A large proportion of the products that companies import from Asia are destined for the online market. The rise of ecommerce, especially in 2020, has meant that even brands that used to only sell to professionals have launched their own online shops, making products available to the general public.
Selling one’s own products on the Internet definitely has significant advantages in this context. However, many companies have a new sales platform with immense potential but are lacking the strategy or knowledge to promote online sales.
The main advantage of ecommerce, besides cost savings, is the opportunity for customers to be able shop at any time of the day, and on any day of the week. With your online business always being open, the advantage is clearly that sales are limitless. Starting out and in the beginning, the following tips will help us to sell our products more easily.
Web design
It is logic not cliche that web design is much more than a technical aspect of ecommerce. A website design must be practical and aesthetic at the same time. It should also have a design and organisation that invites the user to buy and is easy to understand.
It is important to bear in mind that when a user is browsing an ecommerce site, they are alone without a sales assistant to advise him or her and the last thing they want is a disorganized experience. Imagine visiting a clothing shop and finding unfolded men’s trousers mixed in with women’s dresses? An online hardware store, must be laid out logically where light bulbs and spanners are not simply placed together in “miscellaneous”
All elements of the web design must be created to attract and captivate the user’s attention with the purpose of converting them into customers. All elements, including product photographs can drastically influence the conversion levels of our ecommerce and can either increase or decrease sales.
Shop any time…from your Smartphone!
Today’s internet user shops frequently; even completing several purchases a day. Most of the time, this is using his or her smartphone, while he is on the bus or waiting for the next course in the restaurant.
The mobile shopping experience is totally different from the experience on a computer. Subsequently, beyond the online shop being responsive, we must consider the mentality of the mobile user and anticipate their needs with specific functions including; payment in a few clicks, functions to save carts and, of course, fast and agile page navigation.
The importance of the internal search engine
For a user to become an online shopper, they must be able to easily find what they are looking for in your shop. To do this, you should create a powerful search engine that takes into account things like possible spelling mistakes and has the ability to make suggestions.
Combine this with a layer of faceted filters (it’s not the same to search for the dress you like among 175 items as it is to be able to search only for those red winter dresses, of which there are perhaps only 7 models).
Highlight your advantages
Unless you are a big marketplace like Amazon, you have to remind your user why they should choose your ecommerce to buy from and not another one, at all times . Your after-sales service, free returns, chat and telephone support and customer reviews from other customers will help you to do this.
Shipping
As already explained, today’s user is a user in a hurry… for everything. It is important to inform users of exact time frames for receiving goods and, of course, how much it will cost him.
Free shipping is one of the initiatives that helps conversions the most. Although not all companies can offer free shipping on every order, it is easier to do so for purchases above a certain amount.
Secure payments
Today’s online user is still relatively distrustful, contrary to what we may think. We must offer as many different payment methods as possible, particularly the most common ones and ensure they feel completely secure during the payment process. In addition to a good payment gateway; bank gateway, Paypal, etc. having an SSL certificate for our website is paramount.
Loyalty
It is important to understand that ecommerce has adopted many of the trends of traditional commerce. Therefore, it is much easier for a customer who has already made a purchase to trust us again and effectively become a repeat buyer, than it is for a “new” user who does not know us yet. Good customer loyalty can save a business even in the most difficult of times.
Price; the determining factor
Very few brands can boast that their customers are not concerned about price and will buy their products regardless of price. For the majority, price is a determining factor that either leads to a transaction or not.
However, it should be borne in mind that the sale price of an imported product is determined by many different aspects and although online sales significantly reduce costs, the purchase cost of the product has an important influence on the retail price.
Many companies therefore, understand that optimizing purchasing costs is the best option to increase their profits and, to do so, they need the help of a purchasing consultancy team or a sourcing partner to support them in this process.
At S³ Group we know that to optimally import products from China, and look for suppliers that offer quality and good prices through a simple and safe process, a specialized import company is essential. Additionally, making savings on the cost of products gives us the possibility to offer a better price to customers, which undoubtedly increases our ecommerce sales opportunities.