Selling Online(A whistle-stop tour!)

John Owens

Agenda• Why sell online?• What could I sell?• I’m not a techie! Easy starts…• Questions

Agenda

Customers

• Online sales are 10% of all UK retail sales

• 50% (and rising) of store purchases are informed by online research

• 24 – 44 year olds are the most active online buyers

Source: Harvard Business ReviewJan – June 2013 figures

Growth..• Online sales growing at 17%

per annum

• Average spend £1,165 per year (highest amount in the world)

• UK has world’s largest e-retail economy (per population) with 37 million online shoppers

Source: Gartner Group July – Dec 2012 figures

Christmas 2012• 18% of all Christmas sales

were online

• 113 Million Boxing Day visitors to online sales sites

• 30% of visitors over Christmas 2012 were using mobile devices

Source: Google / Webmaster Trends

What to sell?

Source: Gartner Group July – Dec 2012

• Is ecommerce right for you?

• What could you sell?

• Can you provide good sales & after sales support?

• Are you in a specialist niche area?

• Alone or as part of a bigger site?

Source: Gartner Group July – Dec 2012

• Marketplaces:• ebay.co.uk & Amazon.co.uk

• Etsy.com/uk & Folksy.com (more UK)

• Individual stores on a large site:• Shopify.com & Goodsie.com

• Selling alone?

Routes to market

Source: Gartner Group July – Dec 2012

• Distance Selling Regulations

• Data Protection Act

• Consumer Protection law

• Exclusions – e.g. restrictions on food

• Fraud?

Lots of potential issues..

Marketplaces

ebay.co.uk

Amazon

Etsy.com/uk

Fees: $0.20 listing then 3.5% of sale price

Folksy.com

Individual store on larger site

Shopify.com

Goodsie.com

Standalone site

• Easy payment options

• Secure transactions and PayPal

• (Be up-front about postal and any other charges)

Payment

Questions