Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Selling on Facebook: Realistic Expectations

Much has been said on how Facebook is a must for online merchants that a lot of sellers forget to question the actual effectiveness of the social media giant for e-commerce merchants. According to smaller merchants and some vendors, here are some of the realities that you should expect to encounter if you plan to sell products and services via Facebook:

Sales through Facebook can be lower compared to other selling mediums

It is true that there are many ways to sell on Facebook, but the actual sales generated may not be as high compared to sales generated through eBay and other selling platforms. Product exposure is great, yes, but actual sales may not be so impressive. This being the case, it is wise to use other selling channels along with your Facebook store. A reason behind this is that a lot of people are not that accustomed to buying and selling stuff on Facebook and rely mostly on Amazon or eBay.

Merchandising can be limited

Merchandising within the social network can be quite tricky even though traditional types of online merchandising such as affiliate marketing and promo codes can work here. Merchants depend on analytics tools to monitor their sales effectively, and such tools are not that numerous on Facebook just yet. Most probably, you will have to use them along with more prominent analytics tools such as Google’s.

Having Facebook as a gatekeeper between you and your customers can reap lots of benefits

While some may have their reservations regarding the middle-man capabilities of Facebook, it can’t be denied that having Facebook as the gatekeer does have lots of primary benefits. These include traffic generated to your website and the ability to deal with customers in real-time.

How to Create a Great Storefront on eBay

Online selling is the perfect channel for you if you want to sell stuff without dealing with the usual overhead costs. All you need is your computer and internet connection and you are all set. When it comes to selling online, eBay is one of the best channels out there to conduct your business. Here are some great tips to keep in mind when creating your own storefront on eBay:

Make sure that eBay is indeed the right selling channel for your business

All the tips in the world will not do you good if eBay is not right for the selling you have in mind. There are items that sell well on eBay but not on other sites like Amazon, and vice versa. There are factors that you have to consider to determine whether eBay is right for your business model. These factors include the type of items you plan to sell and how you plan to list them. For instance, secondhand items and unique stuff sell very well on eBay compared to Amazon.

Test the waters first

Although it looks very easy to establish your storefront, you should not make haste when it comes to testing the waters. Perhaps you should start with few listings while you are still new and grasping the feel of the business. Make sure that you are ready to take on the amount of customer service, packaging, and shipping involved when you have many listings.

Treat customers very well

Just because you will have little or no person-to-person dealings with your customer doesn’t mean you can slack on the quality of your service. Let me tell you now that online customers are very relentless when it comes to getting great service; they will not hesitate to destroy your reputation online through forums and review sites if they experience poor service. This is important especially on eBay, where customers can easily post reviews on your storefront.

Tips for Effective Facebook E-Commerce

There is no denying the influence of Facebook when it comes to developing one’s brand awareness. This is why businesses are doing whatever they can to satisfy the demands and needs of users and convert them to loyal customers. There are several ways to market one’s brand using Facebook. Here are some of them, which can help generate revenue through the use of the social media giant.

Make use of applications such as reviews, likes, and share

Effective e-commerce on Facebook is not possible if you don’t take advantage of the various APIs at your disposal. These applications enhance user experience and propagate more awareness for your brand. These applications result to domino effect, in which users comment on items and posts then share the knowledge to their friends. This is peer-to-peer influence at its best, which can result to favorable reviews and more purchases.

Make shopping easier for customers

Given the fact that users can easily do their shopping from traditional websites, businesses should work doubly hard to provide a better shopping experience to their customers through Facebook. It will help if customers can do their shopping via Facebook without being redirected to other websites. Customers should be able to experience online window shopping in Facebook pages alone and complete their purchases there if possible. Businesses should also make an effort to put security features on their Facebook pages and integrate a preferred payment system such as PayPal.

Use tools to track performance

There are two solutions on Facebook that businesses can use to monitor e-commerce performance. They can also optimize tools such as Webtrends and Google Analytics on their Facebook store to monitor user traffic and revenue. The information will help businesses make smarter decisions when it comes to development and investment. They can also use Facebook Insight, the site’s internal tracking system which monitors all types of social data.

Hobbies Make a Great Business

A lot of retirees find a new source of livelihood because of their hobbies. But you don’t have to wait to retire to turn your own hobby or special interest into products or services to sell on your online store.

You may be an accountant whose spare time is spent collecting records and cassette tapes (in the past) to CDs not so long ago. Or you may be a mailman who just happens to collect vintage magazines or toy robots. Or you may be a teacher whose hobby is collecting coins or stamps.

You are therefore likely to have a huge collection worth a small fortune, and a lot of people out there would pay good money to buy your treasures. Presuming that you are willing to turn these goodies into cash, you now have products that you can sell on your online store.

Don’t worry about running out of things to sell. You can also turn your online store into a trading post, where like-minded individuals who do not have their own online business can sell their stuff. For your troubles, you get a small commission, of course.

If your special interest is not a product but a service, you can still sell your services online. Is yoga, or dance, or martial arts your passion? You can offer to teach or to lecture or to host get-togethers, not unlike the Tupperware parties which were popular decades ago. Again, all for a small fee.

Everyone has something to offer everyone else, be it a product or a service. An online store has become the best way to go. All you have to do is set up that store. So what are you waiting for?

Influential Social Media Trends for 2012

The merits and achievements of social media has been a hot topic for discussion in relation to investment returns for organizations. Some say that the relevance of social media will fizzle out eventually, sooner even. But according to some experts, social media will still be hot in 2012 and will be dominated by the following trends:

Companies will use social media sites for contests

Facebook is just one channel that companies use to launch contests for their businesses. As time goes on, these companies are getting more creative with the competitions they use to entice more customers. Competitions allow you to broadcast message about your business and brand and reach out to more customers than ever.

Companies will put more ratings and user reviews on their websites

The importance of online customer reviews is obvious enough, given the fact that more people now are relying on them when deciding whether to patronize a product or brand.

Social media will be utilized as a tool for customer service

Twitter and Facebook allow businesses to interact with their customers faster and more effectively. Because of this, expect businesses to come up with more creative and enticing ways to reach out to its customers with the help of social media.

Search engine results will be prominently affected by social media

Search engine results will generate results from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, among others. Right now we can see some social media networks putting more relevant content to their pages so it will be included among the top of search results. Google has already challenged Facebook with its +1 button. They also challenged Bing with their use of results from Flickr, Twitter and other social networks to encourage users to decide regarding content, with the recommendations of their friends as basis.