How to sell online? All you need to know!

Now more than ever, selling online has many advantages, but it's also a business that requires knowledge of sales, administration, logistics and marketing.

Showcasing products on the Internet, managing orders and stocks, customer relations, website referencing: there are many different areas to tackle, and you need to be well prepared or have support to bring your project to fruition.

Follow our comprehensive guide and advice to develop your online business!

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Before selling online

Take an interest in regulations

What does the lawsay about online sales?

Unsurprisingly, the product must be legal, and if its consumption or use is regulated, such as for alcohol, you'll need to acquire the necessary licenses.

As far as the sale itself is concerned, refer to the service-public.frwebsite to find out about the regulations, which are the same as for distance or mail-order sales, including

• reporting obligations (consumer protection, VAT, CNIL),
• mandatory information at each stage of the sale,
• payment and delivery conditions,
• canvassing rules, etc.

☝️ For peace of mind, enlist the help of a lawyer to draw up the general terms and conditions of sale (GTCS) and legal notices to be displayed prominently on your site.

Choose your status

The creation of a company is compulsory from the very first sale, and is indispensable for developing a network of suppliers, issuing invoices, and so on.

If you are not yet a sales professional and have another salaried activity, you can create a microentrepreneur status, which is an interesting way of testing your online sales project.

In fact, you only pay taxes if you sell above a certain threshold, and are exempt from VAT when you launch your business, among other advantages.

But if, in your business plan, you expect to :

• rapidly exceed the sales ceiling for micro-enterprises (€176,200 excl. VAT for the purchase/sale of goods, see "read also" above);
• join forces with partners;

→ opt for EURL or SARL.

☝️ Once again, don't hesitate to ask for support: a chartered accountant is an invaluable advisor, even when setting up a new business.

Conduct a market study

It's not enough to want to start an e-commerce business: you also need to know what to sell, what product(s) and/or service(s), and to whom.

These questions can help you get started:

• Do you have a passion that you can sell to others?
• Do you have an idea that responds to a trend or strong market demand ?
  ▷ Competition will be important, but so will the clientele.
• A niche product just waiting to meet its buyers?
  ▷ The competition and the target will be smaller.
  

Then move on to market research:

• not only does it shed light on the market you want to penetrate, before validating the products or services you're going to market;
• It also helps you define your online sales strategy.

Thanks to the information you gather, you'll be able to identify what we call a business opportunity and define a qualitative, coherent offer that will set you apart:

• What do your direct and indirect competitors offer?
• What are the expectations and buying habits of your target customers?
• What prices are charged, and what additional services are commonly offered?
• What tax, legal and environmental constraints need to be anticipated?

Define your online sales strategy

Determine your sales objectives, in particular by defining your expected sales margin.

This will enable you to negotiate with your suppliers on the basis of clear figures.

You've already answered the questions :

• what to sell?
• to whom to sell?
• against which competitors?

Now you're going to look at how? Which channels will you choose? E-commerce site, marketplace, Facebook?

Channels for selling online

The e-commerce site

Before creating your site and choosing a platform or CMS, define the specifications for your e-commerce project.

Thanks to this document, which sets out all your needs, you can delegate the design of your e-commerce site to a web agency, which will take care of building your e-shop, creating the graphic charter and reserving the domain name.

But you can also manage this part yourself (if you're a talented developer), or select a turnkey CMS.

There's no shortage of e-commerce platforms to choose from: Shopify, Woocommerce, Prestashop, etc.

☝️ Have you heard of the New-Oxatisplatform? 100% French, it offers more than 650 functions and applications for creating and customizing your online store, as well as support for your site's SEO, so that your offer is highly visible on the web!

Whatever you choose, you'll need to pay particular attention to :

• the design of the site, which must offer a pleasant customer experience and project a professional image ;
  
  
• the simplified purchasing process, with prominent "buy" buttons and basket previews, for example;
  
  
• transparent information:
• prices are clear, including delivery costs, discounts deducted immediately or after basket validation, etc. ;
• the payment system is secure and protects bank data. For this reason, don't hesitate to install an SSL certificate on your merchant site;
• legal notices are available, as are the GTC and GTCS;
• customers can contact you easily;
• refund terms and conditions are set out, to reassure customers and encourage them to buy;
  
  
• a variety of payment methods: PayPal, credit cards, bank transfers, etc., and multi-currency management, to satisfy as many customers as possible;
  
  
• delivery methods: by post, at a relay point, or click and collect?
  
  
• adaptation to any support: the site is responsive for comfortable use on mobile or tablet devices. Mobile commerce or m-commerce is now a must.

The marketplace

To sell online without creating a site, you can integrate marketplaces such as eBay or Amazon, or price comparison sites such as Cdiscount.

Your catalog is sent to these sites using flow management software, enabling you to manage everything automatically.

In addition to an e-commerce site, having a presence on a marketplace can enable you to :

• reach a wider and more varied customer base,
• increase your visibility,
• showcase your top products,
• attract new customers to your own e-commerce site,
• sell off old stock.

Be careful, however, to stay true to your brand image. The giants of the marketplace are not always eco-responsible and sometimes project an unethical image.

They also tend to favor their own products and certain partners. Fortunately, there are alternatives to Amazon.

Social commerce

Did you know that you can also sell on social networks? How do you sell online on Facebook?

Activate a store on your page by going to Settings ▷ Edit Page ▷ Add a tab ▷ Shop, then :

• create product sheets and collections;
• organize your inventory;
• highlight certain products in a presentation area.

You can also :

• communicate with your customers from your page;
• collect statistics (views, clicks, messages received on a particular product), etc.

👍 If you have an online site and want to sell on Facebook as a complement, most e-commerce platforms enable a connection with social networks thanks to plug-ins (extensions): your catalog is sent to Facebook, automatically creating a store page attached to your account.

See all software eCommerce

[Bonus] Our tips, from product sheets to communication

How do you create your product sheets?

Your product sheets need to be complete, aesthetically pleasing and optimized (with keywords) so that they are well indexed on Google.

The aim of this content marketing is to appeal to your prospects, offer them a pleasant browsing experience, and also to ensure that your various pages are well referenced.

But above all, your product sheets must make consumers want to click on them, read them, and then buy!

👍 Personalize the description and sales arguments. A product sheet should sell benefits more than features.

Why not try storytelling? Tell your customers a story, play the emotion card.

👎 To be avoided: a presentation that's too technical or identical to the competition.

How do you manage a product catalog?

If you have a large product catalog and a multi-channel distribution channel, a PIM ( Product Information Management) solution may prove useful.

It allows you to create a single product repository for all distribution channels, but also to easily personalize and differentiate your content on each of them, always with a view to SEO optimization (Google doesn't like copy and paste).

💡 PIM software also lets you cross-reference products to help with cross-selling, the additional sale of products, of the "if you liked this, you'll also like that" type.

How do you promote your online store?

There are many ways to promote your site and your business.

Define a digital marketing strategy consistent with your target and your offer to :

• generate maximum traffic from the outset,
• convey a high-quality, professional image.

Advertising

First of all, there's classic advertising. For this, a must in web promotion: paid search (SEA) campaigns with Adwords.

You buy strategic keywords related to your business to appear in ads at the top of Google search pages.

This tool is ideal for launching your online business, taking full advantage of the seasonality of your industry, or bringing in additional traffic during a slump.

☝ In addition to Google Adwords, consider Facebook Ads. While the former is based on keywords, as well as selected demographic and geographic data, the latter takes a closer look at the interests and behaviors of your potential buyers.

The visuals of the ads are more attractive, and although they work on a cost-per-click basis like Adwords, they are more affordable.

On the other hand, if your target audience includes millenials, advertising on Instagram is another option: the visuals are just as polished, and the audience is highly engaged. Viral effect guaranteed.

Natural referencing

It's free (unless you go through an agency, of course) and inevitably more technical, but you can also optimize your natural referencing (SEO for search engine optimization):

• not only by carefully structuring your site (no orphan pages, a simple tree structure) ;
• by indexing your product sheets correctly, using relevant keywords in your presentations;
• but also by exchanging links (backlinking) with partners to increase your popularity,
  • registering in professional directories,
  • and by creating a Google My Business or Google Shopping page, enabling your customers to give their feedback and Google Maps to geolocate you.

The effects are less rapid than with paid search, but far more lasting.

Inbound marketing

Inbound marketing consists in subtly drawing your potential buyers to you, through relevant and attractive content.

That's why it's so important to look after your landing pages, the pages your prospects land on when they click on a "contact request" button or an advertisement.

You can also :

• participate in specialized discussion forums to establish your legitimacy and demonstrate your expertise;
• post videos on YouTube (among others), presenting your products or services in tutorial style;
• publish articles on your blog or social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest);
  These will enable you to communicate more intimately with your customers and provide them with useful content (tips, news, promotions);
• send targeted email campaigns featuring quality content such as white papers, testimonials, success stories, etc.

Email marketing and marketing automation software can support you in these tasks. Some e-commerce platforms also offer these functions.

☝️ Have you thought about asking influencers to talk about your products on their blogs or Instagram? This is called influencer marketing.

How can I sell without stock?

You can sell without having to manage stock , thanks to the dropshippingtechnique : the order for a product offered on your site is sent directly to your supplier, who takes care of delivery and stock management.

Among the drawbacks: you can't control product quality upstream, and you have no control over shipping times.

Finally, how do you manage your sales?

Make your life easier by connecting your e-commerce site to an ERP software package, which will enable you to manage not only your inventory, but also your customer relations. After all, it's not enough just to communicate with them; you also need to ensure that they're satisfied, delivered on time, and have access to their orders and invoices via a customer portal.

Archipelia is a good example of an ERP dedicated to e-commerce, which also integrates PIM functionalities (product management, price catalog, etc.).

Whatever your ERP, you'll need to connect it to your sales platform via a gateway, like the Atoo-Sync Gescomsolution .

It enables your two tools to synchronize all your activities in real time. Whether it's inventory management, product catalog management or tracking orders, deliveries, payments... you save precious time!

Your customers can also access their PDF invoices or delivery status via their portal.

Last but not least, an appropriate sales management solution enables you to analyze the performance of your online store. It's important to monitor them regularly to measure your site's efficiency, taking into account changes in :

• your conversion rate,
• your traffic, on each page,
• your average shopping basket,
• and customer loyalty.

Pinpoint your weak points and draw up an action plan to correct them and boost your sales!