Choosing the right product is one of the first steps when creating your online store. There is such great diversity of options that you are probably full of questions. We prepared a few tips and guidelines to help you get oriented.
Start your search by asking yourself these basic questions.
- What kind of product will make my e-store stand out?
- How to add value to my products and service?
- Can I offer a competitive price?
- What should I do for my products to appear in the top search results?
- What are the most appropriate advertising channels for my store?
Supposing that you already know what you really need, let’s move to selecting the right items for sale.
At first, you have two options – to offer a high demand range of products, because a certain target group needs them. Or to be the one who creates demand for a new product and to build your own market niche. But what do users really need? What do they seek? Start your research with the Google Keyword Planner tool. It allows you to get basic information on keyword phrases related to your products, the level of competition and the average costs per click in Google Ads. Avoid trade fields where the keyword queries are apparently very few. This usually means one of the three things – weak demand, need for a higher advertising budget for acquiring new customers, or limited growth opportunities.
Websites such as eBay are always a good source of information as you can quickly look up what is sold there and what are the latest trends. If you sell handmade or vintage products we recommend that you check profiles of other sellers offering their handmade items on marketplaces like Etsy.com. You can see the number of sales for each profile as well as the type of products users most often buy. After you’ve built your e-store and made it popular on the market you can use this marketplace for selling your items internationally.
Search, follow, analyze. When choosing products for online sale you would better take into consideration the following criteria:
- The products sold should not be fragile or inconvenient for delivery.
- It is recommendable that at the beginning you do not sell large or seasonal products. You can use them to prepare a seasonal campaign, but it would be better if those are not the main products in your e-store.
- Products with longer life cycle. It is possible that a given item stays in the warehouse longer. In such cases it is better that the product does not devaluate which will make it not marketable.
- Think about the stock availability. It is important to be prepared for a greater demand.
- Pricing. When you define the retail price for your products, include the costs for each item sold. Тhey include the supplier or manufacturer price, packaging expenses, customs duty, transportation cost, advertising budget, management expenses, etc. Then add the margin that you would like to achieve. In this way you will calculate the retail prices for your customers. Now is the time to ask yourself whether you have formed a competitive price!
Choosing the right product will most probably take some time. You will come across different products, manufacturers and suppliers. Have a look at few more tips on choosing your products for sale:
- Carefully research all the opportunities, sources and competitors which can provide your potential customers with the same product. If it is widely available you might have to give up on it and continue the quest.
- If you find a manufacturer / supplier offering rare items at attractive prices you need to clarify to the tiniest details, the prices for bulk orders as well as delivery and production times.
- Check the options to obtain a certificate of origin, quality or a warranty for the products you offer.
- Get informed for every detail – what are the materials used, what is their origin and the production technology. Ask for everything you can think of. Later you can summarize this information in a few posts and upload them in your e-store. This will add more value to your products and will build trust with your potential customers.
When you choose what to sell, think on the idea to build a completely new niche store. To be successful you do not need to have 300, 500 or 1000 items for sale. You can have only 10 or 20 of them, but if they are in-demand, your success will be guaranteed. Customers trust specialized e-stores, especially if you make them believe that you are experienced in the field of sales and production. Be experts in your field! Choose a sphere which you are keen on and you will actively follow the trends. Advise your customers and add value to your products. If you have competitors in the market field, analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Think how to develop and improve your products so that you have some advantage in comparison to other sellers in your niche.
Trend: A few years ago, online retailers aimed at offering a big diversity of products in order to achieve more sales. As e-commerce developed and the number of e-stores is growing, nowadays niche stores are more in-demand.
Now, after you have already chosen your product, the time to build an e-store has come. This task is easier. Shopiko allows you to build your e-store with just a few clicks. The next step is to create your own logo and banners for your e-store. We have prepared useful information on this topic as well.
