How Can You Sell Your Products Online in India?

E-commerce in India has witnessed remarkable traction in the last few years. According to IBEF, the Indian E-commerce market is expected to grow to $200 billion by 2026. Multiple growth drivers are contributing to the growth of E-commerce in India. Access to products and commodities at any place, anytime through numerous digital platforms on digital devices, and the flexibility to make cashless transactions are among the more significant factors.

Besides these significant factors, the other complimenting factors that are helping the Indian e-commerce market gaining steam include:

• Content delivery in the local language.
• Expansion of the online retail industry in small cities beyond the Metros.
• Growth of logistics.
• Increase inventment in this sector by investors and many government initiatives targeted to boost this sector in the last few years. 

Now that you have decided to start your e-commerce journey, there are a few fundamental essentials you must keep in mind at the start of selling your products online.
 

Top Five Tips to Sell Online in India:

• Choose a suitable marketplace for your product.
• Consider the cost involved in listing and promotion before finalizing the platform.
• Create a digital catalog highlighting the product features and benefits.
• Use good GST-compliant Accounting Software to manage complete day-to-day business activities.
• Execute ways to increase your brand visibility.
   

Five Types of popular Online Selling Marketplaces in India:

The most popular online selling platforms are generally of five types.

1. Collaborate with a Big e-commerce conglomerate, e.g., Amazon, Flipkart, etc.
2. Setup your Webstore to sell online, e.g., Shopify, Zepo, etc.
3. List your product on Local Listing Sites, e.g., OLX, Quikr, etc.
4. Promote and sell your product on Social Sites, e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc.
5. Start your e-commerce website. 

These platforms have their shares of virtues and vices, which we will be discussing here:

E-commerce Marketplace:

Provides the platform to businesses to list, promote and sell their products online. You only need to register yourself without any upfront investment to start selling. You are charged commission only when you make a sale through their platform. Otherwise, the listing is free on these platforms. To invoke life to your listing, you require a proper product description and a product catalog, listing all your product or service benefits to users.

Following are some of the flagship E-commerce Marketplaces:

• Amazon
• Flipkart
• Paytm Mall
• Myntra
• Meesho

E-commerce Web Stores:

Offers an elegant interface with tools to help you create and manage your online store on their platform. It is effortless to start with a low learning curve. The layout of the web store is highly customizable. The only downside is that your web store is new, so you need to put effort into promoting and selling your product. Following are some of the flagship E-commerce Web Stores:

• Shopify
• Zepo Commerce
• Square

Local Listing Sites:

These platforms are for you if you have a product sold locally. Targeting an audience through local listings is a very effective way to sell your product. It provides you a better-targeted reach and at a relatively cheaper cost per conversion. You can list your products or services on classified sites and start selling your product quickly. The product listing on most local classified sites is free. The transaction is not done directly through their portal, which means it is highly secure as the customer is directly reaching out to you to buy the product. Following are a few local listing sites you can count on:

• in
• Quikr
• Olx
• Craiglist

It is one of the best mixes to conduct a business using digital and conventional business practices; therefore, you get higher conversion rates from the local and more targeted audience.

Sell Products on Social Sites:

Today, saying that most people love to spend a good amount of their time on social media would not be an exaggeration. It has now become an integral part of people's daily routines. Some are addicted to it so much that the first thing they do after waking up in the morning is to check their social media feeds.

So, looking at the importance of social media in consumers' lives, marketers and businesses flock to social platforms in the hope of connecting with their target customers. 

Now, almost every business has a Facebook page and presence on other social channels. Every business prefers social selling because of the ease of usage of the platform, trouble-free interaction, and users' availability. The most popular social selling sites are:

• Facebook Marketplace: Creating product listings on the Facebook marketplace is as easy as listing on classifieds like Olx. The reach of your product listings will be local, and interested people can communicate with you directly via messenger. If you have your store's shopping link for the same product, you can instantly share it and add more direct conversion chances.
   
• Google Merchant Store: There is nothing better than selling on the platform where people search for your products. The product listing on Google merchant center improves your store's ranking if you provide the purchase link to your shoppers. It adds to the exposure of your brand.
   
• Instagram Shop: The latest update of Instagram came with the Instagram shop feature to convert your listings directly to product listings. Just like displaying the name of tagged users, the price tag will be visible to the Instagrammers exploring your products. A single click can take users to your store's checkout page, thus adding more chances of conversion.
   
• WhatsApp Business: Though Whatsapp came as a typical messenger application, the business version revolutionized e-commerce completely. With easy social sharing options, you can share the products and recent launches within your groups and network.

Start your e-commerce website:

You can consider selling your products through your e-commerce website. Though it is easier to bring sales on other online sites, but the conversion rate is never promised. Besides, you need to follow the policies of these platforms to sell your product on their platform. 

So, if you want to sell products on your terms, the best way is to create your e-commerce website and launch it.

Once launched, you need to make your brand and website visible on search engines for the relevant keywords and design a campaign to bring quality traffic to your store. Below are a few advantages of having your e-commerce website:

• You don't have to pay any commission to anyone.
• You can sell your products as per your terms.
• You can optimize your profits.
• It offers flexibility to customize your webstore anytime.

After reading this, I am sure that you have understood the significance of selling products online and the various ways you can use to sell online. So, let's put things into action, and let's get going. All the best.