Owning a considerable sum of capital is unnecessary to start an online e-commerce business these days. E-commerce has evolved beautifully that you can be an online store owner with no direct contact with the items that you sell. This has opened the industry to people with a relatively little customer base or capital for stocking goods in a warehouse.
Dropshipping is a household sales technique for e-commerce stores. It allows you to be a seller without having the products stored in a warehouse or having any physical contact with the product.
That is why dropshipping has become a well-known idea that is generally accepted and used in selling any kind of product. As a dropshipper, your role is to connect buyers from your store with the seller of their desired product.
In the dropshipping business, your goal is to drive sales to your store and give your Shopify store more exposure that can increase your customer base. Having a sales strategy helps you know the path to follow on how to increase sales and drive customer traffic.
Creating a sales strategy for your dropshipping store can help you sell your products with less hectic promotion procedures. This is because you have a plan that works for your store or the types of products that you sell. How does creating a sales strategy help improve your sales for your dropshipping Shopify store?
What Is A Sales Strategy?
Sales strategy is a well outlined marketing technique that can help store owners improve sales activities in their stores. This plan is outrightly designed as a guide to help position your store and products in a way that customers find them appealing to buy.
The common way to get ahead of competition is to imbibe ways that can attract customers to your store using the resources within your reach. As much as you can engage massive promotional ideas, for beginners you can use in-store marketing schemes as a sales strategy to drive traffic and boost sales.
One thing you have to be mindful of is that not all marketing strategies are suitable for all types of Shopify e-commerce stores. Your marketing strategies must be carefully crafted based on what is attractive to your target customers and the category of products that you sell.
Key Things To Note Before Choosing A Sales Strategy
1. Target customers
Before deciding on a marketing strategy, you should know your target market and what promotional ideas will appeal to them. For some customers, discounts can be attractive while some can be influenced to buy more products when a gift is attached to a certain purchase threshold.
2. Sales goals you want to reach
Your sales strategy is dependent on the sales goal you plan to achieve. Setting a goal that is specific, achievable, and realistic will keep you in shape while you plan your sales strategy.
This set goal also helps you evaluate every sales strategy that you plan to engage in to see if they can help you reach your goal. If your goal is to drive traffic to your store for the next three months, you might not need a discounting price strategy.
3. Category/Niche of your products
The types of products you dropship are also a determinant. There are certain strategies that are appealing when promoting household items. For example, you can attach free shipping or installation to heavy household items like furniture. It can influence customers to buy since they won’t have to worry about how to get the item moved or install it.
5 Sales Strategy Ideas To Improve Sales For Dropshipping Store
1. Product Bundling
Since the goal is to target sales for your Shopify dropshipping store, creating product bundles can help your customers quickly take a purchase decision. If the initial intention for the customer is to buy an item and they find a bundle that offers them the item alongside other freebies or discounts, they can be influenced to buy the bundle rather than a single item. This way you can increase the average order value per customer’s order.
Related: Price And Product Bundling: Increase Average Order Value With This Marketing Strategy [Advantages & Disadvantages]
Product bundling is a proven method of increasing sales for e-commerce stores. Having a product combo can help customers who are just window shopping to order an item they had no intention of buying at first. It also helps first-time visitors choose from the many options that you have.
Added that there are times a customer does not know they need an item until they find it in a bundle with a product they have in mind to buy.
2. Offer Discounts
Discounts can increase your sales by up to 50%. Online customers tend to be influenced to buy a product with a discount attached to it. You can nudge your customers to buy more by giving them offers at intervals.
You can offer a personalized discount. Customers usually respond well to personalized offers that are meant for them only. In most cases, it converts a visitor into a first-time buyer.
3. Engage Social Media Marketing
For a Shopify store with little or no customer base looking to increase the traffic you get on your store, social media is your best bet. Especially when you are working with very limited resources. Creating a brand for your dropshipping business on social media outlets can drive sales to your Shopify store.
With the increasing number of social media users, you can leverage this to get traffic and drive sales to your Shopify store. There are many dropshippers who sell using social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram alone.
Having a webstore on Shopify gives you an advantage and helps customers to trust your brand better than a spontaneous social media business. Building customers’ trust can also help you increase sales in no time.
4. Quality Product Photography
Setting up your Shopify store to be aesthetically pleasing to customers can also boost sales for your dropshipping business.
Considering that you might not have direct contact with the items, getting a professional image might be difficult.
Related: 12 Ways To Get More Customers And Increase Sales For Your Shopify Store
One way to overcome this is to either get all the products you want to sell on your Shopify store and create a professional image of them. Alternatively, request from your supplier a quality image that shows the details of a product.
5. Build Customers’ Trust
Every successful business is built on strong relationships. Every e-commerce store has a well-planned customer experience that helps Shopify store owners retain customers. Engaging in activities that increase customer trust is the key to increasing sales and customer retention.
There are many ways to increase customer trust, which can in turn boost sales for your store. Offering quality and authentic products is one of such strategy. This way customers will be able to trust your brand and also help increase customer retention.
Wrap
Growing your dropshipping business using a sales strategy can ease you out of spontaneous marketing activities that might not work for your target customers.
Ensure you prepare a sales plan that will be appealing to your customers and fit for the types of products that you sell.