The current pandemic has triggered a lot of dramatic changes in our lifestyles. It has significantly altered and accelerated the change in our buying and selling habits. More and more people now prefer making their purchases online.
They find buying products over the internet more convenient, as it saves a lot of their time by not having to physically visit multiple stores. For sellers, the online market offers a myriad of opportunities to earn substantial profits by selling products online.
Now is a great time to begin your online fabric store now. In this blog, we will provide you with the crucial points that you should take into consideration before choosing an eCommerce platform to sell textile products online.
Benefits Of Selling Textile Products Online
The brick and mortar stores have continued to maintain a dominant position in the textile industry, as the majority of the purchases are still made offline. However, the share of the offline business is slowly shrinking, as eCommerce stores now account for more than 27% of the market, and continue to grow every year.
Selling textile products online has significantly lowered the barriers to entry. It usually takes a few days to a few weeks to establish an online store, compared to the time and investment required for setting up a traditional store. It also eliminates the costs incurred and the resources needed in setting up the offline store and getting things done manually.
The eCommerce environment provides multiple affordable, reliable, and instant ways to market and promote the products online. You can deliver your products to customers all over the world with the help of an appropriate logistics and delivery system.
Generally, a buyer prefers to have a personalized buying experience, right from product needs to delivery and payment options. The eCommerce market provides them with various options in the form of specific products display, expedited or next-day delivery options, payment options in the form of UPI, cash on delivery, credit or debit card, etc.
Key Criteria for Choosing an eCommerce Platform to Sell Textile Products Online
The first thing to consider is to choose an appropriate eCommerce platform for textile products. You need to consider the following criteria while selecting an eCommerce platform.
Access To eCommerce Templates
With the help of appropriate eCommerce templates, you can make your website look attractive. It eliminates the need for hiring design experts or having coding knowledge. Apart from the quality of the products and pleasant customer service experience, customers usually get attracted by the design of the website. According to a study by Kissmetrics, 93 percent of buyers consider website visual appearance as one of the most crucial factors.
Using WorksLeader, you can choose from thousands of professionally designed customizable templates to build a website and sell fabric online. It provides a drag and drop feature that assists you in creating an online fabric store without the need for having any design knowledge and experience.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a fulfillment method that eliminates the need for the store from stocking up the products it sells. It allows you to purchase items from a third party and supply them directly to the client, thereby providing respite from storing and handling the products yourself.
eCommerce platforms with drop shipping integration decrease the inventory-related outlay. It also saves the time required in locating, operating, or paying for a warehouse to store the products. You can even sell a different variety of products at no additional expense.
You will be able to manage and interact with your supply chain and ensure that you always have products in stock.
Third-Party Integration
You want your buyers to be fully satisfied with your services. After all, the profit and success of your eCommerce textile store entirely depend upon it. Therefore, it is important to choose an eCommerce platform that provides you with third-party integration and meets the needs of the client.
Also, whenever visitors enter the site they expect a pleasant user experience in the form of updated catalog data, real-time inventory and pricing, promotions, payment safety, suitable selection of delivery services, tracking and shipping data, etc. All this can be achieved with an eCommerce platform integrated with ERP, CRM, and accounting software.
Catalog Management
For an eCommerce store, managing a textile product catalog plays a very crucial role. With catalog management, you ensure that your product database is well-organized, structured, and updated across all online sales channels.
It enables you to build a brand as it helps the customer find what they are looking for and makes them feel comfortable while purchasing. Also, when it comes to shopping for fabrics online, it becomes very difficult for customers to make appropriate purchasing decisions without having access to accurate and complete information about the products.
With WorksLeader that comes with a catalog management module, you can easily add products to your textile commerce product catalog. It allows you to add single SKUs as well as in bulk.
Supply and Inventory Management
Business efficiency at all operational levels is very crucial. Supply and Inventory Management is a fundamental component of an eCommerce business that focuses on the procurement of raw material, inventory tracking and storage, manufacturing of goods, orders management, and deliveries of finished products to the customers.
In the traditional inventory model, businesses tend to have their warehouse for product storage. However nowadays, according to the risk-pooling strategy, eCommerce businesses have begun outsourcing their inventory needs to large wholesalers, resulting in huge cost savings.
WorksLeader allows you to add accurate prices and inventory for a single SKU from various suppliers. It also provides greater control over your stock.
Multiple Payment Options
Today, almost every buyer uses a smartphone for making online purchases. Thus, the payment options provided by your eCommerce business can either make or break the sales. Also, choosing one might seem easy, but insufficient payment options can become a major reason for cart abandonment. According to a recent survey, 6 percent of people abandon the eCommerce store due to a lack of sufficient payment options.
Therefore, it is significant to have multiple payment options that will not only help you to improve your conversion but also your brand image. The payment options to include are UPI, cash on delivery, credit or debit card, and much more.
White Labelling Solutions
White labeling means selling those products to the client that are purchased by the reseller from the suppliers. It eliminates the cost incurred in designing, developing, and testing the products and helps boost profits.
If you want to fast-track your business growth, then white labeling solutions is an ideal option, as it caters to the client’s requirements. It helps you in entering new markets without worrying about the production capacity.
Moreover, it saves you from the time-consuming process of winning a client’s trust, as you’re sourcing good quality products from established suppliers. This way, you will be able to fulfill all your customer’s needs and expectations and increase the brand value in no time.
User Experience
User Experience is critical for your eCommerce business. It ensures that customers do not face any problems in navigating your website and finding the product they want to buy. Once they can make the purchase effortlessly and have an overall pleasant user experience, they will visit your website again in the future.
Ensuring a pleasant user experience on the website involves a lot of work, but is worth the effort.
Shipping Options
Find out whether the eCommerce platform integrates with third-party shipping services like FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc. This will enable you to pull their shipping rates directly into your store at checkout.
While starting the eCommerce journey, a lot of brands take a simplistic approach to shipping. As they scale, they rely on strategic shipping options that differentiate themselves in the market and help them to increase their margins.
The different types of shipping options available are:
- Free In-Store Pickup- It is a shipping option that enables the customer to collect the ordered product directly from the store on their own.
- LTL Freight Carriers- It involves transportation of small freight and results in separate shipments transported on one truck.
- Same-Day Delivery- In this shipping method, you can deliver the products to the customer on the same day they have ordered.
- Free Shipping- It is a sturdy option for online shopping. With this option, your customers do not have to pay additional charges.
When you offer appropriate shipping options to your customers, you reduce the chances of cart abandonment. Also, it keeps the costs in check and increases the profitability of your online textile business.
Key Takeaway
You need to conduct thorough research about the platform as switching between them is not only expensive but also time-consuming. Furthermore, you need to think wisely before establishing an online store profile, importing inventory, and selecting a theme.
Although starting an online fabric store is relatively challenging, an eCommerce platform for textile makes it pretty easy. It helps you grow, scale, and keep up your business with the current trends. Thus, it makes the operation smoother and even boosts the growth of the business.
