Checklist – Pre Online Selling

Do you want to increase your product sales by selling online, then you should check details in this post…..

Due to rising internet and mobile phone penetration in India, e-commerce industry in India is growing at an exponential rate. So, it is no wonder then that more and more sellers want to sell online.

Before you begin offering online, let’s see at the following points of comparison to get it where to offer online – on your own website or on a commercial marketplace/platform.

Selling on own website vs Selling on marketplaces

Product category

The product category you proposed to offer online, itself has an effect on your choice of channel. The branding of your product line-up, the competition within the category and the compatibility between your line-up and the e-commerce platform are all components you must consider.

For e.g., In case you’re a seller of a reasonable clothing category, at that point to be consistent in your branding, you should select a platform such as Myntra….

However, in comparison, if you want to sell elite, exclusive, made-to-order designer clothing, which would require extensive brand building, then it would be better to set up your own e-commerce store.

Ease of Business

As all market places like Amazon, Flipkart etc has command on customer reach in the market, the ease of entry into the market is high. In addition, selling on a respectable platform ensures trust, credibility and high customer traffic.

Further, it is like quick start in setting up store on these marketplaces. The seller simply needs to do product listing and has access to market full of customers.

While setting up your own website consists of selecting a domain name, a web host, shopping cart and a payment gateway.

Few website builder service providers give shopping carts, SSL certificates and payment gateways as integrations installed with their basic offerings. Even then, one should do careful consideration for each of these decisions, depending on store requirements.

Costs

Another important point to be taken into consideration is fees/cost associated with selling on a platform.

In case you are selling a product with low margins, then the ready platform is probably not for you. For reference, Marketplace’s pricing page have their pricing structure as shown the following:

Marketplace Fees

• Shipping Fee – Fee charged for shipping costs accrued by the marketplace.
• Closing Fee – Fee charged per sale closed.
• Selling Commission – Fees charged on a percentage of the selling price of the product.
• Service Tax (as a percentage of the Marketplace fees)

In comparison to that, to set up a web store, cost vary greatly.

Thus, as a seller, you must give enough thought about the factors listed above. Only then can should decide that whether selling on marketplaces is appropriate for you, or you should take up the costs of selling online, via your own store.

Fast Trade’s experts support you sell across marketplaces, manage all between Product Catalogue to Product Sales across multiple platforms. Our growth-driven strategy with regular tracking and analysis always helps clients to reach their Business goal.

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