The automotive business is one of the largest markets yet to make a real breakthrough onto the e-commerce scene. It one of the biggest and fastest ways an auto businesses can take diversify and sometimes multiply their income streams. Auto businesses can advertise, list, and sell their product's online on different platforms, for free. Just a little time and effort is required to list and make your parts available to anyone worldwide. Most of my customers, wouldn't even know what I looked like.
Multiplatform sales strategies - this is selling products in places other than the typical brick and mortar store. Selling products in multiple platforms online provides several avenues for customers to locate and do business with you. There are numerous online platforms you can efficiently sell merchandises. However, there is a need to choose wisely for not all platforms are suitable for your business. For example, some platforms give priority to their brand over yours, and this can annihilate your brand. Others charge expensive listing fees and sales commission.
All in all, the advantages of featuring your auto business on multiple online platforms far outweighs the downside. Platforms such as eBay, Gumtree, and Carpart.com are designed for easy selling and offers buyers easy access to products - accessing the platforms requires minimal to no technical knowledge.
Choosing the right platform for your auto business
With dozens of platforms to choose from, selecting the right platform is tricky than said. It is even more cumbersome and overwhelming to try and compare the various platforms. For the best result, one has to narrow down to the platform that reaches his target market best. The key factors to consider when choosing the best platform include:-
- Your Business Model:- what is your business model? Do you manufacture your product? Or are you a distributor? Do you sell in wholesale or retail? There are ideal platforms for each type of business model such as platforms for manufacturers, for wholesalers, and for retailers. Platforms also have different selling strategies. For example, some sell in auction format where the seller doesn’t set the final price and has to wait for several days until the auction window closes. You will need to consider which selling mode is most beneficial to your business in line with your business model.
- Payment processing system:- the majority of the online platforms accepts multiple payment methods such as Apple Pay, Paypal, Google Wallet, etc. The payment systems charge varying provider’s fee, which is an essential factor to consider. Your preferred or most convenient mode of receiving payment should guide you when making your choice.
- Your customers:- Every product appeals most to specific interest groups in terms of age, geographical location, economic class, occupation, etc. who makes up the most significant percentage of the customers. Identify your business interest group and choose the platform that best reaches the group. For example, automobile experts shop more on Carparts.com.au than other platforms.
- The position of your brand in the market:- in the market, the positioning of products is different. There are luxury brands, unique products, rare products, mass-produced products, custom-made products, etc. Consider the positioning of your products or brand when choosing a platform. For example, if you sell luxury products, target the ideal platform for luxury products.
- Your business goals:- Every business has its goals and targets to meet for it to remain operational. Select the online platform that best supports your business goal.
- The type of products you sell:- the specific product you sell also influences the platform you choose. While some platforms sell mixed products, others will only list particular products, for example, some platforms specialize in books and others such as Carpart.com.au in auto parts. Listing in mixed product platform, especially the behemoth platforms, may be beneficial due to their massive traffic. On the other hand, listing products in specialized platform yields even better results due to the specific traffic targeting.
- The strengths and weakness of each platform:- each platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Before making your choice weigh the pros versus the cons of the platforms when it comes to selling the auto parts. The platform should be credible with good traffic
To help you pick the best platform for your auto business, let’s look into some of the platforms
Amazon
Amazon is one of the leading platforms with over 197 million people visiting the site every month. It is a mixed product platform listing all types of products from electronics, books, DVDs, auto parts, clothes, and other general interest items.
Amazon lays a lot of emphasis on streamlining of the branding, which though gives it the credibility it may be a demerit to the seller. It makes the products look and feel like it is an Amazon product, almost taking all the credit from the seller.
eBay
eBay is another leading platform with a unique approach from others. The platform adopts an auction-style approach in selling product. This approach makes it ideal for selling rare items, collectibles, and vintage car and car parts.
Listing of the first 50 items every month is free on eBay. They only charge a small percentage of the total sale value. Also, eBay has its Global Shipping Program, which is an advantage to those seeking to sell oversea.
The biggest demerit on eBay is the fact that with the auction model, the seller has to wait for a specified period. From auctioning also, the seller may not get the full value of a product if bidding is low. Overall, eBay is fruitful to those who take time to understand this model and test the best ways to sell on the platform.
Social Media Platforms
Yes, you can also sell on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Facebook comes with the option of setting up a Facebook Store. The set-up gives a choice of selling entirely on Facebook or integrating with your e-commerce site where Facebook users are directed to your website. As facilitation for direct sale, the platform has a Facebook marketplace that is more like a classified listings site with a localized listing. Facebook also offers Facebook ads where you can advertise your products to more than just you Facebook direct followers, reaching a bigger target market. Facebook can provide a resourceful avenue of diversifying your auto business if well utilized.
Pinterest and Instagram are the other social media platforms you can use to diversify your sales. The two offers almost similar shopping functionality as Facebook. If you have more followers on either of the two than Facebook, you can utilize the platform to upscale your sales.
Etsy
Etsy is a platform ideal for wholesale or bulk selling. Although not as widely known as Amazon and eBay it can link with the two and can be a resourceful way of upscaling your sale as it targets wholesale buyers. It offers a more targeted experience to buyers seeking a little less than the mainstream products. The platform accepts over ten payment methods making it convenient to both the seller and the buyer.
The biggest demerit of Etsy is charging a percentage commission on the sales on top of a listing fee charged per item.
Carpart
As the name suggests this a platform specializing in car parts. It is one of the biggest auto parts database allowing buyers to search and find vehicle parts. Since the platform specializes in vehicle parts, it attracts particular traffic that has a high conversion rate. As a result, Carpart.com.au can be a resourceful platform to expand your reach as an auto parts seller. It is free to sign up on Carpart.com.au, and their commission fee is minimal.
Google Shopping
This one of the most robust platform but the least exploited and less known by people until recently. Google Shopping is a service where sellers pay for their product listing to be featured when a user searches for the product on Google search engine. The featuring of a product on the search result page gives it a competitive advantage over its rivals. Although Google charges a fee for the advertising, the cost is charged per click and translates into a high return on investment.
On the downside, due to its price-comparative-feature Google shopping attracts massive traffic of users majorly looking for the perfect price. As a result, this may not be the best platform for you selling a product at a rate higher than the market price.