What You Need to Know About Boosting Sales in your Ecommerce Business

The chances are your eCommerce business started out very small. It might have begun with you selling your unwanted items on a well-known auction site and built from there. You’ve probably only really done it in your spare time before now, but the cost of living has increased, or maybe you have ambitions of turning your business into your full-time money earner.

Regardless of the reason, if you are going to build your business, you are going to need more sales. However, while you might think that the easiest way of achieving this is simply to do more of what you are already doing – there are some important other factors you’ll need to consider first.

#1 Look at Where You are Selling – And if You Need to Change Your Website

This is quite a big one so it’s first on the list. Chances are, you are selling on major platforms like eBay, Amazon and Etsy, and you might even have your own website. If you are not doing any of those things, then it might be wise to make that your first task, because the more places you are selling – the more you are likely to sell.

Once you are on the major platforms, you need to think about your own website. You might not get much traffic to this currently, but that does not mean you should neglect it. It is well worth remembering that while Amazon and the rest are great for traffic, if they take a dislike to you or what you are selling, your business will be gone overnight. If you were running the whole thing part time it would still be a blow – but if it was your only source of income, it would be a disaster.

For that reason, you need to make sure your website id up to date, and ready to sell, possibly using something like a Spotify template as a base. You should also look at driving natural traffic there using SEO, which is a slow burner of a strategy but tends to pay off in the long term if done correctly.

#2 Make the Most of Every Visitor

Once you have people looking at your products online, you need make are all of the effort that got them there isn’t wasted. You aren’t going to turn every click into a sale, but at the same time you don’t want people being put off when they had every intention of parting with their cash. On a basic level this means doing things like making sure your website loads quickly, and there is no out of date information on there.

More advanced tactics involve making sure everything is done to turn visitors into buyers and get the maximum value for every person who visits your site. This might be something that you get the professional involved for, as it not something even the most gifted amateurs should be trying alone. Therefore, relying on the services of Conversion rate experts could be the wisest step here, allowing you to get on with what you are good at, or trying your hand at other tactics to get more sales.

#3 Make Sure Your Supply Chain is Up to the Task

The first few things you found to sell might have come from thrift stores or yard sales, or even spotting something in a large store on sale that could be flipped for a profit online. However, by now you are looking at buying from wholesalers either in your home country or abroad. This can tie up a lot of cash, and depending on how your deliveries get to you, a lot of time as well.

Once your online sales funnel is running well, you need to make sure you can fulfil orders, and that customers aren’t met with an ‘out of stock’ message when they are just about to buy. With this in mind, you need to look at where you are getting things from, and possibly diversify your sources so that you have a backup if one falls through. Ordering more should also unlock greater discounts for you and might lead to some awkward conversation if they are not forthcoming. The bottom line here is not to be afraid to go elsewhere if your supplier’s ambition does not match your own.

A Few Final Thoughts

Growing your eCommerce business can be problematic, especially if you are still learning the basics yourself. It might seem like there is so much to do that it isn’t worth bothering, but if your business has been a success so far, you really ought to build on that. You need to make sure that you are selling in as many places as possible, and then making the most of every visitor you get. You’ll also need to make sure you have the stock to satisfy these extra orders, and alternative sources should your current ones run dry.