Internet

 

The internet could give you a way to meet many more customers than other methods can. You can sell your products to people all over the country and all over the world. Online places such as eBay and Etsy give you more ways to sell niche products. Even if your business is small, there is great opportunity for growth. Creating a business online can be simple or very difficult depending on the size of your online business and the amount of detail that you need to be effective. Setting up a good website doesn’t have to be painful and once completed it may be the best answer for you.

You will have to choose how you want to sell online.

Decide on your platform. eBay, Etsy and Craigslist are well established online marketplaces. You can find many more with a few online research. Africa Imports products are exceptionally good because they are often one-of-a-kind, so you can offer something exclusive. Exclusive products have greater value to customers, and other people don't compete with you on them. Shopify.com is another emerging marketplace for new businesses to get an online store with ecommerce capabilities. If you want to have your own website with ecommerce capability. You can set up a website through a company like Shopify.com or godaddy.com. Be prepared setting up your website is not hard, but it will still require time and patience from you in getting through the setup process.

How will people find your store

Once your online store or product listings are setup, you will need to find a way to get people to your site. Using your social media contacts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest) is a great start to letting people know your store exists. There are many other techniques for gaining new online audiences. You will need to research various tactics and decide what is right for your business.

Internet Auctions

To succeed at internet auctions, you are best off to find your own product niche (have a type of product that you specialize in and are known for). You also need to build your own group of customers who are interestedin what you sell; and who trust that the items you will send them are the quality they need.

There are many online auctions available on the internet. The products from Africa Imports are marvelous for this because many are one of a kind. If two bidders both decide they want what you are auctioning, they will have to bid the price up, because it is the only one. Other items that are available in larger quantities can also do well. Not only can you sell items to multiple buyers in one auction; but almost all of these items are still unusual, and difficult to find at any retail stores.

Free Classified Ads

Free classified ads are another opportunity. You can place ads on free classified ad boards like craigslist.com; use the photos from africaimports.com without taking new photos yourself; and modify the text from our website to fit the ad size. You can even buy programs for $50 to $100 that will automate the entire submission process for you. You can then post to hundreds of classified ad locations at the same time.

Amazon or Ebay Stores

The keys to success for this type of business is having a product specialty where you can give people the best deals; while mastering the most efficient ways to package and ship products; and learning and to use all of the tools available for online stores like yours. The hardest part is finding the right products to sell. You will need to do a lot of product research and experimentation to find the best opportunities. The good thing is that you can sell a lot once you have the right product at the best price. A major drawback is that it is difficult to develop a group of loyal repeat customers.

Your Own Website

You can set up a website where you sell things from Africa. You might be more successful if you set up a website that gives visitors another incentive like something free. You can provide valuable hard-to-find information; give people something entertaining or you can come up with something else. The goal is to get people interested to visit your site for any reason that works. This is the same theory behind television. People don't turn on their TV to watch commercials; but they see commercials when they watch a program.

When visitors come to your site, you can offer related products for sale. 

Probably the main advantage of your own website is that it is better to use for getting repeat customers. Almost every successful business gets most of its income from repeat customers.