May 13, 2016 
Sell Online 101 – Part Three: How do I sell online
Earlier in our series, our blog covered whether you should sell on your own web store, or on a marketplace. Still trying to decide? Here’s the link.
Setting up an online store is one of the fastest and most rewarding ways to launch your own business. However, while running your own online store can give you control; it comes with its own decisions.
An eCommerce platform or web storefront allows you to display your product catalogue and makes it easy for the customer to discover your products. It also alerts you when an order is placed and can be integrated to the website or backend systems.
Imagine that you set up your own online store – upload product images and descriptions, connect to a shopping cart, and start selling.
Now comes the more difficult part. As your sales start to grow, you have to manage and grow where you sell; manage inventory, shipping, handle taxes, etc. Why not make your task easier?
Here’s what Lisa did
Lisa has a business selling women’s clothing. Year on year, her business has grown – and now it is a profitable store.
Lately, her sales have not been growing. She wants to grow her profits, scale up her business, and reach more customers. She decides that the best thing she can do is to start selling online. She can sell in two ways – either via her own store or by a marketplace.
In today’s times, it is not just enough to set up an online store with standard features.
Good user experience, Customer support, multi-channel friendliness are all needed for a successful online store – and an eCommerce platform can help do just that!
Which eCommerce platform should she host her website on?
Lisa decides she wants to pick an eCommerce platform for her store.
- She compares her options across several criterias:
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- User Interface
- Customer Support
- Features
- Category
- Best suited for
This is Lisa’s cheat sheet –
There is no “one-size-fits-all” eCommerce platform solution. Each platform is built to suit certain business needs and goals. Choosing the best eCommerce platform can be easy if you compare the platforms and finalize one that fits your budget and vision you have for your online store.
Using this cheat sheet, you can now narrow down your choices of eCommerce platforms. However, this is just a front-end where your customers can place their orders.
You still need to process all the orders, inventory and returns and manage and optimize your operations. By having an eCommerce order management and fulfillment solution, you can:
- Consolidate all your orders from multiple sales channels.
- Increase your customer reach by selling on marketplaces
- Manage your orders, inventory, and returns from a single interface.
- Automate your operations.
What Lisa needed was an eCommerce order management system and so does your business.
Vin eRetail eXpress is a SaaS-based multichannel order management solution which enables you to manage your orders, inventory and returns with no need of technical knowledge, heavy investment and low TCO.
To know more about how Vin eRetail eXpress can help you, click here.
Next in our series, Lisa decides to sell on marketplaces. Read more.
Any tips or comments about this article? Let us know below.
