October 19, 2022 | Posted in Business
You would like to start making extra money on the side, so you researched some online business suggestions and decided that opening an online store is the best way to go. Beginners often have the most trouble with the next step, deciding what to sell on your online store. This ultimate conduct will show you how to choose the finest products to sell online.
Before looking for things to sell, you need to know a few basics. Let’s begin with a few of the most significant.
1. Picking a platform for your online store
First, you must decide what platform you’ll use to sell your products. Selecting the right eCommerce platform is essential because it will affect what products you sell and how you run your business. The most utilized eCommerce platform in the world is WooCommerce. It’s easy to use, allowing you to sell all kinds of things and accept payments through various payment gateways.
WooCommerce isn’t the only platform available, though. Some great WooCommerce alternatives might work better for you, depending on what you try to sell. If you don’t understand much about computers and want to build an online store quickly, you might want to look into Shopify.
It is a fully hosted solution where all the technical stuff is taken care of. You will have to pay a little more, and your expenses will increase as you make more sales. See our article on Shopify vs. WooCommerce for a side-by-side look at the pros and cons of each platform.
2. Shipping
Shipping is a big part of how well an eCommerce store does. Business Insider did a study and found that higher shipping rates are the number one reason people stop shopping online. You would want to choose items you can ship for less money or even for free.
If you only intend to sell digital products like music, videos, software, ebooks, etc., you don’t have to fret about shipping because customers will download the products online. You can track these downloads with software like Easy Digital Downloads to see what sells the best.
3. Inventories
Do you wish to keep products in stock and keep track of your inventory? For that, you will need a place to store things and a way to keep track of them with your eCommerce software. Keeping items in stock will add to your business costs. On the other hand, dropshipping is a way to solve this problem. You can choose products that are sent straight from the maker or supplier.
4. Price
You’ll need to find products for which you can offer your customers a good price. If the cost of the product you’re selling is higher than that of your competitors, it makes sense that that would turn off many first-time buyers.
What kinds of products are easy to sell?
There are many things you can sell in your online store. Let’s separate them into two main groups.
1. Commoditized Products
Everyone needs these things, and there is no difference in quality between the small and large stores that sell them. For example, things like soap, detergent, cereal, and more that people use every day. Some of the most prominent titles in retail make these products, and you can find them everywhere at prices that vary little or not.
This creates it more difficult for you to compete with big companies like Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. They can sell these things for less cash, give free shipping, and offer other perks.
2. Specialty products
These products are one-of-a-kind or made by hand, have limited quantities, and come from certain suppliers. Think about soaps, t-shirts, ceramics, gifts, software, and many other things that can be made home. Since these products aren’t widely sold, they give you an edge over your competitors.
There are platforms like Etsy shops where you can discover small vendors who create lovely things and would love to work with other stores. You can also use sites like AliExpress and Alibaba.com to find suppliers in other countries.
These suppliers can make those niche products exactly how you want them and send them to you. There are niche products in almost every product category you can think of. As you look into products, you’ll develop many new ideas.
Don’t just pick things at random to sell online. Back it up with data, so you know that people are looking for these products and that they are in demand. Amazon will be the first tool you use for your research. It has more than a thousand products and is the largest online store in the world. Luckily, it is a goldmine of free information that you can wring to help you make decisions.
Not only does their search engine offer suggestions as you type, but you can also use their product categories to find niche products that are common with a smaller group of customers. Let’s say you wanted to sell toys for children. You can search for specific toys, like “clay and dough” or “craft kits.”
Switch to the “Bestsellers” view to see the most popular items in each Amazon category. This doesn’t include the most popular items, which are sold everywhere and have a lot of competition, but it includes popular items that you could keep on hand and sell.
SEMRush is another great tool to get information from competitors or any eCommerce store you would like. It tells you where most of the traffic to those eCommerce stores comes from, what products they are paying to advertise, what their most popular products are, and more.
It also shows the Google ads for the products of your competitors. You can look at their most successful product listing ads, search terms, and other information. Here are some additional tools to get information from other websites about products.
Use customer personas to come up with product ideas.
A customer persona is a made-up description of the kind of customer you want to reach. You make this profile by trying to answer simple questions about a buyer you would like to work with. This is your target audience, and putting them in the role of a person helps you learn more about them when you’re researching products.
If you already have a store, you can use Google Analytics eCommerce tracking to make a profile of your ideal customer. If you’re starting, make a customer persona based on your best guess.
This activity will help you determine what your customers want, their questions, and what kinds of products they want to buy. See this guide on making a real buyer persona with ready-made layouts and examples to learn more about buyer persona.
Select a job that you passion, and you’ll never have to collaborate a day in your life,” say career counselors. In the same way, choosing products, you are interested in can help you sell them better. These could be goods you love and suggest to your family and friends with all your heart.
These could be things related to a hobby or action you love. Nothing gets you more excited than making valuable something that you want other people to use. If you follow your passion, you can learn more about your products and develop ideas that help your customers.