If you’re like many ecommerce business owners, you spent long hours carefully researching your choice of products before settling on a product base identity for your online store. The selection of product means a lot when determining your ecommerce business’ chances for success, in many ways representing a more important decision than even the website design or internet service provider.
Once you’ve chosen the product line your ecommerce business will sell, many questions regarding web design and site layout become easier to navigate. Products lend themselves naturally and implicitly to their own themes: for example, an ecommerce company selling backyard furniture would build a web page accentuating outdoor themes and color patterns. A website that sold motorcycle clothing and accessories would utilize a design scheme highlighting black metal and chrome.
Broadening Your Inventory
Expanding your ecommerce business’ range of products should be a logical process that reinforces your market identity while at the same time allowing you to expand and reinforce your profit base. The best product expansion lines will augment your existing inventory while also providing a separate area of influence.
To expand on one of the examples listed above, the site selling motorcycle apparel and accessories could expand its product line by selling motorcycle maintenance tools and products. This would allow the site to branch into a new area – motorcycle maintenance – without diverging too much from its marketing identity.
Ecommerce business owners can also choose to expand with a product line that presents care and maintenance products for the items they already sell. For example, the backyard furniture company could sell weatherproofing materials such as rain bonnets and protective sealant.
Expanding Your Customer Base
By expanding into new product areas you give yourself the chance to introduce your site to new customers. As they reach your site and the conversion process completes, you’ll be able to introduce them to other product lines also sold, with the potential for conversion based on those items.
Among the best means of developing your product base is to employ a third party fulfillment service company to manage your warehousing fulfillment and order fulfillment duties. By outsourcing your order fulfillment processing, you can devote your business energies and resources to growth and expansion. The fulfillment service company, meanwhile, manages your complete inventory on your behalf, along with shipping and order tracking. This complete package also gives you greater security and dependability during conversion and the delivery process.