Selling online in 2024

In this article, we’ll give you the techniques you need to sell well online in 2024.

E-commerce sales, meanwhile, have risen from 57 billion in 2014 to 160 billion euros in France in 2023, representing dazzling growth of 180.7% in 9 years. More generally, e-commerce is worth $4,938 billion worldwide, and this figure is rising every year.

E-buyers are now used to buying online, and this is reflected in their increasingly high expectations: competitive prices, fast delivery, tracking notifications… If they have a bad experience, they won’t hesitate to order from another e-commerce site, which makes it extremely difficult to retain their loyalty.

If e-commerce has become a widespread part of consumer habits, it’s also within everyone’s reach operationally: you don’t need to be an expert in e-commerce or IT development to sell online. On the contrary, as e-commerce has become more widespread, many e-commerce software applications have emerged in recent years, making it easier to launch a wide range of businesses. This trend is reflected in FEVAD figures, which predict that by 2022 there will be over 200,000 e-commerce sites in France.

But how do you sell online in 2024? What are the best practices to keep in mind? Which e-commerce software should I use? This article is a step-by-step guide!

What is online sales?

Online sales, also known as e-commerce, are all financial transactions carried out over the Internet.

Online sales of both products and services take place between companies (B2B, Business to Business), between companies and individuals(B2C, Business to Consumer), and even between individuals(C2C, Consumer to Consumer).

BtoC (Business-to-Consumers) e-commerce is the most widespread form of e-commerce worldwide. BtoB (Business-to-Business) e-commerce, on the other hand, is a growing practice, offering new sources of revenue for merchants wishing to take their business to the next level.

Finally, social commerce – like any other economic sector – is governed by the law: all e-commerce sites must therefore include mandatory information (data protection, delivery times, returns policy, etc.).

1. Carry out a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)

SWOT analysis gives you an objective, realistic picture of your company within its market, enabling you to make strategic decisions and prioritize actions.SWOT analysis also helps you gain a clear overview of your competitors in the marketplace. It’s an excellent way to learn how to stand out from the crowd!

2. Establish a profile of customers to sell to online

“What’s my target market?” If there’s one essential question to ask yourself when launching your e commerce business, it’s this one. It’s the only way to get to know your potential buyers, their expectations and issues. This is where creating a Persona can be very useful.

3. Evaluate the 4 Ps of marketing :

Product: what product or service will best meet customer needs/demands?

Pricing: how much will you charge? Could you adjust your prices to increase your competitive edge? Pricing generally depends on the cost of manufacturing, marketing, distributing and selling the product, as well as the profit margin you want to achieve.

Place: where is your product or service searched for, bought and used? Are your offers available where customers are most likely to find them? Be sure to consider both physical and online locations.

Promotion: how are you going to communicate with your customers and sell them your products? This is what most people think of when they think of “marketing”, and can include advertising, in-person sales, public relations, social media marketing, e-mail marketing and other promotional tactics.

4.set a budget to sell online

How much will I invest? Several cost centers need to be considered:
→ The purchase of products
→ Chosen sales channel and related costs
→ Various and sundry tools (accounting, customer relationship management, marketing tools…)
→ Storage if necessary
→ Logistics
→ Delivery (cost of transport)
→ Advertising budget
→ Human resources
→ …

Then set this budget against the expected returns to be profitable:
→ What market share?
→ What optimum margin do I want to achieve?
→ What sales do I want to achieve?
→ What volume of orders do I want to achieve? Over what period of time?

Once your business model is formalized and clear, select the sales channels you want to sell through.

1. Private sales websites :

Before the advent of the Internet, we had to go to flea markets and garage sales to find second-hand goods. With the emergence of e-commerce, we now have LeBonCoin, Vintend, la Reboucle and Videdressing to make our lives easier. In fact, these names may ring a bell. These are online sales sites for private individuals. The principle is simple: on online sales platforms, private individuals offer products they don’t use or no longer use, or goods they rent or sell (and so on…) to other private individuals.

We call this practice “C to C”, customer to customer, or the “second-hand” market. Individuals are both buyers and sellers – the platforms being merely an intermediary making this exchange possible. According to a study carried out by PAP, 48% of French people have already bought or sold an item from a private individual. The “C to C” (Customer-to-Customer) or second-hand market is very much in vogue among consumers.

Benefits	Often free online advertising, no commission, high visibility, sites known and mastered by most buyers/consumers
Disadvantages	Customers on the lookout for the lowest possible prices, unattractive product visuals, difficulty selling higher-value products
Business model	Very often advertising, professional services, visibility options, and even commissions (Vinted example: 5% + €0.70 per sale).
Who is this sales channel for?	It’s quite convenient for sellers to get started on private sellers’ websites, in that they eliminate the need to set up a self-employed business before starting to sell. As a result, you don’t have to pay any taxes when reselling second-hand items. It’s the ideal way to turn selling into a second source of income.

2. Marketplaces :

Amazon, Cdiscount, Fnac, La Redoute… The rise of the French marketplaces has been meteoric, to the point where they have become indispensable. According to FEVAD, the e-commerce sector will reach 159.9 billion euros in 2023, up 10.5% year-on-year. In terms of future prospects, trends show that marketplaces could account for up to 59% of e-commerce sales by 2027.

But what is a Marketplace?

Also known as a Marketplace, a marketplace is a website on which independent sellers, whether professionals or individuals, sell their products or services online, usually in return for a commission charged by the marketplace on each sale.

Benefits	Ease of use, low entry price, high visibility, transaction security, buyer confidence in these platforms (which require sellers to be rigorous about the buying experience), no marketing/communication budget to invest.
Disadvantages	Little personalization, strong competition (both in terms of the number of merchants investing in marketplaces and in terms of offers. Indeed, several merchants can position offers on the same product), the performance imposed by marketplaces, commission fees, difficult customer loyalty as customers juggle from one store to the next.
Business model	Commission, subscription systems, listing fees, lead fees… The most common is commission. According to Mirakl, commission rates vary according to the product categories offered: from 12% to 15% on average for food products, and from 6% to 10% for consumer electronics.
Who is this sales channel for?	Marketplaces are aimed at merchants who want to start selling in a simplified way, without investing a marketing budget, while taking advantage of the visibility offered by marketplaces. In short, with a more or less rapid return on investment.
To remember:	While marketplaces make it easy to launch an e-commerce business, the fact remains that if your e-commerce kpi performs poorly, your account will quickly find itself closed. And yes, marketplaces do keep a close eye on you: as a merchant, you make their reputation!

How do I choose the marketplace that’s right for me? Here are just a few criteria to consider:

• Number of visits: the more the platform is visited, the more potential customers there are, but the other side of the coin is that the tougher the competition!
• The number of sellers on the platform: I take a close look at what other sellers are offering.
• Commission fees.
• Specialization: platforms are more or less specialized. A specialized platform will bring me people who are really looking for the type of products I’m selling, and therefore better able to target my persona.

3. E-commerce CMS :

E-commerce CMS were invented in the 2000s, the first being OsCommerce. They respond to an ever-growing need in the face of the explosion of online sales: to enable all merchants to open a store in just a few clicks, thanks to source code already developed for them. With an e-commerce CMS, merchants can create and update their e-commerce store, manage their product catalog and sell online with ease. That’s why more and more merchants are using them.

Benefits	Total control of my brand image and prices, develop your customer portfolio
Disadvantages	Investment in marketing/communication, technical costs (particularly hosting, depending on the CMS chosen), difficulty in getting known.
Business model	Generally speaking, most CMS work on a subscription and/or commission basis, or with the installation of paid plugins/modules.
Who is this sales channel for?	CMS are for those who want to build a real brand image right from the start of their business, and are therefore willing to invest the necessary budget.
To remember	There are 2 types of e-commerce CMS: SaaS and open source. – SaaS CMS include Shopify, Wizishop and Oxatis. A SaaS e-commerce CMS is a turnkey, ready-to-use solution for which you pay a monthly or annual subscription fee. The software is owned by an editor who manages all technical aspects (hosting, security, maintenance). In short, a SaaS CMS allows you to get up and running very quickly, as it requires no technical development skills. – Open source e-commerce CMS include Prestashop, Magento and Woocommerce. These are free, open-source solutions that you can install and customize to suit your needs. They therefore require more advanced technical skills.

4. Private Sales

Veepee, Showroomprivé, and most recently The Bradery: you’ve probably already ordered from one of these private sales sites. Also known as “flash sales” or “ventes événementielles”, private sales sites organize a “sale event”, limited in time (2 to 3 days on average) and quantity, at very competitive prices as they are made from unsold surplus stock. The unbeatable prices and limited duration of the operation create a sense of opportunity and urgency for consumers.

Benefits	Fast sales in large quantities
Disadvantages	No real control over sales price and brand image
Business model	Commission on sales
Who is this sales channel for?	To players with large quantities of stock
To remember	Private sales offer branded products for sale before the stock has even been purchased. Only once the transaction is complete does the site order the exact quantity sold from the supplier. The merchant/supplier then dispatches the orders – in the form of a BtoB pallet – to the private sales platform, which in turn sends them to the end consumer. As you can imagine, this logistical process can take a long time, which is why delivery times for private sales are often quite long (3 to 4 weeks). To alleviate this problem, you can equip yourself with a logistics solution such as Shippingbo, which will enable you to connect to your private sales site and automatically collect orders and send them to the end consumer yourself! This is what we call Dropshipping.

5. Social networks or the new trend in social commerce

And yes, just like marketplaces and CMSs, social networks are now also considered sales channels in their own right! Yes, Facebook marketplace or Instagram Shopping: this is what we call social commerce, the latest trend.

But what is social commerce?

Social commerce can be defined as the use of social networks to sell products or services. Behind this term, we place social networks at the heart of the customer journey, with the aim of improving the buying experience and increasing sales. So we’re not just selling through social networks, we’re selling on social networks. That’s why it’s also called social shopping or s-commerce.

1. Optimize your site’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The choice of keywords is crucial in online sales, as it’s the key to positioning your site on the queries typed in by your target audience. Your keywords must therefore be relevant to your products, but also to your sector of activity.

Some tools to use: Keyword Tool Dominator, SEMush, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, OnCrawl, Ahrefs, Semji, …

2. Develop your presence on social networks

Social networks are the best tools for working on your brand image and creating a real community around it. Before getting started, however, it’s important to think through a relevant strategy and ask yourself the following question: what are the objectives linked to my presence on social networks? We recommend using the SMART method.

S for “Specific	Set out your objective clearly and precisely. For example: I’m a young company, and my primary objective is to make myself known and gain notoriety initially via social networks. This will help you determine the level of resources to allocate to social networking, your action plan, etc.
M for “Measurable	Your objective must be measurable. KPIs (key performance indicators) are your allies!
A for “Attainable	For a goal to be motivating and relevant, it must remain attainable! So there’s no point in aiming for something much higher.
R for “Relevant	Not to be confused with the previous objective, the notion of relevance refers more to the ability to aim for a relevant objective, and above all one that serves your profitability (an objective may well be attainable but not profitable for you!).
T for “Temporal	Set a deadline!

There are several social networks at your disposal: Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok… but beware, they don’t all have the same audience, and they all have a different purpose! Your social networking strategy should therefore be differentiated according to each medium. Then think about the type of content you want to distribute on each of them.

But don’t start by investing in every platform! We recommend that you initially concentrate your efforts on one or two platforms that appeal to your core target audience. To make yourself known quickly, it may also be worthwhile setting up competitions or promotional codes.

Some tools for managing your social networks: Hootsuite (for scheduling posts), Talkwalker Free Social Search (for tracking campaigns and hashtags), Canva (for creating designs quickly and inexpensively).

3. Emailing

Emailing is a communication channel used to develop your business and acquire new customers by sending emails. It’s an excellent communication channel with a very good ROI (return on investment).

Please note that as your business is business-to-consumer (BtoC), you are not authorized to approach a person directly without their prior consent.

The first two things you need to do to develop your email marketing are :

• Create an email list of your customers (however, please note that even your customers must be informed that their email addresses will potentially be used for commercial purposes).

• Create an email collection system

Since it’s impossible for you to reach prospects directly, you need to attract them to your store. Here are a few ideas:

• Create a pop-up on your e-commerce site. To encourage sign-ups and get as many contacts as possible, many merchants create promotional codes or offers for every subscription to your newsletter.
• Create a dedicated landing page

Some tools to use: sendinblue, mailchimp.

5. SEA or Search Ads

Search Engine Advertising or SEA is a technique used by web marketers to display advertisements online.

There are two types of SEA campaigns:

• Display” advertising on search engine partner sites
• The “search” campaign, where sponsored links are displayed only on search engines

SEA is becoming increasingly important, especially in e-commerce. And with good reason: in certain commercial queries, organic results represent only a small part of the first-page results, the rest being devoted to paid ads!
Our ultimate tip for maximizing the impact of your ads: segment them!

Some tools to use: Google Keyword Planner, Catchr, SEMrush

6. Influence marketing

Influencer marketing is the fastest-growing marketing channel in recent years. You can also set up partnerships with influencers/bloggers to promote your products and develop your brand image. To choose the influencer who will best represent your brand, here are a series of questions to ask yourself before making a choice:

To identify the right influencer for your business, you need to do some real research. Here’s what you need to look for:

1. How many followers does he have?
2. What values does it convey?
3. Who is your community’s typical persona?
4. On which channel does he/she currently advertise?
5. How committed is your community?

7. E-commerce events

Numerous e-commerce, logistics and transport trade fairs exist, often free of charge. These include Paris Retail Week, SITL, Marketplace connect, Ecommerce connect, Le E Marketing Paris…

List of known and reliable payment service providers :

• Amazon Pay
• PayPal
• Stripe
• Square
• Shopify Payments (dedicated to Shopify)
• Payzen
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• 2checkout

What payment methods should you offer your customers?

Your choice of payment service provider should be conditioned by the payment methods they offer. Of course, the more choice consumers have, the more satisfied they’ll be. According to Médiamétrie, more than half of online shoppers now use several payment methods, with an average of 2 different methods per consumer.

For optimum customer satisfaction and to limit shopping cart abandonment, we recommend that you ensure that the solution you choose offers :

• Payment by credit card
• Payment by bank transfer
• Payment by electronic wallet (Lydia, Paypal)

Particular attention must be paid to your payment page. The more personalized and legible your page is, the more confident your customers will be in their purchase! And yes, the payment form you offer your customers is an integral part of the conversion tunnel. It’s essential to take care of this page to avoid losing sales. When a visitor arrives on this page, he needs to feel confident about your site.

This is why, in order to satisfy the consumer and win a sale, it is imperative, beyond the price, to offer as many delivery options as possible, so that the consumer can choose how he wants to be delivered.

To do this, we advise you to address the 4 main delivery options on the market:

Click and Collect	The consumer buys a product remotely and then collects it from a physical store.
Collection point	A network of players who offer online shoppers the option of collecting their order from one of their network’s local collection points. Examples include Relais Colis and Mondial Relay.
Standard	Standard delivery is an “ordinary” delivery, i.e. one in which there is no shortening in terms of delivery time. Its main advantage is that it is the least expensive delivery method, both for the merchant and the customer. It is also ideal for bulky parcels.
Express	Unlike standard delivery, express delivery is by definition an accelerated delivery service, enabling parcels to be delivered on D+2 or even D+1.

Today, free shipping is increasingly the norm! To be able to offer it to consumers, many merchants actually reinject the cost of transport into the product, which means selling products at a slightly higher price.

An alternative would be to use the services of a freight forwarder to keep transport costs as low as possible. A state-regulated profession, a freight forwarder is a “transport wholesaler” who buys and resells transport in volume. This enables them to charge extremely competitive rates.

Shippingbo has a network of partner freight forwarders with whom we can put you in touch to take advantage of exclusive offers.

Feedback from our customers has given us several answers:

• Logistics isn’t the first thing on anyone’ s mind when they go online. We think of the product, the e-commerce site, in short, the part that is visible to the consumer.
• It’s a profession in its own right, and a technical one at that, which can be frightening, especially when you’re just starting out,
• You don’t realize the importance of logistics until you’re faced with problems that affect your profitability: shipping delays, out-of-stock sales, lack of efficiency in preparation, difficulty in managing peaks in activity….

You can probably tell by reading this article: if you want to start selling online, we obviously advise you to make logistics a priority, for the simple reason that the satisfaction of your future customers will largely depend on your logistics, and more precisely on your ability to ship the right order, to the right customer, in the shortest possible time, and under the best possible conditions.

It’s all the more important because if your logistics performance isn’t up to scratch, you’ll be jeopardizing your e-reputation and risking the closure of your account on marketplaces, which impose extremely high performance KPIs. But don’t panic, there are a number of e commerce software packages available to help you.

So where to start?

Your starting point should be your stock. The choice of your logistics model will vary according to depending on whether you want to own/manage the stock or not. Let’s take a closer look at the two scenarios:

Option 1:“I want to start selling online without stock” (dropshipping)

This first scenario is known as dropshipping. The concept is quite simple: you open an online store, negotiate a dropshipping contract with a supplier, and each time you make a sale, the supplier will send the product directly to the customer. The supplier handles all the logistics for you.

In any case, to engage in dropshipping, merchants must at least have anonline sales site and a product catalog.

Benefits	Disadvantages
→ sell products online without having them in stock, → offload logistics and all that this entails in terms of costs (human resources, warehouse, storage, equipment, time…) → focus on sales and sourcing → sell products that already exist → no need to invest large sums of money → ideal for testing new markets.	→ being dependent on the supplier for delivery: lead times are often long → product quality → price control rather difficult (it depends largely on the supplier’s decisions) → no control over post-purchase experience

Please note: ideally, if you want to practice dropshipping, you need to have a continuous, real-time view of your supplier’s inventory. You can’t afford to offer products for sale that are out of stock!

Option 2: “I wish to own the stock“

On the other hand, if you want to own the stock, i.e. store your products and ship them yourself, there are several logistics models to choose from:

Option 2.1: In-house logistics

This first model consists of doing all the logistics yourself , and storing your products in your own warehouse(s). In this way, you are responsible for the preparation, dispatch and receipt of orders – in short, for the end customer’s shopping experience.

This model implies having a storage facility (warehouse/store), hiring human resources, and investing in the equipment and tools needed for proper order preparation.

To scale quickly and automate as much as possible all the tasks involved in processing your e-commerce orders, we recommend using an e-commerce logistics technology such as Shippingbo .

“Our solution has been designed to help merchants, whatever their stage of development and order volume, optimize their entire supply chain: from order collection to shipping and delivery. And yes, because we can’t stress this enough: logistics is essential to EVERY e-commerce activity: it’s the guarantee that merchants will always keep their promises on delivery times, honor their orders, ship the right orders, etc. In short, it’s the guarantee that merchants will always keep their promises on delivery times, honor their orders, ship the right orders, etc. In short, it’s the guarantee that merchants will always keep their promises on delivery times. In short, it’s the guarantee of offering the best possible satisfaction to the end consumer, and therefore increasing their chances of building loyalty.”

Marc HERICHER, CEO of Shippingbo

Shippingbo technology is made up of three building blocks that support and automate the entire supply chain:

• OMS stands for Order Management System . The OMS e-commerce acts as a bridge linking the merchant’s warehouse (and thus, the WMS) to its sales channels (its e-commerce site, the marketplaces on which it sells, private sales, etc.). Thus, as soon as an order is placed on a sales channel, it is transmitted to the WMS, which in turn transmits it to the warehouse, all in real time. Conversely, stock movements in the warehouse for each order placed are passed on from the warehouse to the OMS and then to the sales sources. This prevents out-of-stock sales! In short, OMS is an e-business software application that comes into play at the beginning of the logistics chain for order retrieval.
  
• A WMS stands for Warehouse Management System . The WMS is Shippingbo’s second brick: it’s the brick that equips the warehouse. So, as explained above, once an order has been placed, the OMS transmits it in real time to the WMS for preparation (example: order placed at 8:00 am on a sales channel, then falls into “to be prepared” status in the WMS at 8:02 am). To prepare their orders efficiently, merchants can take advantage of a wide range of functions offered by the WMS. With regard to the organization of the warehouse itself, our WMS also enables advanced and optimal warehouse management (management of product locations, picking, reserves, stock reservations, etc.).
  
• A TMS stands for “Transport Management System”.As you may have guessed, once the orders have been retrieved by the OMS and prepared with the WMS, they must then be shipped. This is where the TMS comes in. Overall, the TMS will enable merchants to connect any transport contract and print their multi-carrier labels and other documents (CN23, invoices…) to ensure the correct dispatch of their parcels.

Beyond these three functional bricks, it’s a real Shippingbo withnative connectors to more than 200 players in the e-commerce ecosystem : marketplaces, private sales, e-commerce sites, carriers, freight forwarders, ERP… This significant number of connectors enables merchants to seize new business opportunities and to scale serenely, without closing doors or incurring additional costs (the connectors’ evolutionary and corrective maintenance is included in their subscription!)

Benefits	Disadvantages
→ Control of logistics processes, → Agility in new product launches → Control of the customer experience (quality, preparation, lead times) → Visibility and control of products	→ Financial, human and material investment → Substantial investment of time → Have the right methodologies and a good knowledge of logistics

Option 2.2: Outsourced logistics

Unlike the previous model, this logistics model involves entrusting the preparation and dispatch of your packages to an e-commerce logistics professional. There are a number of them:

→ “Classic” logisticians, also known as “3PLs” for Thirty Part Logistic,
→ Marketplace fulfillment platforms, i.e. the logistics departments and warehouses of marketplaces that offer to store your products and ship them on your behalf to the end consumer.
In addition to its connectors, Shippingbo has a network of logistics partners specialized in e-commerce. We then put merchants in touch with the logisticians and equip them with an extranet so that they can supervise the logistics activity carried out for them (order status, physical stock, etc.).

Option 2.3: Hybrid logistics

Hybrid” logistics are both internal and external logistics. In concrete terms, this means that a merchant has to manage several warehouses – and therefore stocks – simultaneously .

For example, you may need to manage stock distributed in an internal warehouse, but also in the warehouse of a logistician or fulfillment platform.
Shippingbo is also an e commerce software capable of helping you implement this logistics model, thanks in particular to its OMS. Managing several warehouses means knowing from which warehouse the order should be dispatched. To do this, you need to set up what are known as “routing rules”. These routing rules are decided and parameterized by the merchant: stock availability, warehouse location (with respect to the consumer), type of shipment (BtoB or BtoC), etc.

Benefits	Disadvantages
→ Mutualize the value of your stock (for example, if I have a total of 100 units available in all my warehouses, then the value of 100 will be distributed across all my sales channels) → Don’t dedicate your warehouse to a specific sales channel (for example, ship orders from your e-commerce site with Amazon or Cdiscount) → Keep control over the distribution of your products	→ Need good technology to manage inventory and route orders → Surround yourself with the right partners

Ideally, this is what we would advise merchants who are wondering which logistics model to choose:

1. Generally speaking, we advise merchants who are new to e-commerce to start by stocking their products themselves, for several reasons:

→ This gives them a better understanding and knowledge of the business, so they can work more effectively with an external service provider later on, should they entrust them with all or part of their stock,

→ Initially, this allows you to control your logistics processes as well as your products

→ Finally, it also gives you the opportunity to test the market

2. Then, as the volume of orders increases, it becomes strategically interesting for the merchant to outsource part of his stock to a logistics provider.
3. Finally, it can be interesting to use marketplaces’ logistics warehouses (fulfillment platforms) for visibility purposes.

Finally, as a last piece of advice, if you multiply the sales channels on which you sell, call on the services of a flow manager and a repricer. This will help you easily duplicate your product sheets and manage your pricing strategy to best effect, without sacrificing your margins!