After choosing the foreign trade platform you want to operate, you usually need to consider the following aspects.
(1) Product selection and competitive product analysis
After carefully studying some situations of foreign trade, I realized that what industry to choose and what products to upload will directly affect future income. Moreover, I believe that everyone has the same concerns as I do. Everyone is selling the same product, so why would users choose to buy my product? What kind of products are more competitive?
I have considered the following categories of products:
1. Products with high profit margins
2. Hot-selling products
3. Non-universal customized products
4. Products that are easy to transport and package
5. Products you are familiar with or like
6. Fashionable products
Maybe everyone’s choice will be different, but my personal recommendation is to choose a product that you are familiar with or like. Expertise and interest are the conditions that support your success in starting a business on the Internet. Professionalism can make it easy for you to get ahead of your peers. Even if you sell boxes for express delivery, as long as you are professional enough, you can still sell them well. Interest can enable you to persist for a long time, and you can stand up again even if you encounter setbacks.
I chose industries that I am familiar with and like: children's clothing and pet supplies. I would rather choose products that have high profits, are hot-selling, and have certain creative elements to sell in my favorite industry.
(2) Purchase channels
After determining your main business, you need to solve the problem of supply. Where is the best place to purchase from? What kind of problems are you facing? How to solve it?
Problems faced:
1. Because I am a novice, I dare not invest a lot in stockpiling before I see the profit. I choose to purchase after receiving the order, and have zero inventory.
2. Because I have a full-time job and run an online store part-time, I don’t have time to go to the market to pick out goods.
3. Consider investing only 8,000 yuan and try the sales process.
Solution:
1. For retail orders, purchase goods from other domestic online stores, such as Taobao, JD.com, etc.
2. For wholesale orders, go to domestic wholesale websites to purchase goods, such as 1688, Nahuo.com, etc.
3. No hoarding, zero inventory. Avoid ineffective use of funds.
Risks:
1. There is a possibility that the website may be out of stock, resulting in the transaction not being completed.
2. Orders with larger amounts, such as orders over US$500, will not be considered for the time being.
3. If you purchase after receiving an order, the delivery cycle may be exceeded due to force majeure such as logistics.
(3) Strategic research
After you have determined your chosen industry, capital investment scope, and purchasing channels, you need to consider your sales strategy.
As a new seller, the problem is that newly registered sellers have no credit index and no advantage in product ranking. And how to find your product among the many products on the platform.
Never put all your eggs in one basket, this is what I think about when developing a sales strategy. In order to avoid risks and balance profit margins, I have developed the following strategies:
Strategy Development:
1. In the early stage, focus on promoting some low-priced products for sales to gain popularity.
2. Upload special types of products, such as customized products, creative products, etc., and sell them at high prices. Even small demands can have a large market.
3. Try to optimize product information and improve the quality of product pictures.
Based on this strategy, the following two plans were formulated:
1. Choose the best-selling products of the season to gain popularity at low prices
To gain popularity when opening a new store, low prices are the key. If users choose price sorting, your product exposure will increase significantly.
How to achieve low prices? You can refer to the prices of similar products on platforms such as DHgate, Ali, eBay, and Amazon to have a clear idea.
2. Unique products are sold at high prices
This type of product is usually the choice of special groups of people, such as customized products, interesting products, and products for special occasions.
The above three points should be considered carefully before uploading the product. Once you have made a decision, you can truly start your journey as a seller.
