Ecommerce has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, with more and more people using the Internet to buy products and services instead of visiting their local store.
Of course, running an online shop come with their own unique challenges, which include converting visitors into customers, shipping your products to your customers, maximizing your profits when running an online shop, and so on.
If you’re just starting out or if you’re already operating an online shop but aren’t getting the best results, check out these tips for maximizing your profits when running an online shop.
Planning
The success of your online shop depends largely on how much effort you put into marketing. Even if you have a well-stocked inventory, if no one knows about it, then no one will buy from you.
The first thing you need to do is plan your marketing strategy for your shop.
What to sell in your online shop?
The first thing you need to do is decide what you’re going to sell. Consider local trends, for example—if you’re living in a city, there might be a lot of interest in certain niche products that are limited or hard to find.
You should also keep your target market in mind when choosing products; something that will resonate with them and draw their attention.
Also you want to consider the demand for the items. For example, whether you can get better deals by buying in bulk and how much space you’ll need to store the products.
What profit margin should I add on?
Whether you’re selling t-shirts or time machines, your product is probably going to be sold at a markup. As a rule of thumb, it’s best not to lose sight of your profits on each sale. Add on between 20% and 25% on top of your cost price.
Another thing that affects margins is shipping costs, which can really eat into your profits if you don’t plan for them in advance.
Setting Up an Online Shop
Savvy’s Extra Plan has an online shop included as part of the plan. You can add your products in settings – drop downs – products. Add a description and set a price with your all important profit margin added in. Make sure to include enough to cover postage and packaging.
Make sure to also go to settings – payments and set up Savvy Pay as the Savvy shops are automatically integrated with Savvy Pay at excellent rates, so your shop is fully Savvy Integrated, even the payments.
Marketing Your Store
Once you’ve set up your online shop, it’s important that you do what you can to increase traffic and revenue. Find out how to attract new customers, maximize your profits and focus on increasing your margins.
How to attract customers to your online shop
To create a shop that maximizes your profits, you’ll need to attract customers. One way to do so is by offering free shipping. Customers love free stuff! Of course, you’ll have to factor in what free shipping will cost you. But if it means more customers coming to your online store, then it could be worth it.
You might also offer discounts or other incentives, like loyalty cards that give repeat customers additional benefits for shopping with you over and over again.
Your social media posts can be scheduled to offer discounts or incentives at key times. Consider dates such as Black Friday or the January Sales.
Summary
If you are an online retailer or plan on starting one, then it is imperative that you know how to maximize your profits when running your business.
There are many ways in which you can make money with your ecommerce shop, but most importantly of all, make sure your virtual shop window is awesome.
Try designing a Savvy Website and then optimize your website with SEO techniques, you can make sure that potential customers find you when they search for something specific online.
All the Savvy websites automatically link to your Savvy shop to maximise traffic.
Book a demo to have us help you set up a Savvy Shop.
Make sure to keep us posted with your online shop successes!
