Online selling is a numbers game. Just like any other business, your numbers are very important in ensuring your continuous business’ success. A lot of beginners do not realize this at the onset, and that includes me when I first started selling online.
I started selling online as a hobby. And I didn’t pay any attention to my numbers because, as I have mentioned earlier – it’s just a hobby. I also sold my stuff online because I wanted to declutter. I had full-time employment back then so I wasn’t worried regardless if I sell my personal stuff online or not.
I didn’t even consider it as a side-hustle, because with a side-hustle, you are clear with your intention to earn money.
However, as months go by, I realize that this hobby could be a full-time gig, which what it has become eventually. And that realization happened when I started paying attention to the numbers.
Photo by James Orr on Unsplash
What Numbers Do I Pay Attention To?
Maybe you’re wondering, what numbers do I pay attention to? Here are the numbers that I think helped me grow my business once I started paying attention to them.
Inventory Size
When I first started selling online, I only had around 20 – 30 items and most of those items were my personal items. I barely make any sales, because looking back, I now realized that it’s because there’s nothing much to choose from.
However, since I shop a lot. The number of items posted on my Carousell and eBay account grew and once it grew, the sales started pouring in.
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Quantity of High-quality Branded and Affordable Items
Let’s face it. Brands do matter. They matter in a variety of ways when it comes to online selling, especially if you’re going to price them lower than your competition. They matter because:
Name Recall
Brand names are popular and a lot of people know them. If you’re going to sell a Marks & Spencer Black Top vs a Non-popular Brand/Non-branded Black Top (with almost similar design silhouette) for P299 (around $6), then the former will sell faster than the latter.
People will perceive that they will get more value from buying the Marks and Spencer Black Top because they know the brand. They know that the mall retail price is expensive and that they’re getting a good deal when they buy this from your online store for only P299.
They Do Well in Search Engines
Brand names are not only popular to people, but they also do well in search engines. It doesn’t matter if you use Google or the search feature of your preferred online selling app, you will notice the search performance of branded items compared to their non-branded counterparts.
Given the same example above, let’s say you’re selling two black tops with similar design silhouette and the same price:
Post Title 1: Marks & Spencer Black Round Neck Stretchable Top
Possible Customer Search Keywords:
- Marks & Spencer Top
- Marks & Spencer Stretchable Top
- Marks & Spencer Black Top
- Marks & Spencer Round Neck Top
- Black Top
- Round Neck Top
- Stretchable Top
- Round Neck Stretchable Top
- Black Stretchable Top
- Black Round Neck Top
- Black Round Neck Stretchable Top
Post Title 2: Black Round Neck Stretchable Top
- Black Top
- Round Neck Top
- Stretchable Top
- Round Neck Stretchable Top
- Black Stretchable Top
- Black Round Neck Top
- Black Round Neck Stretchable Top
Branded items get a few more extra chances of getting found by the customers.
Almost Free Marketing
This is one of the things that I always tell my friends who always ask me about my online selling gig. Online sellers who sell branded products get to enjoy free marketing service from the brand owners.
Let’s say, I’m selling a preloved authentic vintage Bottega Veneta bag. People know Bottega Veneta and people trust the quality of their craftsmanship.
If I post a second-hand Bottega Veneta for $100 and a non-branded brand new leather bag for the same price, the second-hand Bottega Veneta will definitely sell faster.
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Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
Number of Positive Feedback
eBay, Carousell, and Shopee all have feedback systems on their websites/apps. The average number of feedback including the actual feedback of the customers is displayed publicly.
The more you have positive feedback, the easier for prospective customers to trust your online store.
With the increasing numbers of online scammers nowadays, customers are looking for ways on how to gauge the trustworthiness of the online stores that they’re going to transact with.
Bear in mind that these prospective buyers don’t know you personally and they have not met you. They’re just relying on social signals or social proof of your trustworthiness, and your feedback score on your preferred online selling websites provides that to them.
Number of Negative Feedback
Ideally, this should be at ZERO. However, the reality is, we can’t please everyone. I’m not just an online seller, I also buy a lot online. Before I transact with other online sellers, I always read their feedback first.
Personally, I don’t mind seeing a few negative feedback as long as:
- The negative feedback is about something outside the control of the seller such as delays in delivery
- The negative feedback is properly addressed by the seller
- The negative feedback is invalid. You may be wondering what invalid negative feedback is? I’ve seen 1-Star (lowest in Carousell) rating in Carousell with Positive feedback. This might be a user error. And also there was a time when you can leave feedback even if you just inquired and did not complete the transactions. It’s easy to spot invalid feedback once you get the hang of it.
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Number of Social Media Followers
Personally, this is something that does not help me that much because I do have my own set of followers on my online selling apps. However, if you are selling on Instagram or your own website or other social media websites such as Facebook Page, then it’s important to have a substantial number of real, organic followers.
Do not be tempted to buy followers as people are aware of this and might think that you’re an untrustworthy seller. There are tons of ways on how to grow your social media followers organically.
Posting Frequency
Regardless of which online selling website or app you use, the frequency of your posting matters. Every time you post an item, you get a higher chance of being visible to customers.
Personally, once I have grown my inventory to 1,000+ items, I only post once a week.
But before I reached that number, I post as much as I could. There was even a time when I post new items almost daily. Posting daily is actually the ideal scenario but posting is a time-consuming process even for a full-time online seller like me. Maybe I will try to do that once I get to have some people to help me grow this business even more.
Revolving Capital
I could not recommend nor suggest to you an exact amount when it comes to the revolving capital since it will vary from person to person depending on your level of cash flow.
Personally, since I track my sales and expenses regularly, I have decided to save at least three months’ worth of my revolving capital.
For example, if I usually spend (on average) P15,000 every month to buy new inventories and supply, I always make sure that I have P45,000 saved on the bank intended to be used as my revolving capital.
I was able to religiously do this until the pandemic hit when the sales became so slow. Hopefully, once the business recovers, I can build my revolving capital again.
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Final Thoughts
Just to recap, the numbers that I personally find helpful in growing my online selling business are:
- Inventory Size
- Quantity of High-quality Branded and Affordable Items
- Number of Positive Feedback
- Number of Negative Feedback
- Number of Social Media Followers
- Posting Frequency
- Revolving Capital
Keep in mind that these numbers are all supported mainly by three very important things:
- The quality of your merchandise
- Your price competitiveness
- And how you deal with your customers.
If you aim to improve your numbers without compromising the quality and competitiveness of your business, then you will surely find success in online selling.
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Do you have additional inputs to share? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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