With the exponentially growing online world, there are endless ways of selling your products online. Many people think that having an E-commerce website means that you will automatically start making sales. This is what is called the “build it and they will come” mentality and it was fine in 2010 but we’ve moved on quite a bit since then.

Should you launch an E-commerce site in 2020?

The quick answer is no.

Why not? If you are just starting out and looking to sell your physical products online, the worst way you can start is by launching an e-commerce site for these key reasons:

• Will need to involve a web developer, graphic designer, seo expert (unless you know how to do it).
• Will need a social media presence on the main platforms at least and post regularly for social proof and traffic.
• Will need to set up shipping / fulfilment.
• Will need to drive traffic to your site using paid advertising, social media and other organic methods.

So, this means it’s best to never have an E-commerce website? Absolutely not, if you are serious and are thinking long term, you will definitely need your own online store. BUT, it is not the best way to start because it is very time consuming and you need a big budget to get any traction on your site.

What’s the alternative?

It’s quite simple, leverage Amazon and start selling there first. Amazon has hundreds of millions of customers ready to buy with one click of a button. The average conversion rate is 15% compared to 3% on e-commerce sites. The trust is already there and this is not something you will have with a new E-commerce site.

People trust Amazon and usually start the order journey there, only if they can’t find products or want to do more research is when they will turn to Google search.

You can get started in a few days as opposed to several weeks or months with an E-commerce site and build up cash flow.

Main reasons to start selling on Amazon first

• Use Amazon FBA to send your products in bulk and they will store, pick, pack and send your products with next day delivery.
• Up and running within a few days.
• Millions of customers ready to buy now.
• Cheap advertising. (not for long)
• Test your proof of concept and product demand.
• Quick cash flow.

Amazon FBA has made it very easy to sell products on their platform with minimal effort. If you have a lot of products you can also use Amazon to help you identify the 80/20 of your best selling products. Only 20% of your products will bring you 80% of your revenue, concentrate on those only to maximise profit and reduce the time you spend on your business.

Downsides of selling on Amazon

• You don’t own the customer and cannot market to them
• Amazon sets the rules which may not be in your favour

Because of some downsides, you need to plan ahead and start setting up your own E-commerce website where you will have full control and can re-market to your customers.

After you’ve set up and are selling on Amazon for a few months and up to a year, you will start to generate cash flow and quick profit. You will have more free time and can concentrate on setting up your E-commerce site while Amazon sales keep going in the background.

Conclusion

Start selling on Amazon now, it is getting crowded there but the opportunity is still there. Once you’ve set up there and generating money, start thinking about expanding to your own E-commerce site and building a social presence.

Would love to hear what your thoughts are, let me know in the comments below!