Always wanted to sell on an e-commerce portal but always felt it was too complicated? Here are 10 reasons why selling online is much easier than its offline counterpart:

  1. No Expenditure on Setting up Shop: When you're setting up a showroom/store, there is always an unending list of bills to be paid; expenses of renting/buying the land area, building on it, interior decorating, electricity and other miscellaneous costs that are unavoidable and exorbitant in this day and age of constant inflation. On the other hand, when you set up a virtual online store on an e-commerce portal like Snapdeal, these expenses are automatically void since no registration or listing fee is charged. You can pretty much set up a shop for free!
  2. Wider Customer Reach: Seldom would any potential customer travel more than a few miles to visit a particular store despite its reputation or popularity. On the other hand, online stores have a much larger geographical reach, simply because a website can be viewed from anywhere in the world, thereby broadening the customer base to include numerous delivery areas. On Snapdeal, say, you can reach all of India!
  3. Be Open for Business 24x7: Very rarely do brick and mortar stores stay open 24x7 and even if they do, there's a lot of extra expenditure and not enough footfall to compensate for the effort. It's unheard of for a customer to step out of his house at midnight just to buy a t-shirt. But with online stores, it happens! Online stores never shut shop no matter what time it is. Customers can conveniently browse for hours, in their pyjamas or in a boring marathon meeting at work, thus getting 24x7 access to your product line, without ever leaving their comfort zone.
  4. Expert Assistance at Every Stage: At every stage of the selling process, Snapdeal provides you with assistance via trained advisors who are always available to help sellers set up and manage their businesses online. From determining the best way to advertise your product range, to what discounts to offer prospective clients, Snapdeal helps you with everything. There is no such direct help available for brick and mortar store owners.
  5. Work from Anywhere: Businessmen often put in at least 10 to 12 hours a day and 7 days a week 'behind the counter' to maintain profit. So when do you get to go on a relaxing vacation with your family or take that breather you've been craving for so long? Another great advantage of having a virtual store is that you can operate it from anywhere. Rather than toiling away at your brick and mortar store, you can manage your Snapdeal online shop through your laptop or even more conveniently on the Seller mobile app, anywhere in the world. No longer will you be deprived of holidays just because you can't afford to forgo the profit of those few days.
  6. Warehousing, Packaging & Transportation: These are intimidating aspects of running a store that deter most of us from making that wonderful dream of selling baby clothes or handmade home decoration a reality! Storing inventory in warehouses, effectively packaging the items to protect them from damage, and transporting them to the stores/customers are processes that every storeowner has to deal with. Not only does this greatly add to the hassles of a business owner, it can also be a setback in terms of customer satisfaction. When opening an online store, however, you can stop worrying because Snapdeal handles all of this for its sellers under their Snapdeal Plus program.
  7. Visual Merchandising: Deciding how to present products in-store is a headache not only because it needs to be consistent, but because it's been proven to have a considerable impact on how customers make buying decisions. However, an online store eliminates this hassle. All you need are product shots to upload on the e-commerce portal. If you don't know how to deftly photograph your shoe collection to make it look as fabulous as it is in reality, Snapdeal connects you with trained photographers who can help you adhere to cataloguing guidelines and give you professional product shots at varying costs.
  8. Product Diversification: Since a lot of the logistical problems are overtaken by Snapdeal and selling expenditure is reduced greatly, you can invest all that time and money on developing your products and offering your potential customers a more diverse range to select from. Greater the variety of product portfolio, the wider your potential customer base becomes, which leads to more buyers and of course, more profit.
  9. Free Training & Support: Training is provided to all sellers for the selling process which is very useful to businesses as they are likely to make rookie mistakes during a new venture. You may have perfected your product, but you can make errors when it comes to details like targeting your ideal market, setting initial prices or deciding discounts. All the information sellers need to navigate the market and run the store is available, absolutely free of cost.
  10. No Marketing Costs: For new and steady businesses alike, marketing is a battle; keeping customers interested, aware and loyal are challenges that worry every business owner. It's a good thing Snapdeal swoops in to save the day! Snapdeal assumes the mantle of advertising products being sold to relevant customers through extremely successful online and offline marketing campaigns. They ensure that every customer who has the ability to buy your product, now has the means and the inclination to do so as well.

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