E-COMMERCE CONSULTATION: http://www.esycommerce.com/#contact
LOCATION COURTESY: TASA Studio ( http://www.tasadesigns.in )
INTRO MUSIC: Cradles by Sub Urban ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBtk5... )
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In our last episode, we talked about the fundamental expectations while launching your brand into the e-commerce space. Today I am going to take you a little deeper into the specifics of online selling.
1. DOCUMENTS: Here are the basic documents that you would require to either register with a marketplace or integrating a payment gateway on your website. A Registered Trademark Certificate isn’t compulsory as such, but it is EXTREMELY crucial for brand building as you get access to Amazon’s Store Design and EBC/A+ functionalities. More on that in a bit.
2. WAREHOUSING (Space, Manpower & Packaging): Since you will initiate your operations by shipping from your facility for almost all the platforms, make sure that your warehouse is well ventilated, managed and staffed along with basic hardware like a Computer, Thermal Printer, two Internet connections and UPS power back up. You will also need to order packaging material and allied stationery like corrugated boxes, cartons, bubble wrap and cello tapes. You will also need to order the boxes and tapes from the marketplaces as they need to have the marketplace branding on them.
3. PRODUCT CATALOGUING: While your warehouse preps up, you have to do the basic product cataloguing at your end. This means simply making a list of all of your products in an excel sheet with details like its name, colour, sizes, prices, and other specifications like barcodes. Try to have unique SKU codes for your products if not barcodes, but I would insist you get all of your products barcoded as it would be extremely helpful to manage your stocks across all platforms.
4. PHOTOGRAPHY (Product & Lifestyle): Now you’ll be needing two types of photographs: products shots and lifestyle or creative shots. Product shots are to be done with models for apparel and accessories categories while others are without models on a plain white background with at least 4 angles: front, back, side and detail. Creative shot and lifestyle shots look somewhat like this. They have models using the products and also have products in creative background settings. I see a lot of people cheap out on photography. Don’t. Most brand owners do not realise that your customers can not experience your product in their hands now. A good picture, and in some cases, videos is the ONLY way your product can appeal to your audience. And if you cheap out here, you can say goodbye to your online domination.
5. PRICING: While your teams are getting the cataloguing and photography done, you now have to take a paper, pencil and calculator and crunch some numbers. You have to figure out your Maximum Selling Price, Effective Selling Price, Discounts and Promotions after accounting for factors like Marketplace or Payment Gateway commission, delivery, storage and advertising. You can find Amazon’s commission structure on the link in the description. You can put in your product details there and get a rough estimate of the final payout. That’s all for now. In the next episode, we’ll talk about Store Design & EBC/A+, Advertising and much more.
