How Long Will It Take to Sell Products on My Online Store?

by Jerry JuaE-commerce
Jul 4, 2020

When I put up my first online store I had to wait awhile before I got my first sale. But, after a while I started to bring in considerable sales. I looked into the statistics of online stores and thought I’d write this helpful article about what I learned.

So, how long will it take to sell products on my online store? It would take anywhere from one day to never making any sale. To make sales you have to market your store. There are many ways to increase sales to an online store such as online marketplaces, and social media.

Therefore, below I will discuss the factors that help your online store get sales faster, as well as some key information to help you succeed.

When you’re done, check out this article explaining if selling online is worth it for a startup.

How many sales can I expect from my online store?

If you do alot of marketing you can expect to earn a full time income from a store. It takes time to build it up. If you get active on social media, do some cold emails, or choose any other way to market your business you should expect sales to come in fairly quickly within one to two weeks.

Unless your store is on an online marketplace it will get very few visitors. This is because there is no way that people can find it without you telling them about it with your marketing. 

An online marketplace already has established a reputation as a good place to shop. So, if you are positioned on these then you can get visitors depending on the website and how your products compare with other products on the online marketplace.

It can be a good idea to list your products on an online marketplace as well. Especially if you are drop shipping. 

Also when looking into a marketplace, always go with the one that has low selling fees. For example, Sheepbuy is a marketplace that charges zero selling commissions and won’t surprise you with any hidden fees.

Be aware that people behave online the same as people do in real life. Therefore, you should price your products accordingly. Establish a clear brand behind your online store. This is largely determined by the types of people who will buy your products. 

Therefore, market research is a very valuable part of running a successful online store. Market research is where you do a brainstorm of the types of customers that buy from you. 

You can also contact them directly, and ask them some questions. Don’t be scared of feedback. Your business can’t grow without some bumps along the way.

One strategy is to list your products on multiple websites. You also want to source from cheap suppliers. Often, there is considerable risk in buying products upfront without an audience. 

Therefore, you can have an idea of what you want to sell, and then use marketing to sell it. That way you can see if people like it. If there isn’t much interest then you can try a different product that you think will do better. It is a good idea to start small.

If you want learn more about how to use Sheepbuy click here.

How much money can an online business make?

The amount of money an online business makes is a direct result of effort that is put into marketing your online business. 

Therefore, you can make as much or as little as you like. You should decide on what sort of money you would like to earn from it, and how much time you can dedicate to working on it.

Click here to learn more about the top 50 items to sell from home.

How do you market your online store?

Below I will list the best way to market your online store based on my extensive research.

  1. Create a marketing plan. Create a plan of how you are going to market and what you are going to do specifically. Do more market research. Get very clear on who you are selling to. Come up with some sales copy.
  2. Make business cards. You can use these to handout to people when you meet them in person at networking events and similar. Simple is best with business cards. Avoid any wacky fonts, and out there graphics.
  3. Practice describing what you do. When you meet people, it is courteous to ask what type of work they do. When asked you should have a good response that describes what you do clearly.
  4. Do direct mailing. Everyone receives “junk mail”. Some people love to get it. You should send out some mail and test what ones work best. There are probably successful templates online which you can use for free or very cheap.
  5. Advertise on Linkedin. You want to show you are active on Linkedin. This includes having a clear photo of your face, and a well filled out profile if you are going to use it to market your online store. Then you should post updates and engage with the community. You can also message them to see what they are up to.
  6. You can create a Facebook page for your business. If you get customers to give you lots of good reviews then it will help you make more sales. Most people prefer written testimonials as a way to build trust when looking to buy online.
  7. Blogging. This takes a lot of time but is a long term strategy. When you blog you write informational articles about topics that you know about. Eventually you might get some traffic, but it is often difficult to achieve any results without the help of a professional. These people are called freelance writers and SEO content writers. They are good people to hire for blog content.
  8. Start a youtube channel. Good old youtube. Everyone loves it. There are so many good videos on there now. You should create a channel about your niche and use it to share information about topics that your customers would ask. Then you should look at other successful channels for ideas.
  9. You can create an optin form on your website. This will give you a way to contact your customers again. When customers go to your website you give them a free newsletter every week so you email it to them. For this, you get their email address by using an opt in. When you email them all the time with helpful information they buy more products from you.
  10. Ask for referrals. This is something you would do via email to your past customers, and people on your list. It is a solid marketing strategy that is easy to implement. You will see a significant improvement in sales once you get good at asking for referrals.
  11. Record some podcasts. You can record some podcasts with a simple mic and a quiet room. If you are really fancy you could soundproof your room. You can then put these on the apple store, spotify, youtube, and other relevant platforms. Inside the podcast you should promote your business lightly during the show. There are also good resources online about how to do a good podcast.
  12. Get listings on online marketplaces. There are many online marketplaces. You list your items and people come to the website to buy them. Examples are Amazon.com but there are many. This will increase your sales. The website you are on now is an online marketplace, where we offer free listings. If you are interested in selling or buying products online, you should definitely create an account and see what we have to offer. 

To do this go to the register an account page which can be accessed by clicking here.

Learn more on how much stock is needed for online store.

In Conclusion

It can take a varying amount of time to sell products on your online store. The factor determines how long it will take is the amount of marketing you do. If you do no marketing you will never make sales. The more marketing you do the more sales you will make. 

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