Before I start, let’s set up the context of this article. In this article, I will be explaining an amazing way to expand an eCommerce business that not enough people are investing time on.
If you fall into one of the following segments then this is definitely for you.
– You have been selling on eBay or Amazon or both and now thinking to build your own brand or ways to increase your profit margin.
– You are looking to start your own online store. Maybe you are looking to import products and selling them online. Or maybe Dropshipping is your method…
– You have an online store but looking to use Shopify as you have heard many good things about it
– And lastly, you are already doing it or planning to make an extra revenue stream from affiliate marketing.
Amazon’s revenue in 2018 was over 232 billion US dollars (source).
Let us take a breather and let this figure sink in…. US 232 Billion Dollars!
How many sellers are there selling on Amazon? The answer is over 140,000! Just WOW …(source)
By the way, this article is not to show the value of Amazon, nor it is to give you some stats on it. But
one figure you should definitely look at – it’s a very
interesting one.
Amazon’s revenue in 2018 was over 232 billion US dollars (source).
Let us take a breather and let this figure sink in…. US 232 Billion Dollars!
How many sellers are there selling on Amazon? The answer is over 140,000! Just WOW …(source)
By the way, this article is not to show the value of Amazon, nor it is to give you some stats on it.
But one figure you should definitely look at – it’s a very
interesting one.
Over 80% of the Amazon sellers also sell on other channels/platforms.
Notice that a huge number of sellers are selling their products on their own website. I am sure, the figures will be similar for eBay too.
Question for you – why do you think the sellers build their own website?
The answer is probably obvious
– building something that you can have more control over.
– What if Amazon/eBay changes the rule tomorrow?
– What if they start selling similar products as yours under their own brand (this one is more relevant for Amazon than eBay)?
– What if some other seller brings similar products and starts selling on a much cheaper price?
Ok, you might be asking… well, building your own website is not an easy task. It requires a lot of hard work…
I think this is definitely true but there are ways to make things easier…
Yes, everything meaningful takes time and effort … that’s a fact of life..
Platforms like Shopify and Bigcommerce have really come a long way to make building an eCommerce website of your own a lot easier…
The Shopify marketplace now hosts more than 377,000 active online stores that generate more than US 29 billion dollars in sales. Again, a figure that is just out of this world.
It offers a comprehensive e-commerce web builder with hundreds of templates ready to go out of the box.
In the latter part of this article, I will highlight some of the cool features of Shopify.
Before that, I want to make sure you see the benefit of having your own website…
Let us discuss a couple of things more …
Your Own Property Vs Renting – can they be the same?
The answer to the above question is obvious. No, it can’t be.
Don’t worry – we are not suddenly going into a discussion on real estate
– but the concept is the same (almost) for our context as well.
Your online store is your own…..there would be far fewer restrictions for you than operating on these giant platforms like Amazon or eBay..
Let’s give you an example to make it simpler to understand ..
As a seller, Amazon’s and eBay’s policies regarding how you can communicate with your buyer may make you feel very restricted. You would feel frustrated because you can’t communicate with your own customers in your own style and terms … sometimes it gets really hard to accept it.
But for your own online store, as long as you don’t break the law of your country, state, etc., you may be able to apply a much wider spectrum of strategies and methods that are proven to be effective at driving sales.
Let us take an example to understand it a bit better…
When you sell on the platforms like Amazon and eBay, you can collect the buyers’ email addresses.
Then you can run a simple email marketing campaign to cross-sell or upsell your products – drive them straight to your own website where they have no choice to compare with other sellers and look for a cheaper price. So, you can keep a higher margin. On top, there is no platform commission to pay either.
Amazon and eBay give their sellers the opportunity to run this type of campaigns as well but at a very restrictive level.
For example, you would need to drive visitors to their platforms. But the problem here is that these people will come to Amazon or eBay where you would have to compete with the other sellers – again!
These are your customers, you are running these campaigns but are not getting the best possible outcome!
Amazon and eBay would be making more money in most cases than you even though you put in all the hard work…
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What makes Shopify unique and preferable for you over other platforms like Bigcommerce and the rest?
How?
The Shopify App collection now includes integrations with Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Pinterest, and Messenger. By adding these integrations, sellers can manage their marketplace and website sales in the Shopify dashboard.
Hope you are seeing the potential here…
You can make your Shopify store the hub and connect to your eBay and Amazon stores and sell on all these 3 platforms together….
Heck, you can even connect to Facebook and sell through Facebook.
If you haven’t already, take a moment to realise the potential of this type of integration…
One Shopify online store, connected to your eBay and Amazon stores and you manage the stock, pricing and the rest from your Shopify store…. ! Amazing way to be efficient and expand your business the smart way.
Studies and history have proven time and time again that multichannel selling is a real, profitable trend.
According to top studies, adding a sales channel to your online store can significantly increase revenue. In fact, stores that sell on just one channel in addition to their online store experience a 38% increase in revenue. And businesses who sell on two channels bring in 120% more.
Well, if you think about it – there had to be a reason why over 30% of Amazon/eBay sellers are building their own websites, right?
Does this integration
among multiple channels
prove to be profitable?
See, how, Shopify gives you the ability to multiply the potential of your business?
In one go, you could tap onto 100s of million customers on different platforms.
The opportunity is truly mind-boggling.
The best part is that if you look into the effort it requires to action on this strategy, you would definitely appreciate that it is really minimal …So, why do people don’t do it?I would think the number one reason is the lack of understand of the potential.
And also, not taking the time to invest on new avenues is another big reason. Most business owners just want to run their operations the way they know and comfortable.
Back to our topic….
I will now, without getting too technical, discuss a little on how you can integrate Amazon and eBay stores with Shopify.
I will keep it very brief … I am sure most of you are not looking for a technical specification in this blog….
Shopify and Amazon Integration
Making the connection between Amazon and Shopify is easy. Here are the steps…
– Once you’ve signed up for your Amazon Sellers Account, you can log into your Shopify account,
– navigate to the “Sales Channels” panel,
– click to install the integration.
– Then you’ll have to follow a few prompts to allow the connection to share information across platforms and confirm developer access for Shopify.
Once done, you will be able to monitor inventory, sales, and customer interactions from one comprehensive Shopify dashboard.
In order to integrate Amazon with your Shopify account, you just need two things:
- A Shopify Account
- An Amazon Sellers Account ($39.99/ month + additional selling fees)
Shopify and eBay Integration
As the image shows above, connecting eBay and Shopify is also super easy. Its about installing the necessary apps and creating a connection with a few clicks…
– You need to add the marketplace under your “Sales Channels” tab and
– Select “Add sales channel” on the following page.
– Next, you will then be able to click the “Connect” button, which will redirect you to your eBay account where you can complete the connection.
What Does It Take To Integrate?
It doesn’t take much to integrate eBay and Shopify. Unsurprisingly, you need:
* A Shopify Account
* An eBay Account
* Monthly Subscriptions from $24.95/month to $349.95/month (*prices may change)
Let me just end this article with a few notes on the costs and some other necessary points that must be mentioned..
These are mostly from the Shopify store itself. You can do your own research yourself by going to Shopify.
- Shopify allows you access to a 14-day free trial. So, if you wish, you can test out the platform to see if it works for you. 14 days is a lot of time to customize templates for the brand image you have in your mind. There is literally nothing to lose here.
- Shopify has more than 70 payment gateways with checkouts in above 50 languages.
- Shopify offers a comprehensive marketing suite, so businesses are finding it easy to scale and get in front of new audiences. The platform offers SOE features, like customizable headlines, titles, and Meta tags, so e-commerce websites can rank high in search results. Customers can also post SOE friendly product reviews, which also help enhance the credibility of the Shopify marketplace.
How much does the Shopify marketplace cost?
The prices majorly are dependent on the type of business you’re running.For initial businesses with lesser experience, Basic Shopify for US$29* per month offers all the features in a package that entrepreneurs need.
A little more established e-commerce businesses can check package 2 @ US$79* per month. This is good for generating brand loyalty programs that leverage promotional tools such as gift cards and coupons.
The bonus about the higher package is that it comes with a shopping cart recovery tool, which works wonders to circle back to undecided customers and earn the lost revenue back. The online transaction fee for this Shopify package is as low as 2.6% + $0.30.
There would be a few businesses that have expanded to the point where they are capable of taking advantage of Shopify’s $299-per-month advanced plan.
This option has all the benefits of the basic and standard Shopify plans but also includes features such as an advanced report builder and third-party calculated shipping rates.
The advanced plan also comes with the best Shopify shipping discount and the lowest credit card rates.
Conclusion
I hope, in this article, I have managed to showcase the opportunity exists for you. As you have seen, 70% of the Amazon/eBay sellers are not getting on to building their own brand and website. Don’t be one of those 70%.
Take action now, get your online store and be one of the 30% who build their own online shop – and not only that, be the front runner among that group by connecting multiple platforms and run your business like a pro…
PS – It gives me a great pleasure when I see those handful of business owners, who seize the opportunity and takes the steps…
So cheers to you because since you have read this far, you are already miles ahead of the competition. But don’t just hold back here. Build your online presence now.
