Selling online is a trend! The new generation is moving forward and selling almost everything online. While online selling is booming across the globe, purchasing online also has exponential growth. Be it a freelancer, a homemaker, a bookseller, a tailor, a painter, or an entrepreneur, everyone has something to sell online. What matters most is the product quality and its impact on customer’s life. If these two points are addressed well, your product can do wonders. Product selection is therefore the most critical thing while starting a new business online. Let’s explore some good ways of product selection.
Table of Contents
Create you own brand
E-commerce is governed by trend and brands. If you are selling products of a recognized brand then you must have a permission to sell it plus you will have lot of competitors pinching you in terms of price. You will have sales but with very minimal profit and sometimes no profit because of competition.
I personally recommend creating your own brand and then work hard to create its market. Remember these three points before getting into a particular product.
- The product shall solve the problem of end user.
- Or the product shall have a wow factor.
- The product shall be profitable.
The 3rd point is must and out of first 2 points, one point shall fulfill.
Find out the bestsellers
You should check the bestseller products in the market before choosing a product. If you are selling on platforms like amazon then you can check the bestseller products on their website. Just search for ‘Amazon bestsellers’.
Also Amazon provides a wonderful tool called ‘Movers and Shakers’. Movers and Shakers identifies the biggest gainers in sales rank compared to 24 hours previously. For example, if a toy has a current sales rank of 10, but was ranked at 30 twenty-four hours ago, its Movers and Shakers increase would be 200%.
Quality
It matters most. The product reliability comes only by quality. If you have heard of MI, they became game changers only by the quality and could become the No. 1 mobile sellers in the Indian market.
Quality also helps in less returns. When you are selling a product, you should also consider the return requests but if your product is of utmost quality then it is likely to get a better response.
Light Weight
Perhaps, this is the most important thing, you should consider before choosing any product online. Light weight product can save lots of money and produce good revenues. Let me tell you, how light weight products can save your pocket.
- A lightweight product is cost-effective in terms of transportation.
- Lightweight product is easy to pack.
- Lightweight product is easy to handle and more customer-friendly.
- Lightweight products are generally cheaper (Not always).
- The lightweight products can generate good commission.
There are 2 more aspects to weight when it comes to shipping.
- Dead Weight
- Volumetric Weight
Dead weight refers to the actual weight of the product and volumetric weight refers to the dimensions of the product. Volumetric weight can be calculated using the below formula.
(length in CM * width in CM * height in CM) / 5000
and this will give the weight in KG. The charges will be on basis of dead weight or volumetric weight, whatever is higher.
I would recommend a product weighing lesser than 500 gm with smaller dimensions.
Cost-effective and profitable
Cost-effective products are more customer-friendly and that is why product shall be selected keeping in mind the target audience. Cost-effective products can be purchased even if they are not in the purchaser’s list. The most important benefit of a cost-effective product is that it can save your investment amount and can reduce losses in case your product performed extremely bad.
Also the product shall be profitable. You should consider all the taxes, shipping cost and commission to E-Commerce platform before deciding your selling price. If the product has MRP then you should have good margin in purchase price and selling price.
Less Competitive and High Demanding
Find out a product which is less competitive in the market and has high demand. To find out whether a product is less competitive, you should try to search it on the selling platform. If you find multiple sellers selling the same product then it indicates that there is high competition and you will have to look for some other product.
High demanding products are those products which are trending in the market and has large userbase.
Presentation
Present your product in such a way that it shows the customers the ultimate benefits. The customer should know, why they shall purchase this product. This includes a better collection of pictures, videos and descriptions.
No Loss, No Profit
And the last note but a game changer. When you are new in the market, this is something which can help you to become the emerging seller. The ‘No Loss, No Profit’ formula has already worked well for many sellers. In the starting, you should not think to make profit but should focus only on the userbase and their experience. Once they become your customers, you will gain a better reliability in the market and then you can even think of profits.
Aside from being an engineer, I am a software developer, an enthusiastic musician, a regular reader and a hobbyist writer. I love traveling, exploring new places and, of course, playing games (all sorts).