Advice for new comer to e-commerce

[Future_RKC]

Hi

I am starting up a side line business selling online that hopefully will grow into something quite big. I would appreciate some advice from experienced sellers in the following subjects.

The business is selling fitness related products that range in weight from 6kg-48kg. They come in boxes, the largest would be about a foot square and the smallest being half of that. I have storage and product knowledge but have never sold stuff as a legit business, only sold stuff on ebay.

So here are a few Q's

Ebay, Amazon, own site, or both?

Best courier service? I have been recommended parcel2go, any good?

If having own site should I go with a CMS site and maintain it myself or pay for something more professional and have some else maintain it?

Potential pitfalls to look out for?

Many thanks

 

[kulture]

The first pitfall to look out for is yourself. "a side line business". To make a sucessfull business in any area is not really a side line.

 

[Mazdamx3]

Hi, I used 'Parcels2go' last christmas for my ebay sales deliveries and it was DHL that actually dealt with the collection/delivery..the tracking is good as are the records available if you go on their site to see whats been delivered and when etc....cant fault em.....avoid parcelmonkey.com though!!!

As for the E-commerce side of things, I too have your situation and I believe the best way forward is to make your website the central hub of your business, it is a better selling platform than ebay or amazon but Ebay and amazon can be used to strengthen the flow of traffic to your site and sales through your site directed by ebay have saved you commision too.... Good luck with how ever you do it.

 

[Future_RKC]

The first pitfall to look out for is yourself. "a side line business". To make a sucessfull business in any area is not really a side line.

Maybe I am just better at multi tasking than you!

I would define this business a side line as it will only bring in £200-£300 per month. This is considerably less than my main business hence it is a side line. That does not mean it won't get my full attention and focus.

 

[kulture]

Maybe I am just better at multi tasking than you!

I would define this business a side line as it will only bring in £200-£300 per month. This is considerably less than my main business hence it is a side line. That does not mean it won't get my full attention and focus.

You are right, any new start up needs your full attention and focus. Many people seem to think that you can just throw up a web site and orders just come in. If only it was that easy. To those people, when the say "a side line" they seem to think that no work is involved.

 

[kari666]

As for the E-commerce side of things, I too have your situation and I believe the best way forward is to make your website the central hub of your business, it is a better selling platform than ebay or amazon but Ebay and amazon can be used to strengthen the flow of traffic to your site and sales through your site directed by ebay have saved you commision too.... Good luck with how ever you do it.

 

[chaiselippy]

Hi Future_RKC,

You should try also to get more traffic to your website, i recommend an Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Software. Basically it submits links to social media network that relates to your website, and therefore, you build a much bigger traffic and more sales.
You can try XGen SEO Software, no arm done because it's free. It will help you understand what you should do.

 

[Future_RKC]

As for the E-commerce side of things, I too have your situation and I believe the best way forward is to make your website the central hub of your business, it is a better selling platform than ebay or amazon but Ebay and amazon can be used to strengthen the flow of traffic to your site and sales through your site directed by ebay have saved you commision too.... Good luck with how ever you do it.

Would you recommend a CMS site such as Joomla?

 

[shopintegrator]

Would you recommend a CMS site such as Joomla?

I personally would say it depends on how many products are you are looking to sell? And what rate you plan to add new products and update existing ones?

 

[Future_RKC]

I personally would say it depends on how many products are you are looking to sell? And what rate you plan to add new products and update existing ones?

Products - 10 or so

I would add a few more products here and there as the months roll on.

I would need to put out of stock notices up once in a while, other than that it would be fairly maintenance free.

 

[shopintegrator]

Hi,

With only a small number of products you could easily manage this without a CMS if you wanted to. There are plenty of great free or low cost web design templates that you could pick from and you could use an ecommerce plugin toolkit like ours to add a shopping basket in to your web pages using a copy and paste approach.

Given that the products you are selling are heavy you may find the ability to create weight based shipping plans to automatically add these costs to your shoppers order on checkout a feature of ours which will interest you.

There is also a stock control feature as well so products automatically show as out of stock when their quantity goes to zero. The stock level is automatically reduced in the system when shoppers successfully complete their purchase.

 

[Future_RKC]

Hi Future_RKC,

You should try also to get more traffic to your website, i recommend an Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Software. Basically it submits links to social media network that relates to your website, and therefore, you build a much bigger traffic and more sales.
You can try XGen SEO Software, no arm done because it's free. It will help you understand what you should do.

Hi

Have you used XGen software?

I have just googled and read up on it, it seems massively to good to be true.

 

[CraigieDD]

Hi there,

I's investigate multiple channels of selling your goods.

Definitely consider a website as a hub. Joomla or similar CMS's have a number of e-commerce solutions. VirtueMart for one. You could look at Zen Cart as well and if you're thinking a little bigger then Magento.

As with all channels, test and measure. I'd have a look at setting up feeds for Pricerunner, Google, Yahoo, etc.

Also, if you're niche based, then I'd go for some Paid Search sponsored link advertising and do a test on that.

Any help you want with your new site just drop me a note.

Cheers,

 

[gsmhomealarm]

what kind of products you are selling online?

Electonics, or clothes, gifts or other interesting tech items, mini camera, security system?

sales strategy is better to according the products own markets.

 

[Future_RKC]

Hi there,

I's investigate multiple channels of selling your goods.

Definitely consider a website as a hub. Joomla or similar CMS's have a number of e-commerce solutions. VirtueMart for one. You could look at Zen Cart as well and if you're thinking a little bigger then Magento.

As with all channels, test and measure. I'd have a look at setting up feeds for Pricerunner, Google, Yahoo, etc.

Also, if you're niche based, then I'd go for some Paid Search sponsored link advertising and do a test on that.

Any help you want with your new site just drop me a note.

Cheers,

Thanks for the advice, I will look into setting up feeds and paid search sponsored links.

what kind of products you are selling online?

Electonics, or clothes, gifts or other interesting tech items, mini camera, security system?

sales strategy is better to according the products own markets.

Hi, I sell kettlebells.

 

[allen_xyh]

I suggest you should be prepared to beautiful picturs,the first impression is very important.When a customer search for a particular item,a list of numerous items page after page.They will not click on each item listed to see your product details.So you need a beautiful picture as a list view pictures.
Sorry my poor English,there may be a syntex error.

 

[Rolo Tomasi]

As your only selling a few products I think you need to test the water first of all with as little outlay as possible. I would start by setting up an eBay account as there are no setup costs but there is a huge amount of traffic. If this goes well and as you expand your product range then you could set up your website and I would recommend that you use a CMS for this from day one.

 

[DealSwift]

Hi Future RKC,

I have launched a website just now to help people like you sell items. It is free to join and has no insertion fees. If you sign up today before 8PM GMT and post items up for sale, you will be featured in our promotional video as well as receive a month's free company gold account.

PM me with any questions.

Regards,
James