Today, a significant part of the population, especially the younger generation, buys clothes, equipment, tools, cosmetics and other goods mainly on the Internet. Therefore, in the modern world, it has become much easier to open your own point of sale than, for example, 10-15 years ago. In this regard, many people earn money by selling any product over the Internet. But what is the best selling platform? There are two main ways to sell online: via an online store or via Instagram.
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of these sales methods, and what is better to choose in this or that case.
Advantages and disadvantages of selling goods through an online store
The main advantages of online stores over Instagram include:
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Convenient catalog of goods, divided into categories. A visitor can easily find the product he needs, sort by prices and other criteria.
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Greater audience confidence. People are much more serious about online shopping than their Instagram account. Unscrupulous sellers periodically appear on instagram who do not fulfill their obligations or simply take money for the goods, and then disappear. This is due to the fact that creating an account on Instagram is much easier than opening an online store.
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The owner of an online store is his own boss. He sets the rules himself, at the same time, Instagram, like any other social networks, has its own restrictions and rules.
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The number of questions of the type: “what is the price of the goods”, “what are the colors”, “how much does delivery cost”, etc. are reduced.
The main disadvantage of online stores is their high cost (the cost of creating and promoting a website, filling out cards, etc.).
Advantages and disadvantages of Instagram as a sales platform
Among the main advantages of Instagram as a sales platform are the following:
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Opportunity “in all its glory” to demonstrate the goods being sold
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Popularity of the platform, especially among people under the age of 40.
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Relatively cheap advertising and low cost of profile promotion.
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a large selection of influencers who will advertise the product.
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Multimillion audience, including users from other countries.
The disadvantages of Instagram, as a sales platform, are slightly more than those of online stores. These include: few people come to the social network purposefully to buy a product, the inconvenience of processing orders and maintaining correspondence with a client, there are no order statistics, users cannot sort products by category.
When should you choose an online store?
Selling through your own online store is suitable for those people for whom this is the main activity. You need to devote a lot of time to an online store and invest a lot of money in it. But the return will be rather big, because the promoted online stores bring millions to their owners every month. In other words, if you seriously intend to run a large sales business, and you have the time, money and desire for this, then an online store is the ideal option.
Who is selling on Instagram suitable for?
Instagram is chosen as a sales platform mainly to increase traffic of an online store and attract new regular customers. Also, this sales method is suitable for people who sell goods in small quantities and do not have a lot of money for promotion. Although it is worth noting that there has been a tendency for serious changes lately, and more and more large and well-known companies are setting up Instagram accounts to sell their products.
What to choose in the end?
Each of the presented sales methods has its own characteristics, pros and cons. Therefore, the choice largely depends on the available budget, target audience, product characteristics and other factors. But if you want your sales to be as effective as possible, then it is better to use both sales methods: open an online store and create an account on Instagram. This will allow you to take advantage of both methods and attract maximum attention to your product.
