So, you want to build a business around your passions, something you can be proud of. You don’t want to work for anyone else, you want to be in a position to have the freedom to work whenever and wherever you like, the financial freedom you’ve been working towards but never quite reaching and you want to build it around your life rather than building your life around your business.
E-commerce might just be the solution you’ve been looking for.
We have all bought and sold something, buying and selling will never stop. It’s evergreen. No matter what’s happening in the world people are always buying and selling; pandemic, economic crisis, zombie apocalypse; commerce will never die.
And the world is changing fast, really fast; it’s no secret that if you want to sell products, either your own or someone else’s as an importer, you need to be doing that online.
In this article, I will give you an overview of what you need to know to realistically set up an e-commerce business and start selling products in the next 6 months.
E-commerce business models
There are four main business models that you want to consider.
Private labelling
If you want to set yourself up for the long-term, to set up a business that can sustain you now and into the future, private labelling is the way to go. The best approach is creating a logo and brand, creating your own products and putting them out there.
Before you get that far, you can start very simply in four steps:
- Pick a product you want to sell
- Find a supplier
- Stick your own brand on it
- Sell it at a marked up price
Of course this involves you buying the stock in bulk and selling it on.
Drop-shipping
Drop-shipping is pretty similar to private labelling but with much lower start-up costs. I’ll explain:
- Pick a product you want to sell
- Find a supplier
- Get the supplier to ship the product directly
The main difference here is that the supplier ships directly so you don’t have to store and stock that you have bought in bulk.
Retail arbitrage
This is a way to sell products from already established brands at a profit:
- Find a product that’s currently in demand
- Find it in a low price deal and purchase it below the recommended retail price
- Sell it on Amazon at full price
Affiliate marketing
Here you drive people towards a product and get a commission when they buy.
Find out all you need to know about affiliate marketing in this article.
How to select products
It is so important that you get involved with the right products. If you don’t care about the products you’re selling, why should anyone else?
You will have a much better chance at success and actually enjoying your ‘work’ if you’re selling things you actually care about.
The other side of this is that by choosing an area that you are genuinely interested in, means you’ll have a better insight into what the customers are actually looking for.
So think about what you are interested in, passionate about or what you can relate to. Musical instruments and accessories is kind of a no-brainer for you, but think about your other hobbies and interests too; maybe you like design, art, cooking or travel.
What products do you use on a regular basis that you love? What has helped you solve a problem and would recommend to a friend?
The other thing to think about is your areas of knowledge:
What do people ask your advice for?
Where are you an expert?
What have you studied or taught yourself?
When you think about it the possibilities are pretty much endless; there are literally billions (maybe more?) of different products out there on the market that people are buying every single day. You can tap into whatever product niche that you like and find products to sell.
When you have an idea of the product niche that interests you, there are three main things to consider when you’re actually choosing products:
Demand
Are people actually buying this product at the moment?
Competition
Who else is selling it and can I sell it too?
Profits
If I sell it am I going to make enough profit for it to be worth the effort?
How to research products for e-commerce
There are lots of tools that you can use to research products and it doesn’t really matter if you’re selling on Amazon, eBay, a Shopify store or any other platform for that matter- using any of these tools will give you a very clear idea if a product is going to be successful or not.
Here are three research platforms that can help you to research products for your e-commerce business:
Junglescout
This website gives you data on different products and sellers on amazon. The information that’s displayed tells you sales figures (demand), reviews (competition), as well as many other features like trending keywords, a product tracker tool for saving product ideas, and ways to improve your ranking on amazon searches. They also have a Chrome extension that gives you all of this information right from the amazon search page.
Helium10
Helium 10 offers a very similar service to Junglescout but has even more features, product research, keyword research, listing optimisation, analytics, marketing tools, as well as a whole bunch of free learning tools.
Watchcount
This site is specifically for eBay, it’s a counter that tells you how many times a particular product has been added to the watchlist by users.
You can use this to find out what products are currently selling in your chosen niche, this information can help you no matter what platform you’re selling on.
Packaging
Packaging products is really important. Can you think about a time you bought something and loved the packaging? What was the experience like, did you feel excited to open it?
How products are packaged has a number of different psychological effects:
- Customers automatically perceive something as being more valuable when it has good quality packaging.
- If your packaging creates a positive experience for your customers, they will enjoy it and associate those positive emotions with your brand and your products.
This has a number of knock-on effects:
- It increases your brand recognition and allows you to stand out from the competition.
- Your brand and products also become more memorable and people will choose them as gifts for other people.
- It also increases the chances that customers will come back to you in the future for other products.
And all of this means that your business becomes more profitable.
Things to consider when choosing your packaging:
Simplicity
Nothing says class like simplicity; a simple design, simple black (or monochrome) printing. If that’s what you want to communicate to the market, then a simple design is the way to go.
Novelty
You have to think about the customer’s experience when they buy your product. If you want to communicate fun and excitement, a good way to do that is with a novelty packaging idea. This will also be memorable and help to cement your brand in the mind and (more importantly) emotions of your customers.
Recycled/Plastic-free
Whether this is a particular passion of yours or not, there is no denying that people in general are becoming more conscious of their impact on the environment and this goes double for consumers. Having eco-friendly packaging solutions is probably going to be a bonus for you and your brand.
The most important thing when choosing your packaging though is that it is in alignment with your brand. Whatever your values are, whatever you want to communicate to your customers, whatever you want them to feel when they buy your products, has to be reflected in the choice of packaging.
The best way to get an idea of what your packaging might look like is to go online and do some research. Check out similar products and brands and see what they are doing. As you search, make a note of any packaging or branding that speaks to you, this stuff is emotional, instinctual so don’t overthink it- trust your gut.
If you have the budget you can order some products from them and see first hand the kind of packaging, and get an idea of the customer experience they provide.
Things you definitely need to include on your packaging:
Whatever you’re selling you will need to have three important elements cubed on your packaging:
- Your brand and logo
- Barcode
- Any legally required information (like hazard warnings, allergy warnings)
Logo and branding
As I said, the logo and branding are really important as this is the interface between you and your customers. This will tell them what they are buying, who they are buying it from, but more importantly, it will reflect your shared values and ultimately why your products matter. I know it sounds a bit deep, but you cannot neglect the psychology behind this stuff.
How to get your packaging logo and branding designed for you
Maybe you are a designer, in which case skip to the next section.
If not, here are some tools that you can use.
Canva
This is a great free tool for creating all kinds of marketing and branding. They have a lot of customisable templates. They also have a paid version where you can get a bigger range of templates and more customisation options.
Tailor Brands
This is an AI-powered logo and branding design platform. You can make a logo for free by entering your brand name and some other information about the brand and styles that you prefer. Their paid service has even more tools for perfecting your branding, different kinds of logos for different platforms, etc.
99designs
This site allows you to write brief, outlining exactly the service that you need. In this case logo and packaging design for whatever products you’ve decided to sell. Designers will then submit their ideas to you and you can choose who you work with for the final product.
Fiverr
In the same way, on fiverr you submit a request for work, the designers will then contact you and bid for the work. In most cases they will submit some design ideas and samples, the conditions can be completely defined by you.
Working directly with experienced packaging designers can be a benefit as they will know exactly what you need to have on the packaging, whether that is health, safety, use by dates, or any other regulated information. When your design is complete and you’re happy with it you’ll send the designs along with the logo and any other information to your supplier. So now let’s look at how you can find suppliers.
Sourcing your products
If your business model means that you have to buy products in bulk, whether that’s for private labelling or drop-shipping, there are a number of different places that you can look. Here are just a few options:
Alibaba
Alibaba is a great platform for bulk orders. You will need to make an account on the platform, search for the products you want to sell, and then find suppliers and make contact with them. You can do that by email or there is even a chat box where you can open up a dialogue directly in the platform.
Alibaba has become much more international so you can now find suppliers from all over the world.
Some tips for best practice on Alibaba:
- Choose suppliers with trade assurance- this is a form of insurance if things go tits up and the supplier runs off with your money
- Choose verified suppliers, these are suppliers who are verified by Alibaba
- Request for Quote- here you can specify exactly the product you are looking for and alibaba will request quotations directly from the suppliers
AliExpress
Aliexpress is going to be a good option for you if you want to buy individual or small numbers of products to sell via a facebook store, or a shopify store.
It’s basically an e-commerce store with low prices where you can find good deals. You don’t have the function to request a quote but you might have some luck negotiating with the suppliers there for a lower price.
DHgate
Is something between alibaba and aliexpress, basically an e-commerce website where you can find suppliers offering individual or bulk products. Otherwise it is very similar in how you would use it to source products.
Wish
Wish is very similar to Aliexpress and DHgate. The main site is perfect for single items and small quantities, but the Wish Wholesale site ups the game a little bit, offering free shipping and full returns on slow-moving inventory.
Where to sell your products
There are a lot of ways to sell your products online. You are going to want to build up your own website and sell through that, but that takes time and you don’t want to wait that long.
The absolute best way to get started is through already established market places.
Let’s start with the big daddy:
Amazon
There are so many advantages to selling on amazon:
- It’s international; they have sites in almost every country so you can expand into different regions very easily.
- It’s highly trusted by customers.
- Their customer service is exceptional
- They sell anything and everything
so, for a private label business just starting out it really is a no-brainer.
eBay
Ebay is another great platform for selling your products, actually older than amazon, it has come a long way from its origins as an online auction platform. It can be and often is still used as an auction site, but many sellers have items listed for a ‘buy now’ price.
I have to say that branding and packaging do play a smaller role here, eBay is trying to shift itself into a more brand-oriented sales platform but it’s still a long way off.
Etsy
Etsy is a site for selling handmade items, vintage goods, and craft supplies. This is a great option if you are creating your own products.
Shopify
Shopify has very easy to use website templates and hosting, you can choose and modify a design, populate it with our own products and you’re ready to go to market.
WooCommerce
This is actually a plugin for your WordPress website, it basically does the same thing; providing a platform for selling your own products.
Getting your products to your customers
I’m guessing you don’t live in a warehouse, maybe you do, what do I know? But the likelihood is that you don’t and you’re worried you’re going to need someplace to store the things you want to sell and running to the post office every day to send products out to your customers. You can do that by all means, but it’s not anything close to being passive income and it’s really not necessary today.
The better option: get someone else to do the heavy lifting for you.
There are a couple of ways to do this:
Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA)
Yet another advantage to working with Amazon is their 5-star fulfilment program. They have amazing customer service, super fast delivery, and that trusted brand.
You’re going to pay $2 to $5 per item for the fulfilment (depending on what you’re selling), but when you take into account the reach and scalability of selling on amazon it certainly balances out.
Third-party Logistics (3PL)
These places are independent warehouse services, you can find them in your local area by searching on google. They can store and ship your goods.
I hope this has given you an overview of how you can set up a business online around products that you love. At the end of the day, setting up any kind of business takes time and effort to learn the ropes. You can use blog posts like this and Youtube videos to piece together the information, try things out and figure out what works, a lot of people do it that way so let’s look at some of the problems they often face.
Some common problems you will encounter in the trial-and-error process of starting an e-commerce business:
You don’t know where to start – While the internet is an amazing resource, it’s easy to suffer from information overload. Not to mention conflicting information that leaves you wondering what training and methods are relevant or even correct.
The passion is missing – You haven’t found a product or service that you’re passionate about or you can really relate to. You haven’t felt a connection to any particular product that you feel like you can truly get behind selling in an engaging and authentic way that’s built on a foundation of your unique personal experience and passions.
You haven’t had any structure – You’ve been piecing together a puzzle without any instructions and with no sense of whether or not you’re moving in the right direction or how to apply what you’re learning as you go.
You’ve been doing it alone – you don’t have a business partner to share the burden, you’ve had no sense of community, no coaching, and nobody to hold you accountable or give you the confidence you need to know that you’re moving in the right direction.
If you’ve made it this far through the article, it’s because you have a natural curiosity about the freedom that building an online business can offer, but you may be stuck on one of these points.
The best way to cut through the trial-and-error process that sees many people fail is with hands-on training, high-level education, and expert mentorship.
How to get started with your e-commerce business today
Now you’re excited about the idea of going into business for yourself, whether that’s a side-hustle or you want to completely replace your current income.
Let me send you this free video series ‘the art of selling online’, it’s by Stuart Ross, a serial entrepreneur and expert with over a decade of experience making sales online. He’s also one of the people who have mentored me in starting my online businesses. I promise it will open your eyes to the real possibilities out there.
