Are you planning to sell your products online? Wondering, which platform to choose out of many? Why not, since it’s something that can either make or break your entire business.
Nowadays, retailers are not restricted to physical stores so as to reach a large number of customers and sell products. One can easily sell their product online by just sitting in the comfort of their home.
However, when it’s about online marketplaces then no doubt there are ample factors that must be taken into consideration. It’s imperative to know which platform perfectly suits the requirements of your business so as to take your business to the heights of success.
What is an Online Marketplace?
Before starting with anything, let’s understand the online marketplace in simple terms. The online marketplace enables the exchange of goods between two people i.e., sellers and buyers. In other words, it’s known by the name of the electronic marketplace, and all the transactions are managed by the website owner. Anyone can make use of online marketplaces for reaching customers who are interested in buying their products.
Sellers can easily publish their offerings of products on the website of online marketplaces along with details regarding the product attributes. Even, users can explore a number of products, compare rates, quality, and purchase from the seller directly.
Every online marketplace is different in terms of product categories, target audience, standards, and listing costs. So, some amount of research is required for choosing the ideal option. It’s imperative to recognize the numerous strategies in order to sell on marketplaces that will work best for your business.
Why Use Online Marketplace to Sell?
Nowadays, online marketplaces are increasing at a fast pace. Due to the increase in the popularity of online selling, online marketplaces are creating innovative strategies for keeping their clients pleased.
Let’s have a look at some of the benefits that the online marketplace offers.
- Higher sales: Online marketplace allows businesses to access massive audiences. You can promote and distribute products to a huge range of audiences through the online marketplace.
- Lower Costs: In the case of offline mode, you need to think about renting the store, employee hiring for running the store, and other expenses too. However, with an online store, all these expenses are eradicated. All you need is to pay the nominal charge for the site, advertisements, and promotions.
- Excellent customer service: After-sales service no doubt helps in establishing trust among users and promoting the brand. If we talk about Amazon and Flipkart then they provide 24*7 client service. So, by selling the products on this platform you can expect good client service and management. Also, such sites take care of after-sales services such as returns, delivery payment, exchange, and so on.
- Wider market: When you plan to sell the products on top-rated platforms like Amazon, eBay, or any other marketplace; you are actually opening yourself to a wide range of audiences. Opening yourself to a massive audience will result in higher sales which every business expects in return.
Best Platforms for Selling Your Products
There are many platforms that one can choose for selling the products. So, let’s dive into some of the few best platforms.
Amazon
Amazon is the topmost online marketplace that ranked on top. The advantage that one can avail by selling on this platform is the chance to reach its huge base of prime members.
Do you know how Amazon became successful? People have established trust in Amazon as well as in the products they buy on this platform. Amazon prime allows it to deliver products in a single day in a few locations. Not only this, but it also offers the best deals that persuade people to purchase the products from Amazon.
Amazon provides its, sellers, with numerous options. One can either sell products on the website directly or manage all shipping responsibilities on its own.
Features of Amazon
- Secure payments
- Ship all the orders with ease
- Excellent services
- Customers from all over the world
Flipkart
With more than 100 million customers, this platform is India’s biggest online selling platform. Retailers can easily sell anything on this platform including home goods, lifestyle items, fashion, groceries, and so on.
If you are planning to expand your entire business, then Flipkart is the best platform that you can choose.
Features of Flipkart
- Good deals
- Payment on time
- Quick customer replies
Myntra
It’s also a fashion marketplace where a large number of sellers get full sales support. Myntra has more than 40 million active users. This platform launched the online marketplace for connecting sellers as well as buyers.
It’s quite easy to sell products from a huge user base. In addition to this, sellers get the chance to understand users’ behavior through multichannel promotion campaigns.
Features of Myntra
- Massive audience
- Guaranteed minimum returns
- Minimal invest
- Strict screening process
Facebook Marketplace
If you have a business page on Facebook then you can list your products here. Facebook Marketplace provides ample opportunity for selling products online.
You can easily sell second-hand furniture, home decoration items, feng shui products, unused baby products, etc through this marketplace.
Features of Facebook Marketplace
- Its simple to use
- It also supports open communication
- Extended online reach
- Personalized customer experience
eBay
Launched in the year 1995, eBay has millions of users worldwide. On eBay, you can sell anything from shoes and watches to bizarre items.
eBay platform enables their sellers to modify their storefronts with featured products, product categorization, banner images, customer newsletters, and so on.
Features of eBay
- Diverse product categories
- Seamless online store
- Heavy traffic on eBay
Etsy
A popular marketplace where you can sell handmade products. The platform is quite simple to use and is considered the best website in order to sell the products online.
This platform processes payment on the safe SSL encrypted platform. In addition to this, it has fraud detection systems for protecting sellers as well as buyers.
Features of Etsy
- Easy to sell
- Offers reasonable shipping
- Access quality customers
AliExpress
Founded in the year 2009 this platform is owned by the Alibaba Group. AliExpress deals in products like footwear, electronics, clothing, gadgets, beauty, home essentials, etc.
It’s the best online marketplace for selling products online. On this platform, you can get your items exposed to a massive audience.
Features of AliExpress
- Huge customer base
- Low start-up cost
- Minimal overheads
Shopclues
On Shopclues, a large number of businesses can list their products. It has a huge customer base and also gives merchants the opportunity of reaching users from all corners of India.
This online marketplace is suited for selling any kind of product ranging from home décor, fashion, and apparel to kitchenware and so on. For selling on Shopclues, register for the seller account followed by the process of verification.
Features of Shopclues
- Access to a large number of buyers
- Guaranteed payment cycles
- Takes care of all shipping orders
Pepperfry
The online marketplace for home décor as well as furniture. In order to sell home décor as well as furniture online in this marketplace, you have to sign up a seller account. Once your account gets verified, by using their dashboard; you can easily list out the products.
Meesho
It’s another platform that is new and where you can sell a variety of items like footwear, décor products, fashion and apparel, electronics, and so on.
Features of Meesho
- User-friendly interface
- Easy to track orders
- Detailed item descriptions
- Star rating feature
Bonanza
This platform has more than 50,000 sellers offering millions of unique items. Some of the major categories that are included on this platform include handbags, beauty, home products, etc.
The handpicked list is the standout feature of Bonanza where users can easily make a thematic collection of products for public viewing. The function helps in promoting products to the targeted audience. In addition to this, Bonanza also features hand-picked lists, the most attractive ones on their homepage for driving enough traffic.
Features of Bonanza
- Diverse range of categories
- Widespread online network
- Best offer option
How to Pick the Online Marketplace for Selling the Items?
Which online marketplace to choose out of many? Which will best suit my business? From where to start? These are a few questions that strike into the mind of the majority of people. So, here are a few ways by which you can find out whether the online marketplace suits your requirements or not.
- Understand the marketplace well and choose the one that can give you more exposure. Try to understand your target market too.
- Evaluate the marketplace by its name and also popularity. Check for the ones that offer more security to its sellers.
- Check the subscription costs and examine how it will be going to affect your income. Also, choose the one that provides seller support services.
No doubt, each marketplace works in a different way however there are a few points that you must check.
- Website traffic
- Reputation between customers
- Stability
- Checkout process
- Policies and guidelines
- Marketplace UI
One of the most vital marketplace features is that it should provide its customers with a user-friendly interface.
Strategies for Selling on Online Marketplaces
There are a few strategies that you can follow for selling on online marketplaces since it will help you to take your business to the next higher level.
- Optimize your product listing: Optimize the product page so as to get your listings appear on the top of search results of the online selling websites. This, in turn, will enhance click-through rates and ultimately boost sales. Research the tags that are relevant to your products and include them in your product descriptions. You can make use of Keyword Tool for searching appropriate keywords for your product.
- Advertise and promote: Leverage the feature of advertising for amplifying the initiatives of your online store marketing. Implement other promotional strategies like weekday discount offers, special month sales, etc. If you list your products on established online marketplaces then you will increase the chances of more sales.
- Automate pricing: Make use of pricing automation tools that will help you in tracking and adjusting the prices automatically for your products. By utilizing automated repricing software, you can streamline the overall process of evaluating market variables.
- Establish proper shipping methods: Augment the shipping strategy simply by working with 3rd party carriers like ShipStation, United States Postal Service, and so on.
Takeaway
Hope you have enjoyed reading this amazing guide and it surely be going to help you in knowing more about the online marketplaces. Ensure to choose the marketplace properly by doing proper research and by keeping in mind your product range and target audience. Not only this, but before signing up, you need to comply with regulations of local tax. Its recommended not to begin with a number of online marketplaces particularly if you are starting for the first time. Select the single platform as per your requirements and then begin selling.
Also, when choosing the platform for selling online, the thing one must remember is a business model. For instance, casual sellers get more benefits from sites such as Facebook Marketplace where a setup is simple and quick.
Small business owners wish to choose an online marketplace that has more marketing features so as to scale their business. Medium and large-scale businesses choose sites such as Amazon where financial investment is quite demanding however one can reach a broader market thus resulting in higher revenue.
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