Online store consignment as a business model is increasingly popular. It frees one from the trouble of inventory and allows for easy profit-making, achieving multiple goals at once, making it an excellent method. Below, I will introduce a few techniques of online store consignment to help you avoid detours and manage your online store well.
I. Who is suitable to be a consignment merchant?
1. Office clerical staff, civil servants, etc., with fixed working hours from nine to five, eight-hour workdays plus lunch breaks spent in the office, yet without too many tasks to handle. You spend at least a few hours reading newspapers, drinking tea, and chatting. The office has internet access but games are rarely played. Due to fixed working hours, it's impossible to take on any part-time jobs, including online ones, because shipping cannot be managed, leaving one to lament helplessly.
2. People in remote areas, suburban areas of large cities, or places far from post offices where courier companies refuse to deliver. In online sales, transportation is a big issue. Low shipping fees undoubtedly provide a strong competitive edge, especially in online sales where the best-selling items often cost around fifty yuan or even less. If shipping fees reach several dozen yuan, this greatly reduces customers' willingness to purchase. If not even express delivery is available and one must go to the post office to send expedited packages, regular mail, or EMS, then the disadvantage in transportation becomes more apparent. With similar product costs and selling prices among competitors, one often loses out in fierce competition due to shipping fee issues.
3. Store owners who don't know how to take photos or design graphics, and operate on a small scale without plans to purchase the necessary equipment (cameras, photo studios, lighting, etc.).
4. Newcomers to online transactions who do not want to make large investments in their online stores and lack a competitive source of goods. Initially, the cost may only be several hundred to several thousand yuan, but soon inventory will grow exponentially. Before long, stockpiling will become a significant number. For non-professional store operators, this figure can become a burden, making running a store no longer a light-hearted matter.
5. Store owners with elderly family members or young children, newlyweds, or those living in newly renovated beautiful homes, where it is inappropriate to have storage boxes and packaging materials scattered around the house. Once frequent shipments begin, the mess becomes unimaginable. Even when dealing with small items, such as jewelry, dust, foam, plastic packaging, scissors, and other items fill the house. With elderly people or children at home, this not only affects cleanliness but also safety.
6. Other reasons, such as store owners who lack a source of goods or the ability to ship themselves.
II. What should be noted in consignment?
1. Although you are selling consigned goods, do not let customers know that you are a consignment merchant. First, adjust your mindset and do not view yourself as just an intermediary store owner. When selling, confidently establish your own brand and treat your supplier as your warehouse manager. Confidently face customers, always remembering that your supplier’s warehouse is your warehouse, and their customer service is your inventory manager.
2. Even if you handle your own inventory and shipping, under complex circumstances with various types of goods, situations like unknowingly running out of stock can occur. Therefore, during the sales process, always maintain communication with your supplier. Check if there is stock available before proceeding with sales. To avoid constantly worrying about stockouts, clearly state in the product description, "Simultaneous online and offline sales. If you encounter a stockout after payment, we will refund immediately and apologize sincerely. Please bear with us." This way, even if the buyer pays and encounters a stockout, they won’t complain about receiving payment without shipping since they’ve already agreed to occasional stockouts by purchasing the item.
3. Add your store logo to the product images and use your own tone in the product descriptions. Always focus on establishing your store's image so that customers remember you.
4. When customers inquire about the status of shipped goods, do not ask your supplier. This is your task. After the supplier ships, they will fill in the Alipay information and provide you with the courier company's tracking link. Checking it yourself is faster than asking. Do not let customers wait because of your laziness or lack of confidence, nor cause dissatisfaction from your supplier by neglecting your responsibilities.
5. Pay attention to filling in the correct city location. If you are acting as a single merchant's agent, simply change your store's location to the city where your supplier ships from. For example, if a sister in Wuhan acts as an agent and the goods are shipped from Changchun, directly write the store address and product location as Changchun. Since in online sales, what city you're in doesn't matter much; what matters is letting customers know where the goods are being shipped from. Writing Changchun eliminates the need to explain why the shipping location differs from the store owner's location.
6. Because consignment consumes a lot of time and involves a considerable workload, it is hoped that consignment merchants have good communication skills and reasonableness. Stay away from criticism, blame, and complaints, handle matters objectively, and live positively. Since consignment is rather complicated, after customers buy goods, their requirements must be clearly understood. Suppliers ship according to the consignment merchant's requirements, and any other issues are the responsibility of the consignment merchant.
Article Source: Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Online Store Consignment Platform_(7PL.COM.CN)
Shanghai Qipu Road Clothing Wholesale Market is the largest apparel distribution center in China. Qipu Road (7PL.COM.CN) is positioned to provide free agency and shipping services for clothing wholesalers and online store agents, while also providing a large outlet channel for clothing brands.