Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Creating an easy-on-the-eye online store

What do your favourite websites have in common? No matter where your personal interests lie – cooking, fashion, politics, movies, parenting, whatever – you generally head for websites that are pleasant to look at.

Say you enjoy movies. You know there are probably tens of thousands of sites devoted to cinema. You’ve done your browsing and have tagged as your favourites the ones that are easy to browse and which provide the kind of movie news you prefer.

The same is true for your online store. If you want your online store to bring in tons of browsers who will make yours a preferred shopping site, you have to make sure that what you have is easy on their eyes.

Your favourite non-shopping sites should already give you an idea as to what your online store should look like. You know that browsers in search of a particular product will look at a lot of online stores and you are hoping that they will spend more time on yours.

One thing to avoid is clutter. Putting too much content on a page will only tire the eyes of viewers, and first-time viewers are not likely to come back to your online store if they do not see something of interest immediately.

Another is the use of unappealing colors, or shades which do not belong to the kind of product you sell. Black is fine for all things goth, for example, but would be disastrous if you are selling food or children’s clothes.

Always put yourself in the shoes of your target market. Your online store should send the message, come take a look at me. I have what you’re looking for.

Handling the worst kind of customers

Since any online store that depends on drop shippers to supply the products they sell, it goes without saying that the store is actually the middle man between the buying public and the wholesaler.

As such, the online store operator – that would be you -- must make sure that the flow of goods should benefit all three parties.

Since you have a wide choice of which drop shippers to represent, you should pick the ones that have attained a high degree of professionalism in their operations. From the quality of their goods to the speed of their delivery to their willingness to handle returns, the best drop shippers have everything down to a T.

Being in retail, you know from experience that there are all types of buyers, ranging from the easy to the very hard to please. Even if what your drop shippers deliver is exactly what you sell on your online store, there will still be those few buyers who are never satisfied and who will seek to return what has been delivered to them.

These impossible customers are a fact of life. Learn to live with them and handle them the best way you can. One thing you can do is to have a data base of such customers, and simply inform them that you cannot do business with them if they make it a habit of returning everything they order.

Your drop shippers will likely have a similar data base. In fact, they will probably have a more comprehensive list. Working together, you and your drop shippers can still do good business dealing with the most discriminating – as opposed to frivolous – buyers. Both of you can still live up to the adage, the customer is always right.

Working smart

There’s a saying among sales people -- don’t work hard, work smart. There are countless salespeople who work longer hours and exert greater effort than their peers, but who still end up selling less than the well-organized sales person.

This applies to the physical world as well as selling online. The smart salesperson always has a plan and sticks to it, whereas less successful sales people always seem to play it by ear.

A bad or mediocre sales person blames fate, company management or the weather for his or her lack of sales. He may not recognize that it is his own inadequacies which are the reason that big sales are few and far between.

A good sales person can close a big sale, be happy about it, and even celebrate. A great sales person will put the details of that big sale into his or her data bank, eyeing a repeat sale to that buyer somewhere down the road.

The sale can be a big ticket item like a house or a car, or smaller consumer products or services like a big screen TV, dress watch, or a vacation to Hawaii.

Selling online may deprive the sales person of the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting, but this does not prevent him or her from keeping a database of good clients, whom he or she can then stay in touch with over the years via birthday greetings, congratulatory messages, and offers of the latest bargains.

An organized tracking system is but one of the ways that anyone selling online can count on for future business.

Determine Your Selling Environment

Selling online can be really difficult these days. With countless ecommerce stores being set up and are still on the way, competition is getting tighter and tighter by the minute. That is why you should make some move on how you can get your online shop to get ahead of the competition. However, if you are just starting, the first thing that you must do is determine the selling environment of your online venture. Basically, the selling environment is the kind of surroundings your online venture would be involved in. This is very important because it would serve as your anchor from which you start exploring the realm of ecommerce. Following are the two kinds of selling environment:

• Wholesale Selling Environment – This kind of selling environment is where eBay and Amazon are included. Basically, in this selling environment, an online store would have to compete with its low prices and offers because all the other ventures under the environment are. In this kind of surroundings, no retail venture would stand a chance unless they sell items that are just as cheap as the competition offers.
• Retail Selling Environment – The retail selling environment is where you are most likely included. This is composed of online stores and other ecommerce stores in the Web. Basically, in this kind of selling surroundings, the online merchant (that’s you) should have the right kind of mindset wherein you are directly doing business with consumers and not with other retailers.

There are more rather uncommon selling environments you could be included in; these two are just the basic ones. The point is that you should determine which selling environment your online shop belongs to. Not only wil the knowledge provide you with the right expectations and outlook, it also gives you the right niche and realm to look for help to.

Selling environment is just one of the many factors you have to determine as you start your venture. There are some others that should be considered, even by starters. Get your fingers working and look for the crucial information you will be needing. The Internet is a goldmine of these information so it should not be all that difficult for you.

Seek and you shall find

There are a number of online drop shipping stores that offer products and services that you may want to carry in your online store but which you’ve hardly heard of.

Since online drop shipping stores are wholesalers, retail selling is almost always not their expertise. They wait for retailers to come to them, rather than go out of their way to look for new outlets.

Some online drop shipping stores from such foreign spots as China, India or the South American countries even make the mistake of not using the international business language of English on their sites. Or, their English translation is so bad as to be almost unintelligible.

On the plus side, they do have products which can be considered unique, inexpensive and attractive, making them natural magnets for consumers.

Setting aside “search time” surfing the net on a daily or weekly basis can result in your discovering goods that can sell like proverbial hotcakes.

Once you see items in online drop shipping stores that appeal to you and which you may want to carry try getting in touch with them. In English. If your first attempts fail, try again. Sooner or later, someone within the establishment who understands English will reply.

When all else fails, ask around for a translator. Your local library might help, or your local chamber of commerce. The extra effort will be worth it. Remember that good things don’t always come easy, but the rewards for a little hard work can be exceptional.

Expanding your online business

If the online store that you set up is doing reasonably well, meaning the income it generates is commensurate to the effort you’re putting into it, then the next logical step is to make it do even better. There are no simplistic formulas to double or triple your income. You can’t say that if you double your efforts, you will automatically double your income. If you want to increase the sales of your online store, the best way is to expand your product line, ideally with products allied to what you are already selling. One thing that will hinder your growth is if your online store is perceived as a one-trick pony. Let’s say you bake terrific devil’s food cakes. Orders are coming in on a regular basis and you have a lot of repeat customers. Why not experiment with sugar free devil’s food cakes? There are a lot of weight watchers and diabetics out there who still crave for sweets, and your online store could be the source of the kind of cake that they can enjoy. Or, if you’ve been selling only one size of your specialty, why not offer three sizes? What you have can be your regular sized offering, with smaller and larger sizes for those who want to buy more, or less. Just like the coffee you get at Starbucks, there should be variations which you can price accordingly. If your online store specializing in devil’s food cake has been doing well, maybe it can do better if you introduce angel’s food cake? Whatever line of business your online store is engaged in, expanding it should always follow a natural progression. A cake shop shouldn’t suddenly offer handmade sandals now, should it? But if you also happen to make terrific handmade sandals, what you could do is put up another online store for this other product line of yours.

An online store of hidden treasures

Remember the saying one man’s junk is another man’s treasure? You could be sitting on a treasure trove of things that you have grown tired of, but which someone may really, really want to have. Most of them would be in your garage or attic, taking up space and gathering dust.

Garage sales are a great way of disposing of all the stuff you’ve accumulated over the years. Plus, you get to earn some extra cash, which is always welcome. A little effort to gather and display your items is all it takes.

There is, however, one shortcoming. Unless you heavily advertise your sale, only people from your immediate neighbourhood are likely to come and browse.

Setting up an online store is an excellent alternative to holding a garage sale for several reasons. One, you will reach more people. Two, you are not limited to the few days that you can physically hold the sale. And three, you can keep adding stuff that you no longer want or need.

On the down side, a lot of buyers will want you to ship to them. What you have is, after all, an online store and buyers have gotten used to getting the things they buy online delivered to them.

 Unless, of course, you insist that all items sold have to be picked up. But this limits your customers to those willing to spend the time going to your place.

Think of your online store of second hand or used goods as your own personal ebay. If you find yourself running out of stuff to sell, ask your friends and relatives to post their own items on your online store.

 

Creating a niche online store

An entrepreneur who makes his or her mark by setting up a successful niche online store has probably done so because the products or services offered are close to his or her heart.

A woman in her late 30s is not likely to have an online store similar to a man in his mid 50s, and neither of them would carry products or services put up by siblings in their early 20s.

Whatever your age or gender, once your online store has been doing well for a while, it can practically run on autopilot. This gives you the opportunity to expand, but the question is, in what direction?

One possibility is to tap markets for people who are very close to you, such as your husband/wife, brother or sister, or best friend.

Your experience plus their special interest could be an opportunity to create a business partnership that will be profitable for both of you.

Say you are a young housewife who has put up an online store that specializes in products for pre-school kids. You may have a sister or close friend who is single and is crazy about cats.

You can help your sis or friend set up her own online store with you as a silent partner. The only requirement on your end is that you yourself have to have at least some interest in cats.

Most of the inputs like what cat products to sell will come from your new partner, but setting up the online store will be your job. If the new site has the same luck as yours, it should be off and running in no time.

Selling online should be fun

While selling online is supposed to be a serious business, there is no reason why owners and operators of online sites shouldn’t enjoy their work.

The most successful online entrepreneurs know one of the worst-kept secrets of the business; selling online should be fun.

Chances of succeeding drop considerably when one is in a chosen line of work that he or she does not care about. If you’re only in it for the money, you will eventually become miserable.

This is not to say that selling online should be treated as a mere hobby. This kind of attitude will also limit an online businessman’s potential to do well.

Sales orders should still be processed immediately, and the goods or services sold should deliver what is promised.

Selling online also necessarily means keeping records, not only for tax purposes but to see if the business is running efficiently. This part of the business may be a grind to some, but it’s something all entrepreneurs have to live with.

Still, the bulk of the work should have the enjoyment factor. If your online business involves delivering flowers, for example, then it goes without saying that you should have an inherent love for planting, raising, or arranging flowers.

And what if you do not create your own products to sell?

You may be dependent on suppliers, but the choice of what to sell is still yours. As a merchandiser, you should only pick and display items on your site that you believe in, whether they be comic books, antique furniture, or the latest electronic gadgets.

Selling online can be a very rewarding experience, not only financially but emotionally. But only if you enjoy what you’re doing.

 

How to tell if selling online is for you

You want to put up your own website selling a product or service you are familiar with.

You may have been inspired by the countless stories about inexperienced entrepreneurs who have made fortunes by selling online. Many of these stories are true. Selling online can be an extremely rewarding experience, financially. But it takes a certain kind of individual to succeed.

It is not enough to be totally committed to succeeding. Not everyone makes it in the tough environment of selling online.

The key word is selling. You have to be some kind of salesman to succeed, and this means you should have a salesman’s personality.

While selling online is world’s apart from selling in the physical world, there are still similarities worth noting. In the physical world, you would have to be a people person – friendly, outgoing and able to handle rejection – to have a good chance of making the grade.

In the virtual world, an outgoing nature is not necessary since there will be no face-to-face, or belly-to-belly as sale people say,  negotiations before a sale is made. The gentle to hard pressure tactics that all salesmen are taught are not applicable when selling online.

The ability to handle failure is a character trait that not everyone possesses. Selling in the physical world is tough, and selling online can be even tougher. At least in the physical world, salesmen can get together after a hard day’s grind to exchange stories, seek tips, and prepare themselves for the next day’s challenges. Selling online, you’re on your own much of the time.

If you can accept the fact that not everyone will immediately buy your products, and if you can believe that today’s failure will lead to tomorrow’s success, then online sales could well be your path to fame and fortune, or at least owning your own profitable enterprise.

 

Keep in touch with your drop shippers

Keeping the doors of communication open with your drop shippers is one of the best things you can do for your online store. They will not only appreciate receiving feedback from you, a special relationship could conceivably result in extra bargains for you.

There are no rigid rules on how to deal with your drop shippers, although a good rule of thumb is that if you treat them as persons rather than as impersonal companies, they will likely reciprocate by considering you as a favoured client..

Don’t forget that all drop shippers are owned and run by people like you and me. Even the biggest drop shippers have CEOs who constantly seek better ways to improve their service, thereby resulting in more sales.

As much as possible, the communications should be about your business. If they have gone the extra mile for you, they will appreciate your thanking them. On the other hand, if their performance has been less than ideal, letting them know of their shortcomings should result in their improving their service.

Once your drop shippers see that you are an active rather than a passive business partner, they can even give you special tips on how to improve your online site.

There will be some occasions when your correspondence will not be limited to business matters, such as anniversaries or even holidays. If your drop shippers are celebrating a milestone, one of the best things you can do is to not only to congratulate them, but also to endorse them to other online entrepreneurs.

A small note will be more than enough to make their day.