Selling Your Products Online in 2022

You know that learning how to sell your products online in 2022 is a key to growth for your business. Your customers are shopping online, and you competitors are selling to them. So, what are the next steps to selling online? How can your business get started?

The Impacts of COVID-19

The massive disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in growth in eCommerce that wasn’t forecasted for four to six years. That growth happened over the course of six months. When the lockdowns went into effect, normal distribution channels were turned off overnight. Retail stores have been shuttered, and distribution centers struggled with COVID outbreaks. eCommerce provided a lifeline to many businesses, as it created a revenue stream that wasn’t dependent on those closed distribution channels. Companies needed to start selling their products online, and fast. The numbers were staggering:

• In the United States, eCommerce sales jumped from $598 Billion in 2019 to $791.7 Billion in 2020.
• Nine out of the top ten global eCommerce companies experienced double-digit sales growth in 2020.
• 93% of B2B small businesses are now conducting some portion of their business online.
• eCommerce as a Percent of Total Sales had two years worth of growth in a single year:

New Online Shoppers

Customers who never purchased online before became shoppers overnight. Winners and losers became very clear, as small and medium companies went out of business, and large retailers and mass merchants used their size and scale to grab more market share.

The COVID-19 effects will be felt for a long time. The tipping point for online shopping shows the need for small and medium sized companies to have a plan to sell online and do it well. Some companies set up online sales channels in a panic, simply to stay afloat. The “new normal” that has settled in, and the opportunity is now to grow your business through online sales. It’s critical to be where your customers are shopping, so you can meet and exceed their expectations. The demand for online options will only continue to grow, even with stores re-opening.

What can a small or medium sized company do to sell their products online in 2022?

How does a small or medium sized company sell online in 2022? Here are three questions that every company should ask themselves:

1. Do we have a strategy to sell to our customers online?
2. Do we have the processes, people and platforms to execute that strategy?
3. How can we create a competitive advantage with our products and services online?

From these three questions, a company can begin their online sales strategy planning. Here at eCom Deep Dive, we recently spoke with a company that sells construction products to contractors and distributors through normal distribution channels. We reviewed their sales channels, and asked:

• Is there an opportunity to add a website with a login for business customers with their own contracted pricing?
• Can you add marketplaces that would help to grow the beyond the core audience, and create additional sales growth?
• Should a 3rd Party Logistics company handle shipping, or should you ship direct to your customers?
• Can you engage with your customers through social media, ratings, and reviews?
• Should you offer some of the product line as online-only exclusives?

We created this assessment so we could create an online business plan that could be executed quickly. Their focus wasn’t traditionally on the users of their products, in the sense that they weren’t the ones buying the product directly from them. The company changed the way that they went to market, and within 90 days the company had already eclipsed $150k in online sales.

Processes

Your business doesn’t need to roll-out it’s eCommerce plan all at once. Test and learn what products work by adding a channel, like marketplaces. This strategy will help keep your investment low as you understand the challenges that your will need to work through. Your product keywords and product listings can be optimized for SEO and search rankings. your back-end ordering and shipping systems can be stressed-tested to ensure that they don’t break when demand begins to surge. We favor this approach for an online business, to make sure that there isn’t a failure at the beginning of the process. An overwhelmed system can quickly kill momentum. Not only will customers not be happy with missed delivery times and customer service mistakes, but your employees will feel stress and anxiety.

Measure Your Progress

It’s also important to create achievable, measurable goals for your new online sales channels as you are learning how to sell your products online in 2022. Building KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and dashboard metrics are a good way to monitor the health of your business. This will allow you to build confidence that you are reaching your goals, and that the underlying health of your business is good. A lack of metrics will also quickly create unsustainable processes. It’s best practice to build some of the measurement infrastructure ahead of launch, which then can be tweaked and changed as the business grows. Here are a few ways to measure your website that would be a good place to start:

• Number of visitors
• Conversion rate
• Bounce rate
• Average time on page
• Average value per customer

People

It’s important to invest in people who can help your business grow. Your team will be made up of contributors who wear many hats when you start your eCommerce business. They might need to have skills covering many areas, including:

• Channel Management
• SEO
• Digital Advertising
• Digital Merchandising
• Content Creation
• Analytics

As the business grows and matures over time, these areas will become more distinct, and the skill sets of your team will need to be more specialized. The job titles and descriptions will become clearer, and areas of responsibility will be more defined. This is a natural part of the process, but it’s critical that you manage it well to ensure that the business can continue to grow and scale as the team takes on new members. Plan ahead by creating an organizational roadmap for what you envision your online business will look like in three years. It’s likely that your business will deviate from that roadmap, but the planning process will help highlight where more talent will need to be added or transitioned to new roles in the future.

Platforms

To run your eCommerce business efficiently and effectively, you will need new technology. Our guides can help with determining what platforms or SaaS solutions are right for your business. Determining the right software can be a labor-intensive process. The investment in money and time can drain a business if not done correctly. What are the most important software features that your business needs? Here are some of the key areas where your business will need to determine the best fit for your business:

• eCommerce Platforms
• Order and Inventory Management Systems
• Shipping Solutions
• Rating and Reviews
• Customer Service
• Accounting
• Product and Market Research
• Payment Gateways
• Advertising and Marketing

Your Competitive Advantage

What is unique about your business that gives it the edge on the competition? It’s important to lean into the aspects of your company that make it special. That can include:

• The products you make
• Your customer experiences
• The strength of your supply chain or logistics
• Your branding
• Your sales or marketing team

Identify your core strengths that will translate online. Even if it’s your sales team, you can still build that advantage into your sales process through online consultations.

Bringing It All Together

There is enormous opportunity for companies willing to invest in eCommerce with the right mix of processes, progress monitoring, people and platforms. Getting each of those areas solidified can lead to big wins and an advantage over the competition. Having a partner to guide your organization can mean the difference between success and failure. Start selling your products online in 2022 – there is no better time than now!