Choosing the Best Safety Shoes: A Comprehensive Guide in 2024

When it comes to working outdoors or in potentially hazardous environments, investing in a reliable pair of safety shoes is paramount. Whether you’re an electrician, construction worker, or involved in chemical or mining industries, the right safety boots can significantly mitigate risks and protect your feet from harm. In this guide, we’ll delve into the different types of safety shoes available, how to choose the best ones, and recommendations for the latest models that offer both safety and comfort.

Main Factors to Look for When Choosing Proper Footwear for Your Job

When choosing the right safety shoes, check your working environment and the kind of job you perform for any of the following safety hazards:

WALKING SURFACES

In workplaces with smooth, wet, or slippery walking surfaces such as kitchens, you will need non-slip shoes or safety shoes with anti-slip soles which give you maximum grip under conditions caused by polishing, water, ice, oil, or any substance that will cause you to lose your balance. For uneven surfaces such as milling sites, look for ankle-high safety shoes that will protect your ankle from sprains. Make sure the walking surfaces are properly maintained as well.

PROTRUDING OBJECTS

In workplaces where sharp-pointed objects such as nails or scrap metal are commonly found on the walking surface, such as workshops, safety boots with thick soles that are resistant to punctures are required.

FALLING OBJECTS

In workplaces such as construction sites, where injuries from falling objects such as bricks or tools can occur, steel toe boots are a necessity.

ROLLING OR MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT

Steel toe boots should also be worn in workplaces such as warehouses that have heavy rolling equipment such as forklifts and trollies. Workplaces such as assembly factories with mechanical equipment that perform punching and crushing tasks such as scrapyards also require steel toe boots.

THERMAL

In work environments that have working conditions with extremely hot materials or temperatures such as foundries, or extremely low temperatures such as refrigerated warehouses, thermal boots must be worn. Wearing the proper safety boots will protect workers against burns or frostbite.

ELECTRICAL

In a work environment where electricity is a hazard, work boots with non-conductive soles and heels must be worn. This will protect workers against electric shock.

CHEMICAL

Chemical resistant boots must be worn in workplaces that deal with harmful or corrosive substances such as bleach or acid. These boots are made knee-high to protect against accidental splashes.

BIOLOGICAL

Biological hazards such as allergies, rashes, and germ growth, are usually found in wet or outdoor working environments. Safety boots are designed to be waterproof and chemical resistant.

Once you have selected the right safety shoe for your workplace’s environment, check them for these minor but important details:

What are the work, safety and protective shoe norms?

Safety shoes must meet the EN ISO 20345 norm which requires:

  • 200 joule impact resistance at the front of the shoe,
  • anti-slip soles on smooth and greasy floors in industrial environments (XPS 73012 norm),
  • closed back of the shoe.

The EN ISO 20345 norm is then divided into different categories corresponding to specific protections indicated by the letters:

  • A: anti-static footwear
  • Fo: hydrocarbon-resistant soles
  • E: heel and sole energy absorption
  • P: perforation-resistant soles
  • Wru: upper part of the shoe resistant to water penetration and water absorption
  • Wr: water-resistant shoes

EN ISO 20345 compliant safety shoes:

What kind of shoes are appropriate for my work environment?

Safety shoes must be worn in all industries where there is a risk of foot injury. You have to determine the type of shoes you will need for the work environment:

  • For indoor and outdoor work, for example on construction sites and in mines, it is better to favor S3 shoes or potentially S5 if it is necessary to intervene in a flooded environment regularly.
  • In the agri-food industry, generally work is done indoors and in a dry environment. In this case, it is possible to switch to S1 safety shoes or S1P shoes if there is a risk of perforation of the soles. Depending on the type of floor covering, you may also need to provide anti-slip protection such as SRA or SRB, or soles insulated against cold or heat.
  • In some laboratories, especially for the chemical industry, you will need to provide safety shoes, for example to prevent risks related to products used. In this case you can choose S1, or S2 if there is a spray risk.
  • On construction sites, often S1 or S1P shoes provide the necessary protection, but you will of course have to adapt the type of protection to your specific risks.
  • For the automotive industry, shoes must often meet specific risks such as those related to welding. In this case, you can for example look for S1 shoes that are also classified Hro.
Fashionable safety shoes with ISO standards

Where to find stable safety shoes suppliers for your business?

Choosing the right safety shoe doesn’t have to feel like a daunting task because we are here to help! Our extensive range of brands and shoes and our many years of experience makes meeting your requirement easy and speedy.

As the world’s largest industrial nation, China boasts competitive quality and prices for industrial safety products on the international stage. SSS provides stable Chinese supply chain and logistics services to small and medium-sized enterprises in South Africa. Our partnered factories strictly adhere to ISO 20345 standards , offering high-quality and affordable products.

Fashionable safety shoes with ISO standards sponsored by Shopshipshake (SA Warehouse Available):

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com.

If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/register/business

5 Types of Products With High Profit Margins

If you’ve visited a car dealership in recent years, you may have noticed salespeople are more enthusiastic about showing you trucks and SUVs than sedans. Perhaps these salespeople harbor a lifelong passion for hauling cargo, but more likely their reason is simple: SUVs and trucks come with higher profit margins than sedans. SUVs, trucks, and sedans all cost roughly the same to manufacture, but SUVs and trucks have higher retail price tags, translating to more net profit for the sellers.

No matter what you sell, the key to high profit margins are controlling costs while achieving a premium price. Here’s how this strategy works.

What is a high profit margin product?

A high profit margin product is one that produces a notable profit on each unit sold, meaning that you spend less to source an item than your customers spend to purchase it. Imagine you sell custom-printed t-shirts for $12, but your equipment, raw materials, and labor cost $11. This means you only turn a net profit of $1 on each shirt sold. Yet, if you keep your costs the same and raise the price to $20, your profit margin jumps to $9 per shirt. In other words, you’ve gone from a comparatively low profit margin to a high one.

How to calculate a profit margin

Calculating profit margin involves a simple formula:

Profit margin = Retail price – cost of producing that item

The retail price is the amount the customer pays you to buy an item. The cost of producing the item includes raw goods, machinery, labor, and shipping costs. If you use accrual basis accounting, you might also include your marketing budget as part of the cost of production.

Why you should focus on high profit margin products

High profit margins contribute to business growth because they provide a high return on investment (ROI). When online retailers stock high profit margin products in their ecommerce stores, they net a comparatively high amount of money on each sale. 

Consider an online retail store that sells two products: Product A and Product B. Each is priced at $100. However, the online business pays $88 to make or acquire Product A and only $61 to make or acquire Product B. This means there is a net profit margin of $12 on Product A and a net margin of $39 on Product B. So even though retail customers pay the same amount for both items, the online seller makes a lot more money selling Product B in its ecommerce store, thanks to its comparatively huge net profit margin.

5 Types of products with high profit margins

If you’re looking for high-margin profitable products to feature in your ecommerce business, there are numerous options. Some of these products come with high retail price tags; others are relatively low cost to customers. All offer significant profit margins for online stores. Here are five product categories to explore:

1. Speciality products

This category includes phone accessories, kitchen gadgets, watches, and collectibles like trading cards. These products can often be mass produced for comparatively little money and sold at a significant markup due to demand from a niche market. Some specialty products, like phone accessories, enjoy broad market demand. Others, like specialized watches, have a more niche target market. Timbuk2, which makes specialty bags, and One Blade Shave, have built their Shopify online stores around such products.

2. Children’s products

This category serves parents shopping for their kids. Americans, in particular, are known for spending a lot of money on children’s toys, many of which can be manufactured at a low cost and sold for a comparatively high price. Babylist, powered by Shopify, has thrived in this high-demand market.

3. Candles

Selling candles can produce a good profit margin, ranging from 25% to 50%. These profit margins are made possible by a large network of overseas candle suppliers who can produce large orders for relatively little money. You can even net high profit margins when you make your own candles because the raw materials are largely inexpensive.

4. Private label products

Private labeling is when a manufacturer makes a custom product for a retailer, based on the retailer’s specifications. Ecommerce merchants can partner with manufacturers to create custom-made private label products to sell online. The private label category includes custom clothing, jewelry, fashion accessories, and health and wellness products. Companies like Victoria Beckham Beauty, Blume, and Frank Body have built successful ecommerce stores in this sector.

5. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a close cousin of private label brands, and it represents another high profit margin option for a successful ecommerce store. In the dropshipping model, ecommerce merchants sell products that are manufactured, warehoused, and shipped by a third party. You can sell many products via a drop shipper, including coffee, clothing, and phone cases. Dropshipping can offer good profit margins because you don’t have to rent retail space or warehouse space, and you won’t need employees to physically manufacture your products.

What makes a good high margin ecommerce product?

  1. Quality
  2. Demand and competition
  3. Production and sourcing costs
  4. Shipping and fulfillment costs
  5. Pricing

Having a high volume of online sales does not automatically equal high levels of profitability. For an ecommerce product to be especially profitable, it needs to fulfill most of these criteria:

  1. Quality. Customers expect high-quality products; anything less could increase customer returns—quickly inflating your business expenses, and eroding your profit margins. Only sell products that will consistently satisfy your client base.
  2. Demand and competition. Too much competition can lead to price wars, and these can eat into a company’s profit margins. Market research can reveal sustainable customer demand for various products, and help steer you away from sectors that are already saturated with competitors.
  3. Production and sourcing costs. Production and sourcing costs—including raw materials, equipment, real estate, and labor—are the largest business expenses for most companies. You can boost profit margins without raising prices if you tamp down production costs.
  4. Shipping and fulfillment costs. The size, weight, and durability of your products directly impacts the cost of shipping them to consumers. Smaller, lighter items require less postage, and durable items don’t require special packaging to ship. You can enjoy high profit margins selling heavy, bulky items like fitness equipment, but it’s even easier when you ship lightweight items like clothing or beauty products.
  5. Pricing. You can boost profitability by raising prices, but tread carefully: You don’t want to price yourself out of the market. Researching competitors’ pricing can help you understand what customers are willing to pay for an item.

4 tips for maximizing profit margins

  1. Look for niche opportunities where there’s high demand but low supply
  2. Negotiate with suppliers for lower prices
  3. Suggest related products
  4. Keep your pricing competitive

Whether you’re launching a new business or refining your existing one, you can optimize your profit margins by following a few simple tips.

  1. Look for niche opportunities where there’s high demand but low supply. You’ll have the most flexibility with your pricing if your industry isn’t already filled with competitors. Your heart might want to focus on making women’s accessories, but your head might tell you to incorporate a children’s line into your offering.
  2. Negotiate with suppliers for lower prices. Instead of raising prices on your customers, consider increasing profit margins from the other direction. Shop around for suppliers and negotiate to make sure you’re getting the best prices.
  3. Suggest related products. Once a customer is on your website or browsing your ecommerce store, you can enhance the value of their visit by suggesting related products. This increases the customer’s shopping cart totals and produces a more profitable transaction.
  4. Keep your pricing competitive. It’s natural to want to make as much money as possible from a sale, but your expectations have to align with market realities. After all, you can only reap a profit margin if customers are buying your products. You might choose to charge a little bit more than your competitors to boost your own profit margins, but make sure your own prices are in the same ballpark.

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.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/shop/register/business

The article originates from: https://www.shopify.com/blog/products-with-high-profit-margins

6 High profit margin products to sell in 2023

If there’s one thing that the most successful online sellers have in common, it’s that they’ve found a way to generate healthy profit margins. If you own an online store, then your profit margin, aka “net profit margin,” is how much money you make selling products after factoring in business expenses like sourcing costs and shipping costs.

Imagine, for example, that you were a veterinarian or dog groomer who developed your own brand of dog shampoo that was better than anything currently on the market. So, you decide to cash in by opening an online store that sells pet care supplies to dog lovers worldwide.

In an effort to offer your product for a low cost, you decide to sell each bottle for a retail price of $10. As the orders pour in, things appear to be going great until you realize you’ve overlooked the fact that each bottle costs around $9 to create and deliver.

Unfortunately, this leaves you with a net margin of just one dollar for each bottle, which isn’t a good profit margin. In order to justify spending the time and energy it takes to run an ecommerce store, you’d be forced to boost your price to cover your product costs.

If you’ve yet to launch your online business, then a surefire way to avoid this situation is to choose high profit margin products to sell online and offer them at appropriate price points. Read on to discover what exactly high-margin products are and how to find them.

What is a high profit margin product?

A high profit margin product is a product that you can sell for more money than it takes to create, ship, and promote. The key is to find high-quality items that you can acquire for a relatively low cost, customize in some way, and then sell online for a higher price than you paid for them.

When calculating the average profit margin you expect to bring in, it’s also important to account for things like your marketing budget and any ecommerce business platform expenses. High profit margin products tend to share several traits, such as:

  • High-demand products: In order to generate high profit margins, you’ll want to focus on products from a hot market. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sell the world’s sexiest products, just that there should be a significant demand for the type of products you choose to sell.For some online sellers, this could mean selling fashion accessories and beauty products, while others might prefer to sell phone accessories or fitness equipment. The key is to make sure you sell products that will appeal to a large number of customers.
  • Unique selling point (USP): Finding the USP of each of your products will come down to answering why your target customer should buy it from you rather than another online seller. For a great example, check out this foldable yoga mat from a small fitness equipment brand called Stakt.
    After noticing the pitfalls of traditional yoga mats, Stakt’s co-founders decided to start selling fitness equipment of their own to fill a gap within their specific niche. While more expensive than the average yoga mat, the Stakt mat has the USP of being the first foldable yoga mat of its kind, which makes it usable for a wider range of exercises.
  • Low production cost: While higher margins are the goal of every successful ecommerce store, skimping on quality will do your online business no favors. Even if you offer the most popular products on the market, bad reviews are all it takes to sink an ecommerce store very quickly.
    So how do you establish and maintain a high profit margin without cutting corners? Partnering with a reliable print on demand company has become a popular ecommerce business solution for many online retailers.

Ways to find high profit margin products

A little market research can go a long way when it comes to finding the best high profit margin merchandise to sell online. Here are some useful tools that can help you find out what’s trending among your target audience.

Use Google Trends

Google Trends is a great free tool that offers an inside peek at the most searched-for topics on Google. You can customize your search to show the top trending products and subjects over the past few years, months, or even hours.

This is an awesome way to spot products or topics that may appeal to your niche market. You can then take those ideas and turn them into high profit products to sell online.

Check out competing ecommerce stores

When it comes to online retail, competitor analysis can be an invaluable market research tool. Get familiar with other ecommerce merchants that cater to your target market and visit their sites periodically to check out their most popular products.

Not only can this give you a good idea of what’s trending among your target audience, but it can also provide valuable clues to the average selling price of products similar to your own. It can also be a great way to spot any gaps in the market.

Coming up with an idea for a high-margin product that no one else is selling yet is a great way to make your online store stand out. If you want to go all in, there are even professional tools like SimilarWeb and SemRush that can give you valuable insights into rival stores.

Discover high-margin products on social media

Social media is a goldmine when it comes to generating ideas for high profit margin products. The key is to follow as many other online stores in your niche as you can find.

If you sell beauty products, follow everyone from high-end suppliers to other independent retailers. While the goal isn’t to reproduce the same products exactly, you can generate plenty of ideas by tracking which beauty products are trending, and the average price customers are willing to pay for them.

Six high profit margin products

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s look at several products that can lead to nice profit margins. Whether you choose to focus on one or select items from multiple categories, each of these high-margin products is a great bet for your ecommerce business.

1. Turn custom apparel into a high profit margin

In 2021, the global online fashion market was worth $700 billion and is expected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2025. Clothes are a high-demand product that will never go out of style and they can be created and sold for a relatively low cost.

Imagine, for example, that you created a cool design that you wanted to feature on a Unisex t-shirt. If you were partnering with Gelato, you’d factor in the following production costs:

  • Product: $9.51
  • Shipping: $3.99
  • Total overhead: $13.50

In order to increase your profit margin, you could offer each shirt for the retail price of $20.00. That’d leave you with a healthy average profit margin of 32.50%.

2. Up your average margin with baby and children’s clothing

baby clothing

As any parent can tell you, kids and babies are always in need of new clothes, which is part of what can make selling them a great choice for your ecommerce store. The children’s apparel market is expected to account for $267.50 billion in 2023 alone, with a projected annual growth of 2.46%.

Children’s clothes tend to be relatively inexpensive to create, not to mention cheap to ship, due to their light weight. Your shop could cater to personalized gifts for babies, kids’ t-shirts featuring funny sayings, or anything in between.

Be sure to offer an assortment of different products to ensure you can keep selling all year round.

3. Score high profit margins with accessories

accessory

There’s a good reason you’ll find accessories offered in so many ecommerce stores. They tend to have very low sourcing costs, which can lead to a nice average margin of return.

Take tote bags, for instance. In recent years, stores have begun charging consumers for plastic shopping bags in order to encourage more eco-friendly shopping habits.

Many states are even considering outlawing single-use bags, which could soon make the tote bag an even more profitable product than ever before.

4. Custom drinkware is always in high demand

drinkware

As the world continues to realize the many environmental and health benefits of sustainability, the reusable water bottle is becoming an increasingly high-margin product. As opposed to single-use plastic bottles, a good stainless steel water bottle or travel mug can last over a decade.

With bottled water prices rising, long-lasting drinkware is a low-cost investment that can save your customers a great deal of money in the long run. Given how long a reusable water bottle can last, many customers are willing to pay higher retail prices for custom options that reflect their personality or style.

You’ll quickly discover that the drinkware niche is full of plenty of high-margin products. Consider adding custom-designed coffee mugs, latte mugs, and lightweight enamel mugs to your online offerings.

5. Home decor can be a high-profit niche

home decor

The home decor sector is alive and well around the globe, presenting online sellers with plenty of chances to turn their designs into high profit margins. Offering your customers products like customized calendars or photo books can be a great way to boost your revenue.

But don’t overlook the popularity of unique wall art, from posters to canvas or wood prints. Gone are the days when artists enjoyed their highest profit margins from the single sales of their best paintings.

Partnering with a print on demand company makes it possible to sell prints of your artwork to multiple customers, all without ever selling the original unless you choose. Another home decor niche that can lead to high profit margins is wallpaper design.

After the recent introduction of peel-and-stick wallpaper, the wallpaper industry has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. There are now even plenty of great online courses that can teach you the art of wallpaper design right from your own laptop.

6. Accessories for electronic devices are great margin boosters

electronic accessories 1

Did you know that the average American spends 270 minutes every day on a mobile device? It’s not so hard to believe when you consider that we now depend on smartphones for access to everything from email and GPS systems to our daily calendars.

Given how much time we spend with our phones, it’s no surprise that selling phone accessories can lead to a healthy average profit margin. Offering products like cell phone cases can be very profitable, especially if you offer unique designs that your customers can’t get anywhere else.

Due to the vast number of different smartphone models on the market today, you could easily create an online store dedicated to phone accessories alone. Whether you choose to go all in on the niche or offer a select number of options, SHOPSHIPSHAKE’s got everything you need to make it happen.

Create custom products for higher profit margins

electronic accessories 2

Turning your designs into high margins largely comes down to featuring them on the right products. Remember, it’s important to choose high-demand products that you can sell for a retail price that covers your overhead costs and still leave you with a profit.

Keep in mind that if you want to make the highest profit margins in the long run, it’s essential that you don’t try to cut corners by offering your customers low-quality products.

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.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/shop/register/business

The article originates from: https://www.gelato.com/blog/high-profit-margin-products

The 13 Best White Label Products To Sell in 2023

Illustration of labels dancing around a number of product bottles

What if we told you you could go to market this week with your own brand of massage gun, memory foam dog bed, or skin care serum?

One way to make a quick entry into being your own boss is white labeling—selling products manufactured by others, customized with your own designs or branding. Selling white label products is an easy option for those looking to jump on a trend or avoid having to make or manufacture products on their own.

Ahead, we’ll share 13 ideas for popular white label products that you can brand and start selling today

What is white labeling?

White label products are generic products mass manufactured then customized slightly (logo or brand name added, for example) for several brands. White label products can be bulk ordered, dropshipped, or printed on demand.

Four silicone coffee mugs in a row

The term is often used interchangeably with “private labeling.” But technically, there are some subtle differences. Both refer to products manufactured and then relabeled or rebranded for another store or brand. Private label products, however, are most often types of productsmanufactured and branded before being sold exclusively by one retailer, for example, a suite of products under Walgreens’ generic brand sold only at its stores.

Private labeling is generally more expensive, due to the nature of the customization and high minimums, and is best for brands that are already more established. White label products are accessible to smaller brands or those just starting up due to low, or sometimes no, minimums, as in the case of print on demand.

The benefits of white labeling

White labeling allows you to quickly spin up a business around an existing product. You can add your own touch through branding, a great website, personalized shopping experiences, and unique packaging. You don’t need to have any creative skills or manufacturing experience to sell white label products.

White labeling might be a great option if you:

  • Are looking to jump on a trending product
  • Want to start a business quickly 
  • Don’t have a unique product idea
  • Want to start a business without much upfront investment
  • Aren’t interested in making or manufacturing products yourself
  • Want branded supplemental products for an existing business (say, a service-based business)
  • Are looking to monetize a personal or influencer brand with merch 

White label vs. custom products

A woman smells a skincare product

Making your own unique products from scratch can be highly rewarding. Artists, craftspeople, and product designers tend to enjoy this aspect of running a business. But it’s not for everyone. Whether you’re not creative or don’t have the time or patience for product R&D, you may opt to skip production altogether. Enter white label.

The downside of white label products is that the same product may be sold under many different brand names, meaning you can easily get lost in the shuffle. Almost any search on Amazon delivers pages and pages of identical products with different logos. You can make the most of white labeling—and stand out from other brands—by investing in a solid brand story and customer experience. Or you may compete on price or delivery options.

13 white label products to sell online

Now that you’re up to speed, is white labeling for you? Read on for ideas you can start selling under your own brand now.

1. Reusable water bottles

Hand squeezes a lemon into a reusable water bottle

Water bottles are blank canvases for any design. If you’re an artist or designer looking to sell merch, this is a low-cost idea that lets you sell a reproduction of your work at an accessible price to your fans. Water bottles can also be white labeled with a simple logo and used for brand awareness. Say you sell digital fitness content like online yoga classes or virtual personal training. Branded water bottles offer a way to diversify into a relevant physical product.

2. Cosmetics and skincare products

3 eyeshadow palettes arranged in a flatlay

You might not know it, but many of the cosmetics brands on the market today are made by just a handful of manufacturers. In some cases, they’re the exact same formulation. What sets them apart is brand, packaging design, and perhaps the range of colors offered. For example, Kylie Jenner’s brand is produced by Seed Beauty, a private-label company that is also responsible for ColourPop. To make a start in white label cosmetics, focus on one product, like lip balm.

3. Phone accessories

A woman types on a mobile phone while standing outside and wearing headphones

Like stainless steel water bottles, white label phone accessories are inexpensive to produce, widely available, and easily customizable. Phone cases are a great option for designers or artists for showcasing work on an affordable accessory, and other accessories like cords or car mounts can be easily rebranded.

4. Fitness clothing and accessories

Trends in fitness gear and athletic wear ramped up during the pandemic and changed the way many work out forever. Yoga mats, sport socks, leggings, fitness equipment, t-shirts, and water bottles are available through multiple manufacturers and print-on-demand companies. 

Ideas include starting an online boutique or clothing line selling your own branded white label products. Fitness influencers can help monetize their personal brands through customized workout merch.

5. Pet accessories

A dog on a leash waits outside a door

As more and more companies move to remote-style working arrangements, workers everywhere are replacing colleagues with furry companions to combat loneliness. With more pets comes more demand for pet products. 

Get into the booming pet industry by white labeling dog beds, cat toys, and aquarium accessories. This is a great option for pet service businesses that may wish to add branded products to their offering.

6. Mugs

A person sitting in a camper van pours tea into another person's mug

Ceramic mugs emblazoned with memes, travel mugs engraved with your logo, or enamel camping mugs with custom artwork—there are several options for adding white label branding to mugs. And it’s a good time to get into the drinkware space, with more people making coffee and tea at home thanks to the increase in remote work.

7. Essential oils

A woman in a robe opens a bottle of skin oil

Self-care and wellness trends show no signs of slowing down, making this a profitable industry for newcomers. Essential oils, diffusers, and bath products made with essential oils can all be white labeled and sold online. Branded essential oils are a great way for wellness influencers to monetize a personal brand or make a foray into ecommerce. 

8. LED lights and fairy lights

A string of lights hangs above a carnival

Fairy lights, LED light-up sneakers, solar-powered camp lights, flashlights, and novelty lights can all be found through white label manufacturers. There are many brands on the market selling subtle variations of the same product, so invest in setting your brand, website, and marketing apart from the rest.

9. Tote bags

A man holds a tote bag to his chest

In recent years, consumer trends have pointed to increased interest in supporting sustainable practices and businesses. Retail businesses can add branded reusable totes to their offerings and sell them at a low cost (or give them away) to encourage customers to ditch plastic—and increase brand awareness at the same time. 

These are great options for graphic designers and artists, too. The flat large surface is a great blank canvas, offering an easy way to monetize your art. White label tote bags are often available through print-on-demand companies, allowing you to get started with a low initial investment.

10. Massage guns

A massage gun sits among coils of rope

Massage guns were another breakout product idea in 2020, after many replaced their wellness rituals with at-home devices. This is an excellent white label product to consider if you are looking to enter this lucrative industry. Sites like Alibaba return multiple results for massage guns that can be customized with your own branding. 

11. Coffee beans

Two people enjoy coffee under an umbrella

Think beyond mugs—why not sell your own branded coffee beans? Some coffee producers will work with other brands to produce custom blends and packaging. Generally, these partnerships would require a sizable investment, but there are inexpensive alternatives and can generate steady passive income. Try your hand at selling custom-branded coffee online with Dripshipper, a white label coffee bean seller that integrates with your Shopify store. 

12. Beach towels

A towel and hat are strewn across a bench

You can start a white label business with a seasonal product like beach towels. These products are always in demand and can be customized in a number of ways. Fitness service businesses like surf schools may consider adding white label branding to towels to sell as merch. Artists can customize the entire design, turning drawings or paintings into usable products.

13. Apparel and fashion accessories

A man poses wearing a t-shirt and sweater tied around his waist

T-shirts, sunglasses, shoes, and more can become white label products to sell. If you run a fashion brand and are looking to upsell or cross-sell with branded accessories, consider adding your logo to white label eyewear. These types of products are often available through print-on-demand companies.

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.

Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us:  blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://shop.shopshipshake.com/shop/register/business

The article refers to: https://www.shopify.com/blog/white-label-products

Top-selling items online Import and Wholesale from China

With mammoth manufacturers in China, new products enter the market perpetually. However, not everything is worth a place in your shopping cart or store. 

Global e-commerce is booming trade as merchants continuously seek to import new products wholesale for business diversification as well as to increase their profit margins by sourcing goods from suppliers at a bargain price.

The world’s largest exporter and most rapidly growing economy -China, is the hub of hot new products for international trade with its exports to the UK, US, Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world surpassing the trillion-dollar mark annually.

What makes China such an attractive trading partner for imports?

Well, owing to its huge population, China has a lot of cheap skilled labor, its government incentives are very lucrative and favorable towards cross-border trade and lastly, the land possesses vast resources for production. As a result, they produce mass and quality products inexpensively with few policy barriers to exportation. Consequently, traders from most countries prefer to source new products from China to sell.

VR 3D Video Glasses

A fun and exhilarating product for all ages to enjoy, these 3D glasses give the ultimate virtual experience. By simply connecting it to a smart device of 4.5-6 inches, the VR 3D video glasses puts you right in the center of action in a movie or 3D game. 2 button feature shifts the lens front and back or left and right to get the focus to be on point. Its adjustable headband enhances comfort by creating more room to shifting pressure off the face of tightening for a snug fit on different head sizes. It is also well ventilated to cool of your mobile device when it heats up. Lightweight and compact, it’s something to enjoy just about anywhere.

Shockproof Phone Fixing Holder

If you deal with car interior accessories, this mobile phone holder is a great piece to introduce. It supports the convenient use of smartphones just about anywhere when one hand is tied such as when driving.  Characterized by a sticky gel pad base, stretchable gooseneck and firm brackets, the holder needs no expertise to install. Its strong chuck offers maximum suction on any flat surface such as the windshield or dashboard and the gooseneck’s flexibility coupled with the rotating head ensures the phone can be operated from whichever angle. Rubber cushions prevent skidding, vibration and shock to the attached handset. Users can operate their phones without worrying about falls and damage.

A Wild Mountain Gas Stove

Looking for camping equipment? This portable-sized gas stove is specially designed for outdoor cooking and should be part of every camper’s checklist. Doubling it up as a burner for a small family picnic or barbecue in the backyard is ideal too. It has a strong and sturdy yet lightweight build from aluminum alloy and stainless steel with features that promote efficient gas use and provide a shield from strong winds when in use in the open. The fire plate supports up to 20cm diameter cooking pot, enough capacity for about three adults. This gas stove is a stable, mess-free, and eco-friendly asset for hassle-free cooking.

Smart Control Home Panel Light

Home decor and lighting dealers can create a buzz in their stores with the smart control home panel light. As the name suggests it is an intelligent LED energy-saving, shape-splicing light that changes randomly using technology. This type of illumination can be controlled remotely by voice through apps such as Alexa to adjust brightness, alter colors, and even set a timer. The hexagonal panels come in sets of 3 and 5 and there’s also a one-piece alternative to enable the joining of shapes and creating unique patterns. The easy connection DIY panel sets come with a 1 m USB cable and base and is a pleasant accessory to have for home decor as a night light or party light.

Portable USB Panel Light

Portable LED light merchandise are fast-moving goods popular in many homes and offices. This mobile 30cm panel light is encased in a metal housing with a silicone base and touch control. Being rechargeable, it comes with a USB cable and can last for up to 30 hours when fully charged. Comes in handy when working late at night to light up laptop keys, or even when reading a book or writing at a desk.  Light can be set between white, warm and yellow with the ability to adjust the brightness to six different dimmer levels. With eye protection technology and an energy-saving bulb, this light is a must-have.

Squeezing Stress Toy for Kids

This multi-colored, silicone gel ball with a beaded texture is not only a fun plaything for children but also an antidepressant that kids and adults alike can use to keep their restless palms busy. Squeezing is a known remedy for stress and anxiety making a squishy toy such as this great for calming fussy kids. Only a little pressure is needed to be applied to squeeze it out of both sides of the hand. When not in use it can be displayed beautifully on any top. Safe and recommended for children from the age of 12 months and above.

Foldable Dish Drainer

You can never go wrong with kitchen tools and appliances offering practical solutions. People are looking for convenience in terms of functionality and storage in their cooking spaces. This foldable dish drainer makes the cut when it comes to keeping the kitchen organized and clutter-free. It holds all your dishes as they drain and can also be folded and put away once they dry and have been moved to their cabinet creating ample surface space. The holder cum drainer measures 20m by 15cm and comes in purple, pink, white, and blue to suit whatever color palette.

USB Roll-up Piano

The silicon-made USB roll-up piano is a portable mini piano with the musical functionality of a full-sized one. It comes in three color variants, pink, white and navy and 88 standard keys, 128 polyphonic tones, 14 demo songs for beginners, a digital display, foot pedal and an inbuilt battery. It is built with an interface that allows connection to a speaker, headphone, MP3 and MIDI out function. Users can record and replay songs as well as modify tones automatically. Weighing just 1.785 Kg, it is lightweight and flexible, something you easily roll up, stash in its pouch (it comes with one) and throw in your bag to make music on the go!

Handmade Silicone Soap Crafts

Artisan and crafts supplies are a booming business as many people shift towards handmade products. From baked goodies to skincare products, the list is endless. This handmade silicone soap crafts mold is something your soap makers will absolutely love as they often seek non-toxic materials and tools to use for their natural soaps. Made from heat resistant silicone insert, you can use it comfortably in the oven or refrigerator. Its sturdy wooden frame with lid and perfectly smooth planes will no doubt produce flawless soaps. No funny shapes, unusual smells, or messy parting. The mold is available in 900g and a larger one of 1200g.

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, and more.
With a successful track record of over 20,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.

If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: 

www.shopshipshake.co.za

If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on:

https://bit.ly/3ks0m1M

Important Things for Knowing Your Customers

Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the center of every successful business, whether it sells directly to individuals or other businesses. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to persuade potential and existing customers that buying from you is in their best interests.

This guide tells you what you need to know about your customers, how to use this information to sell to them more effectively, and how to win business from your competitors.

Why do your customers need you?

Every business needs a reason for its customers to buy from them and not their competitors. This is called a Unique Sales Proposition (USP). Your USP can be identified by completing the phrase “Customers will buy from me because my business is the only…”

Your USP can change as your business or your market changes, and you can have different USPs for different types of customers.

For example:

  • a stationery store could offer a free same-day delivery service for its business customers within a local area – an effective USP for businesses that need fast delivery
  • the same stationery store could offer a 5 per cent discount to businesses that spend more than $1,000 a month – this would be a USP for cost-conscious customers
  • the stationery store could also make sure it offers the most comprehensive stock of artists’ materials in the area – a USP for local professional or amateur artists

All of these USPs can be effective because they are driven by what the customer looks for when making a buying decision.

It’s a good idea to review your USPs regularly. Can you tailor your products or services to better match your customers’ needs? Consider asking your customers why they buy from you. This will tell you what they think your USP is – this may differ from what you think your USP is.

It’s also useful to check constantly what your competition is doing. Remember – if your competitors are doing the same, your USP isn’t unique anymore.

What do you know about your customers?

The more you know about your customers, the more effective your sales and marketing efforts will be. It’s well worth making the effort to find out:

  • who they are
  • what they buy
  • why they buy it

If you’re selling to other businesses, you’ll need to know which individuals are responsible for the decision to buy your product or service. For information on targeting decision-makers, see our guide on how to target the right people in an organization.

You can learn a great deal about your customers by talking to them. Asking them why they’re buying or not buying, what they may want to buy in the future, and asking what other needs they have can give a valuable picture of what’s important to them.

Strong sales are driven by emphasizing the benefits that your product or service brings to your customers. If you know the challenges that face them, it’s much easier to offer them solutions.

It’s also well worth keeping an eye on future developments in your customers’ markets and lives. Knowing the trends that are going to influence your customers helps you to anticipate what they are going to need – and offer it to them as soon as they need it.

You can conduct your market research and many existing reports can help you build a picture of where your customers’ markets – and your business – may be going.

The customer’s current supplier

Chances are your potential customer is already buying something similar to your product or service from someone else. Before you can sell to a potential customer, you need to know:

  • who the customer’s current supplier is
  • if the customer is happy with their current supplier
  • if buying from you would offer the customer any benefits – and, if so, what those benefits would be

The easiest way to identify a potential customer’s current supplier is often simply to ask them. Generally, people are very happy to offer this information, as well as an indication of whether they’re happy with their present arrangements.

If you can find out what benefits they’re looking for, you stand a better chance of being able to sell to them. The benefits may be related to price or levels of service, for example. Are there any benefits your business can offer that is better than those the potential customer already receives? If there are, these should form the basis of any sales approach you make.

Ten things you need to know about your customers

  1. Who they are
    If you sell directly to individuals, find out your customers’ gender, age, marital status and occupation. If you sell to other businesses, find out what size and kind of business they are. For example, are they a small private company or a big multinational?
  2. What they do
    If you sell directly to individuals, it’s worth knowing their occupations and interests. If you sell to other businesses, it helps to have an understanding of what their business is trying to achieve.
  3. Why they buy
    If you know why customers buy a product or service, it’s easier to match their needs to the benefits your business can offer.
  4. When they buy
    If you approach a customer just at the time they want to buy, you will massively increase your chances of success.
  5. How they buy
    For example, some people prefer to buy from a website, while others prefer a face-to-face meeting.
  6. How much money they have
    You’ll be more successful if you can match what you’re offering to what you know your customer can afford.
  7. What makes them feel good about buying
    If you know what makes them tick, you can serve them in the way they prefer.
  8. What they expect of you
    For example, if your customers expect reliable delivery and you don’t disappoint them, you stand to gain repeat business.
  9. What they think about you
    If your customers enjoy dealing with you, they’re likely to buy more. And you can only tackle problems that customers have if you know what they are.
  10. What they think about your competitors
    If you know how your customers view your competition, you stand a much better chance of staying ahead of your rivals.

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, and more.
With a successful track record of over 20,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.

If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: 

www.shopshipshake.co.za

If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on:

https://bit.ly/3ks0m1M

Why do I need Inspections?

We help clients protect their product quality and legal interests throughout the entire supply chain process – from raw materials testing, finished goods inspections to container loading inspections. We offer inspection services to buyers and sellers of materials and products in the world’s markets.

Quality Control Inspections add value by reducing the cost of failure of your product, by ensuring they meet both customer standards, industry, and government regulations, and ensure quality products are manufactured to the specifications of the customer and shipped to the customer standards.

Our Inspectors help identify products nonconformities and possible shipments delays of your order. Products and materials that we test and inspect include consumer goods such as Home Furniture, Construction Products, clothes, toys, cosmetics, and food, chemicals, and many other products.

The benefits of having Inspections include:

  • Our inspections are conducted to ISO 2859-1 Standards.
  • Reduced costs due to Product Failure – for example, replacement and disposal of faulty goods.
  • Avoid recalls and reputational damage.
  • Anticipate production and shipment delays.
  • Reduced days lost due to production delays.
  • Improved communications with the Supplier.
  • A Supplier can quickly fix any product issues identified.
  • Payment would be made for conforming goods only.
  • You will reduce your Customer complaints on faulty product.
  • Ensure product quality at every production stage.

The green sticker shows that the parcel has passed the inspection

Quality Guarantee

The quality of the goods purchased by customers will be guaranteed. Taking apparel products as an example, we will check the materials used, the firmness of the fabric, the cleanliness, and the craftsmanship, and give customers timely feedback on quality inspection. For products that fail to pass the inspection standards, we will return the products immediately to the supplier and refund the client.

Quantity Guarantee

We will carefully count the number of products and accessories, make timely reissues for missing items, and inform customers of the situation in time. If the replenishment takes too long and the customer has no intention of continuing to purchase, we will refund the customer directly to reduce his loss.

Description Guarantee

To prevent the actual products from being inconsistent with the promotional image, we will strictly check the size, color, logo, and design of the products, and try our best to meet customers’ expectations. The product that does not meet the requirements will be explained in detail to the customer. If the customer does not intend to continue buying, we will refund the customer directly.

How the Service Works

For orders that don’t pass our inspection, we will return them to the suppliers. We guarantee that we will 100% refund the clients via their ShopShipShake accounts, and afford the delivery fee caused by the return.

The refund process:

The order fails the Inspection —> ShopShipShake requests a refund from the supplier —> ShopShipShake affords the delivery fee caused by the return —> Our staff of warehouse returns the order —> The supplier receives the returned goods —> The supplier refunds ShopShipShake —> ShopShipShake deposits the money to the clients’ ShopShipShake accounts.

We deeply understand that it is not easy for ShopShipShake users to carry out business activities across oceans. And we sincerely wish you could buy satisfying products on ShopShipShake. We hope that the improvement of quality inspection services will enable you to have a high-quality experience.

Quality Inspection Standards

Quality Inspection

Quality inspection is mainly to check the style, material, and size of products.

• Style conformity. The main concern is whether the style, version, color, collar angle, cuffs, waist, printing, etc. of its products are consistent with the promotional pictures.

• Material. Check the inside and outside of clothes, to see if products are faded, damaged, dyed, or stained.

 Size. Check whether the products’ size is consistent with the promotional materials.

Note: when the product is more than 95% the same as the promotional image (less than 2 differences between product and promotional picture), we consider it qualified.

Quantity Inspection

 The number of products. Check if the quantities of products are consistent with the customer’s order.

 The number of accessories. Check if the product accessories are complete, like shoelaces, shoulder straps, belts, bag straps, etc.

Conditions of Spot Check

For orders with large quantities of goods, we will choose spot check. The following are the specific rules:

Check Ratio

Check RatioFootwear
(Pieces)
Apparel (Pieces)Bags & Accessories
(Pieces)
100%Under 10Under 10Under 10
50%11-2011-2011-20
40%21-4021-4021-40
30%Above 41Above 41Above 41

Restrictions of the Inspections Services

Products below the lowest prices may have many quality problems, so no inspection service is provided. Our advice is to purchase goods at a reasonable price, not too low.

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, and more.
With a successful track record of over 20,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.

If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: 

www.shopshipshake.co.za

If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on:

https://bit.ly/3ks0m1M

How to Keep Your Seasonal Business Profitable All Year

How Seasonal Businesses Can Stay Profitable Year-Round

If you have ever wondered how to use seasonal marketing to increase sales, you’re in the right place.

In this post, we’ll offer tips on marketing seasonal products along with ideas on how to keep a seasonal business in customers’ minds year-round. But first, let’s talk about how consumer needs change with the seasons.

When Memorial Day hits, people excitedly expect their favorite ice cream shop to be open. As the leaves start to change, candle lovers purchase their favorite fall scents like warm apple pie and sweet cinnamon pumpkin. Once snowflakes start to cover the ground, beer connoisseurs look forward to their favorite Christmas Ale.

These seasonal sensibilities affect what your customers are looking for and how they will spend their money. Keep reading to learn more about seasonal demand and how to keep your seasonal business profitable all year. 

How Seasonal Products Boost Sales

All kinds of businesses use different tactics to promote brand awareness and sell their seasonal products. Let’s look at some of these and identify ways to use seasonal products and seasonal demand to help increase sales.

Develop a Dedicated Following

When an item becomes popular and is only available during a specific season, it often develops a dedicated following.

The Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is an example of a product with an enthusiastic, devoted following. Those customers who crave the product will be watching and waiting for it to hit the shelves. They’ll also probably be posting their first one on social media, which means free marketing that helps build brand awareness.

Build anticipation for your product and encourage customers to share their purchases on social media to start developing a dedicated following!

Appeal to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

Sometimes products that are considered seasonal are actually available all year. However, no one really thinks to buy them at times other than their dedicated season.

For example, pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree are always available at your local grocery store, but most people only purchase them during the fall season. Because they are marketed at a specific, consistent time each year, customers assume that is the only time they can get it.

That leads to increased sales during the respective season because customers are afraid of missing out on their opportunity.

Appeal to your customers’ FOMO and it can help yield some serious profits!

Build Excitement in the Off-Season

People want what they can’t have.

By marketing a product that is not yet available, you will build excitement for that product and raise awareness for your business.

For example, try marketing the new edition snowboard during the summer months as “coming soon” to encourage your summer customers to come back in the winter.

Encourage your customers to come back to your business for the latest seasonal products!

Utilize Laser-Focused Advertising

Part of the reason customers make purchase decisions during a particular season is due to targeted advertising.

For example, television commercials around the holidays typically feature cheerful shoppers enjoying fantastic savings, or families at home baking cookies together. The advertising entices us to want to be part of the joy of finding the perfect gift or baking scrumptious holiday cookies with our loved ones.

These advertisements aren’t limited to television, either. Social media is an effective and inexpensive tool for marketing seasonal products.

Use thoughtful, targeted advertising through social media or other channels!

Create Strong Brand Associations

When you think of Easter, what kinds of products come to mind? Most likely you think of chocolate bunnies, colorful eggs, jellybeans, and marshmallow Peeps®.

Maybe no one in your household even likes Peeps, but you still buy a box of them in the spring. They may just sit on the shelf until summer, but you still bought them as a memento of the Easter season.

Brands associate themselves with certain holidays or seasons on purpose, and you can do the same by offering seasonal products. 

Inject Value and Nostalgia

This goes along with targeted advertising and brand associations. Companies “inject value” into seasonal products by appealing to feelings associated with those seasons.

For example, one of Glade’s taglines is “Inspired by the best feelings”. This tagline has been used historically to market holiday-scented candles because it makes the customer envision warm and cozy evenings with family. The way products like this appeal to a customer’s nostalgia and emotions are called “injecting value”.

You can also appeal to customer nostalgia by offering “vintage” products or something that reminds a customer of their past. Fashion, for example, often cycles through styles that we have seen before. Today many styles from the 90s, such as denim skirts, flannel shirts, and denim button-downs are popular again.  

Inject value into your products by appealing to your customers’ nostalgia and emotions.

How to Keep Your Seasonal Business Profitable All Year

If you run a seasonal business, such as a golf course or ice cream shop, it can be difficult to figure out how to make enough revenue in the summer to still support you in the off-season.

However, there are ways for you to remain profitable, even in the chilly months. It may sound impossible, but all it takes is some careful planning and strategy development.

Here are three steps you can take to help keep your business profitable all year long.

1. Analyze and methodically manage your off-season expenses.

Every business owner needs to understand cash flow and how to manage expenses, but it is especially important for the seasonal business owner.

Analyze your off-season expenses and once you have a good grasp of the costs, look for ways to minimize them. For example, consider reducing staff in the off-season.

When hiring for the summer, inform prospective employees that the position is purely seasonal so there’s no hostility when it comes time to close for the season.

If your business stays open all year but experiences a lull in the winter, consider reducing your hours to save on hourly wage and energy costs. You can also communicate with your vendors and suppliers to try to work out a limited contract in those months where you don’t need as much inventory on hand.

2. Use the downtime to strategize for the busy season.

Capitalize on the few months you have with decreased traffic by planning for the next busy season.

You can use results and reports from the previous season to analyze what changes you may need to make, what worked, and what didn’t. With this information, create a strategy and train employees so they’re ready to hit the ground running when business picks up again.

You can also use this time to set goals and profit targets for next season.

3. Keep an eye out for new business opportunities.

You’ll be thinking about your bottom line, especially during the slow season. Keep a careful eye out even during your busy season for new business opportunities.

There may be ways to grow revenue even when your doors are closed. Take stock of your inventory and see if anything can be sold in bulk to another business or organization.

Your goal should be to try to get inventory as close to zero as possible as you prepare to end the season.

When it comes to a seasonal business, the key to success is careful planning. You can accomplish more than you think by planning for those slower months and investing the time to analyze past challenges and successes.

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, and more.
With a successful track record of over 20,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.

If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: 

www.shopshipshake.co.za

If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on:

https://bit.ly/3ks0m1M

Know your customers’ needs

Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the center of every successful business, whether it sells directly to individuals or other businesses. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to persuade potential and existing customers that buying from you is in their best interests.

This guide tells you what you need to know about your customers, how to use this information to sell to them more effectively, and how to win business from your competitors.

Why do your customers need you?

Every business needs a reason for its customers to buy from them and not their competitors. This is called a Unique Sales Proposition (USP). Your USP can be identified by completing the phrase “Customers will buy from me because my business is the only…”

Your USP can change as your business or your market changes, and you can have different USPs for different types of customers.

For example:

  • a stationery store could offer a free same-day delivery service for its business customers within a local area – an effective USP for businesses that need fast delivery
  • the same stationery store could offer a 5 per cent discount to businesses that spend more than $1,000 a month – this would be a USP for cost-conscious customers
  • the stationery store could also make sure it offers the most comprehensive stock of artists’ materials in the area – a USP for local professional or amateur artists

All of these USPs can be effective because they are driven by what the customer looks for when making a buying decision.

It’s a good idea to review your USPs regularly. Can you tailor your products or services to better match your customers’ needs? Consider asking your customers why they buy from you. This will tell you what they think your USP is – this may differ from what you think your USP is.

It’s also useful to check constantly what your competition is doing. Remember – if your competitors are doing the same, your USP isn’t unique anymore.

What do you know about your customers?

The more you know about your customers, the more effective your sales and marketing efforts will be. It’s well worth making the effort to find out:

  • who they are
  • what they buy
  • why they buy it

If you’re selling to other businesses, you’ll need to know which individuals are responsible for the decision to buy your product or service. For information on targeting decision-makers, see our guide on how to target the right people in an organization.

You can learn a great deal about your customers by talking to them. Asking them why they’re buying or not buying, what they may want to buy in the future, and asking what other needs they have can give a valuable picture of what’s important to them.

Strong sales are driven by emphasizing the benefits that your product or service brings to your customers. If you know the challenges that face them, it’s much easier to offer them solutions.

It’s also well worth keeping an eye on future developments in your customers’ markets and lives. Knowing the trends that are going to influence your customers helps you to anticipate what they are going to need – and offer it to them as soon as they need it.

You can conduct your market research and many existing reports can help you build a picture of where your customers’ markets – and your business – may be going.

The customer’s current supplier

Chances are your potential customer is already buying something similar to your product or service from someone else. Before you can sell to a potential customer, you need to know:

  • who the customer’s current supplier is
  • if the customer is happy with their current supplier
  • if buying from you would offer the customer any benefits – and, if so, what those benefits would be

The easiest way to identify a potential customer’s current supplier is often simply to ask them. Generally, people are very happy to offer this information, as well as an indication of whether they’re happy with their present arrangements.

If you can find out what benefits they’re looking for, you stand a better chance of being able to sell to them. The benefits may be related to price or levels of service, for example. Are there any benefits your business can offer that is better than those the potential customer already receives? If there are, these should form the basis of any sales approach you make.

Ten things you need to know about your customers

  1. Who they are
    If you sell directly to individuals, find out your customers’ gender, age, marital status and occupation. If you sell to other businesses, find out what size and kind of business they are. For example, are they a small private company or a big multinational?
  2. What they do
    If you sell directly to individuals, it’s worth knowing their occupations and interests. If you sell to other businesses, it helps to have an understanding of what their business is trying to achieve.
  3. Why they buy
    If you know why customers buy a product or service, it’s easier to match their needs to the benefits your business can offer.
  4. When they buy
    If you approach a customer just at the time they want to buy, you will massively increase your chances of success.
  5. How they buy
    For example, some people prefer to buy from a website, while others prefer a face-to-face meeting.
  6. How much money they have
    You’ll be more successful if you can match what you’re offering to what you know your customer can afford.
  7. What makes them feel good about buying
    If you know what makes them tick, you can serve them in the way they prefer.
  8. What they expect of you
    For example, if your customers expect reliable delivery and you don’t disappoint them, you stand to gain repeat business.
  9. What they think about you
    If your customers enjoy dealing with you, they’re likely to buy more. And you can only tackle problems that customers have if you know what they are.
  10. What they think about your competitors
    If you know how your customers view your competition, you stand a much better chance of staying ahead of your rivals.

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, and more.
With a successful track record of over 20,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.

If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: 

www.shopshipshake.co.za

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Sales strategies that small businesses can use

What exactly is a sales strategy? What do you need?

A sales strategy is a company’s game plan to connect its product or service with its target customer. That might sound simple enough, but there are a few nuances to acknowledge.

For one thing, you can’t simply make a target customer aware of your product—you need to present your product in a way that makes it meaningful to them.

For example, if you sell cloud storage and your target customers are businesses who work with large amounts of data, it’s not enough for you to send them a targeted ad saying you sell a cloud service. It would be more powerful for you to say, “We have somewhere to store all your data to make your life easier and your systems run faster,” immediately making a direct connection between your service and their business needs.

A second thing to remember is a sales strategy plan is not a static document. It’s an ever-evolving approach to the way you sell your product at a given time. Keep that in mind when reading through the 10 sales strategies later in this post.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into what it means to develop a sales strategy plan.

How to develop a sales strategy plan for your small business

There are tons of tips out there on how to make sales, but not all of them are going to work for any business. To have an effective sales strategy plan, you need to understand what will work and what won’t for your unique business model.

Below we’re going to cover different sales strategies, including what they are and when to use them so you can pick the right ones to make up your own sales strategy plan.

Remember: a sales strategy plan is an ever-evolving concept. When developing yours, just focus on what your business needs right now. You can (and should) develop this plan as your business changes and grows.

Build a pipeline of quality leads

Best for: small businesses struggling to get (good) leads.

Get this: on average, sales reps spend up to 40%1 of their time just searching for people to try and sell to. Not exactly the most efficient use of time.

That’s where building a pipeline to generate leads for you comes in.

Investing in lead generation will eliminate (or at least drastically reduce) the time you spend searching for leads and instead bring them to you, saving precious time and already limited resources.

Here are some examples of lead generation tactics:

  • Have a contact form on your website that captures leads’ names and email addresses.
  • Advertise online (e.g., Facebook, Google, LinkedIn).
  • Run a coupon deal.
  • Host a webinar.
  • Invest in content marketing (like a blog or email newsletter).

Sell to existing customers

Best for: small businesses with a large number of existing customers who they can upsell or cross-sell.

Studies have shown that, on average, it’s about five times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to sell additional services to an existing customer.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean only sell to existing customers. To grow, you’ll always need to gain new customers. The key is not to forget about the customers you already have.

Say you’re releasing a new product, piloting a new service or feature, or just planning some sort of business switch. Your existing customer base is an excellent place to test it. Not only is it less expensive to sell to existing customers, but it’ll also show them you’re still interested in doing business together. Plus, because you’ve already established a relationship of mutual trust and value with them, it’s often easier to sell to your existing customers as well.

Here are some examples of what this could look like:

  • You sell gaming hard drives and run a promo just for your existing customer base offering them $10 off the latest version to upgrade.
  • You sell project management software and are about to introduce a more premium tier to your product model. Take a look at your existing customer base, choose the highest-spending ones, and shoot them an email or phone call asking if they’d be interested in switching to your newest plan, which could be more fitting to their team.
  • You sell cloud storage. Reach out to your existing customers who frequently reach or exceed their storage limit and offer them more capacity at a good rate.

Set a goal for each contact

Best for: small businesses who try to close too hard, too fast with little success.

Maybe you have a beautifully polished leads list. Before you call or email any of them, you’re going to want to have a goal for that interaction. And then repeat this process for every interaction after that.

When you’re coming up with these goals, think of them as incremental steps towards your ultimate goal of closing the sale. A good goal will benefit both you and your prospect, making both of you want to continue the sales process. Just what this goal is should depend on where your prospect is in the sales cycle.

For example, say your prospect is in the initial contact stage of the sales cycle. Your goal at this point could be to get them to agree to set up a time for a call. If they’re in the qualifying stage, your goal could be to confirm they have the purchasing power to buy from you.

This strategy will make the overall sales process less intimidating for both you and your prospect as you’ll be gradually warming them up versus hitting them with a sales pitch and trying to close them out the gate—which will make them that much more likely to seal the deal.

Think win-win

Win-win scenarios happen when two goal-oriented people work together to accomplish more than what they could’ve done alone and both parties benefit from it. To do this, you need to think not only about what you want in a given situation but also about what the other person wants—in this case, the other person is your prospect.

If you’re qualifying your leads properly, your product is truly beneficial to them and likewise to your business. So instead of it being salesperson versus customer, which insinuates a win-lose outcome, it becomes a win-win; you and your prospect have a mutual problem and are on the same team. How can you work together to solve it?

Use a communication tool that manages itself

Best for: small businesses without a dedicated IT team or spend too much time managing their communication tools.

Imagine not having to switch between multiple applications to grab your customers’ contact information, send an email, or make a phone call. We can make that happen.

Make signing paperwork easy

Best for: small businesses that require their customers to sign documents (e.g., contracts or other paperwork).

PSA: No one—and we mean no one—likes printing out physical pieces of paper, signing them, scanning them, and emailing them back to the sender. Hardly, anyone has a printer anymore. No one has time anymore. And that includes you.

Make life easier for both of you and your customers by adding electronic document signing software like HelloSign or DocuSign to your sales arsenal.

A huge benefit of electronic documents is many of them integrate with your existing sales tools, which means less manual work, less time wasted, and less friction that could cause customer drop-off—all signs of a great sales strategy.

Keep your contact list up to date

Best for small businesses that don’t have a system in place to keep their leads list fresh.

Earlier we touched on the importance of lead quality over quantity to put your micro sales team’s limited time and energy to best use. It’s important to keep your list of leads up to date for the same reason.

If you’ve sent several (at least five) follow-up emails and/or phone calls to a prospect and have yet to hear back, it’s safe to assume the lead is stale and either let them go or move them to the end of your contact list in terms of priority. The time spent calling that lead with a track record of being unresponsive could be put to better use by calling a different qualified lead or even an existing customer—someone who wants to hear what you have to say. Keeping your contact list fresh like this will maximize the effectiveness of your sales efforts.

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, and more.
With a successful track record of over 20,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements. Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses.

If you would like to know more details about us, please contact with us: 

www.shopshipshake.co.za

If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on:

https://bit.ly/3ks0m1M