Ready to list your first product? Let’s break down exactly what you need and skip what you don’t.

TL;DR: How to Create a Product on Shopify

Learning how to create a product on Shopify means preparing your store foundation first, then following Shopify’s product creation workflow. You’ll add your product through the admin dashboard by filling in essential fields like title, description, images, price, and inventory. The actual product upload takes minutes, but the preparation—having professional photos, knowing your pricing strategy, and understanding your product’s unique value—determines whether customers click “buy.”

Key Points:

• Set up your Shopify account, domain, and payment settings before adding products
• Navigate to Products → Add Product and complete the core fields (title, description, media, price, inventory)
• Write benefit-focused descriptions and SEO-friendly product titles that include your primary keywords
• Upload at least 3-5 high-quality images showing different angles and real-world use
• Set product status to “Active” and test your checkout process before announcing your launch
• Enable customer reviews early to build trust, even before you have sales

What You Need Before Adding Your First Product

Adding products to Shopify works best when your store foundation is solid. Think of it like setting up a physical storefront—you wouldn’t start stocking shelves before the walls are painted and the cash register works.

Create Your Shopify Account and Store Basics

Sign up at Shopify.com with your email and choose a unique store name. Shopify offers a free trial to test the platform before committing to a paid plan. Complete your store’s regional settings, tax configuration, and select a plan that unlocks all features you’ll need for selling. Choose a theme that fits your product category, customize your homepage layout, and ensure your logo and color scheme are consistent. Your store’s visual identity should feel intentional from day one.

How to Pick a Domain

Your domain name should be memorable and ideally include keywords related to your products. Register a custom domain through Shopify or connect one you already own. Skip complicated spellings or hyphens—customers need to remember and type your URL easily. A branded domain (yourstore.com instead of yourstore.myshopify.com) looks more professional.

Your Product Information Checklist

Before touching Shopify’s product form, gather everything you need in one place. If you’re working with manufacturers or product developers, request comprehensive spec sheets including dimensions, materials, care instructions, and recommended retail pricing—this prep work (whether from partners like Gembah or your factory) turns the listing process from hours to minutes.

You’ll need:

• Product titles and detailed descriptions
• High-resolution photos from multiple angles
• Pricing (including any sale prices)
• Dimensions and weight for shipping
• SKU numbers if you’re tracking inventory
• Any variants like sizes or colors

Decide on Your Product Type and Configure Shipping

Shopify handles physical products, digital downloads, and services differently. Physical products require shipping settings and weight. Digital products skip shipping entirely but need delivery mechanisms for files. Services might need appointment booking integrations.

Configure payment gateways before your first product goes live. Shopify Payments works seamlessly, but you can also connect PayPal, Stripe, or other processors. For shipping, decide between flat rates, calculated rates, or free shipping. Research competitors in your niche to set rates that feel fair while protecting your margins.

Step-by-Step: Adding Your Product to Shopify

Once your store foundation is ready, the actual process to add a product to Shopify takes just a few minutes. Here’s exactly what to do.

Navigate to Products → Add Product

Log into your Shopify admin dashboard. Click “Products” in the left sidebar, then hit the “Add product” button. You’ll see a form with several sections. Don’t let the number of fields intimidate you—most are optional for your first listing. Focus on the essentials: title, description, media, pricing, and inventory.

Write a Product Title That People Actually Search For

Your product title needs to work for both humans and search engines. Start with your primary keyword—the exact phrase customers type into Google. Keep it under 60 characters to avoid truncation in search results. Include the product category, key feature, and brand name if relevant. “Organic Cotton Yoga Mat – Non-Slip, Eco-Friendly” beats “The Best Yoga Mat You’ll Ever Use” because it tells customers exactly what they’re getting while targeting searchable terms.

Front-load your most important keyword at the start of the title. Add unique selling points like materials or use cases in the middle. Close with your brand name unless your brand is already widely recognized.

Craft a Description That Answers “Why Should I Buy This?”

Product descriptions sell benefits, not features. Customers don’t care about “500-thread-count Egyptian cotton”—they care about getting the best sleep of their lives. Start your description by addressing the customer’s problem or desire.

Here’s how to transform a generic manufacturer description into one that converts:

Before (Generic): “Premium stainless steel water bottle. Features double-wall vacuum insulation. Available in 20oz capacity. Made from food-grade 18/8 stainless steel. BPA-free construction.”

After (Benefit-Focused): “Keep your morning coffee hot through your entire commute—or your water ice-cold during afternoon meetings. This vacuum-insulated bottle maintains temperature for 12+ hours, fits standard cup holders, and the leak-proof lid means no more bag disasters. The wide mouth makes adding ice easy and cleaning even easier.”

Structure your content with clear sections: lead with emotional benefits, then back them up with specifications. Use short paragraphs and bullet points for easy scanning. Bold key benefits. Include dimensions, materials, and care instructions further down for detail-oriented buyers. Write something unique that reflects your brand voice rather than copying supplier descriptions.

Upload High-Quality Product Photos

Upload at least 3-5 clear, high-quality images per product. Show the front, back, sides, and close-ups of important details. Poor photos tank conversion rates—83% of online shoppers cite product images as the most influential buying factor. Use soft, diffused lighting and maintain consistent backgrounds across your catalog.

Include lifestyle shots showing your product in use. These help customers visualize ownership and create emotional connections. Consider adding product videos or 360-degree spins if your budget allows—videos on landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80% or more.

A B2B chemical products store increased conversions by 61% after adding high-quality 3D renders from multiple angles and featuring client reviews next to the Add-To-Cart button. Sunday Citizen achieved a 6% conversion rate increase by compressing and optimizing images to improve loading speed and simplify their layout.

Set Your Price (and Don’t Forget Your Margins)

Enter your product price in the pricing section. Add a “Compare at price” if you’re running a sale to show customers the savings. Before you publish, verify your margins can sustain your business. For most physical products, aiming for 50-60% gross margins provides cushion for marketing costs and promotions, though this varies significantly by category:

• Beauty & skincare products: 60-80% gross margins due to low production costs and loyal repeat buyers
• Phone accessories: 50-70% margins thanks to lightweight shipping and consistent demand
• Home & kitchen products: 45-65% margins benefit from lower shipping costs for lightweight items
• Premium clothing & fashion accessories: 30-60% margins reflect higher production costs, with jewelry averaging higher than basic apparel

Commodity products typically run 20-35% while custom or luxury items may reach 70%+. Choose between cost-plus pricing (your costs plus markup), value-based pricing (aligned with customer-perceived value), or competitive pricing (matching market rates). Monitor competitor pricing regularly but avoid racing to the bottom.

Add Inventory and SKU Tracking

Enable “Track quantity” in the inventory section to prevent overselling. Enter your current stock level and set up low-stock alerts so you know when to reorder. Create a SKU system that makes sense for your business—something like “TSHIRT-BLK-M” for a medium black t-shirt. Keep your SKU format consistent across all products to avoid confusion during fulfillment.

Note: If you’re selling custom or made-to-order products, you’ll need to adjust your inventory tracking approach—explore Shopify’s infinite inventory option rather than tracking specific quantities.

Choose Your Product Category and Tags

Set your product type, assign a vendor name if you work with manufacturers, and add your product to relevant collections. Collections group related products together, making it easier for customers to browse. Tags help with internal organization and can improve site search—add tags for attributes like color, season, or use case.

Think about how customers will navigate your store. Someone looking for “summer dresses” should land on a collection page showing all relevant options. Smart organization improves the shopping experience and can boost your average order value.

Optimize Your Product Listing So People Actually Buy

Getting your product into Shopify is step one. Optimizing it for conversions separates stores that make sales from those that don’t.

Add Variants If You Have Multiple Options

If your product comes in different sizes, colors, or styles, add variants instead of creating separate listings for each option. Click “Add variant” in the variants section and define your options (size: Small, Medium, Large). Each variant can have its own price, SKU, and inventory level.

Limit variants to options customers actually care about. Three size and five color options (15 combinations) work well, but going beyond 20-25 total combinations often creates decision paralysis. When a handmade candle maker initially set variants by both scent AND size, she created 48 combinations that confused customers and led to frequent questions. After simplifying to scent-only variants with a single standard size, her cart abandonment dropped noticeably and customer questions disappeared.

Write SEO-Friendly URLs and Meta Descriptions

Focus on product page optimization after you have 5-10 listings. For your first product, clear titles and descriptions matter more than perfect meta descriptions.

Edit your product’s URL handle to make it short and keyword-focused. Use hyphens between words and include your primary keyword. “red-cotton-dress” beats “product-12345” for both search engines and humans. Scroll to the “Search engine listing preview” section and write a custom meta description under 160 characters. Include your target keyword naturally and add a call to action.

Once your URL is live and indexed, avoid changing it unless absolutely necessary. Always set up 301 redirects if you must update URLs to preserve search rankings.

Enable Customer Reviews (Even If You Don’t Have Any Yet)

Install a review app and enable reviews on your product pages immediately. Displaying customer reviews can boost conversion rates by 70% on average, with luxury items seeing increases up to 380%. Products with at least five reviews achieve a 270% higher purchase likelihood compared to products without any reviews.

Nearly 95% of consumers read reviews before purchasing, and 93% say reviews influence their decisions. Those first five reviews matter most—conversion impact plateaus after 10-20 reviews. Reach out to early customers and ask them to leave honest feedback. Respond to reviews regularly, positive and negative—businesses that engage with reviews saw up to an 80% conversion rate boost.

Top Mistakes That Kill First Product Listings

Even experienced sellers make these critical errors when rushing to launch. Avoid them and you’ll be ahead of most new Shopify stores.

Poor or Incomplete Product Descriptions

Many new store owners provide vague, incomplete, or generic descriptions—often copied from suppliers—failing to detail key product features, specifications, or usage. This confuses customers and weakens SEO performance. Write unique descriptions that highlight your specific value proposition: your warranty, your customer service, your brand story. Invest time in original content that reflects your brand voice.

Low-Quality or Insufficient Product Images

Uploading blurry, small, or too few images undermines trust and conversion rates. High-resolution images with zoom capability are expected by customers. Show your product from multiple angles with consistent lighting and backgrounds. Include lifestyle shots demonstrating real-world use. High-quality visuals reduce returns by setting accurate expectations.

Neglecting Basic SEO and Testing Your Checkout

Failing to optimize product titles, meta descriptions, and image alt texts reduces visibility in search engines. Use relevant keywords and fill out product details in a structured way.

Place a test order before customers do. Add your product to the cart, proceed to checkout, and complete a purchase using Shopify’s test payment methods. Research shows 27% of users abandon carts due to confusing checkouts, and 21% leave because navigation is difficult. Testing catches these issues before they cost you real money.

Forgetting to Hit “Active” Before Publishing

Shopify defaults new products to “Draft” status. You can fill out every field perfectly, click “Save,” and still have a product that nobody can see. Scroll to the top-right section of the product form and check the status dropdown. Change it from “Draft” to “Active” to make your product visible. Preview your product page in an incognito browser to confirm customers can actually see it.

What Happens After You Add Your Product

Publishing your product is just the beginning. Here’s what to focus on next.

Preview and Test Everything

Click the “View” button at the top of your product form to see how your listing appears to shoppers. Check formatting, image quality, spacing, and button placement. Test on mobile devices—over 70% of new traffic arrives via mobile for many Shopify stores. Your product page should look professional and load quickly on all devices.

Share Your Product Link to Get Your First Sales

Copy your product URL and share it across social media, email lists, and relevant communities. Don’t wait for organic traffic—actively drive people to your new listing. Reach out to friends and family for honest feedback and early purchases. Those first sales and reviews create momentum. Consider running a soft launch with a small promotion to generate initial interest.

Plan Your Full Launch Strategy Next

Adding one product to Shopify is a milestone, but sustainable success requires a broader strategy. Set up Google Analytics and track your conversion metrics. Monitor which products sell, which pages have high bounce rates, and where customers drop off in checkout. Use this data to refine your listings, adjust pricing, and improve customer experience.

Conclusion

Learning how to create a product on Shopify doesn’t require mastering every feature on day one. Focus on the essentials: clear titles, benefit-driven descriptions, quality images, smart pricing, and accurate inventory. Test everything yourself, enable reviews early, and optimize based on real customer behavior. The stores that succeed don’t have perfect first listings—they have good enough listings that they improve through actual data.

Building a successful Shopify store starts with strong product development and accurate cost analysis. If you need help with product development and manufacturing before you’re ready to list, Gembah specializes in helping entrepreneurs navigate the complete journey—from validating product ideas and managing manufacturing to preparing detailed product specifications ready for your Shopify catalog.Ready to launch a product with a solid foundation behind it? Connect with Gembah’s product development experts to ensure your next Shopify listing represents a product built for market success.

The post How to Create a Product on Shopify (Without Getting Lost in Settings) appeared first on Gembah.

At Gembah, we specialize in turning early-stage product ideas into fully developed, manufacturer-ready products. Whether you’re modifying an existing design or starting from scratch, we guide you through sourcing, sampling, and production—step by step, and with total transparency.

Once your product is ready to ship, Ordoro steps in. Their powerful platform helps you streamline fulfillment across every sales channel—so your brand doesn’t just launch, it scales.

The End-to-End Product Launch Stack

Gembah + Ordoro = A smoother path from vision to unboxing.

Gembah:

We handle everything from idea validation to design, sourcing, and manufacturer matchmaking. You’ll work with a curated team of experts who understand cost, quality, and speed—and who can help you avoid the missteps that slow down most first-time product creators.

Ordoro:

Once you’ve got inventory, they simplify the rest. Sync products across sales channels, print shipping labels, manage inventory, and automate your logistics—all from one clean, scalable dashboard.

Why This Partnership Matters

Bringing a new product to life requires two things: the right product and the right infrastructure. Gembah helps you build the former. Ordoro helps you scale the latter.

Together, we help you:

Source smarter: Gembah connects you with trusted manufacturers around the world—without middlemen or guesswork.

Get to market faster: No disconnects between development and delivery—just one clean handoff from Gembah to Ordoro.

Grow without chaos: As demand scales, Ordoro keeps your operations lean, visible, and fully under control.

Keep your focus: Spend less time troubleshooting and more time growing your brand.

Built to Grow With You

You might be launching your first SKU—or you might be expanding a growing product line. Either way, Gembah and Ordoro are built to grow with your business.

From napkin sketch to doorstep delivery, you don’t need to juggle disconnected tools or hire a massive team. You just need the right partners—ones who know how to turn good ideas into great products, and then get those products into the hands of customers.

Let’s Make Your Next Product Real

If you’re ready to move from idea to inventory—and from inventory to customer—let’s talk. Gembah helps you build the product. Ordoro helps you deliver it.

Ready to launch smarter?

The post From Idea to Delivery: How Gembah and Ordoro Help Brands Launch Smarter appeared first on Gembah.

In most cases, they present a cheaper alternative that’s less resource-intensive and lower risk than setting up similar shipping capabilities in-house. They also give eCommerce brands access to professional fulfillment at a much earlier stage in the business life cycle. As a result, 3PLs are growing rapidly, with over 21,000 such businesses in the U.S. Further, these providers handle an estimated 60% of all global retail shipments.

In this article, we’ll look at how those services are able to save your organization money, explaining where specifically they can cut costs across logistics.

Key Takeaways

• Third-party logistics (3PL) providers enable significant cost savings through economies of scale, offering lower shipping rates, shared warehousing costs, and professional fulfillment services without heavy infrastructure investment.
• 3PLs reduce operational expenses by providing trained staff, advanced technology systems, and inventory management expertise, eliminating the need for in-house hiring, training, and software development.
• Risk management and compliance handling by 3PLs help businesses avoid costly mistakes while reducing the need for dedicated internal resources for regulatory oversight and quality control.
• Geographic expansion becomes more cost-effective with 3PLs, as businesses can instantly access established warehousing networks and shipping relationships in new markets without significant upfront investment.
• Professional pick, pack, and prep services from 3PLs reduce packaging costs and improve customer satisfaction through optimized packaging and reliable delivery, leading to fewer returns and customer service issues.

1. Fewer shipping expenses

The core of 3PL companies is shipping and fulfillment. They often operate through a mix of their own shipping fleets and major shipping carriers like UPS, USPS, and FedEx.

3PLs can negotiate significantly lower rates with carriers because they represent their entire clientele, which can encompass hundreds of thousands or even millions of product shipments per year. Those economies of scale carry over to other aspects of shipping as well:

• 3PLs can afford their own fleets for last-mile delivery to reduce the total cost of courier delivery.
• Optimized routes minimize expenses along the journey by distributing inventory regionally, which reduces the final cost to ship.

2. Reduced warehousing costs

Warehousing eats up a significant portion of budget for many businesses. With a 3PL though, you share storage costs with their other customers, since you’re renting a small portion of a larger warehouse alongside tens or even hundreds of other businesses.

With 3PLs like MyFBAPrep boasting over 85 million square feet of warehousing space, eCommerce brands enjoy economies of scale for storage as well. Instead of investing in building or buying infrastructure, you pay for what you need, and the cost per square foot is significantly lower because the service operates in bulk.

Storage availability also enables you to scale during seasonal and peak periods with ease: You can increase warehousing volume for the holidays to meet demand without having to find extra space to hold your products.

3. Inventory management

Other foundational offerings are inventory management, warehousing, and distribution. 3PLs invest in these services to develop top-notch inventory management systems, with real-time tracking and synchronization with your existing software and systems. This means you can track stock levels live so you can update inventory on every platform where you sell.

Your 3PL should also offer advice on inventory optimization. For example, they may recommend strategies for ordering and stocking, increasing inventory turnover, and reducing total costs.

4. Cost savings on labor

Hiring staff for product handling, pick and pack, inventory and warehouse management, and other logistical tasks is time-consuming and expensive. You have to screen candidates and train new staff, and during peak sales periods like the holidays, those responsibilities multiply.

For smaller eCommerce stores, that can be extremely expensive, because you might not have the volume to employ full-time staff for part of the year, then suddenly need a team of more than 10 at key points. With only one or two people on staff, your warehouse could experience outages during turnover or if someone calls in sick.

Switching to a 3PL gives you access to a professional, full-time workforce that distributes work across multiple businesses — you can scale labor as needed, with your 3PL handling the hiring, training, and supervising. A larger team also means less disruption when employees take sick days or you scale up for seasonal peaks, so you pay less for better service.

Savings can also be considerable if you compare the annual wage of in-house employees versus what you pay for the same service from your 3PL.

5. Technological savings

Logistical processes also require advanced software, which 3PLs and 4PLs possess. They boast the latest systems for picking, warehouse management, transportation management, etc. Their robust software enables your business to enjoy real-time tracking, better warehousing insights, automated pick, and more.

In addition, by shifting much of that software to a third party, you cut technology costs like IT staffing and hosting to create and maintain that same software environment internally. While you’ll still need in-house IMS and CRM, you’ll have fewer tools to set up and maintain, which lessens your investment in IT.

6. Risk management

With professional and trained staff, advanced technology for reliable, real-time tracking, analytics to highlight and mitigate potential problems, and the ability to provide more comprehensive insurance, 3PLs can greatly reduce logistical risks.

Providers often incorporate regulatory compliance into service offerings as well, in the form of a compliance officer who stays up to date on rules so you don’t have to onboard someone to handle it internally. You save on compliance and risk management while slashing potential expenses that could result from neglecting risk management.

7. Minimal capital investment

Outsourcing logistics to a 3PL lets you focus on core business aspects and frees capital for stock replenishment, expansion, and other activities to strengthen your brand. You also benefit from increased logistical flexibility and scalability, without having to make a personal investment, which saves you on expenses like:

• Researching and buying software, storage capacity, machinery for warehousing, etc.
• Maintenance costs (e.g., cleaning warehouses, repairing buildings, hiring and recruitment expenses)

A 3PL switches all of those services to a “pay as you go” model (much like software as a service). You pay for what you use as a portion of the total costs of the provider, which is often cheaper than if you took on the same services yourself. In turn, you regain that capital to redirect toward your core business.

8. Less demand for customer service

Thanks to their professional services, robust software, real-time tracking, automated pick-and-pack systems, and reliable logistics, 3PLs slash the occurrence of errors, breakage, and late deliveries. They also bring other perks like packaging optimization and last-mile-delivery, which minimize damage during transit. As a result, you save money through fewer customer complaints, returns, and replacement product costs.

9. Cheaper expansion into new markets

Expanding into a new geographic region requires significant research, setup, and effort to place inventory for timely delivery to customers. With a 3PL, you instantly access warehousing and last-mile fulfillment in those areas. Additionally, they may also have existing contracts with carriers, so all you’ll have to do is move inventory to their warehouses.

Many also offer advanced capabilities for international shipping. For example, if more of your customers ship globally, you would benefit from consolidated shipments to cut expenses. You’ll also see fewer costs and delays associated with customs processing since the 3PL is well versed in the necessary requirements.

10. Prep and packaging services

Finally, 3PLs offer pick, pack, and prep services that save you considerably versus handling them on your own, thanks to:

• Economies of scale to reduce the cost of packaging per unit
• Machinery for pick and pack
• Access to a range of packaging materials to better fit products in packages
• Cost-effective bundling and kitting capabilities
• Uniquely branded packaging for memorable presentation
• Options to add inserts, discounts, etc., to packaging
• Expert prep to meet guidelines for FBA and other 2P solutions

Conclusion

A 3PL can help your eCommerce business save money at every stage of logistics. They bring professional services like warehousing, pick and pack, and delivery for less money than if you handled everything yourself. At the same time, you enjoy greater quality, compliance, inventory management, and software — all of which cut expenses while improving the customer experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main benefit of using a 3PL for small eCommerce businesses?

The main benefit is cost-effectiveness through economies of scale. 3PLs allow small businesses to access professional warehousing, shipping, and fulfillment services without the large capital investment of setting up these operations in-house. They can share costs with other businesses while maintaining high-quality service.

How do 3PLs handle seasonal business fluctuations?

3PLs provide flexible scalability for both warehousing and labor needs. They can adjust storage space and staffing levels during peak periods like holidays without requiring you to invest in additional infrastructure or hire temporary workers. This flexibility helps maintain efficient operations year-round.

What technology advantages do 3PLs offer?

3PLs provide access to advanced logistics software, real-time tracking systems, and inventory management tools without requiring you to invest in these technologies yourself. Their systems typically integrate with your existing software, offering comprehensive visibility and control while reducing IT costs and maintenance needs.

How can 3PLs help with international expansion?

3PLs facilitate international expansion by providing existing warehousing networks, established carrier relationships, and expertise in customs processing. They can help navigate international shipping requirements, consolidate shipments to reduce costs, and offer regional fulfillment solutions that make entering new markets more cost-effective and efficient.

The post 10 Ways 3PLs Can Help Your Business Save Money appeared first on Gembah.

Well-funded companies began buying up successful small sellers.

As online shopping surged, the idea of consolidating brands took off. These companies, called Amazon aggregators, buy resellers with decent annual revenue and use expert e-commerce marketing and business systems to boost profit and revenue.

Whether you’re a startup or an established company, you’ve likely thought about your exit strategy. Selling to a larger competitor? Growing enough for a private equity buyout? Or maybe just running a cash business without scaling further?

Consider adding “sell to an Amazon aggregator” to your list.

In 2021, these firms raised over $12 billion to buy and grow Amazon brands. If you have a private-label business on Amazon, or plan to start one, you need to understand what Amazon aggregators are.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• The advantages of selling to an Amazon aggregator
• The acquisition process
• Key financial aspects
• Types of buyers and sellers

This guide will help you maximize your market value and make an informed decision.

What Are Amazon Aggregators?

Amazon aggregators are companies that buy successful small brands selling on Amazon. These aggregators, like Thrasio, Perch, and SellerX, raise money to purchase these businesses. They focus on brands using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), which means Amazon handles product storage, shipping, and customer service.

These aggregators succeed by leveraging economies of scale and their expertise in e-commerce. While you might have a small team running your business, they have hundreds or even thousands of employees. This allows them to manage your brand more effectively and grow it faster.

There are over 100 active Amazon aggregators, each with different strategies. Some look for successful FBA brands, while others focus on specific industries or regions. Although many are based in the U.S., you’ll find aggregators in other countries too. Some even consider sellers on platforms like Shopify and Walmart.com.

In most cases, Amazon aggregators use Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) or a metric developed for small retailers, Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE), to determine the purchase price. They generally pay a multiple of one of these metrics, called the valuation. Last year, many aggregators paid decent multiples of two to four times EBITDA for Amazon sellers.

Typically, when you sell to an aggregator, you get a lump sum at the time of purchase. You might also receive additional payments over time, depending on how well your brand performs after the sale. This is known as an earnout.

5 Advantages of Joining an Amazon Aggregator

Here are five advantages that we see to help you make that decision:

1. You Get Money for Your Brand Now

Remember that old saying, one bird in the hand is better than two in the bush? Well, that applies to selling your Amazon FBA business to an aggregator. You might make more money in the future, but you will definitely make whatever price you negotiate if you sell to them now.

2. The Amazon Aggregator Can Grow Your Brand Faster

Amazon aggregators make money because they know how to work the Amazon selling platform. They will invest in pay-per-click (PPC), more professional product images, and SEO for your listing. There is a lot to Amazon listing optimization, and they have dedicated time and expertise into getting the most out of, and keeping up with, all the ways you can get a product in front of more customers.

You may ask yourself, “After I sell, why do I care if the brand grows?” Well, their ability to build sales ties directly to how much they will pay you. If your sale includes an earnout provision, you can see much more money over time as the sales of your former products go up.

3. You No Longer Have To Deal With Running Your FBA Business

You may like working with your team to source and promote your private-label products. But, if you are like most entrepreneurs, you may miss the building stage fun and get tired of the day-to-day grind of dealing with all those details. Supply chain headaches are a great example of something you may never want to deal with again. And once you sell, you can take a break or focus on your next entrepreneurial conquest.

4. Make More Money Over Time

Even if your brand is doing well, you may have hit a plateau and need a bigger team and more money to get your products to the next level. When you sell to an FBA aggregator, they bring all their expertise to the table to increase revenue and profit margins.

But remember, you need to negotiate an earnout deal with strong incentive payments so you benefit if they do well with your brand.

5. Once Your Earnout Is Done, Market Fluctuations Are No Longer a Risk

When Amazon aggregators roll up companies, they take on the risk associated with selling in the Amazon Marketplace. If you were lucky enough to catch a fad, you don’t have to pay the price when the trend goes away. The same goes for future supply chain issues, inflation, recession, and other market fluctuations. Changes in the ecosystem are something they have to deal with, not you.

Understanding the Acquisition Process

Selling your Amazon business to an aggregator involves several key steps. Here’s a breakdown of the process to help you understand what to expect.

Initial Contact and Evaluation

The process begins with the aggregator reaching out to you or you contacting them. They will start by evaluating your business to see if it fits their acquisition criteria.

• Initial Inquiry: Either party can initiate contact. Aggregators often identify potential acquisitions through Amazon sales data.
• Preliminary Review: The aggregator conducts a preliminary review of your business, looking at key metrics like revenue, profit margins, and growth potential.
• Confidentiality Agreement: Both parties sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to protect sensitive business information during the evaluation.

Detailed Business Analysis

Once the initial review is positive, the aggregator will conduct a more detailed analysis of your business.

• Financial Audit: A thorough audit of your financial statements, including revenue, expenses, and profitability.
• Operational Review: Examination of your business operations, supply chain, and customer service processes.
• Market Positioning: Assessment of your brand’s market position, competition, and growth potential.

Offer and Negotiation

If your business passes the detailed analysis, the aggregator will make an offer.

• Valuation: The offer is based on a multiple of EBITDA or SDE. The valuation process considers factors like growth potential and industry trends.
• Term Sheet: The aggregator presents a term sheet outlining the offer, including the purchase price, payment structure, and any earnout provisions.
• Negotiation: Both parties negotiate the terms to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. This can involve adjustments to the valuation, payment terms, or earnout conditions.

Due Diligence

After accepting the offer, the aggregator performs a final due diligence process to verify all aspects of your business.

• Legal Review: Examination of legal documents, contracts, and intellectual property.
• Compliance Check: Ensuring your business complies with all relevant laws and Amazon policies.
• Final Financial Check: Verify financial details and confirm that there are no hidden liabilities.

Closing the Deal

Once due diligence is complete, the deal moves to the closing stage.

• Final Agreement: Both parties sign the final purchase agreement, detailing all terms and conditions.
• Payment: An initial lump sum payment is made, followed by any structured payments as outlined in the agreement.
• Transition Period: You may need to assist with transitioning your business to the aggregator’s team, ensuring a smooth handover.

What Are Amazon Aggregators Looking For

Amazon aggregators look for certain things in the businesses they buy. Knowing what they want can help you make your brand more appealing to them.

A Brand With Products Customers Want

You have to start with products that people want to buy. That goes back to good market research and product development. They want a brand with products that fill a need in the marketplace and deliver value to customers.

A Private Label That Uses FBA

Amazon aggregators focus on the selling part of the full product development, manufacturing, and sales process. They are not interested in third-party sellers because they don’t want to take on manufacturing or all the details of shipping and supporting the product. When they buy a private label seller, they only have to order from the existing manufacturer. And with FBA, all the logistics, warehousing, and support are handled by Amazon.

$1 Million to $5 Million in Annual Sales

These numbers can vary across the market. Most Amazon aggregators pursue smaller sellers who have proven a need in the marketplace but have room to grow bigger.

A Profit Margin Between 10-20%

Amazon aggregators want brands that make a good annual net profit but also have room to increase the profit margin. They search for companies in the 10-20% margin range. By using their skills at Amazon Marketplace selling and reducing costs through shared services, they can improve that profit margin.

Manufacturing Partnerships They Can Work With

The last thing an acquirer wants to do is swap out manufacturing suppliers after buying a brand. So they select companies with a clean supply chain and a partnership with a reliable manufacturing partner they can easily assimilate into their system.

Consolidation Strategy Fit

Every Amazon aggregator has a set strategy on what product category, selling profile, history, supply chain, and brand image they are looking for. Some want to add new brands with only one product. Others seek a variety of SKUs. Some may focus on one vertical like supplements, consumer electronics, or personal care products. If you decide to sell, work with Amazon aggregators aligned with what you have to offer.

Financial Aspects of Selling to an Amazon Aggregator

When selling your Amazon business to an aggregator, understanding the financial aspects is crucial. Aggregators use several key metrics to determine your business’s value and structure the deal.

• Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA): This metric measures your business’s profitability before accounting for financial and non-operational expenses. It’s a common metric used to value businesses.
• Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE): This is often used for smaller businesses and includes the owner’s salary and benefits. It provides a clearer picture of the total financial benefit a new owner can expect.
• Valuation Multiples: Aggregators typically pay a multiple of EBITDA or SDE. For example, if your business has an EBITDA of $500,000 and the multiple is 3x, the valuation would be $1.5 million.
• Venture Debt and Equity Funding: Aggregators often finance acquisitions using a mix of equity funding and venture debt. Understanding how these elements impact the deal can help you negotiate better terms.
• Earnout Provisions: Part of your payment might come as an earnout, which means you’ll receive additional payments based on the future performance of your brand. This incentivizes you to ensure a smooth transition and continued success of the business.

Understanding these financial aspects will help you navigate the selling process and maximize your deal’s value.

The Types of Buyers and Sellers in Amazon Aggregator Deals

When selling your Amazon business, it’s important to understand the different types of buyers and sellers in the market. This knowledge can help you find the right match and maximize your business’s value.

Types of Buyers

There are a few different groups of buyers interested in Amazon businesses, each with different goals and strategies.

• Strategic Buyers: These are companies looking to acquire businesses that complement their existing operations. They aim to create synergies and achieve faster growth by integrating your brand with theirs.
• Financial Buyers: These include private equity firms and investment funds looking for profitable businesses to add to their portfolios. They focus on the financial performance and potential return on investment.
• Amazon Aggregators: Specialized buyers who focus on acquiring and scaling Amazon FBA businesses. They bring expertise in e-commerce and aim to grow brands using their resources and knowledge.

Types of Sellers

Sellers come in different forms as well, each presenting unique opportunities and challenges for buyers.

• Private-Label Brands: These sellers create and sell their own branded products on Amazon. Aggregators prefer these businesses because they control the product development and supply chain.
• Third-Party Sellers: These sellers resell products from other manufacturers. Aggregators are less interested in these businesses as they involve more complexities in the supply chain and lower control over the product.
• Niche Brands: Brands that focus on specific product categories or customer segments. These can attract aggregators looking to diversify their portfolios or enter new markets.
• Established Brands: These are businesses with a proven sales and growth track record. They are often seen as lower-risk acquisitions and can command higher valuations.

Understanding the different types of buyers and sellers helps you position your business effectively and find the right partner for a successful sale.

Partner with Experts to Maximize Your Value

The best way to maximize your sale price is to maximize your value. And the best way to do that is to partner with experts like the team at Gembah. We can help you with market research, product design, finding a manufacturing partner, and even adding products to your portfolio.If you are just beginning your product journey, start your project with us. If you already have products and want help with any part of getting those products to market, or introducing new ones, contact us, and our experts will start adding value right away.

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But even in a digital-first world, many growing businesses still view big box retail as a major sales opportunity. After all, in-person shopping accounted for over 85% of all retail in the first half of 2022, according to US Census data, representing a big opportunity for growing brands to compete on both the virtual and brick-and-mortar shelf.
Selling in stores presents entirely new challenges and opportunities for growing brands. New target audiences, packaging considerations, and retailer requirements can all seem unfamiliar and daunting. Fortunately, there is one key set of knowledge you can leverage at major retailers globally to ease your entry into their supply chain. These are GS1 standards, administered in the United States by GS1 US.

The Power of the Prefix

Growing brands that want to expand where they sell typically become GS1 members. Becoming a member helps you get on your way to creating a Global Trade Item Number (or GTIN), a globally unique identification number that is encoded into UPC barcodes to identify products as unique. This will become important as you start to list on new marketplaces and apply to supply retailers. On a retail shelf, the GTIN is encoded into a UPC barcode that can be scanned at retail checkout.

There are two ways to go about creating your GTINs. GS1 US single GTINs can be licensed individually, which is great for a business just starting out with only a one or two products. But for a growing brand with an expanding product line, a GS1 Company Prefix may be the better option. This is a seven-to-ten-digit number that serves as the basis for identifying your products with GTINs that can be linked directly back to your company. You can create between 10 and 100,000 GTINs at one time, depending on the length of your GS1 Company Prefix.

The first benefit is clear – GTINs cost less in bulk! But there are other GS1 standards that become critical as your business grows that are enabled by a GS1 Company Prefix. A GS1 Company Prefix allows you to generate additional identifiers along with your GTINs without any additional cost. We are going to focus on two of these. The first is the Serialized Shipping Container Code, or SSCC. The SSCC is a number assigned to logistic units, such as containers, cartons or pallets and provides a unique identity to that specific logistic unit. Think of it as the license plate for every carton in your shipment, allowing far more clarity as to where your products are in the supply chain. Even the smallest capacity GS1 Company Prefix allows you to create 1 million SSCCs. The SSCC can be carried within a GS1-128 barcode, which is printed on your logistics label for easy machine-reading.

The second identifier you can generate when you license a prefix is the Global Location Number, or GLN. The GLN is used to identify legal entities and physical locations, which means you can use one to identify your company as a legal entity and another to identify a particular supply chain location, such as a dock bay at your factory. Just like a GTIN, a GLN is globally unique, and serves as a powerful tool to track and trace both your raw materials and your finished product throughout their manufacture and sale. Both the SSCC and the GLN are free to create when you license a GS1 Company Prefix and boost your ability to uniquely identify your product and company on a global scale.

Level up with EDI

Peruse the supplier guidelines of major retailers like Target, Walmart, Dollar General or Nordstrom and you will repeatedly come across the acronym EDI. Here in the US, many of the major retailers require the use of EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange, to send and receive digital documents to their suppliers, the most common of which are purchase orders (POs), invoices and advance ship notices (ASNs).
EDI provides 3 key benefits. First, it automates processes that must otherwise be performed with human intervention. Imagine a purchase order is received via EDI. That PO can be automatically populated into your order management system with a single click, which will also notify the sender you received the PO. No email confirmations required! You are then able to send the request to your fulfillment house with another click. Once the goods ship, your ERP can generate an ASN and an invoice for dispatch, both of which will go via EDI so you can be confident of receipt.

As your business grows, the ability to send and receive notifications and requests via EDI will save thousands of man hours otherwise spent sending emails and manually creating logistics orders and invoices. This reduction in manual intervention provides two additional benefits. EDI helps reduce chargebacks and other costs associated with errors and it improves the reputation of your business as errors decrease.

For a growing business, EDI might seem overwhelming, as it requires some investments in your technology. Fortunately, there are many agencies and other solution partners that can get you started. There are even services that can accept and send EDI transmissions on your behalf and translate them into standard documents for you until you get a full EDI system up and running. You can search the GS1 US Solution Partner Finder for some companies that can help you get started. Check out how one GS1 US member Crane gained visibility and streamlined fulfillment with EDI.

Dive into the details with RFID

RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, has been talked about a lot since the early 2000s. The technology features a tag attached to an item and a reader that can detect the tag within a certain range, whether that tag is directly in sight of the reader or not. Have you ever watched the progress of a marathon runner on the race’s website? That process is powered by RFID. An RFID tag on a runner’s bib communicates with RFID readers positioned at checkpoints throughout the race and maps the runner’s progress.

Retail’s use of RFID works in a similar way. Products are tracked efficiently as they move from factories to warehouses, and finally to retail locations. Maybe you have seen this as a consumer browsing the website of a local retail location. If you can see live-inventory counts online, that store likely has RFID tags in use.
Several factors have powered a revolution in RFID use in the last few years and inspired its adoption by multiple major retailers (Nordstrom, Macy’s, Walmart). The pandemic fueled the rise of buy online- pick-up in store (BOPIS), the push for retailers to fulfill ecommerce order directly from stores and dark stores, and demand for inventory increased incentives to sell every individual unit of a particular product. Because RFID tags contain the technology to individually identify each item, many large retailers recognized RFID could help them responded to these major shifts in consumer behavior.

RFID has the additional benefit of significantly reducing the manpower required for receiving product and counting inventory, tasks that otherwise require manual labor to count product. One worker armed with a mobile RFID reader can scan entire shipments and storage shelves to verify inventory. And those same efficiencies power a positive customer experience, allowing associates to quickly verify the availability of an item and find it fast for the in-store customer to purchase.

Like EDI, implementing an RFID strategy that fulfills vendor requirements can seem intimidating for a growing business. It will require you to invest in the RFID tags themselves (generally a few cents each), readers and a technology strategy for managing your now individually identified products. But many growing businesses report rapid returns on the investment, and a solution that helps them not only sell to more retailers but improve processes in their DTC business as well. And just like EDI, there are partners out there to get you up and running. Check out how RFID powered growth for GS1 US member Southern Fried Cotton.

In Conclusion

GS1 standards came about to make it easier for businesses of all sizes to work together efficiently. Understanding and leveraging the power of GS1 standards is the mark of an expanding business, one that needs to maximize efficiencies so it can focus on innovating product. And you aren’t alone– remember you can always reach out to GS1 US Member Support Services for guidance in getting started.

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Home E-commerce

Gembah For Amazon Sellers

Amazon has created the largest marketplace in the history of humans (or any other species for that matter).

The fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) space is filled with opportunity, but riddled with fierce competitors.

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How We Design Products

Design Makes the Diference

While other FBA sellers attempt to sell the same exact product, you can build one they will never be able to acquire. Now it’s not just a matter of competing in search and getting more reviews.

Our product designers can take any product in any category, refine it, add new features, change the materials, and create something truly innovative.

Manufacture Smarter

Quality Control

It’s over when the factory is chosen. As an Amazon FBA seller, you know the challenges, headaches, and risks that come from sourcing a new product. It’s extremely difficult to find a good, trustworthy product for your factory. At best, it’s a total pain. At worst, it’s a complete ripoff. We can connect you with the ideal manufacturer.

Innovation

Innovate your inventory

You’re not just selling on Amazon. You’re building a brand. You don’t need to be weighed down by the time and stress of making a product. We handle everything from the first design to when arrives at Amazon’s warehouses.

• Utilize our factory network to get that “showroom” experience – they bring you products they are going to release for three to six months down the road.
• Get insights from seasoned veterans who know which products can be produced reliably, shipped easily, and sold with high margins.

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Home E-commerce

Gembah For E-Commerce

At the dawn of the internet, e-commerce was a brick through the window of brick and mortar. Decades later, your online business has a problem: you’re competing against the world, not just the neighborhood. Now you truly have to innovate. We have you covered.

Whether you’ve been running an e-comm business and want to expand your product selection, or you’ve never produced anything before, we can keep your inventory on the cutting edge.

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Innovation

Innovation Never Stops, Design Shouldn’t Either

It may not be obvious at first, but iterating and perfecting your design is the most important step in the process of creating a new product to sell online.

Our team of designers work directly with you to draft different versions, add features, change materials, and make it match your vision. They all have extensive experience making functional designs that have been manufactured and sold.

Factory

Follow Through

When it comes to sourcing and manufacturing your product, the potential missteps are limitless. If you’re not seeing the factory in person or ever speaking face-to-face, you might as well roll the dice and hope for the best.

Innovation

Innovate Your Inventory

Shield yourself from common mistakes. Take back control of the technicalities that inhibit your new idea. With Gembah, you can leave the nitty-gritty to pros, and focus back on building your brand.

E-commerce is not new, but your idea is. With Gembah, that’s all you need to start.

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One common mistake entrepreneurs make is they don’t give the same attention to their online store as they do to marketing, product design, manufacturing, and other aspects of bringing a new product to market. When you work with traditional retailers, they handle the buying experience. When you’re selling through an e-commerce store, you are the retailer, and you control the experience. 

This article presents our top suggestions for developing e-commerce marketing strategies for effectively and efficiently selling your products. We’ll start with some basic information about e-commerce business, offer a comprehensive set of 15 e-commerce strategies, and cover a few tips to define, implement, and optimize your online business. 

E-Commerce Business Basics

In some ways, selling to customers has not changed since the village market days. When you set up your stall to sell your wares, you had to deal with three things:

1. Attracting customers to your stall
2. Enticing them to want your wares
3. Convincing them to buy your products 

Those three phases of the buying process did not change when we went to retail stores and then online. 

The village market may now be Amazon or a storefront built with Shopify. What has not changed is the importance of understanding your customers, watching market conditions, building relationships with shoppers, creating a great store, and always making things better.

As a foundation on which to build your e-commerce marketing strategies, let’s look at each of these basic needs for selling products to customers. 

Understand Your Customers and the Market

Any selling strategy starts with the simple idea of understanding your customers and the market you’re selling into. If you followed proper product design steps, you have already done this part. You had to research your customer and market to define your product requirements, and if you employ research as a methodology, a way of driving your product towards customer needs, you will have the information you need to attract and convert customers. 

Turn that information about what customers are looking for into features and capabilities in your new product. This is what you can emphasize in your product description, creating the foundation of a strong e-commerce strategy.   

Once documented, you need to continuously update your understanding of the customers, the competitors, marketing trends, and technology changes. 

Build a Relationship 

E-commerce business is not impersonal. Just like the artisan selling their product in the village market or the store owner behind his counter, you need to build a relationship with your customers. People buy for many reasons beyond price and convenience, and being part of a community and having a great customer experience are two major drivers. 

Read reviews from products in your space and visit physical locations where similar products are sold. Get a feel for what matters to your consumers and use the information to build a better relationship. 

Find the Right Platform

There are two ways to sell your product online — through an existing marketplace or on your own online store. For the U.S., the modern equivalent of village markets is Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com, Target.com, Overstock, and dozens of market-specific outlets like Etsy, Wayfair, Poshmark, and Newegg. 

Amazon is the dominant player, with over two billion visits per year. The advantage of a marketplace is that people go there to browse and look for products to buy, just like the village market or a shopping mall. They also provide most of the infrastructure you need. 

If you want to have your own storefront, then you need to put up an e-commerce website. There are dozens of e-commerce platforms out there. You can build your own store on Shopify, WooCommerce Checkout, BigCommerce, and many other platforms. 

Which one is right for you goes back to how many products you’re selling and how much effort you want to put into your storefront or market listing. Most importantly, it depends on how your target audience shops online and their expectations in terms of customer experience. 

Commit to Continuous Improvement

If you are just now starting your e-commerce journey, you’re focused on setting things up. But that is just the start. Growing your online sales requires constant experimentation, optimization, and improvement. Make sure you know how to get to the data for whatever platform you’re using to sell. Information like visits, click-through rate, shopping cart abandonment, conversion rate, and search engine ranking will help you know what is working and what is not. 

E-Commerce Sales Is About Leveraging Technology

As you read through the suggested e-commerce strategies in the next section, remember the basic principles of selling and use the technology available within your chosen e-commerce platform to carry those tenants out. Focus on the following fundamentals with the strategies listed:

• Listen to your customers: Customer reviews, customer surveys, following customers on social media 
• Give them reasons to buy from you: Customer experience, professional look and feel 
• Differentiate your product: Product description, content marketing
• Present from the customer’s perspective: Customer testimonials, product description
• Build a great reputation: Social media, influencers, digital marketing, customer reviews 
• Create a relationship: Subscriptions, incentives, membership 

We will cover these e-commerce marketing strategies that leverage selling in the next section, so keep this list in mind as you read through the suggestions. 

3-4-1: A Comprehensive Set of E-Commerce Strategies

Now that we’ve laid down a strong foundation, it’s time to talk about specific activities you can implement to attract, engage, and convert your customers. These ideas apply to marketplaces like Amazon or your own online store built on Shopify, WooCommerce, or another checkout. For each step in the buying process, we’ll recommend five strategies. They cover all aspects of the buyer’s journey, including creating a better relationship with your customers. 

Attract Customers to Visit Your E-Commerce Site

Getting people to show up at your virtual store, especially new customers, is the first step towards a sale. You do that with a series of strategies around getting attention and creating interest. Here are five e-commerce strategies focused on bringing people to your online store.

1. Use Content Marketing

Content marketing is a great way to attract customers because it’s about providing them with the information they care about. It is not advertising. Think case study and not flashy ads. It’s useful content that search engines like and that builds trust with your customers. Content can be videos, graphics, text, or audio. It can be part of your e-commerce site or on your website. Leverage social media and email campaigns to build your e-commerce brand and get your content out there. Just remember to create content that answers the questions and needs prospective customers have. 

2. Leverage Effective Advertising

Various types of advertising are effective ways to drive people to your product listings. You can use digital marketing like PPC (pay-per-click) from different platforms, such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook. Social media marketing is another great way to build brand awareness with potential customers. 

Just make sure you leverage social media platforms that your potential customers use. Or you can set up a traditional advertising campaign for print or television. Influencer marketing should be part of your marketing plan if it fits your market. 

3. Launch Email Marketing Campaigns

What is the difference between an email marketing campaign and spam? People read your email marketing campaign, and they block spam. There is both art and science behind effective email use to attract customers to your online store. The key is to give your customer something they’re interested in. You can try:

• News about your company or product
• Information about the industry or community that is related to your product
• Notifications about discounts and special offers
• Lead nurturing
• User reviews and content
• Links to a landing page that reinforces the message in the email

Once you have an email list, use automation to simplify the process. Give potential customers a reason to open your email and then click on the link inside. 

4. Get Them Back

When it comes to driving traffic to your e-commerce site, previous visitors, especially previous customers, are the easiest to attract. You already have a relationship with them and their contact information. Don’t be afraid to let them know about special offers and product news, usually through email or SMS. Ask them for their opinion or their help. Retargeting previous customers also helps spread the word about your product through their network. 

5. Create Strong Brand Awareness

You have to start with a strong brand to reinforce your relationship with your customers and bring them to your e-commerce site. And this goes back to good product development. Your marketing, product, and customer interaction should all resonate with your brand. 

Create Interest With Visitors in Your Products 

Once people are in your virtual store, your job is to get them interested in your products. You don’t have a salesperson to entice them, so you have to do it with content quality and user experience. Here are five more proven e-commerce marketing strategies to create product interest.

1. Design Engaging Product Pages and Product Listings

Your product pages or product listings are the closest thing you have to a salesperson in a virtual store. The e-commerce platform you pick determines the look of your product description, but you control the content. Make it concise and to the point. Use bullet lists to summarize and try and answer the questions customers will have while convincing them that your product is what they’re looking for. Good product descriptions are critical to SEO (search engine optimization) ranking. 

Also, make sure your product pages or listings work well on mobile devices. Most people do their online shopping on mobile devices. 

2. Use Excellent Images

The first thing a customer sees about your product is the image. Don’t skimp on them. Pay a professional to make high-quality, high-resolution images that stand out and convey your brand, your product’s advantages, and just look good. 

3. Incorporate Product Reviews and User Content 

Customers want to know they’re making the right choice when they buy a product, and user reviews and user-provided content are a great way to meet this need. Not only does your e-commerce platform have to support user reviews and comments, but you also have to encourage and curate the information your customers put up. 

4. Offer a Fantastic Product

The best way to create customer interest in your product is to design a fantastic product. This goes back to proper product design and understanding what the customer is looking for then giving it to them. No product sells itself, but a fantastic product makes it a lot easier to sell. 

5. Present Your Product as a Personal Conversation With Insiders

When it comes to relationships building and creating interest in your product, how you talk to your e-commerce site visitors is critical. You want to treat them like they’re special, make them insiders who are part of a community. Don’t talk down to them or over their heads. Get to know your customers and speak with them. 

Convert Interest Into Sales

Bringing people to your e-commerce site and garnering their interest in your products won’t matter if you can’t convert that interest into sales. Getting them to click the buy button is called conversion, and the conversion rate is a measure of how well you do it. The last five e-commerce strategies present the best ways for online retailers to get that conversion rate up, and keep it there. 

1. Make the Checkout Process Effortless

Making a purchase decision can be emotional and challenging for a consumer. You don’t want to do anything that gives new customers a reason to change their minds. Confusing or cumbersome checkout is a sure-fire way to stop transactions before they happen. The best way to measure this is to keep track of abandoned carts. If you have a lot, something is wrong with your checkout process. Optimize the process to make it as intuitive and straightforward as you can, even if that means paying a bit more for payment processing or the design of the user experience. 

2. Nix Unexpected Charges

Another way to stop a sale is to hit a customer with an unexpected charge at checkout. If your product detail page listed the price as $35.00, don’t tack on $25 in shipping and handling at checkout. If you have to charge for shipping, let them know what it will be as soon as possible in their buyer journey. 

3. Offer Free or Discounted Shipping

For better or worse, Amazon has trained consumers to expect free shipping. You don’t have to offer it, but you should find a way to offer discounted shipping. A great tactic that encourages more purchases is offering free shipping for sales over a certain amount. 

4. Create Urgency

Finding a way to create some sense of urgency in your customers is a tried and tested method of increasing your conversion rate. There are many ways to do this, but some of the most effective are to:

• Create some sort of deadline around discounts or add-ons like free shipping.
• Show how many items are left in stock, if it’s a low number.
• Include some kind of bonus if they buy now.
• Use text in your description that creates a feeling of urgency.

5. Provide a Membership Experience

The final e-commerce strategy suggestion for creating a solid customer relationship is to set up your e-commerce site with membership features. Allow customers to log in, see past orders, and share your product information with others through email or social media. Give them access to “member only” content and set up subscriptions to exclusive offers. If it fits your industry and product, offer loyalty premiums. And, if needed, present them with discounts that are only available to members. 

Implement Your E-Commerce Strategies

The list above outlines some great suggestions for bringing customers to your site, getting their interest, and converting them into sales. Putting everything down in a written plan is the first step in implementing those strategies that make sense for your new product and your online store. 

Start with your goals — what you are trying to achieve with your e-commerce business. Then map your ideal customer journey through your e-commerce site, followed by the features you’ll need to deliver that user experience. Use this information to choose your e-commerce platform, create your content, and launch your online store. 

Once things are up and running, it’s important to optimize your online presence continually. Use experimentation and data to improve your functionality, product descriptions, and user experience. Watch that all-important conversion rate as your ultimate indicator of what is and what is not working. 

And remember, strong product differentiation in your product design will give you a leg up and help with every aspect of attracting customers to your online store, engaging them with your product descriptions, and getting your product in their shopping cart and through the checkout process. Helping you on that complete new product journey is what Gembah does — starting with research and guiding you through product design, all the way to setting up your supply chain. Let us help you establish a strong foundation that will make implementing effective e-commerce strategies a breeze.

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