Once you have decided you want to start an online business the question still remains “What will you sell?” This is a question that needs to be carefully thought out and planned before moving forward with any entrepreneurial endeavors. Here are six questions to ask yourself before you decide what you will be selling on your online store:

1.    Is it Legal?
Obviously the first question you will want to answer is whether or not the products you are looking to sell are actually legal to sell online. There is no point in doing any further research if what you want to sell illegal to sell online, so hit the books and do your research before giving yourself the green light.

2.    Can You Make Money?
The first thing you will want to do in your business plan is set profit goals for your business- are you looking to run an online store as your primary means of income or is it a supplemental income business? Once you have some firm numbers about what you will expect from your online store in the first six months, one year, and so on, research products to sell as they relate to your numbers. Find out what the profit margin is on the products. Figure out how many you will need to sell to break-even and then to hit your profit goals. You can make money selling almost anything online but what you will need to figure out is how much money you will be investing and how long it will take to recoup that investment and move upward from there.

3.    How Will the Products Sell Online?
Nothing is impossible to sell online but you will need to do appropriate research to understand what will be involved in selling the products you are considering. Look at both the buying and the shipping aspects of selling online. In terms of the buying aspect, some products lend themselves better to being sold online than others (ex. office supplies versus bicycles) but that does not mean that you cannot sell either type of product. Just collect information on what consumers will want to know before they buy and focus on those elements when making your sales pitch. Make sure you structure the buying process so that it mirrors the buying process in a retail store as much as possible. In terms of the shipping aspects, just know that you are probably not the first person looking to sell a particular product online. There are resources to help business owners manage operations like shipping. Go online and do your research to see what other companies are doing.

4.    Do You Know Much about the Products?
Obviously it is better to sell something that you are very knowledgeable about, but with enough research you can sell something that you may not have had much experience with in the past- you will learn as you go. Just be willing to put in the time and effort to learn. Use all of the resources around you as much as you can- friends and family, colleagues, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, etc. With all of this free information at your fingertips you can get all of the product information you would need to sell almost any product online like a pro!

5.    How Will You Set Yourself Apart?
By not being the first to sell a certain product online you gain the advantages of having information and resources available to you to help you succeed in your endeavors, but it also means that you have competition. Before deciding on what to sell get a sense of how you will set yourself apart from the existing competitors out there. Study your soon-to-be competition and find out what they are doing well and what gaps in their offerings you can fill to provide a better customer experience. Be it unique packaging, faster/cheaper shipping, innovative promotions, lower prices, etc. you will need to have an idea of how you will sell your products to be successful.

6.    Are you Passionate about the Products?
Only you can tell if the products you are thinking of selling are ones that will really interest and excite you but the best advice in online selling is pick something you love and let the rest follow from there!

Ready to start your online store now? Try Volusion free.

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

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