From the young couple just setting up home to the aspiring entrepreneur and the retired couple finally moving into their dream home, everyone needs furniture. Then you need wall clocks, art work, cutlery, crockery, soft furnishings and so on. Shopping for these items the traditional way would involve walking in and out of shops but the good news is that today, one can buy almost anything and everything online. The ecommerce sector is beneficial and more convenient not just for buyers but also for sellers. There are fewer overheads, the ability to present design options without floor space limitations and an opportunity for better prices.
So, how do you set up an online store?
To begin with, you’ll have a choice between setting up an independent eCommerce website and joining an established eCommerce platform like Amazon. Each has its pros and cons. An independent website lets you set prices as you wish and allows you to keep all the profits for yourself. But, there are considerable marketing and promotional costs to be incurred. Driving traffic to a new eCommerce website can be quite a challenge. On the other hand, if you were to open a store on the Amazon platform, you don’t have to worry about driving traffic to the website. Amazon already has a dedicated audience that trusts the platform. There are over 5 lakh businesses listed on the platform. The flip side is that you will have to pay a fee to have your products listed.
For now, let’s look at setting up a store on the Amazon shopping platform.
Starting your storefront on Amazon is easy and quick. To begin, you must have your paperwork in place. This includes:
With this in place, you can start the registration process. To create an account, you will need a legal name for your store and basic information like your:
All it takes is 15 minutes to set up an account. Once the account is created, you create a storefront with your store name, select the relevant product category, address and GST number. Finally, you need to enter your bank account information and shipping rates. Now, you’re ready to sell your products online.
But wait, before you can sell anything, you need to source it.
To make a profit you need to be able to source your product range at the lowest rates possible. And the best source for products at wholesale prices – China. Did you know that there are entire cities that deal only with manufacturing home and office furniture in China? If you don’t already have a supplier, Aliexpress is a good place to start. You can search for the different types of furniture, furnishings, décor, etc. and find vendors that meet your needs.
You may find vendors for any industry such as;
AliExpress is easy to navigate. Type in the keywords for the furniture you seek in the search bar and you’ll be rewarded with thousands of results. To make sure you find exactly what you’re looking for, use the filters provided.
Start with the categories. If you search for ‘chairs’, you will find dining chairs, office chairs, bean bags, etc. Select the relevant category to narrow down your search results. You can also filter results by material or brand.
So, now you’ve found the chair you were looking for. Next, look at their MOQs or Minimal Order Quantities. Some brands have a MOQ as low as a single piece. Other sellers may be willing to lower the MOQ if you pay a slightly higher price per piece or may offer a combined MOQ for a mix and match order.
Don’t waste your time with manufacturers that require large MOQs. You don’t want to be stuck with 100 chairs when you need only 10. So choose a brand with a MOQ that matches your requirements.
Unlike other eCommerce websites, AliExpress does not send out invoices or receipts after an order is placed. You will only get email confirmations for the placement of the order, when it is paid for, when it gets shipped, etc. This is not an issue for retail sales but since you will be importing a considerable quantity, you will need paperwork to clear customs.
There are two ways to generate a Performa Invoice for your order
The first rarely happens as stores re not responsible for invoices and this would be extra work for them. To find the extension, conduct an online search with the keywords, “invoice from AliExpress”. Look for programs or extensions that support multiple formats such as .docx, .pdf, etc. Once you’ve found the ideal extension, add it to your browser.
You should be able to access your order page from the drop-down menu on the extension icon. Here’s what you need to do next.
Save huge on shipping costs, you don’t need an IEC for shipping smaller quantities from multiple vendors. OyeEsxpress will take care of all the required paper works to deliver the shipments at your door step.
When you shop for small items like clothes, shoes, etc, shipping costs may be included in the price. However, this is not usually the case for large items like a table, bed or other types of furniture. These additional shipping costs can be quite high. Hence, it is better to entrust your order to a private shipping firm like OyeExpress.
OyeExpress is the logistics partner you need for this process. They offer door to door delivery services from the furniture manufacturer in China to your warehouse, simplify the paperwork required and make the entire process simpler. Orders may be shipped by sea or by air. The difference between the two is the time taken for shipping and costs. Freight delivery by air may be more expensive but it is much quicker. You can check out the OyeExpress services on the website or the app.
When you partner with Oye Express, you can place an order from multiple vendors but consolidate your payment. Instead of making payments to the vendors directly, you can make a partial payment through RTGS to Oye Express. OyeExpress will then make payments to the suppliers. The balance payment will be made on the final invoice after the goods reach India.
With OyeExpress you can get a free estimate on your shipping costs. For this you will need to share:
Once you submit this information, OyeExpress will respond to your inquiry within a few hours with an estimated cost of shipping and delivery timeline. Now, all you need to do is accept the quote.
Once your order is ready for dispatch, the OyeExpress representative will get in touch with the manufacturer to set an appointment to pick up your order. The order will be shipped by air or sea as per your choice and be delivered to the warehouse address. You don’t have to worry about getting your order through customs or any of the other issues you may face if you were to import them yourself.
Now that your Amazon store is registered and you’ve got your warehouse stocked, you can start listing your products. You can use the listing tools on Amazons Seller Central or list products through the Seller App. To create a listing you need:
Let’s walk you through the process.
If there are variations of the product available, this is an important tab. Select the variation type applicable to your product from the drop-down list. Once selected, more fields will be revealed. To complete the stage, click on ‘Add variation’.
The important fields in this tab include:
This is where you can upload pictures of the product for sale. Pictures must meet the guidelines set by Amazon. This includes:
There are 2 sections to the product description: Key Product Features and Product Description.
Whatever you enter in this field will not be seen by customers but it makes your product visible when customers search for relevant keywords. Use as many keywords as possible and separate the keywords with commas. Next, select relevant fields from the drop-down menus for Subject Matter, Other Attributes, Intended Use, and Target Audience.
Once you have completed all of these steps, save the listing and move on to creating a second listing.
Once your product listings are complete, all you need to do is make your store live. Your products can now be seen by millions of potential customers. You can also choose to advertise your products with Sponsored listings. When a customer places an order, Amazon will notify you of the same with an email and a notification on the Seller Central dashboard. When it comes to transporting the product from your warehouse to the final delivery address, you can choose between "Fulfilment by Amazon" and self-shipping.
In the case of the former, Amazon will take care of storing the product, pick it up from the warehouse, packing the order and shipping it. Payment for the order will be deposited securely in your bank account once a week. This deposit balance can be viewed on your Seller Central account.
Every day, over 5000 pieces of furniture are sold on Amazon.in. There is a 65% year on year growth in this sector. A similar growth trend has been noted for other sectors. The process of setting up a store and selling products as described above is quite simple. Merchandizing high-quality items from China for your store is equally simple. With OyeExpress as your logistics partner, you don’t even have to think about planning a physical visit to China. Simply place an order online, get the relevant paperwork in place and let OyeExpress take care of the shipping. Once the stock reaches your warehouse, you can start listing the products and putting them up for sale.
So, shall we start…
We are one-stop solutions for all your sourcing and shipping needs from China.We can source on behalf of you and ship the same to your doorstep.
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