How to start selling online.

First of all, it depends on what you mean by “start selling”. Depending on what you want to sell and the sales goals you set for yourself, in fact, there are at least 3 different possible scenarios.

Then there’s a new, increasingly attractive frontier which intersects with the more “traditional” channels for online sales:

Let’s discuss them one at a time.

This is a fairly common situation: you find yourself with presents you don't like, furniture you no longer use, or tools that still work but that you don't need anymore. All this stuff takes up room in your house, and you want to de-clutter while hopefully earning some cash.

In these cases, the solution is to sell your new or used items online: there are many sites that allow you to do this for free or at low cost, by creating listings,  starting auctions, or even opening “virtual stores” in just a few clicks. Here are a few of the most widely-known listings websites:

With a quick web search, you’ll find dozens of other listings websites: from the most generic to those that specialize in a specific sales market. What they have in common is the ease with which you can generally create an account and make your listing, which will be shown to a truly very wide audience of potential buyers. People interested in your product contact you through the platform, so it's easy to manage your transactions. On the other hand, keep in mind that your listing will be presented alongside many other similar ones: competition can be extremely high. To increase your visibility, which may mean staying at the top of the list for a certain time, you might consider investing a small sum of money to promote your ad within the site. Of course, it all depends on how quickly you need to make the sale, and how much you want to earn.

Just because you're not selling products doesn't mean you can't make online sales. It may seem counterintuitive, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Basically, instead of focusing on selling physical products, you can sell services. The services you can offer and which people are willing to pay for may vary widely: it all depends on what you know, what you can do, and what your interests are. Of course, you’ll need a degree and relevant experience to offer your services as a corporate consultant, but if you want to advertise yourself for small jobs like dog sitting or mowing lawns, all you need is a good attitude and some time.

In order for people who may need you and your services to find you, you can once again use a series of websites that were created to connect people seeking work with those offering it. For more clarity, we’re distinguishing between websites that help people find odd jobs and those dedicated to freelancers.  

This is where things get more interesting. We're not talking about just selling your old toaster or “selling your time” to make some extra cash on the side. We mean starting your own online sales business, a virtual store in which you can offer your physical and/or digital products.

You can choose from two options here: selling your products through a marketplace, or creating and opening your own online store. Both solutions have their pros and cons. Plus, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. In fact, you could decide to go down both roads, combining them into one comprehensive strategy.

Let’s look at them one at a time.

Having a store - whether physical or online - isn’t enough. You also need to let people know that it’s open and that it offers fantastic products at exceptional prices. There are many strategies for promoting an online store, but in general, a good marketing plan should always include a social media component. In fact, social media, starting with Facebook, is a great means of publicity: sponsored posts can grow your audience and increase your sales.

Using social media to make direct sales may seem less obvious, but Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest have all developed and made available the necessary features to do just that.

Let's take another look at our initial question: "How do I start making sales online?” As you can see from this overview, there isn't one unequivocal answer. Instead, there are different solutions to choose from depending on the type of project you want to develop and the objectives you've set yourself.

So, especially if online sales are or will become part of your business, before moving forward with any of these options, take the time to analyze your project in its entirety.

People often underestimate the value of planning, but this is very risky. What you should do is write out a Business Plan for your project. A good Business Plan is not just a document, it's also a process. First of all, writing a Business Plan is itself a process that forces you to fully reflect on the most important aspects of your project: thinking everything through before you start will spare you unpleasant surprises and reduces the risk of failure. Second, the Business Plan is a programmatic, strategic, and analytic document which, among other things, will help you: stay on track towards the objectives you set yourself, identify your project's strengths and weaknesses; plan your budget and schedules; find financing and establish relationships with potential partners.

Regardless of the specific factors of each sector or the variables that come into play, all Business Plans consist of a similar structure. Generally, they start with an Executive Summary, which is an introduction that summarizes the rest of the document, allowing the reader to get a clear, comprehensive overview of the project. After the Executive Summary, you’ll get into the details of the project. To summarize, some of the most important elements that should go into an online store’s Business Plan include:

This part describes the nature of the business and its fundamental features. Start with the mission, explain its short-, medium-, and long-term objectives, analyze its strengths and weaknesses, and identify factors for success.

The goal is to describe the products you offer and your plans for their continued development. Choosing the right products to sell in your online store is crucial for the success of your business; analyze user searches, highlight the needs you can respond to, and don't underestimate current trends.

Identify and describe your target audience. This is crucial for correctly configuring a number of processes, for example, your marketing initiatives and promotional strategies. You need to know who you're talking to in order to know what to offer them and the best way to reach them.

The goal is to collect and process useful data to define the sector and environment in which your business is situated. Studying your position compared to that of your competitors will give you a better understanding of the forces that guide the sector in which you want to operate, allowing you to know when you need to correct your course, for example.

In order to succeed, your need to spread the word about your online store and incite customers to make purchases. That means you need to identify and explain the strategies that you will implement to get these results, and as a result, meet the objectives you’ve set yourself. Work on the 4 Marketing Mix levers: Product, Price, Point of Sale (distribution), and Promotion. Once you’ve identified the needs and the target, define the marketing practices you’ll put into place and describe them all in your Marketing Plan.

This is the most labor-intensive part, and you might ask for help from a consultant. To summarize, this should allow you to estimate expenses, forecast your earnings, and understand if you need to find financing.

This analysis will help you understand which path is best for you: you might find out, for example, that selling on Amazon doesn't exclude sales through your own online store, but rather that they’ll complement each other. As a result, you could decide to launch both efforts at once, or choose to implement them one after another, as steps in a development plan. Or you might decide that the type of products you sell are best sold on a sector-specific marketplace, and focus on niche social media networks that may not have Facebook’s user numbers but are much more targeted to your audience.

In conclusion, the Web offers virtual store windows that can be seen by an immensely wide and varied audience, and technology has made available powerful, scalable tools: if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, seize these opportunities, choose a winning strategy, and build your own success.