Everyone wants to have their own business and with e-commerce it has become easy to create your own online store . But what to sell ? People often get stuck on this, as it has become extremely hard to find products/services to sell. Online sales generate billions of dollars across a variety of industries: consumer packaged goods, clothing, health, etc. In this article, we will talk about the essential step of how to find out what to sell and why. So start taking notes!
Phases of e-commerce
The first step is to identify the phase to which your country belongs. Let us take a look at the phases of e-commerce.
Phase 1: This is the emerging e-commerce phase, users are not aware or have a certain rejection of online payment methods and only shop in safe and known stores. Starting is difficult because the related systems (logistics, payments and general regulations) are not in tune with what e-commerce needs for its development. Colombia and Peru are in a transition between this phase and the next.
Phase 2: E-commerce has been on the market for some years. Online payment methods are accepted partially, although there is still some reluctance. Local regulations have started to change to promote e-commerce and users are reacting positively to online shopping discounts. Discount websites are very popular. Some logistics systems, that allow the shipping of products in a relatively secure way, are established. Chile, Brazil, and Argentina are currently in this phase, moving quickly into the third one.
Phase 3: E-commerce is a part of daily life. Payment methods are massively accepted and regulations have permitted a growing competition and the appearance of new actors. Logistics systems and regulations, in general, are working. This allows people to massively buy online with a greater variety of different products at their disposal.
E-commerce is local
Many companies starting out with e-commerce have tried to make their business grow by opening their websites to other countries in the continent. This is an interesting challenge, but it fails most of the time for a very simple reason: every market is different in a cultural way, in its regulations and the e-commerce phase they are currently on. It is expected that in 2018 electronic commerce will surpass the US$100.000 million mark in Latin America, a 177% increase from 2014. While this is a tempting number of online stores throughout the continent, the challenge resides in being strongly established in a local setting and then analyze what market shows the most similarities.
Think about Logistics
Logistics is the main obstacle for many new stores and companies wanting to grow. The first thing to consider is the cost associated with logistics. In Latin America for example, there are markets with high-cost logistics systems that are not well suited for e-commerce. The second thing to consider the reliability of these services. Some logistics systems can offer a good price for shipping, but in some areas, their delivery rate can only be around 60%. You must also take into account the refunds and products that get lost in delivery. If 40% of deliveries are not successful, you cannot risk selling high-value products. You must choose items with greater margin and maybe lower cost.
Using Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a popular way to kick-start an online business. It requires low starting capital, you do not have to worry about keeping an inventory and focus solely on sales and marketing. It does have flaws, refunds and returns can be complex to resolve. The business model might not be very efficient and it can be hard to be on the same page for all the players. Marketplaces like alibaba and aliexpress have made it significantly easier, and if you can find the right products to sell in your market, it can be a good way to start.
Conclusion
While there are many tips out there about deciding what to sell, the best thing to do is to launch products into the market and see how people respond to it. Today it is easier and cheaper to experiment and see what products have a higher acceptance. You already have an understanding of the factors to evaluate when selecting products for selling.
This guest post was written by Mashood Hassan, who is part of the marketing team at Jumpseller. Mashood handles the social media marketing and content creation for their website. He is an avid fan of Arabic cuisine and has a passion for learning how to dance.