Note: This is “Part 1″ in a series on leveraging marketplaces to sell products and widen customer reach. This installment focuses on choosing the right marketplace, setting up the eShop and populating it effectively.
You put your heart and soul in manufacturing high-quality products and developing an eCommerce store to sell them. But the amount of sales that is being generated is not enough. What next? How would you promote your products to widen customer reach and boost brand awareness? Think about online marketplaces!
Besides selling through an eCommerce store, it is of paramount importance to market your products on online channels like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc., that attract millions of customers and help retailers boost product sales. However, there are several factors that impact how a product would perform on a specific marketplace, including the product name, description and how frequently the product inventory is updated. Online retailers must opt for suitable distribution channels and create well-optimized listings for each product.
Step One: Choosing the right marketplaces
Online marketplaces can be broadly divided into two categories: mass-market and niche.
- Mass-market websites include eBay, Amazon, Sears, Rakuten, Newegg, etc. These marketplaces offer a rich array of product lines and attract millions of visitors every day, thus helping eRetailers generate higher sales and improve the business’s bottom line significantly.
- Niche and boutique marketplaces bring products to a group of buyers interested specifically in that product line. One can find a niche marketplace for almost all industries. For example: Tias.com, Goantiques.com and Rubylane.com for antiques and collectibles and Etsy for handmade and vintage goods.
Selling on the most suitable marketplace is the first step. While every online merchant must consider selling on mass-market websites, one must also consider finding an apt niche marketplace that caters to a specific niche of customer or product line, thus helping one in enhancing brand awareness and selling directly to the buyers who would not have heard about their store.
Step Two: Setting up and populating the eShop
After selecting the marketplaces where you want to sell your products, the next step is to set up your eShop and populate it.
While the steps to set up an eShop vary from one marketplace to another, online retailers require an account on the channel. They also have to furnish their contact details including business name, billing information and a PayPal account or credit card number. The next common step is to pay account and listing fees, which depends on the marketplace where you decide to sell your products. Further, it is pivotal to adhere to the guidelines laid down by the marketplaces to ensure that your product line reaches the target market without any hassle.
Another crucial step is to create effective product listings that help you attract visitors and augment sales. One must choose unique and SEO-friendly product titles, describe the items appropriately, provide updated prices and create customized product attributes that make it easy for the visitors to buy your wares. While adding product photos, online merchants must comply with the marketplace’s product image requirements. For example: Image pixel dimensions for the Amazon marketplace must be at least 500 pixels on the longest side and as large as 2,500 pixels square to enable zoom function.
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