You’ve created a great new product, but you want to reach a wider customer base. Selling a product online is an excellent option, as there are a number of different platforms to choose from. These tips will show you how to sell your product online through some of the top platforms. Then, you can figure out what would be the right next step for you.
How to Sell Your Product on Amazon
Being that it’s the largest ecommerce platform in the world, it makes sense to have a presence on Amazon. However, before you jump in and choose this option, you should be aware that selling on the platform does come with several fees. How much it will cost you to sell on Amazon will depend on the type of account you have, the category your product falls under, and whether you’re shipping products yourself or using FBA. It’s important to add up all these costs before you decide that Amazon is the way to go.
To start, you’ll need to sign up as an Amazon professional seller — this is the only way to list new products on the platform. As well attracting customers, a great new product may attract Amazon’s attention and you may receive an offer to become an Amazon vendor. To achieve either, you’ll need to write an optimized product description and use high-quality images that show off the features of your product.
What Is an Amazon Vendor Account?
Amazon vendor accounts are only available to sellers who manufacture their own products. This account type allows you to sell your products wholesale to Amazon. The company will then take over much of the sales process for you, including listings, fulfillment, and shipping. You won’t even need to worry about monitoring your inventory, as Amazon will order more once stock becomes low.
Typically, the Amazon retail team will send you an invitation to become a vendor if your product starts becoming popular. However, if you find you’re waiting a while, you can always try contacting Amazon directly or even reaching out to vendor managers through LinkedIn.
How to Sell Products on Instagram
Although it’s not primarily for ecommerce, Instagram is a top place to market your new products, especially if they have visual appeal. It’s a particularly great option if you already have a following on the platform, although you shouldn’t rule it out if you still only have a personal account.
Before listing any products for sale on Instagram, change your personal profile to a business profile. If you want a new account just for your product, you’ll still need to sign up initially with a personal profile. It’s important to switch to a business account because this will give you access to additional features that will help you see greater success from selling.
Once you have your account set up correctly, it’s time to start promoting products. Hashtags are big on Instagram — it’s worthwhile monitoring which hashtags are popular in your niche. Add these to your organic posts and monitor the results to decide which to use again in the future.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to see success with organic campaigns alone. The good news is you only need a small budget to run Instagram ads. Make sure you create them in Ads Manager on Facebook and set them to run on Instagram. This will allow you to create a custom audience, which is much more effective than using the “Promote” button on Instagram.
Finally, use Instagram Shopping. This is a big reason why the platform has become an ideal choice for selling products online. Instagram Shopping allows you to upload a catalog of products and tag products in your posts, including Stories. When someone taps to view the products, they’ll see the names and prices.
How to Sell Products on Facebook
It could be that your audience is more active on Facebook than Instagram. Alternatively, you may decide it’s worthwhile having a presence on both these top social media platforms. Just remember that Facebook works completely differently to Instagram, meaning you’ll need to have a distinct strategy.
Once again, you’ll need to have a business profile to gain access to additional features. One such feature is the chance to set up a Facebook Shop, which enables users to purchase products from you within the platform. There’s no need to have an external ecommerce store, as you can connect your Facebook Shop directly to PayPal or Stripe to receive payments.
Having said that, you may like to consider connecting your Facebook Shop to an ecommerce platform, as you’ll save time and effort through automation and shipping management tools. Plus, it will be easier to expand to sell to other places online at a later date.
Either option is much better than using Facebook Marketplace — this is designed for individuals, rather than for businesses. If you want, though, you can still have your products appear in Facebook Marketplace as well by running ads. This is useful for reaching even more customers. Other ways to expand your reach include boosted posts, ad campaigns, and organic strategies like contests.
How to Sell Products on eBay
Although eBay started out as an online auction site, it has slowly transitioned to a more conventional ecommerce site. Today, fixed-price listings are just as popular as auctions. You can experiment with both to determine which leads to higher returns for your products.
An important thing to know about eBay is that you need to offer great prices, no matter if you opt for auctions or fixed-price listings. Users come to the platform looking for a deal — and you’ll fail to sell anything unless you set enticing prices. The best place to figure out suitable pricing is to check what similar products have sold for.
You’ll also need to gain visibility on the platform. One way to do this is to improve your feedback score. Since this is based on both selling and buying, it’s worthwhile making a few purchases on the platform before you start listing your products. It’s easy to find low-cost items you need anyway. Once you have feedback from around 20 sellers, buyers will be much more likely to trust you.
To continue receiving positive feedback, make sure you package your products professionally. You could also consider offering free shipping — although this will mean you need to rise prices to cover the shipping expenses you incur. Only consider free shipping an option if your product is reasonably small and lightweight; otherwise, you may find you make a loss when buyers are located far from you.
Finally, set a return policy — this is a requirement of selling on eBay. Bear in mind that the platform will place your products higher in the search results if you offer at least 30-day returns. Requiring that buyers return products in their original condition will mean you face minimal losses from returns, even if you do opt for a longer return window.
How to Sell Products on Etsy
If you’re manufacturing handmade items, Etsy is the place to sell. As the platform has gained popularity, it has attracted more buyers — but also more sellers. This means the marketplace is quite crowded and you’ll need to have a solid strategy in place to stand out and avoid losing money.
First, it’s important to understand Etsy fees, as these can be quite confusing. Make sure you’re clear about the terms to make an informed decision on what products to list and how to do so.
Like with many of the other online platforms, it’s worth considering if you want to run ads. The cost of ads starts at $1 per day and allows you to appear as a paid listing in searches. Although this will add another cost to selling on Etsy, it’s an excellent way of gaining visibility as a new seller. Another option is to use Etsy marketing tools to share products from your Etsy store on social media.
One last way to make an impact on Etsy is to work on your brand image. You’re limited to between just four and 20 characters (without spaces) for your store name. This can make it difficult to express who you are. For this reason, you should put plenty of effort into writing the bio for your store — for this, you have up to 5,000 characters. In addition, make sure you write a bio for your personal profile. This will show potential buyers why you decided to create your product and give them more reasons to purchase from you.
How a Virtual Assistant Can Help
It requires a large amount of work and constant effort to successfully sell products online. If you’ve never run an online business before, there’s a large amount to learn. A better option than trying to do everything yourself is to receive support from a virtual assistant.
The virtual assistants for sales from myVA360 have a huge amount of experience supporting entrepreneurs to build online businesses. You can delegate any activity you are struggling with, including finding new opportunities to sell online, examining analytics to improve your strategy, and setting up an ecommerce store on platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify. Receive a special 10% discount on your VA for sales by scheduling a consultation.
