The baby product market is huge. In 2021 alone, consumers spent over $6.5 billion on baby products globally.
If you’re interested in the baby product industry, one way you can enter the market is by starting a dropshipping store. Here’s what dropshipping means and how to go about launching a dropshipping business for baby products.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a retail business model where one company operates a storefront—typically online—while another fulfills customer orders. Ecommerce store owners who follow a dropshipping model don’t keep products in stock, but source them from a third-party wholesaler or manufacturer, which ships out orders to customers.Click here to start selling online now with Shopify
Dropshipping is like being a middleman: You take customer orders and pass them on to a supplier who ships the product. You’re running an ecommerce storefront without having to manage inventory or shipping logistics.
How does dropshipping work for baby products?
Dropshipping baby products is more or less the same as dropshipping other retail items: as a seller, you establish an online store, market to a target audience, and handle sales transactions. You decide which baby products you want to sell online, and find baby product suppliers who can send out these products when a customer orders them.
In many cases, a store that dropships baby products uses multiple baby dropship suppliers to fulfill orders. For instance, the store sells both baby bath toys and baby diaper bags, but these products ship from two different baby products dropshipping suppliers, each with their own contractual arrangements with the dropshipping store.
As an ecommerce dropshipper, you’ll sign a legally binding contract with your suppliers. It usually covers the responsibilities of each party, quality and safety liability, and the length of the contractual relationship.
15 of the best baby products to dropship
Dropshipping ideas for baby products can come from many different sources: social media, friends who have kids, trends you see at your local daycare, etc. Whether you envision selling a hot trending baby product or something parents always need, like diapers, here are product ideas to get you started:
Organic baby clothes. Organic clothing is made from materials that come from crops grown in accordance with organic standards. These items, which run the gamut from pajamas to baby rompers, are made from cotton, linen, silk, jute, wool, or ramie. If you take this approach to dropshipping baby clothes, make sure you have a certified organic fulfillment partner.
Baby booster seats. These sit atop a regular chair, “boosting” a baby up to sit closer to adult eye level.
Baby bottles. An old standby among baby accessories, baby bottles should be made from BPA-free plastic to ensure safety. You can also explore other feeding accessories like cups, plates, and utensils designed for babies.
Disposable diapers. Disposable items lead to repeated online sales because customers have to replenish their supplies. Parents of newborns buy diapers for years until their child is potty trained.
Hypoallergenic baby diaper wipes. Wipes go hand in hand with diapers. As a dropshipper, consider bundling the diapers and the wipes in a combo package. Many customers prefer water-based wipes, as other varieties may cause skin allergies.
Diaper backpack. Another item in the diaper category is a backpack that holds diapers and various baby-changing accessories. These backpacks can be strictly utilitarian or surprisingly stylish.
Baby healing ointment. From cuts to chapped skin, babies routinely need healing ointment, and you can dropship this product in fairly small bottles. This lowers shipping costs and may lead to more frequent purchases when parents need refills.
No-touch forehead thermometer. A no-touch thermometer takes a child’s temperature safely and with (hopefully) few tears. You can partner with a medical supply company to dropship these.
White-noise machine. White-noise machines help babies sleep through the night, meaning they help parents sleep through the night as well.
Teething toys. Teething is a fact of baby life. There’s always a market for infant teething toys. Make sure to choose a supplier that uses BPA-free plastic or food-grade silicone.
Car seats. A sturdy car seat protects babies from car accident injuries. You can dropship full car seats, but shipping costs may be high for the customer, the dropshipper, or both, on account of the bulky dimensions. You can also dropship car seat covers, which ship more affordably in compact packages.
Breast milk storage bags. Breast milk storage bags are a convenient and hygienic way for mothers to store the milk they’ve pumped, allowing it to be safely stored and given to the baby later. These are appealing to dropshippers because the empty bags are extremely lightweight and can ship in small packages.
Bedding. Whether a child sleeps in a crib or a baby bed, they’ll need washable bedding. You can dropship sheets, blankets, or even baby sleeping bags.
Baby-related crafts. Some ecommerce vendors dropship baby-related arts and crafts products, such as a footprint ornament craft kit that lets parents create a Christmas ornament with their infant’s footprint.
Stroller fans. A stroller fan is a battery-powered device that clips onto a stroller to cool the baby on a hot day. Depending on your supplier, these fans may be nearly identical to those sold for adult use.
How to dropship baby products
Whether you want to dropship baby clothes, diapers, or thermometers, a Shopify store simplifies the entire process. You can start with Shopify’s online store builder that lets you custom create an ecommerce site to process online sales of baby products—or anything else you choose to sell.
Once you’ve decided what to sell, you’ll need a dropshipping partner, or perhaps multiple partners, to fulfill your orders. Many dropshippers source products from overseas through marketplaces like Alibaba and AliExpress. You can curate your list of suppliers using a Shopify App called DSers. Many of these baby products are mass-produced, meaning you may have to look in the US for more customized items like eco-friendly baby products. Sites like InventorySource or AppScenic may help you find such partners.
Your dropshipping store will succeed or fail based on the profit margins you earn on each item sold. This means you need to charge your customers a retail price higher than the fees you pay your fulfillment companies. By striking a balance, you can make dropshipping baby products profitable. Research your competition for pricing and shop around for the best deals on quality products from your sourcing partners. For an even more in-depth look, check out Shopify’s complete guide on how to start a dropshipping business.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Beauty ecommerce is growing. Take a look at the numbers: In 2023, the online beauty industry in the United States is expected to generate roughly $86 billion in ecommerce sales. This figure is forecast to reach over $94 billion by 2026.
According to a recent survey, global ecommerce sales in the health and beauty category were predicted to reach $449.6 billion in 2027.
For beauty brands—skin care, hair care, grooming, fragrances, period care, and more—there are many opportunities up for grabs.
If you don’t know what to focus on next, we’re diving into nine examples of successful beauty ecommerce sites. You’ll find the tools, strategies, missions, and products they use to hit huge milestones.
1. Hismile: Influencer-fueled global ecommerce powerhouse
Hismile is known for home tooth-whitening kits that have taken the world by storm. The brand launched in 2014 with its two founders’ $20,000 investment, which they turned into $200 million in revenue within six years.
In its early days, Hismile grew by working with micro-influencers in Australia and worked its way up to partnering with household names like Kylie and Kendall Jenner.
Hismile sells oral care products globally on its ecommerce site.
“You must have all the other stuff in your business churning at 100% before even thinking about reaching out to one of these big names,” Nik Mirkovic, co-founder of Hismile, told Collabstr.
As Hismile rose through the ranks, it had 2,000 brand ambassadors promoting its product at any one time. When you consider its paid ads on Instagram and Snapchat on top of that, it’s easy to see why Hismile’s website had to work smoothly for everyone.
That’s not just about withstanding heavy traffic, but also about looking great no matter which channel and country the visitor came from. Over time, Hismile implemented a global ecommerce approach that supports different currencies and shipping details through six storefronts.
The shipping information page removes clutter and information overload and instead detects the visitor’s country to serve only the relevant pricing and delivery estimate.
Hismile has shipped products to more than 90% of the countries on Earth and grown its key market sales stronger.
“We initially went global on one website, but our sales multiplied by 10 in each market as soon as we sold our products in Australian dollars, US dollars, the euro, and British pounds,” says Nik.
2. ILIA Beauty: Tools that make online beauty shopping easy
ILIA Beauty is a clean beauty brand known for products that enhance natural beauty and protect the skin. ILIA’s products are sold through retailers like Sephora and Nordstrom. Lynda Berkowitz, ILIA’s CEO, told Glossy that direct-to-consumer sales through its website accounts for close to 50% of total sales.
ILIA Beauty sees beauty and skin care as one on its cosmetic ecommerce website.
This is a result of an intentional effort to create an enjoyable online shopping experience. ILIA allows customers to find their ideal shade using the Skin Tint Shade Finder. They can upload a selfie to get matched by ILIA’s team or complete a shade match quiz.
You can easily find the best product for you with ILIA’s Skin Tint Shade Finder.
The shade finder is easy to access through the menu at the top from any page, as well as from relevant product pages. Product pages also feature a “see it in real life” section, with photos and reviews uploaded by verified buyers:
Potential customers can see how ILIA Beauty products look on real people.
ILIA’s customers can rest assured they’ve picked the right product for their skin type, tone, undertone, and concern—and what they want to achieve with that product.
ILIA’s focus on online shopping experience decreased exit rates, improved bounce rates, and played a key role in its ecommerce success. Consider using tools that help customers make a choice and embedding genuine customer reviews to promote real results from your products.
3. Beauty Heroes: Putting customers first online and offline
Beauty Heroes is a healthy beauty discovery service. Its flagship offer is a membership that delivers products from a specific brand each month. Although the membership costs between $40 and $59 per month, each month’s delivery is valued at at least $100.
The current month’s brand of choice is emphasized at the top of the homepage, and the Join Now button follows you as you move around the page:
Beauty Heroes helps you find new beauty products on its website.
Members also receive a 15% discount on almost all products in the beauty store, including skin care, makeup, hair care, and lifestyle products.
In 2019, Beauty Heroes decided to take its online operations offline. Its Northern California store offers the same curation, ingredient standards, and philosophy found on its beauty website.
Opening a brick-and-mortar location meant Beauty Heroes now needed a way to efficiently manage customers wherever they buy.
“Our big requirement was that we wanted our customers to have one profile, whether they shopped online or in store,” says Jeannie Jarnot, founder and CEO of Beauty Heroes. The company now uses Shopify POS to keep complete customer profiles, history, and contact information in one place.
A curated subscription and an omnichannel presence lets Beauty Heroes excel at customer loyalty and retention.
4. 100% PURE: Leaning on customer feedback and rewards
100% PURE is a natural and organic cosmetics retailer. It has two brick-and-mortar locations in the US and a global ecommerce presence in more than 30 countries.
100% PURE promoting a monthly subscription box on its homepage.
The 100% PURE website doubles down on customer favorites: products with most reviews, awards, and purchases.
100% PURE rewards loyal customers. Its Purist Pro program for estheticians and makeup artists offers a 35% discount on most products and first access to new product launches, while the Purist Perks loyalty program includes seasonal savings, birthday gifts, free shipping, points based on customer spend, and more.
With in-store and international ecommerce efforts, the company’s goal is to create an effortless shopping experience for everyone. Easy country and currency selection plays a big role in it.
On top of that, its website needs to be fast, its inventory synced, and product information up to date.
This is where Shopify Plus created a huge improvement. “It’s our customer-facing portal in different countries and allows us to custom code promotions, which have been extremely effective,” says Ric Kostick, the co-founder and CEO of 100% PURE.
It’s a powerful combination—the focus on customer reviews and feedback plus a smooth ecommerce operation—that created success for 100% PURE.
5. The Skin Nerd: Education first, products second
The Skin Nerd is an umbrella of skin-care-focused efforts: education, curated brands, and original products.
The Skin Nerd promoting a promotional gift for customers on its homepage.
Its website points to the key areas for those seeking tips and products to improve their skin: skin consultations, The Skin Nerd book, educational articles (dubbed “skinformation”), and latest products.
The Skin Nerd is a leading example of an education-first ecommerce company. According to its About page, “The Nerd Network was possibly the world’s first online skin consultancy.” Services include initial and follow-up skin consultations, as well as bridal bootcamps, pregnancy consultations, and teen skin consultations and demo days.
Browsers can easily book a skin consultation on The Skin Nerd’s website.
Customers that book a consultation become a member of the Skin Nerd Network, which offers exclusive content, invites to events, and long-term skin guidance.
After their consultation, customers receive a list of recommended products from dozens of brands, including The Skin Nerd’s Skingredients, all of which they can purchase from The Skin Nerd store.
6. Beard & Blade: Free returns as the ultimate quality promise
Beard & Blade is a men’s grooming supplies retailer based in Australia. It has served more than 300,000 customers since 2007, with products for shaving, hair care, beard care, and fragrances.
Beard & Blade promotes a special offer and new arrivals on its homepage.
Beard & Blade’s focus is a straightforward and speedy online shopping experience. Orders made by 3 p.m. are dispatched on the same day, and customers can choose to pick up their order from the brand’s Clayton, Victoria, warehouse within 15 minutes of payment.
A huge part of this customer experience focus is offering free returns for a full year from the order date.
“We don’t have products just for the sake of it. We honed in on what we are best known for, and that’s hair, shaving, and beard products,” Michael Muscat, co-founder of Beard & Blade, told Australia Post. “It means everything we sell is of high quality, so we were confident in offering free returns from day one.”
Information on Beard & Blade’s website about it’s return policy.
“These communities know they can rely on Beard & Blade to have all the products they need. We’ve developed a strong reputation as a market leader and an authority in men’s grooming, and customers recognize that through their interactions with us and through word of mouth,” Ben Chidiac, Beard & Blade’s co-founder, told Australia Post.
For Beard & Blade, the ease of shopping both as a consumer and a business is essential—and that strategy certainly created results.
7. Boie: Minimal product range with strong branding
Boie is an eco-friendly retailer of personal and oral care products. Its online store has a recognizable look: a clean, clutter-free design with a memorable color palette.
Eco-friendly beauty brand Boie’s homepage.
Boie has a streamlined product offering, with just four product categories—oral care, skin care, accessories, and bundles—and four or less products per category. Each product comes in the same six colors.
In 2018, Boie saw $1.1 million in sales, but had conversion rates below industry average and wanted to improve its organic search presence.
One of the upgrades was consistent branding through uniform colors and fonts, more prominent buttons, and clear copy. Another one was sharing social proof.
“A big thing was adding reviews to our website,” says Manuel de la Cruz, co-founder of Boie. “I think seeing other customers’ experience with our products helped increase our conversion rate.”
Boie includes product reviews on every product page to increase conversions.
Using these strategies, Boie increased its sales by 100% within a year. Having a clear focus—and a simple, clear website that supports it—helped Boie exceed its revenue goals, while staying true to its mission of making personal care more sustainable and planet-friendly.
8. Soft Services: A resource that helps people feel good in their skin
Soft Services offers products, guides, and digital tools that help people with skin concerns. Its mission is to reduce physical and digital waste in this industry and the world.
In their own words, the Soft Services team see themselves as more than a brand or a company that makes things, and consider what they do a service—hence the name.
Soft Services’ website stands out through its unconventional layout and design:
Soft Services uses a unique ecommerce website layout to attract visitors.
Its distinctive product pages follow suit. The section that stands out is the list of “Good for” and “Not good for” skin conditions:
Customers can quickly understand if a Soft Services product is right for them.
This is aligned with Mass Index, a resource by Soft Services that houses expert articles, treatment information, and a growing visual library of all types of body skin.
Mass Index aims to fill the knowledge gap left by the skin and health care sectors about a broad range of skin conditions, from body acne and clogged pores to fungal infections and psoriasis.
“We want people to go from having a body issue that they’re stressed about to feeling empowered, and that’s through products and breaking down cultural taboos,” Rebecca Zhou, co-founder of Soft Services, told Byrdie.
Mass Index and the company’s mission are bigger than Soft Services’ products. According to the brand’s site, “Mass Index was created as a place to document research and share it with people searching for solutions, even if not our product.”.
This effort makes Soft Services a go-to resource for skin concerns and solutions and builds trust with the people they reach through it.
9. Blume: Challenging the status quo with a bold mission
Blume is a skin, body, and period care retailer focused on clean, gentle ingredients. Blume serves girls and women of all ages looking to elevate their self-care routine and daily rituals.
Blume highlights its reviews and awards recognition on its homepage.
“We wanted to start Blume to make an impact and take on an industry that has had little innovation for over 100 years. Seventy-nine percent of us use the same products that our moms did,” Taran and Bunny Ghatrora, Blume’s co-founders, shared with Ecommerce Magazine. “This means that 79% of us are still using outdated, potentially problematic products simply because we were introduced to them when we were younger.”
Blume’s product range includes natural deodorants, organic tampons and pads, and face products like clay masks, moisturizers, and acne oils.
Each product page features key information like frequency of use, scent, skin type, instructions, key ingredients (and their benefits), and other complementary Blume products.
Blume shares information about its products on its website.
Blume aims to make self-care easier and healthier and destigmatize normal things like acne, periods, puberty, and sex education, which it achieves through clean products and sex ed resources that knock down taboos and create important conversations.
Stay on top of the beauty industry
From clean products and protecting the planet to educating customers and helping them feel good about their body and the products they put on it, use these beauty ecommerce brands and online stores to inspire your next move. Beauty is personal, so make sure your customer journey is too.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
What’s in a domain name? When it comes to SEO, it might be much more than you think.
Your domain name identifies who you are, what services you provide, and how you appear in the marketplace. Depending on what you choose to register, your online presence could appear more or less friendly to curious human visitors.
Today, global competition for ranking a good domain is increasingly competitive: worldwide expenditures for SEO jumped to $80 billion in 2021. Ranking highly for SEO matters more than ever, especially when it comes to your domain name.Click here to start selling online now with Shopify
Domain SEO impacts almost everything published on your websites—your content, your landing pages, and even your products. Understanding exactly how your domain name affects page rankings and web traffic is critical to the success of your brand.
Let’s explore the basics of domain SEO, starting with its actual definition.
Domain SEO is the practice of optimizing owned domains to make them more accessible to human visitors and search engines. It involves picking a simple phrase, an optional subdomain, and a top level domain (TLD) to create the perfect web identity.
Contrary to popular belief, domain SEO is different from webpage or URL SEO:
Webpage SEO involves optimizing your digital web content, including copy, images, and associated buttons.
URL SEO focuses on optimizing title tags, link anchor text, and elements of the actual web address.
Domain SEO only strives to optimize the name of your registered domain.
It’s best to use domain name SEO as a complementary strategy with other optimization efforts, including on-page, off-page, and technical approaches. The more time you spend creating a streamlined, polished domain name, the easier it will be to advance other SEO strategies.
Does domain name matter for SEO?
A domain name’s length, keywords, and extension are critical components of an SEO strategy. A trustworthy, focused, and simple domain name will get more traffic and interest from people and search engines.
You might be tempted to assume that domain names are less important than other elements of SEO. However, take, for example, http://www.cheap-discounted-jeans.net or freeshippingforlife.biz. Neither of these domains inspires much confidence.
In fact, you might be more likely to view these addresses as scams simply because of their names. Customers are extremely aware of this, and so are search engines.
Steps for picking an SEO-friendly domain name
The best way to choose your next SEO domain name is to be mindful of keywords, to consider shorter lengths, and to focus on simple or abbreviated terms. While you might not find yourself on the front page of Google overnight, you will be grounding your domain in best practices right from the get-go—and reaping plentiful rewards as a result.
Below are four actionable tips for choosing a domain name that is optimized for search engines.
Choose the right keywords
The importance of using keywords in a domain has varied over the years. It was once a mainstay of search indexing on sites like Google and used by hundreds of thousands of ecommerce brands throughout the early 2000s. Today, keywords continue to play a part in domain SEO—albeit in an abbreviated context.
These days, domains don’t need keywords spelled out in their names to see search engine boosts. However, it’s not always a bad idea to throw in a concept or two to provide clarity around your brand.
Luxury fashion brand Giulio Fashion leverages a keyword in its domain name, giuliofashion.com, without appearing spammy or awkward. The company Giulio is complemented well by the addition of “Fashion,” setting expectations and helping searchers find what they’re looking for. Sabo Skirt (saboskirt.com) is another example of a brand adding keywords to help boost relevance.
Keep in mind that a great domain name doesn’t need to be wholly focused on keywords. Try to choose a domain name with just one or two keywords, or encapsulate the idea of your brand with a short acronym.
Opt for a short domain name
The actual length of your domain name does not affect its standing on search engines, particularly Google. However, it can and will have a significant impact on customer memorability.
Research indicates that the average domain length is just 13 characters long. For the world’s 500 most popular websites, this average drops to just seven characters.
Gaebler.com
In either case, consider creating a domain name that holds its own without overwhelming your audience. Remember: the shorter a domain name is, the more valuable it will be.
Strive for domain name simplicity
Wharton’s Dean of Entrepreneurship, Karl Ulrich, performed an intensive research study that measured the empirical evidence of online domains, including their performance in the marketplace. The research found that simple and straightforward naming schemes were the most efficient:
There is a 2% reduction in traffic for every domain name character past the seventh.
Less complicated addresses without hyphens avoid traffic penalties.
The repetition of vowel sounds and consonant sounds correspond to a worse rank.
The takeaway for entrepreneurs? The simpler your domain name is, the better it will perform.
Pick a trustworthy domain extension
GrowthBadger
There’s no question that the .com TLD is perhaps the most coveted extension of all. It’s currently the most trusted domain extension in the world, and 33% more memorable than any other TLD. While the use of .com itself won’t provide any search engine boosts, it will prove your trustworthiness to customers—bringing your rankings up organically.
Not all is lost if you don’t have access to a .com domain. Extensions such as .co continue to gather audience trust, as does .us and .net. According to this study by Growth Badger, you may want to avoid any generic top-level domain (gTLD) that was released after 2015, including .frogans, .moda, .olayan, and other less recognizable terms in the marketplace.
Performing a competitor domain name SEO analysis
Before you purchase an SEO-friendly domain name, you may want to check on the domains used by your largest competitors. A competitor domain name analysis allows you to better understand your rival domains’ position, ranking, and perception in the marketplace. The analysis can be used to help inform your decisions before making a domain name purchase.
Unlike site audits or content evaluations, all you need to perform a competitor domain name SEO analysis is a set of simple questions. Asking these questions will allow you to work through competitor decisions for domain naming and understand how it has potentially impacted their online rankings. You can use these insights to choose domain keywords, phrases, gTLDs, and lengths that are even better than those used by competitors.
Ask yourself:
How simple and brandable is the domain name? Is it less than 14 characters max?
Consider the uniqueness of the domain. Does the company own all domains with similar gTLDs to protect against imposters (e.g., swimsuit.com, swimsuit.net, swimsuit.biz)?
Is the domain authoritative? How does it line up with their branding?
The more information you glean from your competitors’ domain SEO, the better decisions you can make about the domain name you choose to purchase.
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of checking competitor metrics on your own, platforms like Moz.com can provide a comprehensive analysis that ranks domains based on keywords, spam, and more. This is a good place to start if you have a large number of competitors to sift through.
How to improve your domain name SEO
Understanding the elements that improve your domain’s SEO status will help you build a winning strategy. Once you have purchased a domain name, you’ll want to continuously improve your factors for search engine optimization.
The best way to improve your purchased domain name’s SEO is by focusing on creating value, building backlinks, and creating positive experiences with good branding.
Create valuable content
Content is one of the most valuable things you can publish on a domain. Highly researched and informative content is an excellent method of increasing your authority in the marketplace, and will help increase your web traffic.
Start by creating SEO friendly web pages, landing pages, and blog pages. Be sure to add value in every piece of writing you produce, and never rely on plagiarism or black-hat techniques to speed up your content production.
Other examples of content you could publish on your domains include:
Listicles
How-tos
Videos
Case studies
White papers
Infographics
Yearly reports
Statistic round-ups
Not only will this content provide evergreen SEO value to your domain, but it also has the potential to generate organic backlinks as well.
Source domain backlinks
Backlinks are third-party hyperlinks that connect to your domain via secondary websites. These are important for two reasons: they drive traffic from one site to another (yours), and they help to prove your brand’s relevance and authority among other competitors. According to a recent study, 91% of online pages without domain backlinks receive zero organic search traffic.
The best way to source backlinks for your domain is to become an authority in your niche. Creating actionable content and well-written copy is one of the most efficient ways to do this. You can also reach out to other brands or websites who may be interested in partnering with you or creating roundups or affiliate content to garner interest.
Note that bulk backlinks from a single website are frowned upon by Google’s search algorithm. It’s best to rely on organic links as much as possible—and not black-hat or paid strategies.
Elevate domain name branding
Your domain name isn’t just text on a screen—it gives visitors an inside look at who you are and what you do. Domain SEO is largely based around user signals, meaning that the more positively your domain presents to visitors, the better it will do online.
Use your domain name to give users a taste of your brand, including its voice and tone. Domains that are more focused on branding than keywords are usually referred to as “branding domains,” though all registered domains should try to incorporate both elements sufficiently.
There are a number of great examples of this:
Manscaped.com says everything you need to know about the company in just two syllables: a playful yet high fidelity store for all things male hygiene.
Cettire.com is a luxury brand whose naming conventions say it all. An elegant play on words sets the tone—and voice—of the brand.
AloYoga.com—a domain owned by women’s yoga apparel brand Alo— is fun, fast, and mindfully modern. It reflects the brand image and personality of Alo.
SEO-friendly domain name examples
Learning by example is a great way to approach domain name SEO. Whether you already have some inspiration or are looking for domain name suggestions, these popular ecommerce domain examples are perfect examples of strategy, length, and branding.
Gymshark.com: Just two syllables long and extremely brandable, Gymshark is a word that just rolls off the tongue. This very short domain name is separated into multiple subdomains to help with global traffic. This is a great SEO tactic for brands with a multinational presence.
Colourpop.com: This domain is memorable, specific, and easy to remember. No hyphens, numbers, or other strange spellings are included, which helps visitors return to the site without much trouble.
Beeinspiredclothing.com: The .com extension and exact brand name means visitors can find Bee Inspired Clothing in the blink of an eye. According to Ahrefs, the domain also commands more than 15,000 backlinks, which is a boon for SEO.
Do I need to change my domain name for SEO?
Domain names do impact your SEO, but they aren’t necessarily a make-or-break portion of your strategy. In fact, a changing domain name could confuse search engines and other bots trying to crawl through your web pages—making a short-lived but still negative impact on your SEO. Updated domain names might make it more difficult for returning visitors to find your site again, tanking your overall web traffic.
You should only consider changing your domain name for SEO if:
You’ve already considered rebranding your site or company
You’re planning on using 301 redirects to sustain previous SEO
Your current domain is confusing or hard to access
Remember that your domain name doesn’t necessarily factor into search engine rankings. However, changing it or rebranding it without following best practices could confuse visitors and search engines alike.
Domain SEO tools for creating a winning strategy
The best domain names certainly didn’t appear overnight, and picking a domain that follows all best SEO practices could take even more time. These tools could help to evaluate your options before registering a domain online.
Domain naming
Shopify provides domain registration, domain search, and hosting opportunities for your next digital identity. There’s also a way to find key information, like who owns the domain, when it was registered, and when it expires.
BlueHost searches for available domains based on entered keywords. This works if you’re looking to buy a domain name immediately, but doesn’t offer any information lookup function.
Domain authority tools
Ahrefs offers a helpful authority checker that measures the strength of any currently registered domain name. Use it to keep up with any linking websites or backlinks.
Prepostseo.com is a free online tool that allows users to measure the authority of multiple URLs under the same domain. Again, this is best for domains with a large number of pages to manage.
Web.archieve.org allows you to check the history of a domain name before you register it—and ensures you don’t pay for something with a poor background or lingering SEO penalties.
Domain monitoring tools
Domaintools.com provides a domain monitoring service that tracks owned and unowned domains. Keep a watchful eye on expiration dates, status changes, and other factors that may impact domain SEO.
Domain Rank Tracker lets users check for the top 50 keywords that are sending visitors to a certain domain, allowing them to monitor changes over time.
Brand Monitor protects your domain name from bad actors and lookalike domains that could hurt your rankings and SEO results.
Putting domain SEO into practice
Domain names are online digital identities that speak volumes about who you are, what you do, and what visitors should expect from you. While the name you choose will not necessarily affect search engine rankings, it’s a good idea to pick short, memorable, and highly relevant phrases that put you in the running with today’s major brands.
With some dedicated effort and a little planning, you can choose an SEO friendly domain name that continues to reap the benefits long after registration.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
The Covid-19 pandemic heralded an explosive acceleration in online retail. Statista recorded a 24% increase in global e-commerce revenue in 2020, and a further 18% increase in 2021.
South Africa followed a similar trend, but our embrace of e-commerce in 2020 was even more pronounced, especially in certain categories. Food and beverages were the phenomenal success stories, showing 64% and 40% revenue growth respectively in 2020.
The global cost of living crisis that has struck in 2023 takes place in this environment of e-commerce maturity and heightened consumer comfort with online shopping. As inflation hits peaks last seen decades ago, and interest rates soar in response, consumers are embracing new models that make shopping more affordable and convenient.
One such model, which is proving transformative in several countries, is group buying, or “social e-commerce”. Social e-commerce platforms allow groups of individual consumers to easily coordinate buying activities, benefiting from group discounts.
Social e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo in China and Facily in Brazil have quietly scaled beyond expectations – Facily was valued at $850m in 2021, and Pinduoduo recorded revenue of $18bn in 2023.
In South Africa, the social e-commerce market is led by SOLshop. SOLshop connects wholesalers and customers in one friendly ecosystem, allowing individuals to conveniently access daily discounts on hundreds of products through the SOLshop app.
Jonathan Holden, COO at SOLshop, says, “In an economic environment of persistent low growth and high inflation, we’ve seen an explosion of interest in our ability to coordinate group buying and give everyday consumers access to extraordinary savings. The response to SOLShop has been exceptionally positive, offering consumers a glimmer of light in these challenging times. It’s interesting to note, as we celebrate Women’s Month, that 70% of our customers are female.”
SOLshop collaborates directly with local farmers and producers, allowing lower-than-wholesale prices on food, including fruits and vegetables, as well as household and beauty products. SOLshop users form groups of friends or other app users to access these deals. The more shoppers that collaborate, the bigger the savings.
SOLshop has a large and growing delivery zone and 15+ pickup points around Johannesburg. Currently, the delivery area covers Sandton, Bryanston, Fourways, Randburg Central, Roodepoort, Midrand, СBD & Soweto.
As well as the collective-buying mechanism, social e-commerce platforms often replicate the social experience of shopping, with personalised recommendations, promotions, and fun engagement mechanisms. They result in closer relationships between producers and consumers, and a rise in word-of-mouth advertising.
Holden concludes, “We anticipate that the group-buying model has the potential to scale significantly in South Africa. We’re a well-connected country with a high cellphone penetration rate, and we could all benefit from lowering our grocery and household-item budgets, while building networks and communities.”
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
If a thriving business is your goal, you should follow a methodical approach and pick a niche with attributes conducive to online success.
Market niches are segments of broader markets, defined by their own unique characteristics, such as needs, preferences, and identities, that set them apart from the wider market. This specialized segment of the market is where you want to position your business.Click here to start selling online now with Shopify
In this short guide, we’ll go through how to find your niche and determine which products to sell in that niche. We’ll also show you how to determine if there’s enough demand for your small business ideas and give you a few tools to measure the competitive pressures in those areas.
Finding your niche begins with looking at your passions and skills. Some questions to ask yourself include:
Are there any topics I’m passionate about?
What do I excel at?
Do I have a favorite hobby?
These are all important factors to consider when trying to find a niche.
Let’s say you have a passion for fashion and are good at styling outfits. You might enjoy creating or sourcing clothes and working with a stylist for photo shoots. You can find a niche in the fashion industry by combining these interests and skills.
Or perhaps you enjoy cooking and creating healthy recipes. You might enjoy selling cookware and writing recipes for your company’s food blog. Finding a niche in the food industry would be easier with these interests and skills.
The key is finding an area you’re passionate about and have some skills in. This will make finding a niche you enjoy working in much easier.
2. Find a few different potential niches
Once you have an idea of your passions and skills, start looking around for potential niches. In this phase, you want to build a big list of niches so you can determine demand. You’ll narrow down these niches later.
You can define a niche by:
Price (luxury, moderate, discount)
Levelofquality (premium, handmade, economical)
Geographics (residents of a certain country, city, or even neighborhood)
Demographics (gender, age, income level, education level)
Psychographics (values, interests, attitudes)
For example, selling trail running shoes is a niche. Trail running shoes are a segment of the larger industry of footwear and the audience is runners, hikers, and nature enthusiasts, which have large communities.
There’s no single way to find a niche. But here are a few ways you look for some.
Start with Google searches
The best way to start brainstorming is to understand what other online retailers are doing. Let’s use “vegan shoes” as a starting point. Scroll down to the Refine section where you can search by type, style, material, and department.
Vegan shoes is a niche worth researching.
From there, you can find a goldmine of potential angles, like faux leather unisex running shoes and vegan pumps.
Dig until you find an underserved problem you feel you can provide a solution to. Keep in mind that even if you have competition, you can still compete by getting even more specific with your audience and building an effective marketing strategy.
Pay attention to your surroundings
Start looking outward to catch any common pain points. Your own experiences as well as the experiences of others can spark ideas.
If you’re selling shoes, you might notice both youth and elderly people have trouble tying laces. Maybe you yourself are after a certain style of shoe but no one ships to your country.
Take note of any problems like these and be that business to serve a niche population with your unique solution.
Use Google’s suggestions
Ever notice how when you start typing something into a Google search, it shows you suggestions before you finish? These are Google’s most-searched-for related keywords and queries. Use them to your advantage to find a niche for your product category. You can plug in “best shoes for” to get some ideas.
Pay attention to Google’s suggestions when you input keywords, as there may be niche ideas you hadn’t thought of.
You can also use keyword research tools to check search volume and trends. This will help you identify the most viable opportunities.
Look for passionate communities online
The web is pretty good at organizing itself into communities based on shared interests, passions, and hobbies—in other words, into niches. Dig through the most active subreddit and listen in on their discussions.
Subscribe to hashtags on Instagram and TikTok, like #sneakerhead, and you’ll find opportunities to niche down.
Pay attention to hashtags on popular social media sites and online forums.
3. See if there is a market
When you’re looking for a niche, it’s important to ensure a big enough market to support your niche. It’s no use trying to sell to a group of people that’s too small to sustain your business.
Here are a few ways to determine if there’s a big enough market for your niche:
Total addressable market (TAM). This is the total potential revenue that your business could generate if it captured 100% of its target market. For example, if you’re selling a product that’s aimed at women aged 18 to 35, your TAM would be the total revenue generated by all businesses that sell products to this demographic.
Size of the niche market. This is the portion of the TAM that’s made up of your target market. For example, if you’re selling a product aimed at women aged 18 to 35, your niche market would be the TAM’s portion of this demographic.
Growth rate of the niche market. This is the rate at which the niche market is growing. For example, if you’re selling a product that’s aimed at women aged 18 to 35, your niche market might be growing at a rate of 5% per year.
Do market research on your chosen niches to see if it’s a good specialization or not. You can also plug each niche into Google Trends to see the current trend.
For example, you can see below that the topic “vegan shoes” has consistent demand over the past five years. This would be a decent niche to get into as a new business owner.
Google Trends can show region-specific and global data around search trends for keywords and phrases.
4. Narrow down your niche
Now that you’ve brainstormed a list of potential niches, it’s time to start narrowing them down. Here are a few factors to consider as you narrow your list:
Do you have any personal or professional experience in this niche?
Is this niche something you’re passionate about?
Do you have any existing connections in this niche?
Is this niche too broad?
Is this niche too competitive?
Can you realistically see yourself building a successful online business in this niche?
You don’t have to check all the boxes, but the more “yes” answers you have, the better. If you’re struggling to narrow down your list, try these exercises:
Take a closer look at the niches you’re most passionate about. What are the unique selling points (USPs) of each?
Are there any niches on your list that you could combine? For example, if you’re passionate about fashion and sustainable living, you could focus on selling sustainable fashion.
Are there any niches on your list that you could segment further? For example, if you want to sell fitness products, you could segment by type of fitness (e.g., CrossFit, yoga, running) or by product type (e.g., fitness apparel, fitness equipment, fitness supplements).
5. Validate your niche
There are a few key ways you can validate your niche before you invest too much time or money.
Take a look at your competition
If there are already a ton of businesses selling what you want to sell, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It could mean there’s a market demand for what you’re selling.
But it could also mean you’ll have a hard time standing out in the crowd. If you do decide to enter a competitive market, you’ll need to have a unique selling proposition that will make you stand out from the rest.
Talk to potential customers
See if they would be interested in what you’re selling and if they would be willing to pay for it. You can also look for online communities related to your niche and see what kinds of conversations are happening.
Are people talking about the problem you’re trying to solve? Are they looking for solutions? If so, that’s a good sign you’ve found a potential niche.
Build your audience first
Kickstarter campaigns generate awareness about products before they’re even developed. You can introduce your idea and gain followers before the idea has come to fruition. This way, you’ll have an engaged group of target customers ready and waiting for you when you launch.
Research consumer trends in your market
It’s important to be up-to-date with what’s happening in your chosen niche. Resources like Think with Google and Nielsen consumer research will help you understand consumer pain points, desires, and breakout trends.
Set up Google Alerts for related keywords and regularly monitor social media conversations to stay on top of what’s trending.
The goal is to get feedback from real people about your niche idea. This will help you validate (or invalidate) your assumptions and give you a better idea of whether or not there’s a market for what you’re selling.
6. Test your niche
Finally, you can validate a product or niche by testing it out. This can be done by starting a blog or a YouTube channel related to your niche, or creating a landing page to sell a product or service related to your niche. If you can get people to sign up or buy what you’re selling, that’s a good sign that you’ve found a viable niche.
Why is it important to find your niche?
To succeed in your business, you need to carve out a niche. Choosing a niche helps you build credibility amongst one audience and dominate a particular corner of the market. When you niche, you become the go-to spot for a specific group of people.
Niching also does the following:
Helps you buildbrand loyalty. Customers will choose your brand over a mass market company offering more product types. They will also connect more with a niche brand and know you’ll meet their needs.
Lowers marketing costs. By knowing your niche, you can target specific groups of customers. These people are more likely to act on your promotions, which brings down marketing and advertising costs.
Shows expertise. Choosing a niche establishes you as a thought leader in the space versus providing a generic product. It positions you as an expert, establishing credibility and building trust amongst relevant customers.
Increases profits. Narrowing down on a niche lets you learn about specific customer groups. If you can show you’re the best brand to meet their needs, they’ll spend more with you more frequently.
Suppose you own a shoe store. You sell many types of shoes in the store. One day, in order to attract more customers, you add shirts, hats, sunglasses, and jackets to your shelves.
If someone is looking for a specific work boot or running shoe, are they going to come to you? Chances are, no.
Say you position your shoe store to be the #1 place for nurses to buy shoes. You sell slip resistant, durable shoes that offer support all day long. You spend money on ads and influencer campaigns targeting nurses. Over time, you become the go-to spot for nurse shoes and establish your place in the market.
Niche market examples
Now that we know what a niche is and how to choose one, let’s take a look at some examples for inspiration.
1. Conscious consumers
The topic of sustainability has become increasingly important, and for good reason.
Almost any mass-produced product has a niche market of conscious consumers looking for greener alternatives. More than 78% of consumers are making it a priority to become more sustainable in their daily lives—and they’re willing to adapt their shopping behaviors to do so.
In the past, companies might have donated proceeds to a cause, but now consumers care how products are made. In other words, there’s a subculture within green living that cares about ethical supply chains. If you’re in this niche, keep that in mind.
Some product examples are:
Wax wrap that replaces Saran wrap
Cruelty-free cosmetics
Vegan clothing
Menstrual cups
💡 Tip: Avoid greenwashing. Make sure your environmental claims are backed up. In this category, you can’t be perfect—that’s not how business works. Keep in mind that greenwashing will always backfire.
2. Pet owners
The pet industry alone earned an estimated $136.8 billion in sales in the US in 2022. The market offers a lot of product opportunities across different types of pets, lifestyles, and more.
For example, PupSocks sells personalized socks, you can plaster your beloved pet’s picture on, and it has hundreds of thousands of website visitors monthly.
PupSocks has tapped into a niche in the pet products industry with its personalized pet-inspired products.
Many people own fish, dogs, or cats, but there are also unique pets, such as horses, lizards, turtles, and even chickens. You can tap into any of these niche markets.
3. Locals
Even the world’s biggest brands are adopting local marketing approaches through targeted campaigns. This is because they’re competing with a consumer-driven movement to support local businesses.
But if you’re only selling online, it can be difficult to establish a local presence. Luckily, there are ways for ecommerce sellers to appeal to locals.
Peace Collective, for example, was founded around Toronto pride with the slogan “Toronto Vs Everybody.” Now, it supports all kinds of initiatives.
Peace Collective allows online shoppers to browse collections based on the cause they want to support.
If you want to sell locally, you could make t-shirts with subculture slogans, images of the city, or local sports team logos, or even sell souvenirs and city guides. The possibilities are endless.
Tips for finding niche products to sell
While you’re brainstorming various niches and products to sell, there are a lot of important things to consider. Here are some types of niche products you’ll want to sell.
1. Accessory-heavy niches
Merchants rarely make much on big-ticket items and will earn only 5% to 10% on products like laptops and TVs. Where they really make their money is on the accessories.
Accessories enjoy significant markups, and customers are much less price-sensitive about them. A buyer might shop for weeks to get the best deal on a TV, but wouldn’t think twice about dropping $30 on an HDMI cable from the same place. Yet there’s a good chance the business made nearly as much on the cable as it did on the flatscreen.
When you choose a niche with lots of accessories, you’ll enjoy significantly higher profit margins and fewer price-sensitive shoppers.
2. Customers with a passion or problem
It’s amazing how much money passionate hobbyists will spend. Mountain bikers will drop hundreds on lightweight accessories to shave a few pounds off their bike, and avid fishermen will invest tens of thousands of dollars in boats and related accessories.
Also, if you can offer a product-based solution to a painful problem, you’ll find a captive audience eager to buy.
3. The $100 to $200 range
This price range is an ecommerce “sweet spot.” It’s large enough to create decent average order value (AOV) and per-order profit, but small enough that—with a quality, informative website—most customers won’t need to speak with someone before the sale personally.
As you grow, generating most of your orders online offers massive efficiency savings versus a phone-heavy approach. But if you’re selling products that cost $500 or more, many customers will want personal customer service before pulling out their credit cards.
4. Hard to find locally
If you needed garden equipment, you’d likely head down to your local Home Depot or Lowe’s. But where would you go to buy surveillance equipment or magicians accessories? Probably online. Pick niche products that are hard to find locally and you’ll be able to get in front of the vast majority of your customers as they search online.
While you ideally want something difficult to source locally, you also need to ensure there’s ample demand for the product. This can be a fine line to walk, and we’ll return to the issue in the competition section below.
5. Low product turnover
If your product line is constantly changing year to year, you’ll end up spending valuable time on resources that will soon be outdated. Selling a product line with limited turnover ensures you can invest in an information-rich website that will be viable for years.
6. Consumable or disposable products
Repeat customers are essential to any business, and it’s significantly easier to sell to existing customers who trust you than to new prospects. If your product needs to be re-ordered regularly—and you’re able to keep your customers happy—you’ll be on your way to building a profitable business with recurring revenue.
Finding a great product is only part of the equation. Even a niche fitting all the above criteria would be a poor choice in the face of inadequate demand or crushing competition. Understanding a product’s demand, competition, and suppliers will be important to making an informed decision.
What should you do if you can’t find a niche?
Having a niche business makes it easier to find potential customers and convince them to buy from you, but you need to be sure there are enough buyers in that niche to make it viable.
Let’s say your target audience is dog-loving nurses in Toronto and you determine your niche is too small. Consider pivoting. You could expand to dog loving professionals in North America. You won’t really know what will resonate until you try.
Niche down, make more money
Even if you do achieve success early on, niches change, so expect to evolve with your audience over time. You might even introduce new products to your line as new opportunities present themselves.
Understanding the specific needs of each niche makes it possible to speak directly to them in your marketing—you’ll have a greater chance of attracting a buyer’s attention and winning their business by making it clear that your product is specifically for them.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
In the ever-evolving landscape of international commerce, businesses are constantly seeking ways to broaden their horizons and stay competitive. The allure of global markets, especially those brimming with innovative and affordable products, is hard to resist. For South African businesses, this desire for expansion often leads to the question: How can we tap into the vast world of opportunities in China and bring those benefits home?
Enter ShopShipShake – the answer to your business expansion aspirations. Unlike conventional e-commerce platforms, ShopShipShake is exclusively designed to serve the needs of South African businesses. This article delves into why ShopShipShake is your premier gateway to seamless business growth.
A Platform Exclusively for Business Clients
ShopShipShake’s primary mission is to cater to the unique demands of businesses in South Africa. Our platform is your virtual bridge connecting you with Chinese suppliers and the vast array of products they offer. Whether you’re an established business owner looking to diversify your product offerings or an entrepreneur seeking to venture into new markets, ShopShipShake is your strategic partner.
The Advantages of Choosing Shopshipshake
Supplier Diversity: Our extensive network boasts over 1,000,000+ suppliers, enabling you to explore a wide range of options. This diversity empowers your business to diversify its product catalog and remain competitive in a dynamic market.
Streamlined Logistics: We understand the complexities of international sourcing, shipping, and storage. WithShopShipShake, you can shift your focus from logistics to growth while we handle these intricate aspects on your behalf. It’s a partnership where your success becomes our mission.
Customized Solutions: We recognize that every business is unique, and our solutions are tailored to meet your specific goals and requirements. Our commitment is to make our relationship feel more like a partnership than just a transaction.
Additional Advantages
ShopShipShake offers a host of additional advantages to make your business expansion journey as smooth as possible:
Stable Supply Chain: Our platform provides a stable supply chain that includes product supply, shipping, and secure storage. This ensures a seamless end-to-end process for your business.
Payment in South African Rand: Convenience is paramount, and we’ve got you covered. We now support payments in South African Rand, making transactions even more straightforward for our South African business clients.
Fast and Affordable Deliveries: Our partnership with trusted logistics companies guarantees swift and reasonably priced deliveries. Say goodbye to long shipping times and exorbitant fees.
1688.com Partnership: Through our collaboration with 1688.com, one of China’s premier e-commerce platforms, we gain access to an extensive array of suppliers and products, enriching our catalog and broadening your sourcing options.
Shopify Partnership in Africa: Our partnership with Shopify in Africa opens up new avenues for businesses to thrive in the African market, further solidifying our commitment to providing top-notch e-commerce solutions.
Dedicated IT Technology Group: We continuously invest in technology and have a dedicated team of IT experts working to improve and optimize our platform, delivering the best user experience possible.
Professional Product Inspection: Quality is paramount. Our professional product inspectors meticulously review items before they reach you, ensuring the highest standards for your business.
ShopShipShake is not just an e-commerce platform; it’s your trusted partner in unlocking the world of Chinese products for your business. If you’re a business owner seeking growth opportunities or looking to diversify your product offerings, Shopshipshake is here to make your journey seamless and rewarding. Join us today and experience the difference of doing business with Shopshipshake!
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
The latest Takealot Competition Commission ruling seems unlikely to affect Amazon‘s long-term African expansion plans, and the market shouldn’t underestimate the retail giant’s ability to push back against requirements it deems unreasonable.
The latest Takealot Competition Commission ruling seems unlikely to affect Amazon’s long-term African expansion plans
The Competition Commission’s (Comp Comm) Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry’s remedial requirements for Takealot have ruffled more than a few feathers in the retail space, but not e-commerce juggernaut, Amazon.com, which is forging ahead with its plans to enter the local market, albeit at a more leisurely pace.
“The building of warehouses and local hiring is ongoing, but the urgency is certainly no longer there,” comments Anouck van Rietschoten, head of operations (marketplaces) at Incubeta.
“These new remedial actions by the Competition Commission are also going to demand the full attention of the Amazon legal team and, even though they will definitely be on top of it, the company seems to be dealing with more hurdles than are immediately apparent,” she adds.
Van Rietschoten also says that South Africa’s greylisting would have also added complexity to the global marketplace’s expansion plans and says that while the Nasdaq heavyweight certainly has the resources to deal with the challenges, the postponement of its planned 2023 launch is very likely.
“If we see a Q1 2024 launch it would likely be a soft launch with some select big brands and most likely without the third-party (3P) model. What we have seen in other regions is that Amazon will onboard big brands, focussing on its first-party or 1P model.
“While they have historically opened their seller side at the time of launch, they have opened it to just a few select 3P sellers and have not actively recruited resellers. This allows them to get the platform going and the customers used the service before they begin with a vendor onboarding drive,” she explains.
Don’t expect Amazon to roll over
When it comes to the Competition Commission’s move against Takealot, van Rietschoten says Amazon is well-versed in dealing with regional trading anomalies.
“Amazon is used to dealing with these commissions and has shown that they can adapt their commissions and percentages as necessary.
“We also see some flexibility on their terms of agreement in each region to ensure they meet regulatory requirements.
“That said, they have also been known to rock the boat and because of their size and leverage, they can afford to push back a fair bit, as they did in France,” she shares.
Meet in the middle
The most recent concessions in the UK, however, also show the firm is able to meet in the middle, but van Rietschoten says she expects Amazon executives and legal teams to be working hard behind the scenes to ensure they get a fair play at cracking the local market.
“I believe Amazon is already in this conversation. Both with the Commission and with other players in the local market. They will certainly have some leverage in this conversation and may even be able to bend some of the rules, supporting Takealot in the process,” she shares.
Negative impact on the smaller players
Commenting on the Commission’s move to try and split Takealot’s retail and marketplace operations, van Rietschoten believes this may have a negative impact on the smaller players, rather than levelling the playing field as intended.
“You want one place where small retailers can also have an opportunity to compete against the big brands. The US has shown how small players can grow their businesses in an online-only environment and, with some clever strategies, can still be visible and compete against even the biggest players.
“Splitting the models will push the small players onto other platforms. The Commission’s efforts seem focussed on dismantling any monopolies, rather than enabling a platform designed to accommodate big and small players alike,” she explains.
Far-reaching impact
Summing up, Van Rietschoten says the outcome of any further negotiations over the next few months will have a far-reaching impact.
“Ultimately, the consumer would benefit from an e-commerce environment that offers as many products as possible at the most competitive price possible.
“So ensuring that the cheapest prices are visible in the Buy Box, for instance, makes good sense. And when all the players are governed by the same 3P and 1P rules it helps ensure a fair and safe retail experience.
“But any short-sightedness now will stop future e-commerce expansion. We expect players like JD.com to enter the market soon, and you can be very sure they will be watching these next moves with great interest.
“We’ve seen time and again, once Amazon has ironed out the kinks in a region, others will follow,” she says.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
With so many affordable, accessible and customizable platforms, it’s never been easier to create an online store and sell through established marketplaces. But the growth of your eCommerce business depends on your ability to acquire new customers and increase sales from existing ones. Every eCommerce marketing channel costs time, money or energy, and it’s up to you to find the right balance for your business. Even for the most experienced eCommerce professionals, growing revenue and scaling up can be a challenge.
Mistakes are a natural part of all growth and can serve as excellent learning opportunities. That said, we can probably all agree we’d still prefer to avoid them in the first place. Being aware of the most common pitfalls that other entrepreneurs experience in eCommerce can help you avoid costly mistakes and missed opportunities.
5 eCommerce mistakes to avoid
To help eCommerce businesses avoid the most common pitfalls that new sellers make, I’ve drawn on the experience of the Wix team in running an eCommerce platform, as well as the experience of our network of over 500,000 online stores worldwide, to assemble these tips for the top 5 eCommerce mistakes to avoid.
One of the biggest mistakes a business owner can make is not clearly defining your target audience or taking the time to understand what makes your customers tick.
You can’t really expect the right people to just show up at your website simply because you have a product they might need or want. You need to let them know about your business and get them to notice your products. And to do that, you need to know who they are and how you can reach them.
Without a clear idea of who your target audience is, you’re essentially going into every single marketing initiative completely blind. Knowing your audience will help you figure out which images to use for ads, which words to use in descriptions, which social channels to aggressively maintain, and more.
So get hyper-invested on understanding your potential customers.
What are their problems or pain points?
What are they looking for?
What are their hobbies and interests?
Which groups or subcultures do they belong to?
What values are important to them?
Where and how do they engage with content online?
Defining and understanding your target audience will help you create a brand message that resonates with them and a shopping journey that entices them to buy time and time again.
02. Not Knowing which eCommerce Channels to Choose
It’s not enough to know who your target customers are; you also need to know how to reach them best. Are they on Facebook? Do they shop on Amazon or eBay? Do they read email newsletters? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, your products probably won’t ever be seen by relevant shoppers, no matter how valuable they may be.
eCommerce channels don’t all work the same or even cater to the same audience. Some are great for reaching shoppers who are actively searching for a product, while others work well for reaching shoppers who have previously interacted with your online store. Selling online is an endless process of trial and error, testing and optimization. Understand how new channels work and then don’t be afraid to try new ways of reaching potential shoppers.
Start by defining the ideal results for your marketing efforts.
Do you want to:
Attract potential customers who are actively searching
Re-engage your past customers
Reach out to totally new prospects
Increase traffic quantity and/or quality
Based on your goals, select the eCommerce channels best suited to connecting your business to potential shoppers:
Search Engines are excellent tools for targeting people actively looking for a product. These shoppers are already interested and tend to convert quicker. Search engines like Google and Bing offer many advertising options, like text ads, image ads, product listings, and voice search marketing. By optimizing your eCommerce website’s SEO, you can rank organically for related search terms and grow valuable unpaid traffic sources to your site.
Online Marketplaces are also a great way to reach actively searching shoppers who can easily browse through lots of products from different categories. Amazon and eBay are popular marketplaces that can provide exposure to many shoppers, but can also be very competitive. Smaller niche or local marketplaces might offer more visibility and generate sales at a lower cost.
Email Marketing is a great way to reach shoppers with great conversion potential. These are either past customers who already purchased from you or shoppers interested enough in your business to give you their email address, which makes them more likely to make a purchase from you in the future.
Retargeting lets you target shoppers who visit your website. Many shoppers abandon their carts, but are often still interested and easier to convert. Remarketing can be done through channels like Google and Facebook by adding a unique tracking pixel to your website so that site visitors can be served ads later on. Also make sure to set up automated emails for abandoned carts to remind shoppers about the products they are considering from your site.
Social Networks let you reach shoppers who aren’t necessarily actively looking for a product but are open to new ideas or content. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest are used by hundreds of millions of people around the world every day and offer very granular targeting capabilities based on lifestyle, demographic and behavior.
03. Not Investing in Your Product Pages
Potential customers don’t physically interact with your products before they buy them, but they do engage with your product pages. Your product pages need to convince shoppers to buy the product from your site rather than from somebody else.
Create great product pages that entice shoppers:
Provide accurate and tempting product descriptions, including features, specifications and benefits.
Display your products with high quality product photographs or videos.
Include product reviews and testimonials which are major drivers in converting buyers – but make sure that reviews appear valid and authentic.
Optimize the SEO for your product pages – include all relevant keywords, and make sure that you’re not copy pasting manufacturer or supplier descriptions as duplicate content will cause your pages to be penalized by search engines.
04. Creating Poor Shopping Experiences
Once shoppers make it through the initial steps of your sales funnel, it’s time to close the deal. Unfortunately, this is a time where a lot of eCommerce businesses see abandoned carts. If a shopper has decided that they want to buy your product, don’t put any obstacles in their way.
Simplify your Shopping Cart.If shoppers need to fumble through the checkout process, they are likely to get frustrated and give up before ever making a purchase. To increase conversions, make the checkout process as simple as possible and eliminate as many steps as possible from your shopping cart. Keep buttons big and text small, and remove any unnecessary fields.
Don’t require shoppers to set up an account before buying a product. Give shoppers a streamlined checkout to buy the product they want and give you their money. Then worry about adding them to your brand community or CRM lists.
Don’t surprise shoppers with unexpected fees. Making a purchase involves a degree of trust and you don’t want to give shoppers any reason to think that you’re not being upfront with them. Unexpected fees like taxes or shipping fees can drive away potential customers. This doesn’t mean that you should cover the cost of tax and shipping yourself – simply provide all of this information well before shoppers reach the checkout page.
Give shoppers enough payment options.You don’t want to lose a customer because they can’t functionally pay you. There are dozens of online payment methods, from credit cards to digital wallets and mobile payment solutions. You don’t need to offer all of the options, but find out which payment methods your target customers prefer and focus on those.
05. Providing Poor Customer Care
Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Not only is it easier to and more profitable to keep an existing customer, but they’ll probably send you more business if you offer amazing customer service.
Poor customer care, from slow response time or showing impatience, to not offering refunds, is a sure way to lose existing customers and avoid getting new ones.
Customer care includes a lot different things – how you:
Respond to shopper’s messages on your website
Answer questions and comments on social media
Address customer complaints over the phone and via email
Be there when your customers need you and offer them your full attention and support.
Learn from these eCommerce Mistakes to Sell More and Grow Online
Understanding common mistakes made by both first-time and experienced eCommerce businesses alike is essential to your growth.
To start with, you’ll be able to better anticipate and avoid making these same mistakes. But you’ll also learn that making these mistakes won’t necessarily be the demise of your business either.
If you understand that you made the mistake and fix it, your business will continue to grow and thrive. Not only will your eCommerce website be optimized for success, you’ll also create a following of happy, loyal customers that are excited to buy your products again and again.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Shoppers often rely on unadulterated opinions of former customers to judge whether or not they want to make a purchase. This makes online reviews a key factor in people’s purchasing journey—and it’s why there are so many review websites where customers go to share their experiences with both local businesses and national brands.
As a small business owner, collecting customer reviews is one of the best ways you can build consumer confidence and expand your market reach. Here are strategies for getting business listings on different sites and getting as many positive online reviews as possible.
Customer reviews benefit small businesses through the concept of social proof: The human tendency to base our decisions on the actions and opinions of other people. Specifically, consumer reviews can benefit businesses because they can help:
Boost credibility. Eighty-four percent of shoppers report trusting online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations from their friends.
Improve SEO. Since Google’s algorithm prioritizes webpages with consumer ratings, you can improve your search engine optimization (SEO) every time you collect customer reviews. The contents of these reviews also help you identify keyword phrases to include in your SEO marketing.
Teach you about your own product. Reviews directly show you what customers think about your products, including the features they like and dislike the most. You can gain ecommerce insights just by reading what your clients have to say about your brand.
Naturally generate content. Need a newsletter idea? Feature some client testimonials, pulled directly from your own business reviews.
Improve your brand’s reputation. Positive reviews help prospective customers view your company favorably and may even inspire people to make a purchase. For return customers, positive reviews can instill greater customer loyalty in your business.
11 review sites for businesses
Every positive review—whether it’s posted on a popular review site or your own website—has the potential to boost your brand reputation. Still, there are certain third-party review sites worth prioritizing, since they get a lot of traffic and people already trust them. Here are 10 (plus your own) of the best review sites for online businesses.
1. Google
When you set up a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), you get placement on Google Maps. You also get a forum for Google customer reviews, where anyone with a Google account can leave feedback about your business. Given Google’s continued dominance in online search and the number of people who rely on Google Maps to get around and find local businesses, it pays to have a presence on its platform. You can solicit Google reviews by directing people to your Google business listing.
2. Yelp
Yelp specializes in local search, so it’s particularly useful if your business has a physical location. But even if you work exclusively in ecommerce, Yelp reviews improve your online visibility. That’s because Yelp devotes a lot of attention to search engine placement, so your Yelp listing might show up in a search result ahead of your own website. Yelp encourages you to set up a business profile and let active Yelpers organically review your company.
3. Facebook
Facebook is known for connecting family and friends, but it also functions as a review site for businesses. You can create a Facebook page for your business and encourage people to like your page and leave reviews.
4. Shopify Product Reviews
While review sites offer value, there may be no better place to feature positive reviews than within your own ecommerce store. The Shopify Product Reviews app and the Shop App both let you display client feedback directly on your Shopify online store, providing on-the-page social proof to interested buyers. The app lets you publish, hide, filter, and manage reviews quickly and easily. It also lets you add review scores to your Google search results.
5. Trustpilot
Trustpilot lets users write reviews about individual products and companies as a whole. This helps it stand out among business review websites, which typically only feature one of these review categories. Trustpilot operates on a paid subscription model, but even its free tier offers Shopify integration.
6. Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a nonprofit organization that rates companies on an A to F scale, and it offers accreditation, for a fee, which signals to consumers you’re an honest business. These ratings and accreditations can show whether a business is reliable and trustworthy, and whether it proactively addresses customer complaints. The Better Business Bureau’s own research says 88% of consumers said they were more likely to purchase from a business if it had an A+ or A rating, 78% of consumers said they were more likely to purchase from a business if it displayed a BBB Accreditation seal, and 68% of consumers said they were less likely to purchase from a business if it had an F or D rating.
7. Amazon
If you sell on Amazon, reviews are of paramount importance. Positive Amazon customer reviews can push your product to the top of a product search page, while negative reviews can relegate you to the bottom. Note that Amazon forbids the practice of offering people rewards for their reviews. One way to get more reviews on Amazon is to make a high-quality product and aggressively price it to gain market share. Later, when you’ve amassed a large number of reviews, you can consider raising your price to improve your profit margin.
8. AliExpress
AliExpress is a Chinese online marketplace with a growing presence in the United States. It is known for rock-bottom prices, which draw bargain shoppers. AliExpress is much like Amazon in that reviews can boost your listing on search results pages. AliExpress reviews tend to be shorter than those on Amazon, which may incentivize happy customers to quickly type a few words of praise.
9. Angi
Angi (formerly Angie’s List) specializes in local businesses and the service industry—think contractors, music teachers, and caterers. If you exclusively work in ecommerce, you may not need an Angi profile, but if you provide services or operate within a specific local area, a listing may help. Angi charges site visitors a fee to access its review listings. This means you can only request customer feedback from Angi subscribers.
10. Foursquare
Foursquare allows users to “check in” at a local business. It also provides a forum for customer reviews, which can be given on a scale of 1–10. While Foursquare reviews may not directly boost ecommerce sales, they can definitely improve the visibility of your brick-and-mortar locations. Its default view presents businesses in order of their customer ratings, so keeping a high score boosts your presence on the platform.
11. Yellow Pages
Long before online review sites transformed the retail market, shoppers found business by searching the Yellow Pages, a massive print directory that was delivered for free to people’s homes. Today the Yellow Pages name lives on in an online directory. Like Foursquare and Yelp, yellowpages.com (also called YP) emphasizes local listings and includes map views. If you’re rated by the Better Business Bureau (see item 6), you can feature that on your YP listing. You can also indicate how long you’ve been in business and how long you’ve been listed in Yellow Pages.
How businesses can get more online reviews
Asking people to leave you reviews on sites is a marketing strategy in and of itself. Here are four strategies for gaining positive ecommerce reviews.
1. Ask past clients
One of the best review-generating strategies is also among the simplest. Reach out to past clients via email newsletter, text, or phone, and ask them to review your business. Make it easy for them to do so by sending a link that takes them right to your review page.
2. Encourage video reviews
Some clients struggle to summarize their customer experience in written word format, but they may be happy to record themselves talking and leave a video review. Sites like Amazon encourage video reviews, so you can remind your clients that it’s up to them to decide what format they want to use to leave feedback about your business.
3. Embrace niche review sites
Rather than rely on general purpose sites like Google, you can focus on sites that cover your particular niche industry. Think of musical equipment reviews on Sweetwater, or pet supply reviews on PetSmart. You can also encourage engagement by joining forums like Reddit, where users may talk about your business. Although Reddit does not contain formal reviews, it hosts communities of like-minded people open to recommendations; you may have fans on there who welcome the chance to sing your praises.
4. Offer incentives
You can offer past customers incentives (like a discount on their next purchase or a free item) if they leave you a review. This helps, as 73% of consumers say an incentive would make them more likely to leave a review. Ethically, you should offer the same incentives for any review, whether positive or negative. It’s unethical for businesses to only offer rewards for five-star reviews. Note that some sites, notably Yelp and Amazon, discourage soliciting reviews in any form. But generally, asking for a review—and not dictating what you’d like the review to say—is OK to do.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Picture this: You’ve spent the afternoon shopping online, have finally pressed the fateful Order button, only to realize you’ve ordered two of the same item. Who do you turn to for a quick and painless fix?
Customer support is an integral building block for any ecommerce business—so integral, in fact, 77% of consumers think good customer service is critical to earning brand loyalty and generating business.
This guide shares how to provide excellent customer service for your ecommerce brand, alongside techniques to measure and improve your current strategy.
Ecommerce customer service is the support and assistance provided to online shoppers before, during, and after their purchase. It includes addressing inquiries, resolving issues, and ensuring a positive online shopping experience to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty in the digital marketplace.
Advantages of good ecommerce customer service
Good ecommerce customer support isn’t just good for the consumers who shop online—it’s good for business, too. At its best, an exceptional customer service team can help build consumers’ confidence in your ecommerce brand. It can also do the following:
Boost customer loyalty
When online shoppers feel appreciated, their sense of customer loyalty deepens. In fact, a Statista survey found 94% of customers are more likely to buy from a brand again when they have a good customer service experience.
Improve customer experiences
Ecommerce customer service can resolve technical issues for online shoppers who have run into any issues and improve their customer experience. Self-service options like FAQ pages and chat functions can also help online shoppers resolve issues instantly.
Attract more customers
Good news spreads fast. The more often your customers have a positive experience, the more likely they are to spread the word about it and refer new customers to your online business—creating added value for you along the way.
Ecommerce conversion rate is an important metric—one that can be hard to improve. Good customer service can help get potential buyers over the hump and move the most important conversion metric you have: sales.
6 ecommerce customer service best practices
Leverage customer reviews
Have an FAQ section
Develop multichannel support
Utilize live chat support
Personalize your approach
Integrate inventory data
1. Leverage customer reviews
Customer reviews are a great way of parsing through customer feedback. And when you engage and respond to those who’ve left a review, you get a better understanding of what your customers want from your ecommerce business—because you’re practicing proactive customer service.
Proactive customer service means fulfilling a customer’s needs before they bring it to you or your customer service team. It’s a fantastic way to build confidence in your ecommerce business and retain loyal customers. By acknowledging reviews—both the good and the bad—you give your online shoppers the sense that they’re both heard and appreciated.
Here, shoe brand Vessi’s customer service team responds to a customer who was dissatisfied with their order. They acknowledge the challenge of finding shoes that fit, and proactively offer additional help to the customer.
The Vessi support team proactively responds to a three-star customer review, offering help and thanking the customer for their review.
2. Have an FAQ section
The most successful ecommerce businesses offer online shoppers a way to solve their problems on their own before escalating to a customer service agent.
Easily reduce the number of support questions by building out some sort of resource—a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page or a comprehensive knowledge base—that covers both the basics and the most common queries. Magic Spoon, for example, outlines whether its cereal is keto-friendly, whether kids like it, and what it tastes like, which is important for customers who haven’t tried it before.
FAQ page answering questions across five categories: product, shipping, international, orders, and general.
3. Develop multichannel support
Modern shoppers are inherently multichannel. That doesn’t just apply to their purchasing journey—customers interact with brands across a range of communication channels once their order is complete.
Develop multichannel customer support and meet customers where they are. From email and SMS to social media support, provide a direct line of communication to your ecommerce customer support team to not only meet expectations, but deliver excellent post-purchase support.
4. Utilize live chat
Speaking of multichannel support, some customers will head directly to your online store when they need assistance. A survey by Tidio found 88% of web users chatted with chatbots in 2022, and seven out of 10 of them found the experience positive.
Chat software not only answers questions from website visitors, but gives them instant answers instead of waiting for your ecommerce customer service team to come back online.
Shopify Inbox, for example, can alleviate pressure on your support team by providing customers with real-time responses to basic queries like:
Where is my order?
What’s your refund policy?
Do you offer an affiliate program?
5. Personalize your approach
Every ecommerce business can approach the idea of personalization differently. It can mean providing email or phone support from a customer service representative when things go wrong or when online shoppers have questions.
Personalization can also extend to specific customer service phrases and post-purchase follow-ups. Small gestures like including stickers or notes in your packaging or sending personalized emails can make a world of difference.
6. Integrate inventory data
Customer service is an opportunity to sell. Whether you’re helping website visitors find the right gift or assisting an existing customer with purchasing products that match their last order, the job is made easier when you have inventory data on hand.
Choose a customer service tool that integrates with your Shopify store. It’ll ensure you don’t sell out-of-stock products, have an accurate picture of your bestsellers, and create a sense of urgency if a popular item is selling fast.
Ecommerce customer service practices to to avoid
Slow response time
Online shoppers expect brands to meet or exceed their expectations. These expectations are especially strict when waiting for a response to customer support tickets. According to a survey by Tidio, about 53% of respondents find the most frustrating part of interacting with a business is waiting too long for replies.
Setting clear customer expectations around your response times is an easy way to improve customer service. Then, meet or beat them. If your phone support is limited to a specific time frame, be upfront about it. If response times are longer on the weekend, be clear about that too.
No multichannel support software
Allowing customers to contact your team is the first step in making your support strategy more accessible. But if you’re fielding several types of communication, it’s easy to lose track of who said what. That’ll put a wrench in the works if you’re leaning on personalization to connect with those contacting support.
Help desk software diverts all incoming tickets to a central location. All incoming requests—be they phone calls, emails, or social media direct messages—arrive in the same dashboard.
Multichannel support software like Gorgias or Reamaze can also sync your Shopify data and act as a customer relationship management tool. Each incoming ticket will connect to a customer profile. Support agents can see:
The customer’s name
The customer’s contact preferences
The items the customer has ordered
Any previous support tickets
The agent who handled their previous request
Gorgias’ help desk software showing an example customer timeline.
Inconsistent messaging
Inconsistent messaging is one way to sabotage your efforts in building a strong brand reputation.
Ensure everyone interacting with your brand gets the same experience with templates. Write up your most common customer queries and save them as a template. It ensures customers get the same message regardless of which team member they interact with, while also saving your agents time and allowing them to blaze through more tickets.
How to measure customer service success
Customer satisfaction score
Your customer satisfaction score (CSAT) measures how happy customers are with the support provided. It’s calculated as a percentage of people who voted a high satisfaction score out of all those who took the survey.
Implement post-support customer satisfaction surveys to calculate your CSAT. The goal is to have this metric as high as possible, which shows most people who interact with support leave the conversation feeling satisfied.
First contact resolution rate
First contact resolution rate is the percentage of support tickets resolved in a support staff’s first messaging conversation. If an agent doesn’t have to follow-up, or the customer doesn’t have to reach back out via your help desk software, it’s a strong indicator your team is resolving outstanding issues and delivering incredible customer support.
Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric that allows you to measure customer loyalty. To calculate it, ask customers how likely they are to recommend your company to a friend. Subtract the number of negative promoters from the positive promoters to find your NPS.
While it isn’t intimately linked to customer service, it’s worth keeping an eye on how your NPS changes as your support strategy changes. An increase indicates your support team is contributing to positive ecommerce customer experiences, resulting in more people who’d likely recommend your products to a friend.
Provide great customer service for online shoppers
An excellent ecommerce customer service strategy helps you retain loyal customers, acquire new ones, and improve overall conversion rates. In other words: good customer service is integral to the success of online businesses.
Most importantly, a thoughtful strategy around ecommerce customer support can help to set your online store above and beyond the competition—and encourage your customers to keep coming back for more.
Wrapping Up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
