According to an estimate, there were 42 million online sellers in the world in the year 2017. We are sure that this number would have increased a lot by now and would surely double in the next few years. If you hope to join this growing list of online sellers, you should not hesitate because there are billions of consumers out there looking for the right products and a genuine seller.
The first thing you need to do when you think of becoming an online seller is to decide what would you sell. If you are wondering how do I decide what to sell online then you shouldn’t worry. We have tried to answer that right here. Just follow the tips mentioned below and you’ll do alright.
Market Volume
The first thing you need to consider when hoping to sell products online is whether the product you have chosen has a wide or narrow market. Products that are needed by everyone like snacks have a wide market while the products that are needed by specific people like plus-sized clothing for overweight people will have a narrow market volume.
A smart idea would be to pick a narrow niche where the competition is low just like the men accessories niche and you will gain success if you market it right. To know the potential volume of a market in your country or region, make use of the Google Keyword Planner.
Competitiveness and Demand
The level of competition matters a lot. If you pick a product that everyone else is selling, you need to work extra hard to prove why your product is different from the rest. In contrast, if you pick a product that has no competition, it is likely that the product has no demand at all. Therefore, you need to consider both these factors while choosing a product to sell.
A smart idea would be to choose products that have low competition and high demand because it will ensure that all competitors get to sell their products and earn a tidy profit.
Margin Levels
Every online seller decides to make it a profession because he or she wants to earn a profit and there’s nothing wrong in that. So, when choosing which products to offer, you should know about the profit margin you can get so that you can manage the source from where you can that product at a lower price for more profits. For instance, if you source a product from a supplier at $50 and sell it at $100, you would be making a $50 profit.
You need to deduct expenses like operational costs, taxes, etc. from the 50 dollars to get a net profit margin. If the expenses are worth 45 dollars, the product is not worth it. In contrast, if the expenses are worth 5 or 10 dollars, you will earn 45 or 35 dollars as net profit.
Product Availability
An online seller is incomplete without a supplier unless the online seller is manufacturing the products from scratch. If you want to sell products sourced from somewhere, you need to find suppliers who can adjust according to your needs.
For instance, the supplier must be willing to work extra hard during the holidays and supply minimal products during the lean season. The supplier should also be local whenever possible because it will save shipping and other associated costs.
Your Financial Resources
When choosing what products to sell on selling sites like eBay and TrueGether, you must consider your own financial situation. If you have a budget of USD 10,000 only, you cannot expect to sell luxury goods as even a single product would cost a few thousand dollars and you need money for other things like marketing efforts.
In contrast, with the same budget, you can sell a variety of clothes and shoes that are usually in demand all year and promote them right to get a price you want.
Product Size
If you are just starting out as an online seller, you should consider selling only small items that can be kept at your home or office. For instance, snacks, shoes, clothes, etc.
In case you opt for a bulky product like a dining table set, you will need to rent a warehouse which will increase the cost and might scare people away. So, make sure that you start small if you don’t have a property or warehouse that you own and can use indefinitely.
The Future Potential
Lastly, you should learn about the future potential of a product before deciding to stock up on it. Do not overstock a product if you are not sure that whether it will be sold or not no matter how much discount the supplier is giving you as you might end up with a huge loss.
For instance, if you invest in a specific laptop model and order it in bulk, you might be making a mistake. As technology changes, a new version of the laptop will be launched and it will decrease the value of the laptop model you stocked up on.
The result, you will need to sell perfectly new laptops at lower than market rates to get rid of them. So, it’s smart to see the future potential of every product you intend to sell and choose products that are estimated to be in demand in the future as well.
Conclusion
In essence, it can be seen that choosing what to sell online is not easy but if you use a bit of smartness, do proper analysis and use tools like Google trends, you will get success. Our last bit of advice to you is to keep the online sales business low-key until you start getting the results you wanted. Remember, slow and steady always wins the race!