5 VITAL things to know before starting to sell online

5 vital tips for selling online

This blog will provide you with 5 vital tips for selling online

(4-minute read)

The online and digital globe is growing rapidly and day by day.

Business owners of many talents across almost every industry are working on an online presence in the eCommerce world.

Whether you are selling products or contemplating growth beyond social media, selling online has been out there for the last 40 years.

So even though there are new advancements, we’ve curated a list of 5 vital things to keep note of before starting to sell online.

The legalities of what you’re selling

Knowing the legalities of your product around your nation and globe is vital before planning the process of selling online.

When you’re in the stages of thinking about a product or service, you should research the main guidelines.

Examples of these can be the legal requirements, health and safety advisories, importing of goods and other important points.

Google can be your best friend when it comes to such research.

However, do ensure that the sources are credible from gov websites for food standards or guidance on cosmetic products.

It usually takes time and effort to see success

More often than not, if you’re already established or not, the success from selling online doesn’t happen overnight.

As expected in any business, it takes time and effort to get the ball rolling.

Ensure you have enough drive and look back at your ‘why’ so that you understand the reason you started in the first place.

It’s a long-term game, and you’ll be aiming to reach milestones after milestones.

So do understand that it shouldn’t really be done if there’s no growth or longevity to it.

Hence why deferred gratification plays a huge role in your online journey.

One case study that we always refer to with our clients is the story of Ben Francis, and how he started GymShark.

You can take inspiration from how it took a lot of courage and self believe before they started to shine online.

Sufficient competitor analysis

Don’t dive in headfirst without predominantly researching your competitors and finding out what is already out there.

Anyone’s worse nightmare would be to invest time and money into something that has not been checked accurately.

This could be in terms of the success rate and being a gap in the market.

Regardless of having a trending product or serving in a hot industry, you must ensure that you are carrying out competitor analysis.

Examples of competitor analysis can be quality, pricing, marketing, website design layout and social media presence to name a few.

You’re aiming to make a profit

Similar to the above points in the competitor analysis, remember that you launch an online business to make a profit.

You shouldn’t be aiming to break even for so long or hold onto a company that constantly makes losses.

That is why you need to ensure you make plans on how the business can be profitable.

Are you looking at a low volume of sales but higher profit margins, or really small profit margins but a high volume of sales?

Whatever the plan is that you have with your online venture, ensure your finances and budgeting has dotted i’s and crossed t’s.

Otherwise, you may regret not having things planned out enough or end up blaming yourself if failure or losses arise.

Shipping and postage costs, payment gateways & locations

Something that a lot of neophytes within the online business feel confused or quickly forget about is shipping costs and everything to do with couriers and postage options.

Let’s make things easy to follow.

If you’re only providing a service-based business, then this doesn’t apply to you unless your service is done online or remotely.

Moreover, If a client or customer purchases a service or product, then you will need to remember that there is a fee your payment gateway will take per transaction.

You can learn about the basics of payment gateways here

Back to those who are selling products, let’s break it down this way.

If a customer orders a few products from your website, the initial fee is the payment gateway as mentioned above.

Then next are your shipping rates and options.

Shipping rates are the prices you set on your site for the customers to choose from.

This usually ranges from 1st class to 2nd class or tracked and signed for and alongside that, you have courier options.

Within the UK, the most common ones are Royal Mail, Hermes, DPD etc.

You can provide customers with whichever ones you choose to show and the ones you’re most comfortable with.

International shipping on the other hand will incur more or a cost, and will most likely include tracking.

Most businesses that we have worked with tend to have a free delivery option for national and international customers.

For example, some sites would have a notice or a cart update bar showing the update to free shipping.

An example can show that the customer has X amount of money to spend in order to qualify for free shipping.

Last but not least, you must be aware of certain countries and their rulings on their customs.

Some examples of these can be cosmetic and vaping products to specific countries.

So ensure you know where you can ship to in order to avoid all the unnecessary headaches that can come into place upon this.

Concluding on tips for selling online

If you’re looking to start an online business and would like to either have a consultation regarding your eCommerce website, kindly get in touch with us today.

Contact us directly for more tips for selling online