Section 1 : Know Your Product First

Chapter 1 : Find a product or services to sell online

This is the most important and crucial part of entire business process.

So selection of the product or services has to be done very carefully.  

But now the question is “How to do that ?”

Initially while setting it up..what you know is…”I want to do my own business ….” ;)

But what kind of business ….No idea …No clue…Don’t worry, I faced the same situation too..

Make sure you keep this one-liner in mind.. “Every business is Try, Improvise & Repeat until it becomes a brand.“

You have to do the research & surveys multiple number of time before you yourself are convinced whether  “This is the product I want to sell or not”.

1. Online Research

2. Offline Research

3. Market Surveys

4. See what people around the world are doing & living.

Chapter 2 : Online Research

Top most tools to do online research are,

• Google

• Quora

• Linkedin

• Facebook

• Twitter

  
  

In today’s world people have started sharing information in forms of post, questions, doubts they have in their personal life, professional life or miscellaneous stuff. But for you as entrepreneur this data holds information about user’s wishes, desires, pains which in-turn can help you identify the product or services which users are willingly ready to buy.  

Now let’s understand by the example,

So I started with selling online eco-friendly tableware products like plates, glasses, bowls, etc. and I was pretty convinced with idea. For me, Facebook news feed was great source of research as lots of the videos were posted by the people around the world on plastic waste and how it is creating problem to the environment.

Secondly, I read articles on Quora & Linkedin to get more clarity. And then I came to know about these eco-friendly products which are available in the market.

But, how to know whether this product is really a game changer for your setup or not ?

1. First visit Amazon, Flipkart, Walmart or any online market place and search the product…

2. See the reviews of the customer.

   
   

This will help you to understand the customer buying behaviour on this specific product and will help you decide whether you can sell locally within your region and earn money.

Chapter 3 : Offline Research

This is the best approach to identify the product’s potential. If you want the honest feedback about the product, technique is simple.

So what I did - I bought 100 pieces of Plates, Bowls, Glasses each from the wholesale market and setup campaign stall in my locality to identify the potential. Since it was marketing campaign I sold it off with 10% profit margin.

Also I noted down customer information so that I can get the feedback about the product and also I can use it for the future campaigns. 

90% this approach works because here people interacts with seller face-to-face and they buy the product as part of try-out while in online customers are not aware of from whom they are buying.

“Sense of trust & responsibility is what you need to create & maintain”.

Chapter 4 : Market Survey

If you’re not willing to conduct trial-error like Offline research to identify the product potential then you have to visit to the various markets in-person to observe the consumer’s behaviour on the product.

Things you should observe,

1. Which brand is most preferred ?

2. Which brand is not at all preferred ?

Here you’re doing comparison analysis. If you see most of the people are buying the same brand then ask them why they are preferring Brand A over Brand B. Secondly, you can even ask them why they buy it from here ? In this way you will figure out the demand-supply gap of the specific product and this will help you to decide whether you should sell this product online or not.

Chapter 5 : What people around the world are doing ?

And the best tool to know about what other people are doing is Youtube.

Believe me..I myself have learnt many ideas, tips & tricks from the YouTube videos and I would recommend you too.

Chapter 6 : Your Personal Experience

So now based on the reviews & surveys done I felt “Ecofriendly products”are good option to consider for online selling. But till now whatever information you have it’s all from external world.

Next part is doing KYP - Know Your Product.

It means now you experience the product from your end. You can also involve your family, friends or neighbours to give transparent feedback & opinion.

KYP is important because before selling it to other people, try whether you yourself as a consumer like the product or not.

---

If you need any personal consultation or guidance for your online business then please feel free to connect with us on chintankadhi@gmail.com or you can visit our website: ZeroQAD : www.chintankadhiportfolio.com