Where to sell your products online

We’re honestly living in a really exciting time when it comes to selling products online because it’s possible for almost anyone to start up a small handmade business from the comfort of their home. But with all this possibility there are also a lot of decisions that you have to make about how you market and sell in your business within the online landscape. And with more products in the market everyday, every decision needs to be strategically made in order to help you stand out.

Based on my work and research as a brand designer for small creative businesses, here’s a quick guide to some of the popular online selling platforms.

Etsy

This is where so many businesses start and for good reason! If you don’t have a social media following or an established brand, Etsy is a great place for your products to be discovered and is a place where many consumers go to for handmade products.

Best suited for: Handmade, vintage, and unique products

Pros: Established marketplace with a strong creative community, discoverability is possible with good SEO

Cons: Fees can add up; heavy competition in some niches

If you’re going to sell on Etsy, invest in quality product photos and do your research on how to set up your listings. There are a million and one courses out there on Esty SEO that can help you get set up for success.

Your own website

As soon as you have an established customer base, it’s time to kiss Etsy goodbye and move over to your own website hosted on a platform like Shopify or Squarespace (those are the best two e-commerce platforms for a small business in my opinion). Having your own website is going to bump up the professionalism of your business by a lot and give you the full creative freedom needed for an amazing customer experience.

Best suited for: Brands with established audience or customer base, brands who want full control over their branding and customer experience

Pros: No marketplace fees, complete control over branding

Cons: Requires more setup and ongoing management

One major consideration is how you’re going to drive traffic to your website. In addition to making sure your website is optimized for SEO, you also need to strategically engage with your existing audience in order to get them on your website. My number one piece of advice for doing that: email lists!!

Instagram Shopping

When you see a product tagged in a post or the Shop Now banner at the bottom of a post, that’s through Instagram shopping. If you’re already marketing your products on Instagram (you should be), Instagram shopping is a natural extension of that marketing work.

You do need to have your own website where your products are also sold in order to use Instagram Shopping, though, so it’s not going to be your ONLY online marketplace.

Best suited for: Visual products, brands with an existing following

Pros: Highly visual, natural extension of your Instagram marketing

Cons: Reliant on Instagram’s algorithm, not super searchable

If you’re going to sell via Instagram Shopping, make sure you’re utilizing all of the current best practices on Instagram. Nowadays that’s making sure you’re posting Reels and showing up on IG Stories but by the time you read this there might be something new.

TikTok Shop

Recently, small businesses have seen their sales absolutely explode on TikTok Shop. The potential to go viral and get your products in front of millions of new eyes is bringing many small businesses over to TikTok Shop. This definitely shouldn’t be your one stop shop, especially with the potential for TikTok to be banned in the United States, but it’s a huge opportunity to add another sales funnel to your business.

Best suited for: Business owners willing to make consistent, high quality short form video content

Pros: Fast-growing marketplace with high engagement

Cons: Algorithm-driven, requires consistent content creation

Things move fast on Instagram, but they move even faster on TikTok. If you want to see success on this platform, you have to be consistent and willing to adapt to the ever changing algorithm.

Follow the trends

As a brand designer, I’m normally telling my clients to stay away from trends. But in this case, I’ll make an exception.

The game is always changing with how products are sold online but selling where people spend most of their time (social media) is absolutely a trend to jump on when you can. You should never rely entirely on something like Instagram Shopping or TIkTok shop, but including them as part of your marketing plan can engage your current audience and expand your customer base extremely fast.

So follow the trends, as long as you also have something more reliable going on like an Esty shop if you’re building up your customer base or a Shopify/Squarespace site if you’re more established.

‍