obtaining leads and clients for service-based enterprises. You may sell a service-based business on your own website or create a landing page for it. Here’s a resource to help you get started with an eCommerce service.

 

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Finding products

Choosing products for your business can be difficult, especially if you don’t know where to begin. Consider the following variables while deciding which product to sell online:

  • Products that are currently trendy
  • Good profit margin
  • Start-up costs are lower.
  • Product-market compatibility
 

Here’s a blog about the best products to sell online in 2023 to give you some product ideas.

Find a supplier for your product

The following stage is to acquire products. When it involves purchasing products for your online business, you have a plethora of options. You may purchase things in bulk through wholesalers such as Alibaba and IndiaMart. You might also look on marketplaces like Etsy or ExportersIndia.

Another alternative is to create your own product line. You can dropship your products with zero inventory and zero investment. Check out Qikink’s dropshipping services to learn more about dropshipping. 

 

Select your sales channels

Choose where to sell your stuff online. To sell products online, you have three primary options:

 

Your own eCommerce site

One way to sell online is to create your own eCommerce website. You may upload items, collect money, handle orders, and ship from this page. In brief, you will have a digital storefront where you can perform all company tasks, just like a traditional store.

There are several benefits to selling things on your website:

  • According to current research, it assists your brand in becoming DTC, which produces more sales than other company strategies.
  • An eCommerce website contributes to increased consumer loyalty.
  • You will be able to accept a variety of payment methods, including cash-on-delivery, which is popular among online buyers.
  • Provide clients with a simple and safe online buying experience.
  • Clearly, many online customers prefer and trust brands that have websites where they can simply shop. To sell things online, you must have an online store.

 

Selling on social media

Selling on social media platforms, like selling on online marketplaces, involves promoting your products to a wide customer base. According to statistics, up to 59% of the world’s population uses social media.

Many social media networks currently have capabilities that allow you to build up businesses and sell straight to clients. Facebook Marketplace and Instagram are two examples.

81% of individuals who sell things on Instagram use it to research products and services.

You may also use influencer marketing to accelerate your Instagram development. Creating engaging reels relevant to your brand is also an excellent approach to reach out to new consumers.

 

Selling on marketplaces

Marketplaces are platforms like Amazon and Flipkart where diverse brands sell their products to a common audience. Every month, online marketplaces attract millions of buyers and are unquestionably the venues where the majority of online purchases are made.

Nine out of ten shoppers will check Amazon for a product even if they found it elsewhere. This suggests that online customers have higher faith in Amazon.

According to Marketing Charts, 63% of customers begin their product search journey on Amazon. This suggests that if you don’t sell on Amazon, you’re missing out on a large number of potential buyers.

The drawback of selling on marketplaces is that you must pay a service margin (which can range between 5% and 30%). This reduces your profit margin and also limits your pricing options.

You may use numerous channels to sell products to broaden your online selling approach. To expand brand recognition, we propose using an eCommerce website as your primary route and online marketplaces as secondary channels.

4. Market your products

marketing-products-to-sell-online-qikink

 

After you’ve successfully launched your online business, it’s time to spread the word about it. If you want to see progress in your online selling business, you should not skip this stage. You may utilise many e-commerce marketing methods to increase your online visibility.

 

Marketing on social media

Social media channels is excellent tools for spreading information about your online shop. The majority of these sites, such as Instagram and TikTok, are free to download, making them cost-effective. All you have to do is create high-quality social content that will engage your ideal consumers. Adopt native social commerce features (if the platform supports them) to improve the social media shopping experience.

 

Influencer marketing

Use the followers of influencers to advertise your online store. They have the potential to drive thousands of visitors to your online business. There are several sorts of influencers on the market, so choose one that best fits your business identity and products. There are also varying expenses associated with each influencer depending on who you connect with.

 

Email promotion

Encourage clients to join your email list so that you can send them frequent information like product updates or promotions. Unlike social media marketing, where the platform may restrict or censor your content, email marketing gives you complete control. You may go a step further and develop personalised emails to improve the client experience.

 

Digital marketing

In general, there are two forms of digital marketing.

  1. Paid advertising (SEM): Make use of a budget to establish a quick online presence.
  2. Organic (SEO): A long-term technique for increasing your search visibility.

There is no hard and fast rule on which should come first: SEO or SEM. Everything comes down to the budget made up for digital marketing. You can also run both at the same time if the circumstances allow.

 

Checklist of everything you’ll need to sell online

  • A smartphone or laptop with an internet connection
  • Packaging and shipping services
  • eCommerce website 
  • Social media

Now that we’ve covered all you need to know to start selling online, here’s a checklist to help you get started:

That’s all there is to it! You only need four things to begin selling your products online.

Start by creating your own online store.

Here are some more things you must complete in order to set up your online company and sell products profitably:

  • Create excellent product descriptions.
  • Take appropriate product images.
  • Create a price plan.
  • Create an emergency fund for your company.
  • Advertising and marketing

 

Conclusion

Overall, selling online in 2023 will need a thorough understanding of your consumers, a strong online presence, and a dedication to providing an amazing customer experience at all touchpoints.

To summarise, selling online in India is a fantastic idea, owing to the thriving industry. You can use the online marketplace if you are just starting and do not want to invest money in your website. Online sales can be quite competitive but can also be extremely rewarding. A variety of factors contribute to an online business’s success. But now that you know how to create an online business from the ground up, all you have to do is get out there and start selling.

 

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Ayushi

With over 6+ years of experience in the industry, Ayushi excels in building strong customer relationships and guiding clients toward growth as a Brand Partnership Manager. She enjoys sharing her experience in her content.

About the author

With over 6+ years of experience in the industry, Ayushi excels in building strong customer relationships and guiding clients toward growth as a Brand Partnership Manager. She enjoys sharing her experience in her content.
With over 6+ years of experience in the industry, Ayushi excels in building strong customer relationships and guiding clients toward growth as a Brand Partnership Manager. She enjoys sharing her experience in her content.

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