Beyond Ebay and Amazon
Online store owners on average, report a 50% increase in sales when they join the Amazon market place and a 20% increase when they join eBay. As two of the largest online marketplaces in the world, eBay and Amazon can be hugely profitable. They are a great place to start and get your store seen by more people. Two advantages to selling on Amazon and eBay are that you only pay a fee after you make a sale and since you are selling on their platform, you don't have to design or maintain a website.
One significant disadvantage to selling on these platforms however, is their marketplace fees. Their fees are calculated off of your product price and shipping costs combined. Depending on how much you charge for shipping, the fee can sometimes be as high as 15% to 20% of your products price. That can take a significant bite out of your profit margins.
But what if you are coming from Amazon and eBay and trying to sell on the open market with your own online store? The good news is that if you had success on Amazon and eBay you will most likely be successful on the open market as well. The bad news is that your success is not guaranteed.
Amazon and eBay are closed market places with a level playing field. You are using their websites to sell your products and everyone selling products there are using the exact same presentation and shopping cart. The only thing that differentiates you from your competitor is the picture, price and description.
What pushes more people to the open market place is the desire for more sales. While there are more pitfalls and more ways to lose money, such as choosing the wrong web team or ecommerce platform, the upside is almost infinite scalability.
At Omni Interactive Advertising we're here to help you be a leader in your market place. Contact us today for a free review of you current marketing efforts.