If you are an E-merchant or an online seller who has recently joined eBay or any of the selling sites like eBay, then you must be familiar of the challenges faced on Marketplace sites. Now, E-commerce sales strategies are never to be neglected in order to increase the rate of conversion. E-commerce marketplaces allow you to reduce your stock SKUs, gain new users and present your new collection to the world. To succeed the seasonal sales with collaboration marketing, you need to be well-planned about your sales techniques implementation, plan B’s and C’s, risk mitigation strategies and sales boosting spin-offs.
Make Products Well-Presented and Easily Discoverable
‘First Impression is the last impression’, an adage we all adhere to before taking that big leap of fate in life.
- It is not just the look and feel of the featured products but the pricing and safe payment options for the same that are being offered to the customer that let’s sellers expand their empire through lucrative marketplaces.
- Keep your customers close and keep your competitors closer since they are always coming up with innovative ideas to sell their products better and faster like giving Christmas season discounts way ahead of time, prompting suggestive collaborative buys for customers who have already put products in their shopping cart, localising products based on demographics etc. , the way all this information is being displayed and represented is the key either through crystal clear images or engaging written content.
- Emphasizing on the fact that these products are a safe bet through reviews, feedback, rating etc. and also featuring customer photos of the actual product purchased in the real world
Focus on Customer Retention Strategies
‘Customer is king’ is the fundamental law of business since ages. Even before the advent of E-commerce platforms customer satisfaction was paramount. Once the new sellers have managed to sell a percentage of their products online, they need to ensure that the existing customers are kept satisfied and on a high pedestal for them to keep coming back for more to the same seller. Such retention can not only help in maintaining the current trusted customer base but will also lead to further networking and promotions of the sellers’ products and addition of more customers who patronise the seller’s products. The end result is of course increased sales and Business turnover. The following points are fundamental for customer retention if you are a seller:
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- Providing best quality products that will make customers revisit your product page for more.
- Provide either discounts on your products or freebees to regular customers on purchase of certain products from you or above certain purchase threshold amount.
- Schemes like 100% satisfaction guarantee or full money-back works well for newly launched businesses where the product cost is not too high and sellers do not face the brunt of it
- High quality delivery service, flexible return policies and post-sales service to trusted customers is the secret to effective customer retention.
- Priority should be given to customers by intimating them about new product launches from the seller at the marketplace platform and offers should be highlighted.
Plan Your Shipping Cost Strategy Wisely
To charge for Shipping or not to? The right answer to this question is still a myth for many online retailers. But the consolation comes from the work-around techniques adopted by many online businesses. The two magic words ‘Free’ and ‘Shipping’ put together can induce sales and enthuse customers to buy from you.
How can you predict whether free shipping will be profitable? How do you choose a good shipping strategy that doesn’t break the bank? Is it even a reliable idea for recently launched businesses at digital marketplaces to adopt free shipping? You don’t want to leave yourself out of pocket, but if you’ve worked out your margins and can still make a profit by offering free shipping, that’s probably the way to go, keeping in mind the service charges and overheads at the online marketplace where your products are being sold.
Some marketplaces offer you the advantage of no charges or overheads thus making it easier for you to ship your products free of cost to customers and thus increasing your customer base.
Some researches reveal that 85% of online customers are likely to buy from sellers that offer free shipping. Here are a few factors you need to reaffirm before promoting free shipping on your products:
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- Profit Margins:- Choose profit margin wisely as the margin may be different for every sold item.
- Size and Weight of Products:-The shipping cost is impacted through size and weight of the product so you must think of more restrictions for shipping heavier and larger products.
- Average Order Value: If you offer free shipping with a threshold, you’ll want to increase your AOV (average order value). Measure it and set a threshold a little above that amount.
- Your customer’s location: If you ship abroad or to faraway destinations, don’t do away free shipping completely rather charge a minimal amount.
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Some fail-proof methods of offering free shipping that have turned out to be lucrative for online sellers at marketplaces are:
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- Create Thresholds: Increase the minimum order value required for free shipping as a general principle and test the improvement in margin.
- Selective Offering: See what kinds of improvement you’ll get by offering free shipping only on select products which are moderate in demand yet profitable. Season sales are the best time of the year to offer Free Shipping as almost every seller online does so to promote their brand along with increased sales volumes. You could even use this tactic to sell out on products that have been stocked up for too long.
- Discount programs: These are increasingly popular. It means you generally increase the price of the product on its listing page and allow customers to use discount coupons/ offer codes on the checkout page of the selling platform thus compensating the overall net pricing of the order and also offer free shipping to attract more orders thus giving the customers the impression that they are in for a win with this purchase. You can even device a plan for customers to buy a certain number of products or up to a threshold amount from you and then offer them free shipping for that order.