Technically, you don’t.
We are quite lucky in that there are lots of opportunities out there to help us sell things online and make a very good living. Nevertheless, if you are serious about starting a genuine business and making as much money as possible, it could be more beneficial for you to open your own online store.
Today, we’ll go over the storeless options you can consider, as well as why an online store could be the better option for you to choose.
Selling on existing online platforms
Nowadays, anyone can create an Amazon account and begin selling things on the Amazon Marketplace. Of course, there is also eBay - and other websites like this. With these two ideas, you can start listing products on existing platforms, selling to the millions of potential customers that flood these sites daily.
Clearly, there’s an advantage here; you piggyback on the platform’s existing status, meaning you don’t have to worry too much about web traffic. It’s also very easy for you to start selling as you don’t need to create a website or anything like that.
The disadvantage is that you may struggle to make huge sums of money on these platforms. Why? Because they include fees that are taken out of each sale, minimizing what you make. It can also be challenging to make sales as your products are pushed out alongside already established brands on the website. Why would someone purchase your product on Amazon when they can see a branded one with more reviews for a cheaper price?
Creating your own online store
The alternative is to create your own eCommerce platform to sell products from. Thankfully, there are plenty of companies like WebX360 that specialize in eCommerce design. As a result, you can have an online store up and running in no time at all.
The advantage of this method is that you don’t have to follow any rules set by an existing website. You can sell what you want, gain 100% of the profits from each sale, and you don’t have other brands competing against you on the same site.
Of course, it can be harder to drive traffic to your new eCommerce store. However, if you create a good marketing strategy and improve your SEO and PPC, you will easily drive traffic. Yes, you are still technically competing with other brands, but for web traffic. The difference is that, when people land on your site and see your products, there aren’t loads of other brands or sellers on the same site competing against you. Thus, the chances of making a sale increase when you get traffic.
In conclusion, you don’t necessarily need an eCommerce store to sell things online. In fact, a good tactic could be to use Amazon or eBay in the beginning. See if there’s a market for what you sell, and then start your own store once you’ve established some loyal customers. This way, you get the benefits of selling on other platforms, coupled with the benefits of selling via your own store.