Selling products online is a great way for small businesses to drive more sales and reach audiences they have never reached before. But truthfully, many businesses that decide to sell online aren’t satisfied with their experience. The problem is, many entrepreneurs believe that selling online is like selling in a live setting when actually there is a large difference between the two.
When you are selling your products to a consumer face to face, you can shape your sales pitch around the real-time feedback that you are receiving from that buyer. If the buyer’s facial expressions, body language or vocal tones indicate negativity towards your products or services, you can shift your message to battle any objections the consumer is having right then and there. This personal communication is lost in the online selling environment.
Good news is there are several advantages to selling your products or services online. In this post, I am going to talk about the difference between a customer’s POV (point of view) about why they buy products online and the POV of the seller offering their products online. This will give you a look into why consumers are motivated to shop online and why sellers are motivated to offer buyers what they are looking for.
Understanding the POV of Your Customer
Let’s start with this: Why do people buy stuff online in the first place? I mean it seems like it’s easier to just go to the store and buy it so you can have the product right then and there and avoid shipping costs.
Oftentimes though, shopping online is more convenient versus going to the store itself. When you shop online, you can find a wider variety of products. Take a small business that sells retail for instance. If you sell your retail items out of a brick-and-mortar location, you might not always have enough space to display your entire inventory. Online, you can sell all of your products all the time without having to worry about finding enough space to showcase all your merchandise. This gives your customers access to your products that can only be bought online.
Another reason consumers shop online is because they can buy products directly from the manufacturer, lowering the cost of the product to the consumer. And many business wave shipping costs when you purchase a certain amount of product, making the physical trip to the store less appealing.
Selling your products online also makes it easier for people who use mobile devices for shopping related activities to purchase your products on the go.
The POV of the Seller
Small businesses sell products online for two main reasons: to boost their sales and to reach new audiences.
For online marketers and retailers that sell products face to face and have an online store, they can make more money selling stuff online at the same time they are selling stuff in store.
The amount of consumers that small business can reach online is almost endless. All of the obstacles that businesses face selling their products out of a store front are virtually eliminated in an online setting. The biggest hurdle businesses overcome when selling their products in a brick-and-mortar location versus online is pure overhead costs. They expense of running and maintaining a physical location is very costly compared to the cost of setting up and managing an online store. Also, online sellers have the ability to sell products overseas, too.
Small businesses online can use digital marketing practices like SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay-per-click) advertising to market their business to anyone in search for a product that they offer.
Selling online has many benefits for the consumer but also many benefits for the seller as well.
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