Marketplace or ecommerce, where do i start?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2024 4:23 am
What you can stop selling when you close your business on any given day…
I want to sell my products online and I don't know where to start. Should I use a marketplace or e-commerce?
Let's simulate an offline business selling a certain type of items that decides it wants to move to the online model.
There are many reasons for doing this, but the main one is that our target market goes from being the people in our neighbourhood or the people who walk past our business to… anyone!! And by anyone I mean the more than 20 million online buyers in Spain alone.
But the first thing we have to keep in mind is that it is not easy at all, since the competition is also much greater. It requires time, training, preparation and the use of the appropriate technological tools.
There are several alternatives for selling online, from using already existing and established marketplaces to opening your own online store, and each has its moment.
To decide whether to use a marketplace or ecommerce, let's first analyze what a marketplace strategy consists of :
What is a marketplace?
A marketplace is a digital market where chinese overseas australia phone number data different manufacturers and merchants come together to show and sell their products. There are two types: generic, where the best known is Amazon or Aliexpress, or specialized in a sector or type of items (wine, second-hand items, baby items, antiques, handicrafts, gourmet food, bikes! Hundreds!…). It's a matter of finding yours, the one that best suits you…
This is precisely what defining a good marketplace strategy is all about: searching, analyzing and deciding which ones fit my products, my philosophy or the conditions I need, and defining which products I am going to use them for (it doesn't have to be for all of them, but for a select few, for example your top sellers).
I think it's an excellent way to test the market and see if my product is interesting for that market, in short, if there are buyers willing to pay for it. If you decide between a marketplace or an e-commerce site, you can count on many advantages.
Advantages and disadvantages of a marketplace
Advantages:
We don't have to worry about logistics, since the marketplace takes care of it. We save on infrastructure.
We don't have to worry about SEO and SEM, the marketplace takes care of it for us. We save on promotion and advertising.
Disadvantages:
Our sales margin is lower since the marketplace will keep a %.
We do not have complete freedom to set the conditions we want. We will have to follow certain publication rules, we will have to adhere to a maximum delivery time, etc.
Our competition is much greater and we will compete on price.
That's why we need to carefully analyze which market we want to go to. People say, "Amazon is the best" but I don't agree, it's not the best for all types of products. For example, someone looking for a good wine won't go to Amazon, but will look for a site specialized in wines.
Once we have tested the market through this means and if it has worked, we can launch our own online store or ecommerce . And if you are already at that point, and decide to start your own ecommerce, I recommend that you take into account some of these considerations.
9 Tips for selling in an online store
If we are faced with the choice between a marketplace or an e-commerce, what should we take into account when starting out when selling on an e-commerce site?
We must be aware that for it to work well we must invest , and we must be clear about how far the investment can go.
We will need to invest in corporate image, in creating the brand, in having a good ecommerce (functional, fast, simple, visual, optimized for SEO...), in organic positioning, in advertising (Google Adwords, Facebook ads...)
There are many types of grants that can help us cover some of these expenses, so we need to keep up to date! If you want to receive information about them, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter .
You don't need to have the best online store in the world, but I'm not a fan of using free or low-cost platforms to do so. In the end, they tend to have many limitations in terms of SEO, for example, and your visibility will be limited.
Don't leave logistics for the last minute, it is a KEY factor in the success of your company, so get in touch with all the logistics operators, analyse their offers, negotiate them and choose the one that best suits you. You must bear in mind that the customer is now used to almost zero shipping costs, so it will have to come out of your profit margin - keep that in mind! You must also have material to package the items and enough space to store the merchandise.
You have to think carefully about your marketing strategy. It's not just about having an online store and that's it. You have to promote your products, offer content, and gain positions on Google. In short, you have to become a reference and build a reputation on social networks and search engines, and that takes time and money.
Although to achieve more immediate results you will need to use direct advertising through Facebook or Adwords, I recommend that you do not underestimate the power of organic positioning. To do this, your ecommerce should be supported by a blog where you share quality content, content of interest to your target audience. This can help you a lot to gain positions in Google, even if it is in the medium term.
You will have to be very familiar with terms such as KPIs, Google Analytics, inbound marketing, return on investment (ROI)... because to understand the purchasing process of your online store in depth, it will be necessary to MEASURE, MEASURE AND MEASURE... and PIVOT, PIVOT, PIVOT.
And finally, be very patient because an online business is a long-distance race… it takes time to get traction but if you have taken into account all of the above, you will achieve it! If we can do it, you can too!
I want to sell my products online and I don't know where to start. Should I use a marketplace or e-commerce?
Let's simulate an offline business selling a certain type of items that decides it wants to move to the online model.
There are many reasons for doing this, but the main one is that our target market goes from being the people in our neighbourhood or the people who walk past our business to… anyone!! And by anyone I mean the more than 20 million online buyers in Spain alone.
But the first thing we have to keep in mind is that it is not easy at all, since the competition is also much greater. It requires time, training, preparation and the use of the appropriate technological tools.
There are several alternatives for selling online, from using already existing and established marketplaces to opening your own online store, and each has its moment.
To decide whether to use a marketplace or ecommerce, let's first analyze what a marketplace strategy consists of :
What is a marketplace?
A marketplace is a digital market where chinese overseas australia phone number data different manufacturers and merchants come together to show and sell their products. There are two types: generic, where the best known is Amazon or Aliexpress, or specialized in a sector or type of items (wine, second-hand items, baby items, antiques, handicrafts, gourmet food, bikes! Hundreds!…). It's a matter of finding yours, the one that best suits you…
This is precisely what defining a good marketplace strategy is all about: searching, analyzing and deciding which ones fit my products, my philosophy or the conditions I need, and defining which products I am going to use them for (it doesn't have to be for all of them, but for a select few, for example your top sellers).
I think it's an excellent way to test the market and see if my product is interesting for that market, in short, if there are buyers willing to pay for it. If you decide between a marketplace or an e-commerce site, you can count on many advantages.
Advantages and disadvantages of a marketplace
Advantages:
We don't have to worry about logistics, since the marketplace takes care of it. We save on infrastructure.
We don't have to worry about SEO and SEM, the marketplace takes care of it for us. We save on promotion and advertising.
Disadvantages:
Our sales margin is lower since the marketplace will keep a %.
We do not have complete freedom to set the conditions we want. We will have to follow certain publication rules, we will have to adhere to a maximum delivery time, etc.
Our competition is much greater and we will compete on price.
That's why we need to carefully analyze which market we want to go to. People say, "Amazon is the best" but I don't agree, it's not the best for all types of products. For example, someone looking for a good wine won't go to Amazon, but will look for a site specialized in wines.
Once we have tested the market through this means and if it has worked, we can launch our own online store or ecommerce . And if you are already at that point, and decide to start your own ecommerce, I recommend that you take into account some of these considerations.
9 Tips for selling in an online store
If we are faced with the choice between a marketplace or an e-commerce, what should we take into account when starting out when selling on an e-commerce site?
We must be aware that for it to work well we must invest , and we must be clear about how far the investment can go.
We will need to invest in corporate image, in creating the brand, in having a good ecommerce (functional, fast, simple, visual, optimized for SEO...), in organic positioning, in advertising (Google Adwords, Facebook ads...)
There are many types of grants that can help us cover some of these expenses, so we need to keep up to date! If you want to receive information about them, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter .
You don't need to have the best online store in the world, but I'm not a fan of using free or low-cost platforms to do so. In the end, they tend to have many limitations in terms of SEO, for example, and your visibility will be limited.
Don't leave logistics for the last minute, it is a KEY factor in the success of your company, so get in touch with all the logistics operators, analyse their offers, negotiate them and choose the one that best suits you. You must bear in mind that the customer is now used to almost zero shipping costs, so it will have to come out of your profit margin - keep that in mind! You must also have material to package the items and enough space to store the merchandise.
You have to think carefully about your marketing strategy. It's not just about having an online store and that's it. You have to promote your products, offer content, and gain positions on Google. In short, you have to become a reference and build a reputation on social networks and search engines, and that takes time and money.
Although to achieve more immediate results you will need to use direct advertising through Facebook or Adwords, I recommend that you do not underestimate the power of organic positioning. To do this, your ecommerce should be supported by a blog where you share quality content, content of interest to your target audience. This can help you a lot to gain positions in Google, even if it is in the medium term.
You will have to be very familiar with terms such as KPIs, Google Analytics, inbound marketing, return on investment (ROI)... because to understand the purchasing process of your online store in depth, it will be necessary to MEASURE, MEASURE AND MEASURE... and PIVOT, PIVOT, PIVOT.
And finally, be very patient because an online business is a long-distance race… it takes time to get traction but if you have taken into account all of the above, you will achieve it! If we can do it, you can too!