In the last couple of years there was a great development of online platforms, these websites provide a new and convenient way to position companies and small businesses on the internet.
One of the most accomplished types of these platforms are the online Marketplaces, these platforms function in the same way as traditional marketplaces, allowing users access to these platforms to sell and buy products.
Its success is based on the fact that they represent an easier and less expensive way to engage in a commercial activity than developing your own e-commerce.
If you’re a small retailer it is probably not a good idea to invest time and money developing your own website. Launching a marketing campaign implies time and financial resources, and the result could not be the expected, there’s a lot of competition, and bigger companies count with more resources to invest on their marketing strategy, leaving small businesses in a disadvantageous position. Nowadays the growth of the online marketplaces offers small sellers the opportunity to access a great base of customers that visit these platforms which already have a consistent online presence and invested time and money in a successful marketing campaign.
These online marketplaces allow sellers to reach new potential customers without limitation of distance. We can access users that are located overseas, enabling a potential new base of clients, and expanding our presence to new targets. Also, most of the popular platforms are already positioned in the market with a good reputation that could reflect on your product.
What are the advantages?
One of the main advantages that selling on an online marketplace can offer to us, is that it will open our business to the world. Without spending money and time on the development of a marketing strategy, these platforms offer the chance to access a new and broader customer base that is already familiar with the platform and know how to use it. These platforms count with categories, search bars, and tools that make it simpler for users to find us.
These online marketplaces also offer to the seller a lot of useful information about the customers, such as their reviews and buying habits. This information is valuable because the more we know our target audience, the more effective our approach will be to match their needs. Information is key to building up a positive and effective presence online.
How to start selling?
If you’re wondering how to sell on Mercari or on another platform, the first thing to do will be to make an account. This usually takes only a few minutes, the next step is to generate a product listing, after that the platform will guide you to the “exhibit button”, and there we can start to complete the information about the item that we want to sell.
Is important to keep in mind that the way that we present our product is very relevant for the potential buyers. The image is one of the main aspects that users consider before making the decision on purchasing an item. For this, listing pictures and a good description of the product it’s so valuable. The other important aspect is the reviews. It is key to provide a good service, because this will reflect on our score and it will build a good or bad reputation on the platform according to how we respond to possible problems and needs of the users.
The importance of clear information
How we organize the information of the item that we want to sell could favor the engagement on our post. A key aspect of this is how we title our product, and the specific information we add to the description. Is recommended to put as much information as possible about the item, such as measurements, brand, color, and quality.
Another aspect to take on consideration is pricing, on this matter the Marketplaces are a good aid for sellers, because they can check on the platform for similar items and compare the prices to find out what is the market value. It is important to do research online before we price an item, buyers will compare prices very easily and if we don’t offer competitive prices probably won’t sell much. Another important aspect is to check for comments and reviews of users on similar items, to know what concerns them and what they value about an item.
How we manage the knowledge of all the possibilities that the internet and these marketplaces platforms represent, will make a huge impact on the success of our enterprise.