Online sales have been and remain a promising way to promote products. This was especially affected by the pandemic, due to which most people began to buy more and more products for various purposes on online platforms. So, in 2020 in the US alone, online sales grew by 44%.
But everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance. People want great service, high-quality products, and a pleasant shopping experience. To achieve such results, you will have to go through a thorny path of developing a strategy and building trusting relationships with both potential buyers and regular ones. Yes, newcomers to the world of small and medium businesses are still faced with the question of how to properly and successfully sell their products in order to increase online sales, and we are ready to help figure it out.
No. 1. Choose your niche in the market
Without determining in which niche you are planning your work, you will not be able to realize the brand and sell products. It is important to choose it correctly and, if you are a new brand, to do something that will make you stand out from the competition. For example, there are a huge number of clothing manufacturers in any price segment, but if you take designer T-shirts or tracksuits with a unique print, funny inscriptions, or interesting stripes, you can stand out and quickly find your target audience.
Let’s continue to use a designer sportswear brand as an example and use it to break down the material.
No. 2. Study Your Competitors
Be sure to study the maximum number of competitors before planning and growing niche. But pay attention to brands with cheaper products as well as those with more expensive ones. Competitive analysis will allow you to find working / non-working marketing schemes, build a further plan of action, adopt cool ideas, understand what is better not to do, and, in general, get a portion of inspiration. In addition, you will be able to understand how sustainable the demand for your products will be.
Don’t let the intel you gain discourage you – remember that you always have a way to earn a competitive advantage. For example, online buyers want fast and/or free shipping. You can get new business by offering a better shipping method than your competitors.
No. 3. Prepare the idea for implementation
Yes, custom designer sportswear should find its customers, but be sure to check the viability of your idea before implementing it. How much and who might like it, where you can find the target audience for its implementation, how it will work for you, and evaluate whether you can handle all the burden of responsibility. If your analysis matches your expectations, you can safely write a business plan.
It is also important to study the general market in order to understand what price should be set for the product, and how to properly present the product. For example, some products are easier to sell only through the site, and some require an application and promotion on social networks.
No. 4. Study the target audience
Each product and service has its own target audience. You must clearly understand who will be interested in your offer, and to whom you can sell it. Ideally, to implement the possibility of delivery throughout the country, and preferably around the world. But if you start with sales only in your city, analyze the target audience within it. For example, your sportswear is aimed at gym goers aged 18 to 50 who want to stand out from the crowd in the same type of suit. This is your target audience with which you need to interact, without you they will not know about the existence of the brand.
Learn all about them – ask, be interested, and make surveys – you must thoroughly study all aspects in order to create a client profile. You need to gather all the following information into a single database:
- age;
- priorities;
- place of residence;
- floor;
- income level;
- interests;
- hobby;
- marital status;
- favorite communication channels, etc.
It is important to learn about all the pain points of your target audience in order to offer them a solution and to understand what your potential buyers value and what causes them a negative experience. Each question is important, and their whole complex must be given to the analysis and build a further strategy.
The same applies to selling business-to-business. If you intend to go down that route, you still need to understand your customer very well.
Once you have the data required, you can begin exploring the best sales databases to find the right leads that will enable your business to drive sales and achieve growth.
No. 5. Create a detailed client profile
Creating a portrait of one client is an opportunity to conduct more personalized marketing. That is, we have a man who works out in the gym and he is from 18 to 50 years old, but this is not all you need to know about him. For example, you could name him Andrew as an athletic person who lives in Seattle and has a high income. He is willing to pay a high price for a quality suit that will make him stand out from the crowd and last for several years. His ideal suit should be oriented for all seasons, please others, be comfortable with all types of workloads, and have high-quality tailoring.
You can implement several of these portraits and collect all possible options for your potential customers so that later each of them can offer the product in their own way.
No. 6. Select Sales Channels
Before you sell a product, you need to decide on a sales channel. It can only be a website or social network, creating an application, or opening an offline store. You can also choose the B2B segment or wholesale.
It is best to start immediately with the creation of an online store in the form of a website, where the client can find out the full information about the product, see it from different angles and make a purchase. But, if you have a large budget, it is better to sell sales immediately through all possible channels. Furthermore, to streamline this process, consider implementing RFP automation, which can efficiently automate the selection and management of partners across multiple sales channels, ensuring a seamless approach to market entry. You can also consider hiring sales professionals to help maximize your sales potential across these channels.
No. 7. Create a website
An online store is always a difficult task to implement. The website should be incredible and convenient for the client have the right interface, and have a lot of pages. Be sure to create an “About us” page where you tell about the brand history, motto, and voice. You also need the pages “Contact us form”, “Frequently Asked Questions”, “Categories” and “Ordering Rules”. Each product should have its own page, but make it with a minimum of unnecessary details.
No. 8. Customize and optimize your site
The better you can optimize the site, and most importantly the process of making a purchase, the higher your conversion rate will be. It is important to make convenient linking between pages, maximize page loading speed and think over a payment collection system. Users do not want to spend a long time waiting for the page to open and understand the purchase process for a long time. Everything should be quick and understandable on an intuitive level.
Your site should also show off your product by incorporating high-quality product photos and videos throughout. If you don’t have the budget to hire a professional videographer, you can easily create engaging videos with an online video editor.
No. 9. Provide detailed product information
Write detailed information about the product. Even if it’s a tracksuit, you can tell a lot about it. What material, what style, what training is it designed for, to whom it suits according to its complexion, and so on? For buyers, this is very valuable information.
Add images on the model and the costume itself separately. Show the seams and be sure to make it possible to zoom in on the image. Pictures must be of high quality and detailed.
After reviewing the product and reading the description, the customer should have no questions about the product, he just has to buy it.
No. 10. Promote
Try to set up all the promotion tools and use all possible channels: social networks, SEO, email marketing, collaboration with influencers, and paid advertising. You should also think outside the box and find less traditional channels. For instance, you can create your own shirt with your brand name and colors or with your newly launched products and a QR code that leads to your page.
The more you promote yourself, the more likely you are to be recognized and contacted. You can also increase conversions from these promotional channels by offering rewards and incentives to customers.
No. 11. Ask for referrals
Referral marketing is a powerful tool that can help eCommerce businesses increase sales and loyalty among customers. In fact, research has shown that referred customers are more likely to make a purchase and are also more likely to be loyal to a brand.
There are several ways that businesses can encourage customers to refer their friends, including providing incentives such as discounts or free products and creating an easy-to-use referral system. By using referral marketing, eCommerce businesses can see a significant increase in sales and customer loyalty.
Last Tips
A few tips:
- Do not focus on dumping competitors. Customers have always been and always will be willing to pay more for a quality product and great service. Competitors who charge too low a price often veil the imperfection of their services.
- Don’t bid too high – if you’re not ready. Each brand chooses its target audience for itself. If you want to sell only in the luxury segment and set a very high price tag, be prepared for the absence of a massive flow of applicants and the need to provide incredible service.
- When creating a store and promoting products through social networks, be sure to invite a team of competent employees – marketers, SMM specialists, targetologists, content managers, and copywriters. Even if it seems that they eat up the lion’s share of the budget, this is an absolutely profitable investment. Only professionals will be able to properly set up promotions, attract customers, and keep them.
Conclusion
We’ve broken down a few tips on how to successfully sell your products to increase your online sales. Yes, it just seems like a simple task and you have a huge parade ground of painstaking work ahead of you. But only in this way you will be able to achieve the best results.
