Starting an e-commerce store is frustrating, especially if you lack the experience of selling online.
You spend plenty of time on market research to find a hot product and countless hours designing a gorgeous website with beautiful photography and a perfect product description.
You finally decide to lunch your website and tell the world about it.
One day goes by, one week, one month, not a single sale!
How disappointing!
You spend more money buying more courses and more time learning Facebook and Google advertising; you lunch in what so-called hyper-targeted marketing campaign, and still no sales.
You adjust your product description and retake your product photography as online marketing gurus taught you to do.
However, still, no money is coming your way.
You doubt your skills, and you decide to quit.
Hold on, don’t quit yet! I might help you here.
The problem you are dealing with has nothing to do with your effort, but it is people’s trust.
Trust? Yes, trust.
Let me ask you this, what are the chances of you buying from an online store or a brand you never heard of? Almost close to zero percent.
Multiply that probability by a hundred visitors and guess what? It is still close to zero percent.
Most starting entrepreneurs sign-up for a Shopify, or Wix store, they subscribe to all the up-selling, cross-selling, and email marketing tools.
They think if they have everything in place, they will make sales.
My friend, those tools are for established brands with proven products, an existing customer base, and a deep pocket for marketing.
They are not for small business startups with little to no experience in running an online business, zero traffic, and a shallow pocket for marketing and advertising.
So what to do?
The easiest way to get sales online is to sell on a platform.
Platforms such as Amazon and Etsy are places people come to shop.
Those platforms invest millions or billions of dollars to build the best infrastructure with the simplest and most direct process to sell online.
They also spend a massive effort to attract the right customers, develop trust through customer service, and make them come back to buy more stuff.
What platforms can offer you is the customers’ trust in the platform’s reputation. In addition, they can put your product in front of the right customer at the right time.
Let’s make some sense out of this, shall we?
If a stranger man on the street tries to sell you a roll of napkins, what is the possibility of you buying that roll?
Unless you urgently need that role, or you want to help that poor man, the possibility of you buying that role is almost zero!
What if you were shopping at Walmart for daily supplies and your eyes accidentally came over a juicy deal of decent quality napkins at a wonderful price?
What is the possibility of you buying that offer? I bet it is significantly over zero percent.
People shop similarly online as they shop in a physical store.
It’s the same shopping pattern but done online.
Why Sell on Online Marketplaces?
Online platforms come with simplified sales pages optimized to generate the most sales.
They also come with much-simplified advertising tools than Facebook to promote your product to the right customers at the right placement and time.
The most powerful aspect of platforms is that you can leverage the credibility of the marketplace to sell your product.
People buy from Amazon because they trust Amazon.
Amazon spends tons of money protecting its reputation through outstanding customer service and an absolute money-back guarantee.
Your website is alien to new customers.
Many thoughts go into their mind before clicking on the checkout button.
What if they don’t receive the product?
What if they don’t like your product?
What if…
It’s all a matter of trust, not a matter of your product photography, the color of the checkout button, or the number of bullet points in the product description.
They might be a cause, but in most scenarios, they aren’t.
There is no trust in your store!
Online Marketplaces can help you with that!
How to Sell in a Marketplace
Online platforms such as Amazon and other marketplaces operate for the benefit of their customers.
Every time a customer search for a product, the platform will suggest the best listing available for that customer.
This will make the customer happier and more trusting in the marketplace, so they will come back and buy more.
The marketplace’s algorithm relies on three criteria to suggest the best listing for a customer.
1. The Quality of Your Listing
It includes the quality of your product photography, besides the title of your listing and product description.
A great listing contains:
Product Images:
Seven high-quality images were taken from different perspectives on a clean background.
Lifestyle visuals that show the functionality of the product
Visual measurement or diagrams, if needed.
A promotional video.
Product Description:
150 characters or longer descriptive and keywords rich title.
5-bullet points product description — include keywords.
If you can’t write your product description, work with a professional copywriter on Fiverr or Upwork, and consider it as an investment rather than a cost.
2. Conversion Rate
Conversion rate simply means how many people have bought your product after visiting your listing.
The more people buy from your store after clicking on your listing, the more probable the algorithm will suggest your product to similar customers.
This is one of the most frustrating challenges a new listing faces. With little to no sales, customers cannot discover your product, no matter how good your listing is.
To overcome this challenge, work with the algorithm.
Whenever you publish a new listing or want to boost the ranking of your product, follow this simple strategy.
Step1. Allocate a marketing budget for a free deep discounts campaign. Your goal is to make as many sales as possible as fast as possible.
This makes the algorithm believe there is a demand for your product. It also helps you collect some reviews which will boost the social proof around your product.
Step2. Share your deep discounts “up to 80% off” coupons on deals sites such as.
Step3. Once people claim their coupons and buy, deliver a great product and service, then request a review through the platform.
If you don’t like to share your product on deals websites, then ask your friends to buy your product at discounted rates and leave you authentic reviews describing how the product made them feel and what they like about it.
Step4. Once you collect over ten reviews, promote and advertise your product on the platform.
This will boost your product to the top of the list or suggest it to the customer.
Sponsored products suggestion | Amazon.com
Don’t waste your money on advertising before you collect a minimum of ten reviews. Most shoppers don’t like to be the first to buy a new product.
3. Product Reviews
It includes the number of reviews and the overall quality of your product rating.
You might think you can cheat your way into buying fake reviews.
If you search on Google for “buy fake Amazon reviews” you will find tons of websites that offer you such service.
Please don’t buy into that!
One day or the other, the marketplace will figure that out and get your account suspended.
The secret to collecting a lot of reviews is to focus on promoting your product, making as many sales as possible through marketing campaigns and promotions, then requesting a legit review from your customers.
Conclusion
To make sales online, you don’t have to over-complicate your tools or overspend on tactics that don’t drive instant results.
Leverage the right marketplace to present your product to the right customers at the right timing and place.
Use the deep discount strategy to make your first sales and collect social proof around your product, then use the platform marketing tool to boost your listing and make more sales.
Over time, you will get familiar with the sales process, gain momentum, and generate income, then you can invest in building the beautiful website you always want.
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