What we will cover in this lesson
- Online marketplaces, with so much choice how do you decide which is right for you?
- Once you have chosen a marketplace what to do next?
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Online marketplaces.
An online market place is a website that allows you to sell your products using their site as a service. Everybody knows the two biggest ones ebay and amazon, but are they really right for you? Choosing an online marketplace can be difficult as they have different policies, look, payment methods, usability, commission etc.
Lets take 3 market places (etsy bigcartel and amazon) from the list below and compare them using the following questions
- What is the setup cost or monthly charge if any?
- What commission does the site charge per sale?
- Is it easy for your customers to find your competitors from your store?
- Does the site get allot of traffic from search engines, people browsing the site, or do you have to drive all the traffic to your store?
- Can you customize the look of your store?
- Does the marketplace have limitations? This wont be listed on their site try searching forums or reviews with google.com
Suggested Marketplaces to investigate.
etsy.com (handmade)
deviantart.com (graphic art)
Can you find any other good marketplaces, if so leave a comment below?
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Setting up your shop.
Once you have decided on a marketplace its time to set up your shop.
Your customer cant touch or feel the real product, the only thing they have to go on is images and text. Also you don't want to leave them with any un-answered questions as any doubt is reason not to buy.
The three important issues here are
1. Clear and attractive product images or video
2. Detailed description
3. Clear policies
4. After sales service
Product images
Good product images are a must. If the images don't draw in the shopper they will just move on. Showing the product in use is a great way to help the buyer imagine it being used in their own life. Give the product some human scale too if possible. If the marketplace has a maximum of five images per product use them all. This allows you to show the product in more detail.
Product description
Here you will want to give as much detail as possible. Physical description, feature list, materials, color options. You could include some background about how it is made, if thats part of the product concept. Any background information about your philosophy or process can help draw the buyer into what makes your product unique and special.
Shop policies
You will want to clearly define your policies so their is such as how often you ship, is it daily before 4pm, once every 3 days or once a week. Do you have a returns policy. What are your shipping rates, do you ship internationally.
After sales service
Packaging and shipping box. You want the experience of receiving your product to be as nice as possible. Whats its going to be like when the customer opens the shipping box? If there is something nice thats un-expected this will leave the customer feeling good about the over all experience. This could just be having it packed in a thoughtful aesthetically pleasing way, or a small personal thank-you message inside. A small gift or discount coupon can also be a way to get customers to return.
Furtherer reading / links
A great comparison between etsy / big cartel and storenvy this post covers many of the points you need consider.
My etsy webstore. It should be the first result this shows an example of clear photos and product description
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