Open an Online Store: 3 Things to Know To Succeed

Hands up those who in their life have never bought in an online store: from drugs to cars, from shoes to holidays, the web is an endless market, where everyone can buy and everyone can carve a slice of success with the sales.

Colossi like EBay and Amazon have accustomed us to the commercial exchanges between billions of people who earn a lot of profits. From their example, companies have understood that it is necessary to offer their customers the possibility of buying online as well as face to face.

The turnover of e-commerce in Italy is worth more than three hundred billion euros and is a growing trend.

If you are thinking of joining the entrepreneurs of the web and you have decided to try both the business to business e-commerce (B2B) and the business to consumer (B2C), you already know that the first is setting up a shop on line for the sale of wholesale products, while the latter allows you to retail.

Difficult to deal with both? Many have made it, but to choose the formula for success you will have to realize some differences and manage them according to your goals and your possibilities.

#1. Open an online store: Discover the differences B2B and B2C and address them

B2B e-commerce requires more investment than B2C: it is the main difference between the two sales methods.

It is clear that in the case of sale to companies you will have to deposit a greater quantity of available products than the direct sale to the individual consumer.

In the first case you will need a software for accounting the goods, for orders and for the billing of payments and a person who manages all these operations.

In the sale to the individual buyer instead, you can have less goods in stock but you will always have to keep a certain variety and continuously update the availability in the catalog: even in this case it is good to have an employee of this task, who knows how to use a software targeted.

The B2B e-commerce is subject to a shipping regime other than B2C: we advise you to examine the offers of the various mail carriers that have shipping rates proportional to the weight and size of the package to be sent, such as DHL or Bartolini.

The shipping schedule should be based on the rules of the country in which it is shipped: the same type of package can take two days or a week to arrive at the customer’s destination, if he lives in Italy or Turkey or Russia, because every Country has its own road system.

If a package is sent by mistake to a different address, it is the Postal Courier that has to solve the problem in the case of wholesale: make sure that it offers these services and especially how much it costs.

Finally, the return of goods sold wholesale is more complicated than the single object: this is also the Corriero to help you.

#2. Open an online store: Here are the winning-customer methods

Starting point of the activity: win the trust of the customer who is at a distance, has no way to get in touch with the product and cannot establish an empathetic relationship with you that helps the sale.

In the case of B2B e-commerce you can present the goods in a specialized fair, acquiring a mailing list of potential customers, who have verified in that context the value of what you propose.

To this face to face contact operation a test order proposal can be added, without establishing minimum orders, so as to capture the customer’s trust.

For the B2C the discourse is more complex: it is about purchases that can be emotional and rely only on the image presented online: but the risk of return is very high.

In order not to clog the shipping department, it takes care of the presentation of the product with detailed descriptions and customer testimonials: in general, the reviews have an immediate effect of empathy on potential customers. Well, even the Forums, provided they do not feed boomerang criticism for your business.

Use baits for both types of sales: in the B2B, large quantity discounts work wonders, as companies in turn will sell the purchased goods.

In B2C, however, the discount on multiple purchases is likely to get the effect-sale that does not always make a good impression on the public.

Yes to special promotions that last only one day, bookable: it will give preciousness to the product and will multiply the visits on your e-commerce site.

Obviously, the social media and targeted newsletters can give you a precious hand in the promotion, but beware: from 25 May 2018 a new regulation on the protection of privacy and personal data: it is not said that the customer gives you permission to reach him with your messages.

#3. Open an online store: Optimize staff tasks

What’s missing to tackle the differentiated management of B2B e B2C e-commerce in your business? Optimization of the tasks of the collaborating staff.

The online catalog editor, for example, must know that for B2B buyers, the prices of products published on the site will be encrypted and communicated privately, while for B2C buyers they will be clearly in the online shop.

The Web Designer who takes care of the illustrations of the products knows that he must diversify the image of the product according to the type of purchaser for which it is intended: a company or a private individual.

In short, it is essential to look for freelance collaborators with online sales experience in both sectors: you are in the right place to start evaluating the most suitable for your business. Start now!

About the Author!

Blake born in Australia and completed his education from America and now serving to videocubix.com. He is one of the remarkable music players and animators, he said, I love music and I love animation and my life is based on arts of music and music of animation.