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Drop shipping business is the most popular way to get started with eCommerce industry in today’s time. Dropshipping is an order fulfilment method in which they don’t maintain inventory, just prepare the product, pack it and send it directly to the customer. If you’re looking to start your own eCommerce company, starting up with a drop shipping platform would be a great idea. It will be an exciting business with low startup cost and good margins.

The only drawback is that much of your business is out of your hands. On the other hand, it is the most profitable business, if done right.

The right time to start selling your products is when the product is selected, suppliers assured and your business is legally established. The next step is to decide how to sell your products to the prospective customers. There exist different sales options, but you’ll most probably pick one or a combination of selling on your own online store, eBay or Amazon.

Steps to consider while starting an eCommerce Drop shipping business:

There are five basic steps to start your dropshipping business.

Step 1 – Select products to sell

Step 2 – Find trusted suppliers

Step 3 – Set up your business

Step 4 – Evaluate your sales channels

Step 5 – Market your products

Daily Operations of Your Dropshipping Business

Your Dropshipping business should be well underway! From this point onwards, it’s all about maintenance and growth. Experience is the key to master e-Commerce retailing. As the business grows, you will probably find new methods and paths to fine-tune operations for better efficiency and increased sales. You will discover how to fix issues with suppliers, handle with customer service issues and market your business’s label.

Once all these steps are set, you have to start evaluating the sales channels.

Most popular and Rewarding Sales Channels for eCommerce:

1. Dropshipping on eBay

eBay is the well-known world’s largest auction site for physical goods online. Begin by deciding what products to sell, then source those products from a wholesaler that can guarantee quick and reliable shipping.

Volume is the key to successful dropshipping. Few sales will not give you a huge return, most dropshippers gain only a few dollars per sale. Elements such as pricing, marketing efforts, and timing can shape or shatter the dropshipping strategy.

The Pros of Selling on eBay

• Easy to Get Started
• Access to a Large Audience
• Less Marketing

The Cons of Selling on eBay

• Listing Fees
• Constant Monitoring and Re-Listing
• Can’t Customize Your Sales Platform
• No Long-Term Connection With Customers
• You’re Not Building an Asset

To learn more about selling on eBay, click here.

2. Dropshipping on Amazon

Amazon is the online retail giant, which stocks and sells a number of items, but umpteen of the products listed are sold by third-party merchandisers via Amazon’s website. Amazon also acts to help assist the sale and to resolve any problems that come up.

The Pros of Selling on Amazon

The advantages and benefits are same on Amazon similar to eBay. It’s easy to get started in Amazon. You get instant access to a huge range of audience and you don’t need to fear about your marketing or SEO.

Amazon provides their own fulfillment warehouses which is the most amazing benefit for the Merchants. This will allow Merchants to compliment their drop shipped products without bothering about packing, shipping, warehousing and delivery.

The Cons of Selling on Amazon

• Exposure of Sales Data
• No Long-Term Connection With Customers
• No Customization

To learn more about selling on Amazon, click here.

3. Dropshipping with Facebook

As an eCommerce entrepreneur, Facebook is the most fundamental platform for advertising your eCommerce business. It is quite popular and useful because many other marketing channels operate on similar systems to Facebook ads.

The easy and cost-effective way to sell more products is adding a Facebook store to your Dropshipping business. You can set up a Facebook business page by building a following and create organic traffic with product promotion. Running ad campaigns on Facebook can get you more people to your store without constraining them to travel to another website.

Connect your website to your Facebook store and make use of the platform to drive more sales. Do basic research for underrepresented Facebook pages and create a following for your business. It doesn’t take an immense Facebook ad budget to build a big crew of Facebook fans in a short span of time. It is easy and free so that customers don’t have to leave Facebook to make a purchase. And, the less checkout process brings in a higher conversion rate.

If you haven’t seen good results in your business, selling in Social media can be a great option for your dropshipping operation. You can get much higher revenue for every penny spent on creating your Facebook store.

The pros of dropshipping with Facebook

• Brand awareness
• Drive website traffic
• Targeted advertising
• Generate business leads
• Customer service and feedback
• Monitor and improve

The Cons of dropshipping on Facebook

• Time and Resources
• Skills
• Budget
• Negative Feedback

To learn more about selling on Facebook, click here.

4. Dropshipping with Instagram

Instagram has become the most favourite platform for businesses. It provides the advantage of being a less saturated market. It has immense benefits of utilizing this channel so that the market keeps filling up with companies.

Create a content strategy, use elements of high performing account to use Instagram for marketing, decide the composition that how and what will be shown on your page. Build a following organically. Make sure you post at least 4-5 times a week.

You have the building blocks for using Instagram for business, but learning something new can be daunting. Take your time and start getting comfortable using Instagram and settings. Remember to be strategic of what to post and who you follow. Having a clear idea about Instagram for your business by experimenting can surely keep you on track towards business growth and success.

The pros of Dropshipping with Instagram

• Instagram is all about photos
• Connects to Your Target Audience
• High Engagement Rate
• Post Your Contents Easily
• Visual Representation of Your Business
• Allows You to Respond Quickly
• Increase Your Reach

The cons of Dropshipping with Instagram

• Not Everyone Is on Instagram
• Limitations on Your Contents
• Advertising Is More Difficult

To learn more about selling on Instagram, click here.

5. Drop shipping with your own online Store

The best alternative to selling online with Third-party websites is establishing your own online store. This can replace sales channels like Amazon and eBay, but you can still have a mix of both the worlds. This is one of the most attractive sales channels for people who are interested in building a successful dropshipping business.

The Pros of Selling on Your Own Store

• More Control
• Easy Design
• Mobile Ready
• No Third-Party Fees
• Building a Real Business

The Cons of Selling on Your Own Store

• Less Free Traffic
• Take a long time to get off the ground

You can get your own Shopify Store or Woocommerce Store with us. Let us know, just in case!

Wrap up

At this point in time, you will be asking yourself “which platform to opt for my eCommerce business?” To choose the best one, you’ll need to ask more questions and evaluate your priorities. Prioritize whether you need High-profit margins or more exposure to an audience.

To expose your product to a larger crowd, Online retailers like Amazon or eBay and social channels like Facebook or Instagram can be used. These are effective channels which will cut your margin but get more sales quickly.

Secondly, have a long-term goal, control over selling your products. You can set your own boundaries and work independently.

Lastly, think about how you can serve better and bring value to your customers. Moreover, think which platform will provide you with the most value.

Evaluate the available sales channels for your niche, and start selling!

Loyalty is a very heavy word and it is equally heavy to practice. This trait is the basis of a healthy and secure relationship and it takes years to establish. The drawback? You can lose it as quickly as you earn it if you hurt the sentiments of the other person.

 

In the language of business, your customer’s loyalty is very finicky and you will have to work really hard to develop a stronger faith in your brand. Your mistakes should not let them turn away from you.

The ecommerce business has made it easy for people to set up stores without the need to find a physical place. To add to that, the attention spans are at an all time low so you have to grab it in a mere amount of seconds. Hence, the competition is neck to neck.

People may buy a product from your store once but to get them back is a miracle considering the amount of options they have. You need to create a heavy brand awareness and image to stay in this business.

Here are 10 tips to help you achieve their loyalty –

 

1. Absolute transparency

The foundation of any relationship is firm only when it is built on trust. Every detail of your company should be out in the open for your customers. Gaining access to information will help them establish trust with your company.

Even if there is a glitch or something has gone wrong in shipping, you must keep them informed and take full responsibility of the situation. This can help you not lose your customers especially if it is an ecommerce business.

When you are accountable for your mistakes, it shows humility. Being truthful about what they should expect can work out amazingly well if you exceed those expectations later.

 

2. Customer Appreciation

Being an ecommerce business you don’t have to take much effort to communicate so use it to your advantage.

A thank you note or a mail acknowledging that you are grateful they chose to place their faith in your brand. After spending a lot of time on websites, customers finally arrive at yours and buy something.

You have to appreciate their time and make sure that they are to have brought the product from your website.

You should provide them everything you have promised and thank them for their feedback.

 

3. Establish a sense of belonging

Human psychology has spoken very highly of the need to belong. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs also places it in their chart. Why do you think that is?

Feeling a sense of belonging makes a person feel safe and happy. If they are choosing to buy from your company you should make them feel welcome. You can get them subscribed to a newsletter or interact with them on a personal basis.

They should feel a part of your brand as much as any employee in your company.

It is already an ecommerce business which does not have face to face communication so an extra effort will be required.

Updating them on your new products and communicating any news with their personal names would be a good way to do it.

 

4. The power of referring

Word of mouth is the oldest but most trusted method of marketing. Your customers should be happy with the personalized experience you provide them so they consider referring your brand to anyone.

Being an ecommerce business, your referrals will happen through shared links and recommendations.

You can provide them with some incentive or boost their points if they can get a friend hooked on your website. It can be a free coupon or discount which should get them to actually speak about your brand.

A simple thank you message would also work because acknowledging their effort is very important. They are doing something good for your brand.

 

5. Personalized emails

Whoever said email marketing is dead doesn’t know what he is talking about. A personalized email with their name and a brief study on their buying patterns would be a great way to establish loyalty.

The biggest marketing aspect of an ecommerce business is email marketing.

They should feel like they are the first ones to know about your new product releases and offers. According to their buying pattern you should find relevant content for the email.

The more relevant it is, the more they will buy from you. Your emails should let them know that you understand what they want and you will give them exactly that.

 

6. Quality content

What is the one thing your ecommerce business has that the others don’t? Quality content.

Your content should consist of all the necessary information and at the same time be engaging. You can cover a lot of current topics that related to your brand in any way possible.

If you are adding to their knowledge and getting them to read something interesting, they will remember your brand. After the remembering, they will come back to buy from your store because of the brand voice you create in your posts.

Don’t try to force them to buy your product. Sometimes, just have an interaction with them about things that matter.

 

7. Get feedback

It has become easier to get feedback and save paper at the same time because you are an ecommerce business. A casual survey or feedback form will help you grow your business. You will understand what you need to improve so they come back to buy from you.

Asking for their feedback will also let them know that their opinion matters to you. They can give you a better idea of what they are expecting from the product and what is not working about it.

When you improvise you must thank them for their feedback and introduce them to the changes you have made. By doing this, you are earning their trust and making them a part of your brand development.

 

8. Socialize

You should be active on all social media platforms and messengers so they know you are available to answer their doubts and grievances.

Once again, ecommerce has made it extremely convenient to communicate so utilize it.

Any kind of interaction should be initiated from your side so they know that you do care to respond.

You can start a group for loyal customers on which you post daily about anything and everything related or non related to your brand. This will increase brand recall.

Your social media platforms should be a way for them to directly interact with your brand. All their questions, comments and suggestions should be responded to.

Introduce a live chat on your website so you can guide them through the website while they are placing an order.

Be there for them and they will be there for you.

 

9. Work on your Loyalty program

Ecommerce business has made it easy for you to navigate your success pattern and assess campaigns.

Once you have the database of your loyal customers in place, you need to define your brand’s social responsibility to them. For example, if your tagline is “excellence”, then you can hold contests and reward people with excellent achievements.

The activities that you hold for your brand should be communicated to your customers. Through your social activities they can feel safe when buying from you.

Your loyalty program should include exciting offers, rewards, coupons and discounts so they feel privileged to be a part of your brand.

 

10. User generated content

You can turn your customers into your brand advocates. Any pictures posted by them about your brand or tagged your brand will become an advertisement for your brand.

You can feature them on your social media profiles if they post with your products and tag your brand.

Their ratings and reviews can also be a big boom for your sales and they record the highest rates of conversion.

You can reward them with exclusive t-shirts that have your brand logo so they feel a sense of belonging.

This will put your ecommerce business in spotlight.

 

Concluding…

With these tips in mind, all you need to concentrate on is providing good service and quality products. That is the biggest part of customer retention. Your product must fulfil their needs. Once you have them in your loyalty program, you must give them everything you promised and treat them with a splendid customer experience.

Ecommerce business can be tricky but once you master it, there is only prosperity.

Running an online store is not at all easy, it is a challenging task. The first step you have to do after creating an online store is to promote it. An online store is becoming popular day by day among customers as an overwhelming choice, so it is a must to market and advertise your online store efficiently. You can promote your online store and generate targeted traffic with little hard work, plan, and creativity.

Why is it important to promote your online business?

Creating an online store is one side of the coin, and the other side is promoting your store for increasing the online sales. To establish more sales you need to have a creative plan, use of SEO, content marketing, social media marketing and PPC to reach out to your target customers. After that, make your customers understand your products and services to build trust and make a purchase.

The benefits of promoting your online store are:

• Increase brand awareness
• Provide appropriate information
• Increase Customer Traffic
• Build sales and profits

To obtain these benefits and attract more potential customers, here are the 10 ways to promote your online store to smash out your sales target.

#1 Targeted Advertising

Digital media can help your online marketing by delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. Target advertising includes the use of Facebook ads, Google Adwords, and Pinterest.

Facebook targets users by including and analyzing personal information and interests in their profiles. You can filter a specific group of people based on their interest. Facebook Ads make it easier for you to target people who have an interest in products similar to yours and promote it to them with no effort. To reach the objectives of making website conversion effective, consider running Facebook ads to get more traffic and then, make sales.

Google Adword provides an option to target people according to their keyword search and location. You can select the time and devices on which it has to appear. Additionally, you can pay only when folks click through and land on your page making it cost effective.

Pinterest is the growing social networking platform. It promotes your product, brand functionality in an easy and fun way. Create an enchanting account for your business, follow people who are following the brands bound to your target audience, add “pin it” button to your products so that people can easily share them.

#2 Facebook

Facebook is one of the platforms you must use to promote your online store. Reasons to choose Facebook is it’s easy to use, efficient and cost-effective, promote your message to the right people, and finally, it works!

You can create engaging and interesting business pages with no cost and are simple to handle. Don’t forget to engage your target audience regularly. Your posts must be inspiring to your target crowd, easy for them to relate and shareable. To make it more simple, there are a number of scheduling tools you can use to schedule your posts at specific times.

#3 Remarketing

Remarketing is a feature that allows you to stay connected with the audience who have visited your site previously as they browse online. You can simply tag the products and categories you wish to promote and run a campaign so that relevant ads appear in the web pages of people who have visited your website before, shown interest but, have not made a purchase. The ads will appear continuously on the visitor’s web page until they clear their cookies.

#4 Guest Articles

Blogs and guest articles for magazines are powerful means to reach out to your target buyers. Search for relevant online and offline blogs and magazines, and browse lists like the 100 most popular blogs in your sphere. Build a personal relationship by following them on social media, comment on their blogs, retweet their posts so they get to know who you are and what your expertise is. Later send an article to them.

Spend some time reading their blogs and websites, or interact with them on their forum to provide impartial advice, comment on other articles and answer questions. Most importantly, use your brand name and logo as your profile details like bio, display picture.

#5 Offers and Competitions

Giveaway is a great advantage to promote your online store. People love the feeling of getting something for nothing and winning. Offer things for free in return for your website visitors and for people who give feedback on your products, usability, and appearance of your online store.

Make sure that people learn something about your product with every competition or offer you run, as a token of the entering process. This will make people think of you immediately if they wish to purchase any specific item that your brand offers.

Meanwhile, encourage people to develop their involvement with you as much as possible by offering a significant percentage off for future purchase in return for leaving a review. The more incentive they have to shop with you, the more those people will tweet about your product or promote your online store on Facebook. They will become your promoters in no time with giveaways.

#6 Customer Stories & Articles

Followup with the purchase to find out why that person bought your product. All your customers will have unique stories to share. Ask your customers to send pictures and make delighting stories about it in your website. Customers will promote your store by sharing that story.

Having a customer gallery works wonders. Pictures are worth everything, ask your customers to send in pictures and videos of themselves using your products. Picture gallery of your products and customers’ pictures will enhance your website and speak volumes to potential customers.

#7 Promote via Affiliate Sites

Affiliate marketing benefits every retailer with an online store. Affiliate marketing is a process of using the third party to promote your products. Sign up for a commission-only promotional workforce. Wise shoppers first look to discount websites to see if they can save anything before making a purchase.

Voucher code and discount code websites can lead to a rush of potential customers to your online store, including many who have not visited your site ever before.

#8 Beat the Nerves

Using a new online store for the first time can be nervous for the customers. Providing free delivery and free returns to everybody can encourage the first-time buyers to hit the checkout button. It will attract them to return to your store and promote it amongst their friends and gatherings.

#9 PR Stunt

Do something exorbitant to grasp people’s attention. You can ask people to return for free clothes, this can attract huge media around the country and give you excellent coverage. Rather, open a Pop-Up store in a shopping mall or popular venue or out-of-town shopping centers for a few days.

This will help you promote your online store by creating a buzz, encourage spontaneous purchases and build your brand awareness.

#10 Strategic Partnerships

Build a strategic partnership with non-competing websites that have a similar target market. The key is to find partners with a matched vision and complementary products. Strategic partnership results in mutual benefits. It helps to serve the marketing workload, and your potential buyers will benefit from a greater number of trusted resources.

Work together for a joint promotion or ask for an advertising slot in return for free advertising on your own site.

Conclusion

Selling your products in an online store builds brand awareness and grows credibility with your target customers. These are proven methodologies to promote your online store and boost your sales force. Try out these techniques and attract more new customers. Follow up to make customers willingly buy from you again, and again, and again.