What to Sell Online?
This is a question that frequently appears in our statistics. We see many people searching for information on this topic, which has inspired us to publish various ideas on what to sell online on this blog, showing Google Analytics data on the most interesting products in different countries.
We build online stores daily in almost all of Europe and multiple languages, so we naturally conduct such analyses for clients who commission us with building their stores and also publish them on our blog.
I assume that if you’re here, you don’t have an idea yet what to sell online and are looking for some inspiration or someone to suggest a business idea. This article is about exactly that – it’s worth reading until the end as you will find several ready-to-use solutions based on the simplest “dropshipping” business model. These are ready-to-use stores with integrated wholesale suppliers, so you don’t need to invest in inventory (because you buy individual items only when someone buys from you), which allows you to taste online trade and develop it further over time by making bulk purchases.
What is the difference between a classic online store where we sell physical goods that we have in our “warehouse” and a “ready-to-use” store with virtual products?
The general differences lie in costs, as a dropshipping-based business model is a significantly cheaper solution than a traditional e-commerce one. The main costs of a traditional online store are not the cost of building an online store itself but rather wholesale purchases, storage space, and the time spent on packaging and shipping.
Most people don’t take into account the time required for these tasks, as well as general business risks. Starting a small online store requires a significant investment, with a minimum of tens of thousands of zlotys, assuming you have storage space at home and don’t need to pay for it.
In contrast, a dropshipping-based business model only requires the cost of purchasing an e-commerce platform (which is connected to wholesale suppliers) that effectively sells products from these suppliers. This eliminates the need for significant investments in inventory, as you don’t need to buy bulk quantities because the system works as follows: your store has virtual products – images, descriptions, prices – but no physical goods.
What’s more, the supplier takes care of shipping and packaging, which is a significant advantage.
Dropshipping is an excellent way to test the market without risk.
Why isn’t there any risk involved? Well, yes, even a dropshipping-based store costs something, but you can easily switch to cooperation with another wholesale supplier (add new virtual products) at no cost and try selling them (without risking their purchase). This is a platform that allows you to test various product ranges and when you decide on one, simply switch your store back to the traditional model.
However, there are situations where business doesn’t work out. What can you do in such cases? Write off the store as a loss and move on?
Not necessarily. It all depends on which platform (i.e., executioner) you choose. There are currently many abonament-based solutions available that generate huge profits mainly for those who offer them, because if you choose an abonament-based solution and pay several thousand zlotys per year for it but fail to sell anything, you’ll have to write off the entire amount as a loss.
Fortunately, there are also solutions available in the proprietary model (one-time payment), which means that even if your business doesn’t work out, you can simply sell the store (which can be used to sell any product) and make someone else take over. They can then easily set up their own sales process, much faster than commissioning an IT company to build a new online store from scratch.
I mentioned at the beginning of this article that we offer several pre-made e-commerce solutions that you can start using immediately. These are platforms with integrated wholesale suppliers and allow you to test various product ranges without significant investment.
What is the difference between these platforms and traditional online stores? The main difference lies in costs, as dropshipping-based solutions are significantly cheaper than traditional ones.
The biggest advantage of these platforms is that they can be set up immediately (in some cases even within one day) with minimal upfront costs (currently just 2999 zlotys). This is a significant difference from traditional online stores, which cost at least several thousand euros to build.
Such a store becomes your property and you always have the option of freely using it or selling it to someone else if needed.
This platform can work in any language, integrate various payment methods (gates), and be ready for sales in any country.
If this topic interests you and you’d like to try out online trade without significant investment and risk, feel free to use our free, non-binding consultation form below.
