We have seen a major shift in the purchasing behaviours of consumers over the last decade. More and more people are choosing to do their shopping online and retailers are trying their best to keep up. Consumers now have more chances of searching for their desired products, comparing the prices and comparing them with other products, and buying online so that they get delivered at their homes. They now have more options than ever before like eCommerce sites, marketplaces, mobile apps, as well as brick and mortar stores. Now they can even purchase items from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Whether they want to buy the latest Air Jordan’s or they want business shirts, they can easily get them online and their choices are not limited anymore.
Whether you own a mortar and brick store and want to move into the digital world of buying and selling or you are starting your own line of clothing and want to establish your brand, eCommerce selling offers you a plethora of advantages and benefits that you can use to create a long term strategy for your brand and get the kind of customers that are loyal. There are various ways that you can do that and in this article, we will discuss some of those ways so that you can find out which option is best for you.
The difference between marketplaces and eCommerce sites
Two of the main platforms that you can use for your clothing brand and sell shirts are marketplaces and eCommerce websites. Now, you might be wondering what the difference between these two is. It’s simple really. A market place, like its name suggests, is a digital space where hundreds or even thousands of sellers are fighting with each other for the millions of visitors that visit the space.
Why Have Your Own Ecommerce Business?
If you are selling clothing items like shirts and such, you are better off with your own eCommerce site than at a marketplace. There are various reasons for that. Here, we have compiled a list of the top 8 reasons why having your own eCommerce business is better than selling at a marketplace.
1. Show your Uniqueness and Individuality
This is one of the more obvious reasons why you should own your own eCommerce business. When you join a marketplace, you do get the opportunity to display your shirts to millions of visitors, but you also have a whole lot of competition from brands that are selling the same items that you are. You don’t have the chance of capturing the attention of your customers and making them remember you. It is hard to differentiate yourself in a marketplace.
Another reason why you should have your own eCommerce site is that if you are in a marketplace, you might have your customers stolen from right under your nose by your competitors. They might target customers who visit your product pages and display their ads on your pages. Since fashion is one of the toughest industries and there is a lot of competition, you might not get to avail the opportunity of making an easy sell. In a marketplace, you have to fight tooth and nail for the customers as well as the sales.
2. Increase Brand Visibility and Reach your Target Audience
A lot of people who buy from the marketplace do not know who they are buying it from. They are only interacting with the marketplace and thus your chances of increasing your brand’s visibility and improving your reach are very low. The next time the same customer wants to buy something, they will remember the name of the marketplace and not your brand. When you go to a marketplace, you will see that they put a lot of emphasis on the products and not on the brands.
3. Build Your Own Customer List
When you join a marketplace to sell your products, you join as a third party seller. This means that you don’t get to interact with the customers directly. You have to do that through the marketplace and this means that you don’t have any way of sending promotions to the customer or announcing your new products or offer discounts.
4. Establish or maintain full control over the brand
When you have your eCommerce website, you have complete control over each and every aspect of your brand and you can successfully create and implement a branding strategy of your choice. Your website can do what you want, say what you want, and even work like you want it to work. In a marketplace, the design is generic and you don’t get any say in the matter. With your own eCommerce business site, you can show your brand’s personality without any restrictions.
5. Create a Bespoke Experience for your Customers
Every consumer nowadays wants to be treated in a unique manner. They all want something personal. You cannot do that in a marketplace. But if you have your own eCommerce site, you can create an experience that is customized exactly according to your customers’ desires. You can integrate your eCommerce site with other systems to offer a smooth and flexible experience to your customers and have them coming back for more.
6. Build Relationships with your Customers
With your own eCommerce clothing site, you can attract new customers and build a relationship with them so that they remain loyal and keep coming back. A one-time purchase is not something that you are angling for.
7. You can target shoppers to become repeat buyers
One of the biggest advantages that you get with your own online clothing store is that you can have direct access to all your customers. This means that there is a better chance of them becoming repeat buyers than compared with a marketplace.
8. Sell Anywhere, Anytime
Another great advantage that you have is that you get to sell to anyone, anywhere, anytime. You are not restricted to geographical locations. Some marketplaces do not cater to various countries and that means you are losing potential business. With your own Shirts Ecommerce Business, you can make customers anywhere you want.
Wrapping It Up
Having your own eCommerce website can give you a lot of freedom and opens up a world of options that you can use to increase your sales, leads, brand visibility, and your reach. So what’s stopping you? On the other hand, an eCommerce site is a way for you to differentiate yourself from all the other competitors who are selling shirts and other clothing items just like you. This is the way that you can create your own identity.
