{"id":4705,"date":"2017-05-27T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weareyellowpixel.com\/?p=4705"},"modified":"2021-07-09T18:01:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T17:01:28","slug":"primer-selling-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weareyellowpixel.com\/primer-selling-online\/","title":{"rendered":"A Primer On Selling Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

My First Lesson<\/h2>\n

My dad used to run a retail store which was one of his many businesses before he settled down as a restaurateur.\u00a0 One of his go-to sales strategies was to pick up the best tie off the rack and wear it at work.\u00a0 Customers would come in and would see this handsome young man wearing a cool tie. They would ask him where he got it from and he would very politely pull one from behind the counter and he would make a sale.\u00a0 What I learned from that story was that \u201cpersonal endorsements\u201d count. If you believe in your own products, believe in their quality and can wear them and use them yourself, it will be that much easier to sell the products to your customers.<\/p>\n

I belong to the age of high street retail when the concept of online didn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 Moving on from high street retail, the dominating era of online retail has literally developed in front of me.\u00a0 However, it is my belief that the core principles of retail, selling and marketing have not changed. They remain the same whether you sell on the high street or selling online.\u00a0 What\u2019s different is the channels through which people are buying and advertising.\u00a0 Some People who do not have the experience of high street retail may develop some misconceptions about online retail.\u00a0 I have seen that happen to a lot of people who see the online success stories; new brands developing and doing well when selling online; they see their friends doing well; their colleagues selling online and they want a piece of that too.\u00a0 The goal could be to develop a second source of income or to enjoy the freedom that comes with being your own boss. However, the online boom has led to the development of a number of misconceptions which can seriously jeopardise the chances of success for your online business.\u00a0 Listed below are some of the misconceptions.<\/p>\n

Common Misconceptions About Selling Online<\/h3>\n

Ecommerce means easy money<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Somehow a lot of people carry this misconception that ecommerce<\/a> is easy money. They will just setup an online store, put some stock in it and it will start to make money. This leads to a lot of frustration when you don\u2019t get the results.<\/p>\n

Dropship and it will sell<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Wholesalers and distributors have also caught on to the online trends and are pushing new budding retailers to showcase their stock and sell online. This creates a serious misconception that anyone with minimal investment can start selling online.\u00a0 Unfortunately, low entry level can also lead to low commitment level which is a serious threat to any business selling online.<\/p>\n

Build the store and customers will come<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I just need to create a store on Shopify<\/a>, start selling online and customers will start buying from me.\u00a0 There is a lot more to running and making your business a success.\u00a0 Some of the fundamentals we will go through in this article.<\/p>\n

Marketing \u2013 what for?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Oh yeah! Marketing, that is for big companies. Why do I need to worry about it?\u00a0 With so many freelancers available and a plethora of selling online help articles, people end up taking a haphazard approach to marketing or they completely switch off to the noise.<\/p>\n

Why do I need a logo, branding, its expensive. Save the money. <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Yep, believe it or not, most people don\u2019t understand the importance of branding or even what it is. They pick up a cheap logo offline or even ditch that in view of keeping the costs low.<\/p>\n

Make the money and then I will worry about presentation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Somehow this misconception has developed that we are going to develop an online business with the short change.\u00a0 What has happened to the very basics of investing in line with the output (revenue) you want from the business.<\/p>\n

Online customers are easy<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The customers certainly will not agree to this and will be extremely offended by it if they were to find out that merchants think they are easy. Where has this misconception come from? Again by seeing so many businesses doing well selling online, most newbie\u2019s don\u2019t get to see the commitment, time, effort and money successful online companies are putting behind building their brands.<\/p>\n

Customer service is not important<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This is for the high street. What customer service can we provide when selling online? In fact, we don\u2019t even want to mention our phone or email so no one can contact us. We don\u2019t need customer service.<\/p>\n

Brick & Mortar Vs Online Stores<\/h3>\n

I find it easy to draw parallels between the brick and mortar high street stores and online store.\u00a0 It\u2019s easier to see the misconceptions in line with these parallels.<\/p>\n

Imagine your store looked like this..<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"retail<\/p>\n

If you come across this store on your high street, would you like to go in this store to buy something? The window display, graffiti and the entire facade is not very inviting is it? In fact, it\u2019s almost threatening. What do you expect to find inside? Imagine if this is what your online store looked like! Would you expect your customers to walk in?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s walk in to that store now\u2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"retail<\/p>\n

Huh! That is some selection. If you walk into this store, what are the chances of you picking up the last item on the shelf. On the contrary, think about what you would expect in a high street retail store. You would expect to see shelfs full of stock, hustle bustle of customers, promotions goings on, staff there to help and answer your questions and then you will be interested in dispensing with your hard-earned cash.\u00a0 Now imagine if this is what your store looks like on the inside. Do you seriously expect your customers to come in and buy?<\/p>\n

How efficient is your customer service?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"BadCheckout the extremely friendly staff in this store, their expressions are so inviting that you would probably see yourself walking in the opposite direction.\u00a0 The chances of these lot finding a job with M&S or John Lewis are rather slim, don\u2019t you think so? Well, that is what your store\u2019s customer service may look like to your visitors. Oh, yes, there is still a concept of customer service in online retail. That is why the good stores provide a size chart so customers can check their sizes. That is why some stores have online chat so they can answer technical questions that customers may have. Think about what customer service your customers may need!<\/p>\n

Marketing budget \u00a350!!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I talk to a lot of people who have invested all their funds in setting up the business, buying the stock and setting up an online store but when it comes to marketing, they have exhausted all their money.\u00a0 Then they would expect someone to help them get to the top 3 search results in Google for a budget of \u00a350.\u00a0 Really!!<\/p>\n

Do you want to know what I feel like when I come across this situation?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Brick & Mortar Vs Online Store<\/h4>\n

Here is a comparison of brick & mortar stores versus online stores:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Brick & Mortar<\/td>\nOnline Store<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rent & Rates<\/td>\nLow entry level<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Inventory costs<\/td>\nDropship vs inventory<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Staff costs<\/td>\nRun it from your garage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Footfall<\/td>\nAdvertising<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Limited floor space<\/td>\nScalable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Limited Growth<\/td>\nExponential growth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Location Location Location<\/td>\nMarketing Marketing Marketing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Solution<\/h3>\n

\"Retail<\/p>\n

The good news is that there is a lot you can do to run a successful business. The first thing to do is to change your approach towards selling online and think of it as a real high street business.\u00a0 A high street store has a lot of financial overheads like rents & rates, staffing costs, inventory costs, utility bills, and all other kind of costs which raises the game for the owner and their commitment level.\u00a0 You have to put yourself in the shoes of a high street retailer and think like one.\u00a0 The different areas listed in the diagram above will help you draw your focus.<\/p>\n

Business Plan for Selling Online<\/h4>\n

Most online businesses starting out never go through the effort of putting a business plan together.\u00a0 The common misconception is that the business plan is only for large businesses. Wrong, if you are serious about getting the most out of your investment and protecting your hard earned cash then consider creating a business plan, a one page business plan. I will not push you towards creating a 40 page business plan as that will be a waste of your time unless you have experience with this or you are working with a business consultant.<\/p>\n

You will be surprised at how effective a one page business plan will be.\u00a0 A no-nonsense one page business plan will tell you the facts that you need to know.<\/p>\n

Here are a few questions that you should be asking yourself:<\/p>\n