How to Become a Good Online Seller

The face of retail transactions is changing globally with e-commerce, or online selling as new opportunities are opened up for sellers and buyers.

Updated: November 29, 2024

How to Become a Good Online Seller
The face of retail transactions is changing globally with e-commerce, or online selling. New opportunities are opened up for sellers and buyers and the world has transformed into a global village.

Today, a brick-and-mortar store is no longer necessary to become a successful seller, as the internet has made it easier to reach customers globally on a large scale. The rise of online business has opened up a vast array of choices for the average consumer.

If you're new to online selling, questions like "What does it mean to sell online?", "How do you create a successful online store?", and "How does e-commerce relate to retail marketing?" may arise. This article answers all your questions, including what online selling technology is, what you should know about e-commerce, and why you should consider taking your business online.


Why Sell Online?


Today, people are more connected than ever through the internet, which has made selling easier by eliminating the barriers of traditional physical trade. All it takes is setting up an account, creating an online store, and listing your products on selling platforms. This allows your business to reach international shoppers with ease. Social media platforms also offer online selling features, enabling you to connect with your target audience on the apps and websites they frequent. Additionally, this approach helps you tap into new demographics.

E-commerce platforms allow you to focus your marketing efforts on prospects with specific needs, providing access to a broad audience while also reaching niche-specific groups.


Finding the Right Product:


Finding the Right Product is the first step towards starting a business and selling online. What characterizes a product that is perfect for selling online need to be understood to know the right product to sell. Below mentioned are some of the characteristics of a good product:

  • It should solve a need, whether natural or artificial, simple or complex, independent, or part of another need.
  • It should be easy to use as as well as its usefulness should easy to explain to the end user.
  • It should increase in value when more users are added to it which means it should be sufficiently scalable.
  • It must pose the potential to increase in importance, which means it will become more valuable over time and its loss will be painful to the user.

Steps to follow when finding the right product:


  • A need and look for a product need to be identified that solves that need.
  • You can go to the route of selling products that help your target demographics pursue those while choosing as the purchase decisions of people are generally based on need, hobbies, and passions.
  • You can market a product more easily about which you are passionate.
  • There is no need to go out of your field of specialization as there are solid products in your profession that you can market passionately. You just have to look around.
  • You need to study trends on social media to capitalize on trends.
  • Always do a research on customer reviews and feedback on existing products as it gives you valuable insights into what works for customers, and what they don't like, so that you can exploit the areas to create a competitive edge for yourself.
  • You should find product opportunities in keywords by keeping an eye on search engines. It help show you what people are searching for so that you can prepare yourself to provide a solution.
  • You need to get inspiration from what is trending on online marketplaces.
  • Related products of top-selling articles need to be searched.
  • You need to test-run a product before launching it.
  • Products with a higher profit margin need to be researched.

Pricing and Margins:


After selecting the right product to sell online, determining your pricing and profit margins is crucial. First, decide whether you will sell a product or service. If selling a product, choose whether you want to operate as a wholesaler, a retailer, or both. Once this decision is made, you can move on to setting your prices and profit margins.

Selling wholesale involves moving your product from manufacturing to distribution (B2B), while retail selling means buying goods, often from a distributor, and selling them directly to consumers (B2C). Wholesalers use different pricing models than retailers, but the primary goal is to sell products at a price higher than the manufacturing cost. Strategies like differentiated pricing, absorption pricing, value-based pricing, competitive/market-based pricing, and bundle pricing can help determine your wholesale price.

For retail pricing, start by identifying the consumer or end-user and understanding the price they’re willing to pay. Based on this, you can then decide on your desired profit margin. If you're considering a drop-shipping business model, setting your retail price is a key step.


What is Drop-shipping?


Drop-shipping is an online selling business model that can be started by anyone without worrying about storing inventory. The model is very simple to adopt as it enables people to start online selling with low capital and allows them to keep their workload to a minimum. However, you must understand all associated costs before adopting it as a business model.

Tips for Developing a Selling Strategy:


Have concise, honest, and compelling sales copy:

A sales copy must be included in your content marketing strategy that is attention-grabbing, precise, and straight to the point as the average attention span of an online user is only few seconds which provides you with a very narrow time window to convince your potential buyer that buying from you is a better option then your competitors.

Play on the aversion of your audience to risk:

You can offer your customer an assured money-back guarantee as they are suspicious of transactions that result in them losing money. They will be assured that they will get back their money if they are dissatisfied with their purchase. However, you should have a system to ensure that the dissatisfaction is genuine.

Generate social proof:

Testimonials on your product page must be included as the value that is brought by goodwill and satisfied customer testimony to your brand is immeasurable. Prospective buyers will be assured that you are a seller with whom they will be safe to transact with these.

Another great way to authenticate your business in the sight of prospective buyers is to include trust signals on your product page. Put professional accreditation on your page if your business has any which help convince the buyer that they are safe to make their purchases from you.

Provide an easy check-out for buyers:

Generally, buyers abandon the shopping cart because of a long and complex check-out process or when they come to know that they have to create an account before they check out. So, providing an easy check-out for buyers will help you.

Have a consistent message across your marketing campaigns:

Make sure to have sales copy that has a consistent message across the board whether it is your 'per-click' or your paid social campaign. Leads to a related product or another product altogether when clicking on an ad that grabbed the attention of buyer can be very off-putting which also affects the authenticity of your brand.

Places to Sell: 


You must decide on which platform you want to market your goods as a business owner when you are trying to bring your business online. It could be Online Marketplaces, Social Media, and Personal Websites.

Online Marketplaces: 


Online marketplace is a platform where a you can sell your goods or services to yours customers easily as there is no need to own any inventory. It can be made easier for a buyer to make purchases from many sources by using online marketplace. A marketplace operator acts as the middleman between sellers and purchasers. Order fulfillment services and guarantee secure financial transactions are provided by the marketplace as the third party in the business. Vertical, horizontal, and global are three major types of marketplace.

  • A platform for selling many different types of products having similar characteristics is provided by a horizontal marketplace. A community can be offered to the purchasers by this type of platform. The infrastructure and data they need to pursue their passions can also be offered while buying and selling from each other.
  • A platform for selling products from many different sources is provided by a vertical marketplace. Usually, the products they offer are of a similar type or genre. You can not find the variety of products that are obtainable on horizontal marketplaces.
  • A global marketplace can be either B2B or B2C which sells everything. B2B marketplace serves as a place for businesses to sell to one another whereas B2C platforms is used by businesses to sell directly to consumers.

It can be made easier a small business owner to run comparisons and position their business competitively in terms of product range, price, and other vital factors by using marketplaces. The benefits of increased online visibility for your business, secure payments and deliveries, and ease of use can also be enjoyed.

Social Media:


It is called social selling or social media marketing when social media is used by sellers to find and engage with new prospects. A seller can generate leads from user-generated content with social media marketing and interact directly with prospects on their chosen social media platforms with these leads. You can also monitor your competition and know what your customers are doing and saying with the tools provided by social media marketing.

Personal Websites:


You can also your own personal e-commerce website, where primarily your products and services are marketed. It does not matter whether you manufacture the products or not. You will be able to sell them under the brand name of your site, and you get to call the shots on the look and feel of your e-commerce website. You will also be responsible for the fulfillment services.

Benefits of Selling on an Online Marketplace:


The benefits of selling on a marketplace include:

  • Online marketplaces provide valuable tools and resources to support you as a seller. They offer access to a large, engaged group of buyers, and the marketplace operator often drives SEO, bringing buyers directly to you. Leveraging the trust built by established platforms helps kickstart your online selling efforts.
  • These marketplaces open up opportunities to expand your market both locally and globally. They also handle logistics, including shipping and exporting, relieving you of the hassle. Secure payment processing is offered, and you don’t need to invest as much in advertising. Additionally, some platforms offer trade assurance and other programs to protect both buyers and sellers.
  • Online marketplaces are user-friendly, especially when they provide resources to help you navigate the platform. Your online visibility gets a boost since these marketplaces are highly ranked by search engines, helping increase traffic to your products. Furthermore, the SEO of your listings gets a significant enhancement, as your products appear at the top of search results for relevant queries.

Disadvantages of Selling on an Online Marketplace:


Some of the disadvantages of selling on a marketplace include:

  • Chances of your offers getting lost with other products are high as this platform is provided for several businesses to sell online.
  • A small percentage of your revenue need to be paid to the platform as a commission for hosting you.
  • Usually, there are distracting third-party ads and branding
  • Control over the functionality and layout of your storefront will be less compared to when you were selling your goods on your own e-commerce platform.