Tips for making your mark selling electronics online
If you have considered getting into the e-commerce space, there is a strong possibility that you have considered selling electronics and tech products. After all, it only seems natural for an industry that runs on tech to sell tech.
Fortunately, the e-commerce industry has been booming for years now. Part of the reason for this is an increasingly user-friendly experience for aspiring sellers; along with wider consumer engagement with e-commerce sites via mobile devices.
When you consider the incredible amount of growth the e-commerce industry has experienced, you can attribute a lot of that increase to technology and accessibility. Yes, it’s no wonder electronics are a big part of e-commerce, and for newcomers looking to start a store, it’s a great product line to consider selling to turn profits and grow your own business.
Here’s a brief look at how to sell electronics online.
E-commerce & Electronics: A Match Made in Heaven
Selling electronics is a very lucrative way to break into e-commerce. First and foremost, the products you sell will likely enjoy considerable markup that customers are actually willing to pay for. Second, consumers are probably already familiar with the products and brands you are selling. This makes marketing easier than if you decided to sell your own merchandise, which requires more time and effort to ramp up.
Choosing an E-commerce Platform
Of course, there are things you can do to increase your chances of running a successful e-commerce website. For instances, if you decide to sell electronics via Shopify rather than from your own DIY website, you benefit from out-of-the-box payment processing, business tools and security features. Basically, e-commerce platform providers take out all the nitty-gritty operations out of your hands, so you can focus on selling.
Secure Your Niche
Another idea to improve your chances of success is to secure a niche. You might not be able to sell a wide variety of products from day one, but you can find a hole in the market that is underrepresented and serve the needs of those buyers.
Do you know a lot about drone technology and very little about smartphones? Then skip the smartphones for now and start selling drones. Increase your e-store’s authority on the subject by posting blogs and social media videos about drones.
Before you know it, your start-up e-commerce site might be the go-to online store for drones and drone accessories!
Figure Out Your Fulfillment Processes
Once you’ve made a sale, you’ll need to figure out how to best ship your products. Some e-commerce sellers prefer to forego this process entirely. Instead, these sellers work with drop shippers or wholesalers who can complete the fulfillment process on the e-store’s behalf. This is undoubtedly the easiest way to handle shipping. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best. Since you won’t be handling the products yourself, you are at the whims of supply chain hiccups, shipping errors, and you won’t be able to inspect merchandise for quality.
If you decide to handle shipping yourself, you’ll need to figure out where to store your products, how to purchase packaging materials in bulk, and you’ll have to make deliveries on time. However, you’ll have greater control across the fulfillment process, so you can make improvements at will.
Whichever method you pick will depend on you and your goals/constraints.
Marketing Your Merch
We briefly touched on blogging and social media above, but to really get your electronics e-store off the ground, you are going to need to prioritize marketing. This can be accomplished through a number of means.
If you already belong to online communities discussing technology and electronics, you can subtly promote your products there. After all, these are spaces where techies congregate to talk about their favorite devices and goodies.
You might also want to consider paying for targeted advertisements via Facebook, Instagram and the like. These social media sites collect a wealth of consumer data and habits, so you can really drill down into the demographics you’re targeting.
Of course, these are just the basics of selling electronics online. To really understand the process, you are going to need to experience things for yourself. So, get out there and get selling!
