As the world has entered into the booming era of the internet, every businessperson wants to jump on the E-commerce bandwagon. Selling products online is becoming popular by the day and indeed it is the need of the hour. Everyone wants to evade the hassle of taking out time to go and shop something and rather prefers online shopping in this fast-paced world.

If you want to sell products online and are looking for an accurate guideline on how to start then you have landed on the perfect page. Read on to learn more on the different ways of online selling.

There are two main ways of selling products online:

1. Selling with your own website
2. Selling on an E-commerce marketplace

Let us describe both in detail.

How to sell with your own website

When it comes to selling on your own website, Shopify has got you covered. Shopify is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) shopping cart solution that allows you to build your own website through their Website Builder service. You can build your E-commerce store through their service and Shopify will host it for you. However, if you want to start selling your products using Shopify, then you must first learn what key features Shopify offers.

Key features of Shopify

With millions of users worldwide, Shopify is an all-in-one E-commerce solution that offers the following features:

• You can encrypt your website's information with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates and ensure reliable hosting with Secure Payment Gateways.
• Additionally, it allows users to integrate their apps with a variety of third-party services to enhance their sales, marketing, and workflow.
• Shopify's App store offers a wide variety of marketing tools, including Email Marketing, Analytics, and Reporting.
• Analyzing your customers' behavior can help you optimize your Return on Investment (ROI).
• With Shopify Templates, you'll have access to hundreds of well-designed and visually stunning themes. Product Filters, Live Search, and Drop-Down Menus can be added to your website to make it user-friendly.
• It features an excellent customer support system that is accessible 24 hours a day. Customer support for Shopify is available by phone, email, or webchat. Additionally, it offers numerous Community Forums and documentation in the Shopify Help Centre.

Steps of building a website on Shopify

Shopify Website Builder is a cloud-based service that allows you to build your own website and try it for free for 14 days. It's simple to use design templates enable you to customize your website, add your products, and take orders in real-time without writing any code. Every major carrier is simple to integrate with, and you can give your clients order tracking information. Customers' transactional information is safeguarded with the same level of security as banks. It's so easy to use that you can sign up and make your first transaction the same day.

Let's talk about how to create your website on Shopify now that you have a basic idea of how it works.

• Step 1: Create an account on Shopify
• Step 2: Customize your home page
• Step 3: Add your products
• Step 4: Choose a Shopify plan
• Step 5: Set-up a payment method
• Step 6: Make your Shopify website visible to customers
• Step 7: Get a custom domain name

How to sell on an E-commerce marketplace

With increased competition, rising costs, and privacy changes impacting targeting and metrics, businesses need to find new and better ways to reach shoppers. This is where third-party E-commerce marketplaces can help you. Selling products on these platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay gives you a way to leverage the traffic and target customers that already came to the website to shop something which adds to the advantage of gaining customer attention. 

Here are three of the best E-commerce marketplaces with their pros and cons to help you decide which one to opt for according to your business interests.

Amazon

With more than 300 million active accounts, Amazon is one of the biggest E-commerce marketplaces currently functioning in the world. Since about 44% of shoppers immediately visit Amazon when they're interested in making a purchase, this platform is clearly a go-to resource for people all over the world who are looking to buy products.

The Amazon Marketplace can benefit individuals and companies of all sizes in a variety of ways. Since you can get your Marketplace account up and running with minimal fuss, it can provide you with a great opportunity to expand your audience and attract new customers quickly, no matter your industry or niche.

There are two different ways to sell on Amazon, but they're not exclusive. You can use both options simultaneously. You can ship your slower-moving bulky or heavy items yourself while relying on Amazon to ship your lighter, fast-moving products.

• Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA)

FBA means you ship your products to Amazon's warehouse, and when you sell a product, Amazon ships it for you. With FBA, Amazon also takes care of all customer support. Products best suited for FBA are small and lightweight with rapid turnover.

• Ship Products Yourself

Also known as fulfilled by merchant (FBM), this means you store and ship your own products. You also handle all customer service, so it's important to have a system set up to address inquiries and any issues that arise with your products.

Pros and Cons of Amazon

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Increases product visibility
• Enhances customer reach
• Increased sales and revenue in long-term
• Generates instant trust due to the popularity and guarantee of the platform

Cons:

• High Amazon FBA fees (10-15% of each sale)
• High management and vendor fees
• Increased competitiveness
• Lack of control over business personalization
• Requirement of each and every sales information

Etsy

Etsy is one of the largest online marketplaces for handcrafted goods. With a following of 60.27 million buyers, many of whom make repeat purchases, Etsy presents unique opportunities to its community of sellers. It offers visibility and exposure to markets that might otherwise be difficult to access.

Etsy is an online marketplace for unique, handmade, and vintage items. If your product doesn't meet this description, you cannot sell your products on Etsy. But if you're an artist or craftsperson of any kind, Etsy's curated environment can be an excellent place to find customers and to promote your work to a wider audience.

Pros and Cons of Etsy

Pros:

• Low listing fees per item ($0.20)
• Traffic is driven towards new stores
• Allows working at seller's own pace and time
• Offers a collaborative community
• Easy to start and operate

Cons:

• Saturation of handcrafted and vintage goods
• Risk of product duplication
• Limited branding opportunities
• Search engine optimization is virtually impossible
• New sellers undercut price structures driving traffic away from your store

eBay

While eBay began as an auction-based marketplace for used items and collectables, it has slowly transitioned into a fixed-price marketplace. It's now a great place to sell brand-new products as well.

In fact, 90% of eBay's Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) comes from fixed-price or "Buy It Now" listings, demonstrating its dramatic shift away from its auction market roots. The beauty of eBay is the world of options that awaits sellers: you can list items at fixed prices or auction-style, use your own product photography, add your own descriptions, and can sell (practically) anything.

Pros and Cons of eBay

Pros:

• Access to more than 160 million active buyers
• Becoming an eBay seller is effortless
• Allows listing of 150 products for free every month
• eBay offers seller protection
• Fixed price for listing which allows planning of future strategies and evaluation of profitability

Cons:

• Seller fees are numerous
• Final value fees are based on the seller's reputation
• Limited control over listings
• Competition is very high
• Requires you to ship items within 24 hours to be successful

Conclusion

With all that said, it is now understandable that an online store is almost free to set up, no initial investment means there are very few risks involved, and the factors determining your business' success are entirely in your control. When it comes to selling your product online, the choices are endless. The real detail is in making a choice that suits you, your offering and your customer and then building it from the ground up into an online shopfront that you'll be proud to call your own.

If you want to further learn the depths and details of online selling on each E-commerce marketplace then check out our book series, which has all the information you require to start selling online and earn huge profits. The books provide a complete guide for selling on Amazon, Etsy and eBay. Get the book which suits your business idea and start earning now!