The consumer electronics industry is one of the briskly evolving and most innovative industries. Major electronics manufacturers are regularly generating the next best electronic product, each time making their products more user-friendly, more modern and developing methods to be of service or entertain their customers.
With an equivalent of £23 billion spent on consumer electronics in 2020, the electronics industry competes in a greater part in the eCommerce sector with 43% of these purchases being made online.
Look through this article to find out more about the electronics in the e-commerce sector and how as a retailer, you can capitalize on the industry.
Overview
According to Forbes,2020 has been an unsettled year for many industries. However, the e-commerce sector saw an enormous 129% year-over-year growth.
The electronics industry has eventually attracted online sales, even though the pandemic conveyed people’s shopping habits, but Nowadays it is set to be one of the significance industries in e-commerce for 2020 with e-Marketer anticipating that it will make up 22% of US retail eCommerce sales for 2020.
Right through 2020, consumers turned out to purchasing online primarily as a consequence of the stores being inaccessible. Moreover, there is also a new nervousness among shoppers breaking through where they are less inclined to shop in person due to unguaranteed safety of a specific store and wanting to keep away from interactions with others. This makes it an ideal time to capitalize on selling electronics online.
Sales on mobile devices are continuously increasing, despite that, it would appear that larger purchases are still being made on desktop.
What to consider when selling electronics online?
There are plenty of things to consider even when it comes to selling electronics online. First of all, you need to determine what electronics to sell, handle consumer research, be aware of your competition and organize a pricing structure that adequately reflects the items and your business. You will also need to consider:
Drop shipping vs. wholesale: It’s about you purchasing items at wholesale and reselling them or are you looking to dropship. Drop shipping is generally considered a safer and more secured way and it be in need of less financial input from the get go. However, with an increasing demand being made online and consumers looking for their products to be delivered quickly, the delivery time could be offensive.
Logistics: It’s related to the way of handling and shipping your products. Electronics are fragile and require a more delicate delivery service compared to others. Not to forget the necessity to figure out how to handle returns.
Marketing: It’s more about how to reach your ideal consumer.
What types of electronics should I sell online?
Consumer electronics is a varied sector providing lots of different items to get rid of some types of electronics include:
Gadgets: Undeniably, one of the fastest growing electronics sector is gadgets. According to Counterpointresearch, sales of smartphones get as far as 4.43 million units in 2019. If you have your finger on the button, this could be a good way to capitalize on electronic trends. However, there is an element of risk. With all trends, they can come and go so fast and sometimes, they don’t take off at all.
Computers: Which is a sector that has become part of the everyday. According to Statista, 74% of people in the US own a computer. However, it’s important to take into consideration that consumers have a lot of options when it comes to purchasing computers. To make this work, you will need a solid strategy to stick out from the competition.
Smart home: It is becoming more and more desired and has been considered a trend for 2020. Smart home tech is designed to help make people’s lives easier and safer. Trending products like the Ring doorbell, Amazon Alexa and Google Nest. This type of tech seems to last and persist by continually offering new products to keep customers coming back.
Gaming Consoles: Due to the fact of Covid, Newzoo revised its annual games industry forecast to $174.9 billion in 2020. Gaming is absolutely massive and has been growing rapidly. If you have keen eye for gaming trends, there could be a lot of money to be made from consoles. For example, the PS5 (PlayStation) was in such high demand in the UK that many consumers were unable to get one before Christmas.
Electronic Spare Parts: In recent times, computers didn’t preserve much value. Lately there has been an enlarging market for trading and selling computer parts, mobile phone components and more. With the level of technicality, there is less demand and it is usually more of a B2B market. Reason why, this does present an opportunity to build good relationships with other businesses who are looking for what you sell.
Based on all what’s mentioned above, it’s a must to decide what sector you would like to be in. Without question and no doubt, there are advantages to all of them. To determine the best choice, you should consider the costs that you can afford as a startup, how well you have deep knowledge regarding that part of the market and how well you can reach the target audience.
Pros and Cons of Selling Electronics Online
Pros of selling electronics online
Incessant product development - With electronics companies always looking to create the next-best-thing, consistently aiming for new and exciting products to offer consumers.
High demand – Based on a high level of interest in electronics with consumers in the Western world considering electronic devices as indispensable. According to Statista, a 2020 survey, shows that 61% of respondents were unable to live without their smartphone.
High level of technical complexity – Which refers to a plenty of opportunities beyond simply selling a device. The level of complexity means consumers are more considering to be seeking support, advice, tips or hints and other gadgets or electronics to make their exploitation easier.
Cons of selling electronics online
Extremely competitive market – With each product occupying a high-demand comes a lot of competition. It’s obvious that electronics are and will continue to be in high demand and many retailers are looking to be part of this.
Specific handling and shipping - electronics require a higher quality packaging, more delicate handling and often more expensive shipping. This can put a large dent in profit margins which can be exacerbated by returns which have been damaged in the process.
According to Investopedia, profit margins are usually low, proven that, the average profit margin for the electronics market in 2020 was 5.7%.
Top marketing tips for selling electronics online
If you have decided that selling electronics is what you are aiming for, you’ll want to supercharge your marketing and find the most essential ways to boost sales. Here are some top tips to get you started:
Be conscious of branding and design
At the beginning, retailers with limited or negligible experience will have the difficulty of nervous buyers. Regrettably, the electronics industry is rife with scammers. Reason why it is important to build your own brand. Acquiring more experience, buyers will recognize your branding and distinguish it as a sign of familiarity and safety. It is also undeniable to make sure that your designs and branding reflects what you are selling. In view of the huge amount of competition, you will require to stand out from the competition and position your store as the most obvious and attractive place to buy goods.
If you are creating your own website remember to build trust by including plenty of testimonials, seller ratings and highlight the safety of your checkout process. It’s strongly advised that you also have an SSL certificate.
If you are selling on a third-party website such as Amazon or eBay, ensure you are using your branding where possible, display plenty of testimonials, advantages and so on to build trust with your audience.
Social media presence
Creating a social media presence helps to strengthen trust with your audience, moreover, give you the opportunity to showcase your products and encourage users to purchase or purchase from you again. This can be of service of boosting sales as well as the lifetime value of your customers.
What you probably should think about is how to use a platform to display your electronics and their abilities. As a quick advisor, Instagram is a platform predominantly using imagery, highly effective for visual products. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and is wonderful for showcasing videos. Facebook is great for updating and interacting with customers, important for high-value items which require a longer consideration process. There are many other platforms with wonderful features. When choosing which platforms to use or focus on, bear in mind where your audience are most likely to ‘hang out’.
A sublime example of a company doing this well is GoPro. They use their platforms wisely and showcase the features of their products in an inspiring visual way.
Communicate with your shoppers
Electronics are often a highly considered purchase. Due to the high value and the higher technical complexity, very few people will impulsively. Retailers should remember all points of a typical sales funnel; awareness, interest, decision, action. This means that people looking to purchase will need to be aware of the product, they need to understand how it fits into their life, they need to make the decision, for example, can they afford it, will it fit in the house, how much will they use it? etc. Based on the right answers, decide where to purchase prior to you receiving the sale. Any advice a retailer can do to help the customer through this process can help increase sales. The best way or the key for this is to communicate with them.
Things to consider of implementing into your marketing and sales process consist of, live chat functions, phone support, emails embracing newsletters to encourage customers to purchase once more and social media.
Conclusion
The electronics industry is an impressive one with great deal of new products to offer customers. It is growing fast continuously and a huge number of people are surfing on the internet to find electronics deals.
With the high levels of competition, it is important to make the process of buying simple, trustworthy and provide high quality customer service. Knowing that the profit margins are modest but given the utility of electronics, there is money to be made.