Natalia Wiszewska Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
How to open an online store? Step 1: Products
The first step on the road to success is choosing the right product to sell. If you don’t have your own idea yet, there’s no need to worry. You can do it in 4 different ways.
Method 1: Find a Real-Life Problem and Offer a Solution.
The first option is to analyze your own life and interests. Think about the problems you encounter daily and whether there’s a product that could solve them.
Struggling to remember to take your pills because you’re always on the go? Great! You’ve just discovered a new concern. Now you need to find products that can solve it.
Example:
In this case, we would definitely be looking for pill organizers. However, you can approach this in many ways. It could be:
- A phone case with a small compartment for pills.
- A small pill organizer that fits in your purse.
- An organizer with a magnet that you can attach to the fridge.
- Smart pill packaging that automatically logs when they’re taken and sends a notification to your phone if you forget.
There are really many ways to solve this problem, and therefore, many products.
You can find pill organizers on the B2B marketplace Droplo
Method 2: Get inspired by ideas from ChatGPT
The second option is to use ChatGPT to get inspiration for finding a product. Just ask the artificial intelligence a question, for example:
- “What problems do customers of an online electronics store face?”
- “What are the most commonly purchased products in the tourism industry?”
- “What’s missing in the pet industry?”
- and many more.
ChatGPT will respond with a list of problems that it can help you solve. Use this idea to find a product that meets those needs.
Method 3: Find a target audience and a product to solve their problems
The third option is to identify a target audience and match a product to their needs.
- Identify a group of people who have specific problems or needs.
- Then, look for a product that can solve these problems.
Remember, it’s important to understand the needs and expectations of customers thoroughly to provide them with the right product.
Step 4: Get Inspired by other companies
The last option is to draw inspiration from other companies and their products. Analyze the issues solved by other companies and how you can create a better product in that field.
Pay attention to customer feedback and what makes a particular product appealing. Use this information to design your own product that will be more attractive than the competition.
For example, the Roomba automatically vacuums a room, helping busy homeowners. However, the robot doesn’t fully satisfy pet owners because it doesn’t detect and literally sucks up pet waste.
Step Two: Determine if the target market is suitable for selling
To succeed in e-commerce, it’s important to choose the right target market. No matter how good your product is, if there’s no demand in the market, it will be difficult to sell.
There are several factors to consider when assessing the potential of the target market.
Determine the market size
The first step is to determine the size of the market. How large is the group of people you want to sell to? The larger the group, the greater the sales opportunities.
You can find all this data about the Polish market in government reports from GUS, but personally, we find that the website www.polskawliczbach.pl is much more user-friendly.
Retrieved from: polskawliczbach.pl
Examine statistics and market research to determine how many people might be interested in your product. Also, consider the profitability of the target market.
Are people from your target market actually willing to spend money on your product? Conduct market research and analyze customer behavior to find out if your product has a chance of selling.
How to determine market size? Example
Let’s consider our pill organizer now. Let’s say we’re selling it on the e-commerce platform Allegro, and 90% of your customers are women aged 30-50, as they are usually the ones who take care of household aesthetics.
So, we need to calculate:
- How many women aged 30-50 are in the area where we want to sell our product,
- How many of them shop online,
- How many of them use the platforms where you intend to sell (if the platform has such data).
In Poland, there are approximately 7.7 million Polish women. We find a report indicating that 79% of us shop online, and our industry accounts for about 9%. This means that the value of our market is around 550,000 people.
Of course, we can further refine this by considering the specific locations where we want to sell.
How many competitors are selling your product in the same target market?
The second factor worth considering is the number of competitors. If there are already many sellers offering the same product in the market, it may be challenging to stand out.
Think about how you can differentiate yourself from the competition and offer something unique to your customers.
Ask ChatGPT for help in assessing the market
If you still have doubts, you can ask ChatGPT for help in considering the advantages and disadvantages of a specific target market.
Ask questions like, “Is the target market for my product sufficiently attractive?” or “What is the competition in the market?” AI will suggest factors to consider and help you make decisions.
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Step Three: Branding and E-commerce Platform
After selecting the product and identifying the target market, it’s time to address issues related to branding and the e-commerce platform.
It’s important to decide where you’ll be selling your products. You have two main options:
- Selling on a marketplace,
Opening your own online store.
Differences between selling on a marketplace and your own website
After choosing the sales platform, it’s time to create your brand image. One of the first steps is to create a logo. Remember that the logo should be attractive and easy to remember.
If you don’t want to hire a graphic designer, you can use free templates on Canva.
Simplicity is key, as a logo that’s too complex can be difficult for customers to remember.
Customize content for your target audience
It’s also important to tailor your communication to the target market. Your content should be engaging and directed towards your target audience.
Understanding customer needs and being able to convey a convincing message to them is crucial for brand success.
Rocketjobs perfectly tailors its communication style to its audience.
If you need help with these branding aspects, you can turn to ChatGPT for support. Remember that the fundamental element of promoting your online store is content and imagery.
The best way to reach your target audience is by providing valuable information in a concise format, such as through a blog or on social media platforms.
The groups are named after the sought-after positions and the name of their website, for example, “SEO Job from Rocketjobs.pl”
Rocketjobs has created groups on Facebook where they gather their users, encouraging them to visit their website. However, they didn’t name it “Rocketjobs Fans”, but instead took into account their needs.
What’s next? Online Advertising
Once you’ve mastered social media marketing, consider investing in paid advertising, also known as paid ads. This is an effective way to promote your online store and reach a larger group of potential customers.
However, before investing in ads, it’s important to understand the mechanisms and guidelines of advertising platforms to avoid financial losses. Don’t invest in paid ads until your product starts generating revenue.
Take the first step today and find a product to sell!
t’s time to take action! Don’t postpone it for later. Sign up for Droplo now and start your e-commerce adventure.
It’s a B2B marketplace that offers a wide range of products and tools to help you start an online store from scratch. You don’t have to invest a single penny – just register, analyze the market, and find products that will be in demand.