Are you a young startupper who wants to sell furniture online, but you’ve got no idea where to start from? Then this article is what you need! Here, we will tell you how to roughly estimate how much you will need to spend and how much you could earn from selling goods over the Internet.
First of all, just in case, let’s talk about what contextual advertising and landing pages are (cause what online business without the first rule of online advertising).
Selling on the Internet, by its very nature, is no different from ordinary selling in a real store. To sell something, you only need 3 things:
• A product, that is, what people agree to give you their money for.
• The stream of passers-by, of which some might need your product.
• A place of exchange of products for money (for example, a store), because if your product is in stock and no one knows about it, no one will buy.
Now let’s assume that you have the product. Your furniture is worth the money you ask for it. Therefore, there are potentially enough people willing to exchange their money for your furniture.
Next, you need an online “store”, where the visitor can get to know your product. On the Internet, this role is played either by a website or a landing page (a microsite with just one page that only offers one product).
All a landing page can do is connect a visitor to a store manager, who then calls the person and negotiates a deal. This platform is mainly known for having a mix of strategies to “anchor” the visitor – asking him to take the next step, not turn around and leave.
You lose half of your customers if you don’t promote online
Going to the Internet, of course, has been a necessity for a long time. And it’s not just about the crisis in the furniture market. Studies show that, over the past few years, most shops that did not go online have lost half of their customers.
People are already so used to the Internet that almost half of them first look for furniture on the Internet, and only then go to a local store. And if you’re not on the Internet, half of your potential customers will never find out you existed!
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Hence the conclusion: there are companies in the furniture market that live well.
You can object: “People do not buy furniture on the Internet!”
And you will be right.
In order for a person to spend serious money, for example, on a dining room set from NFO, they might need to personally look at its color, knock on the countertop, scratch it with his finger.
It seems that, for a long time, furniture was bought mainly in stores. But, because of the Internet and the ongoing pandemic, people now decide in a different way which stores to go to and which not. And this will only grow stronger.
So why not go for more clients, why not get access to those clients who you previously lost, to those who use the Internet to decide “where to buy a new sofa”?
BUT!
Do not treat it like a magic pill, build a quality sales chain from start to finish. That is, contextual advertising + landing page + good managers.
In fact, the cost of a visitor to the landing page is not even so important. The value of the BUYER is important. For example, If you get 20 thousand profit from the sale of a furniture item, spending 1200 on ads, that is quite an acceptable price.
Now what about some practical tips for selling furniture online?
Tip # 1:
If you are thinking of selling furniture online, start with the main thing: training your managers.
Tip # 2:
Through online advertising, you can only sell furniture in cities with a population of over 100 thousand inhabitants. In small cities, such advertising might not work. There will be too few visitors, and the associated costs of creating, customizing, and managing ads will gobble up all your profits.
Tip # 3:
If you want to sell online, prepare a budget not only for the advertising itself, but also for the people who will have to manage the landing pages and maintain the work of managers to a high standard.
For a region with a population of 1 million people, the total costs can become quite significant, half going to the advertising budget, the other half – to the entire sales chain to work.
You can’t achieve anything with 20,000 dollars. The money will just be spent in vain. And if you need a guaranteed result – first bring your sales department up to standard!
Tip # 4:
Set up payments
Ecommerce platforms make it easy to set up payments with just a few clicks. See what payment options are available – the more the better. You can accept payments from bank credit and debit cards and other payment systems.
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Ensure secure payment processing to prevent hackers from intercepting customers’ bank card details. Upload your SSL certificate and protect your data from decryption with HTTPS.
Tip # 5
If you deliver furniture only in your city and suburbs, use local delivery services. You can use your own transport, if you have the opportunity. With a wider geography of supplies, conclude contracts with courier services.
Decide on how to calculate shipping costs for customers:
Floating cost. In this case, the cost is calculated for each client individually, depending on the dimensions and weight of the cargo, the distance of travel and the tariffs of the transport company.
Fixed cost. There may be several of them, and the client clearly sees how much and for what he pays.
Free shipping. Nice bonus for the client, but additional costs for you. You can offer free shipping for all orders, orders for a specific amount, or specific items.
Tip #6
If you do not have a sufficient budget for advertising – be active on social media. Sure, some clients do not spend their time on social media, but any business can be kept alive on the Internet, even without contextual advertising.
Younger clients can be reached via those social networks. You can attract attention and loyalty to yourself with the help of reviews. Such free advertising, if done properly, will cost you 0$, but surely bring you at least a few customers.
Tip # 7:
Start your business development by going to the world wide web immediately. You will get access to the second half of the market, which you are now deprived of.
Believe us, it is worth it!
Let’s summarize:
Create an online store
Connect payment systems
Set up the delivery
Launch Internet advertising
And if you’re into tips and tricks for online furniture selling and buying, find out more about the Top Things To Look For In Commercial Office Furniture here!
