No matter how successful your eCommerce business becomes you’re always looking for more customers. Everyone wants to grow and find new revenue streams.
But how do you do that?
If you’re someone who owns their own online store, one of the best ways to expand your business is to start selling your products on online marketplaces, like Amazon and eBay.
In this article, we’ll go over the benefits of this strategy and give you some tips to a better chance of success.
There are a number of reasons to grow your business beyond your own online store:
There are very few, if any downsides to selling on multiple channels. So, if you’re looking for ways to reach new customers and grow your store this is likely a wise decision.
As we touched on earlier, the more marketplaces you can sell on the better. However, that doesn’t mean every one of them will suit your business.
We’ve outlined the four biggest marketplaces below so you can choose the ones that are best for you.
If you’re looking for the website with the most traffic, this is it. Amazon has become the world’s largest retailer, which is why so many businesses sell there.
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Cons
eBay is the clear number two when it comes to online marketplaces. They’ve been around since the late nineties and are still extremely popular.
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Cons
When people think of Walmart they mostly think of their physical locations. But the company has been growing its online sales and now allows third-party sellers to offer products on their website.
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Cons
Compared to the other entries on our list, Etsy is relatively new but they’re growing fast. It’s definitely worth considering if you’re looking for additional marketplaces to sell on.
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Cons
If you’re new to selling on other marketplaces you’re likely wondering what the best way to go about it is.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
By expanding your sales channels you’ll also be increasing your workload, which means you’ll want to automate different areas of your business.
This includes:
The less time you have to spend on day-to-day tasks, the more time you’ll have to run your business.
Processing, packing, and shipping orders is extremely time-consuming, which is why many sellers are turning to fulfillment services to take this work off their hands.
The most well-known of these services is FBA, which is available to any Amazon seller. Simply send all your inventory to them and they’ll take care of everything for you, including storage, packing, and shipping.
For items that aren’t sold on Amazon, there are a number of companies that provide similar services. If you’re interested do your research and find one that suits your business.
Making sure you never run out of stock is critical to your success in the eCommerce industry. And the more marketplaces you’re selling on the more complicated it gets.
If you’re struggling with this, consider using inventory management software to keep track of your stock and alert you when you’re running low. You may even want to hire a VA to monitor this and ensure nothing is missed.
It’s worth mentioning this one more time: try to sell on as many channels as possible. Not only does this increase the number of customers you can reach, but it also limits your risk.
That being said, don’t start with too many too fast. If you only sell on your own store, expand to one more marketplace. Learn how it works and get comfortable selling there. Then, once that channel is up and running move on to another one.
Since you’ll be exposing yourself to more customers, take this opportunity to grow your brand.
If you haven’t done so already, hire a designer to create a logo and then make sure that’s visible everywhere you sell. You want people to know that they’re buying from you, not Amazon or eBay or whatever marketplace you’re selling on.
Amazon actually has tools to help you grow your brand awareness. When you register your brand with them you can tell your brand story on your page, advertise your brand on their site, and have your own branded store.
Running an eCommerce store is great, but don’t limit yourself to just one channel. If you want to find new customers for your products then consider expanding to other online marketplaces.
If you do it right you’ll be able to grow your business much faster and get your brand in front of a lot more people.
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