The number of consumers who buy online is growing fast all over the world, which has resulted in a reflex movement on the side of those who want to sell products and services, generating what can be called a veritable "gold rush", but this time digital.
Because of the time and costs associated with creating an online shop from scratch, many digital entrepreneurs opt for sell online without a websiteFor this purpose, they use sales channels that only require, as we'll see throughout this article, free registration of the business.
In addition, these channels for businesses that sell without a website have, as in the case of marketplaces or social networks, an extraordinary power to attract consumers, which ends up facilitating marketing work and converting visits into actual purchases. Thus, free of costs and technical burdens, the businesses that sell without a website will only have to worry about the products and the online payment methods that they make available to their customers.
An extremely important part of the shopping experience, it is essential that the businesses that sell without a website have a online payment solution that not only respects the consumer's habits and needs, but allows the business to reduce friction in the checkout process and consequently achieve more sales.
This is the case with the ready-to-use solution REDUNIQ@Paymentsa service designed for businesses that sell without a website (restaurants, clothes shops, cafés, etc.) that will allow them to integrate without the need for integration, receive payments online by e-mail, SMS or WhatsApp, by Multibanco card, Visa and Mastercard, by Multibanco reference or MB WAY regardless of the sales channel they use.
Simple and safe @Payments provides a platform, optimised for smartphones and tablets, where the business creates a link, which can be sent by email, SMS or WhatsApp to the customer. When the customer receives the link, all they have to do is click and they will be redirected to a secure REDUNIQ page, thus ensuring that the business does not have access to the card details at any stage of the payment.
5 channels to sell online without a website
Below we present 5 online sales channels so that you can do business and sell your products even without a website.
Marketplaces
Like a shopping centre or the typical weekly fairs that take place all over the country, marketplaces are online spaces that give every business the chance to occupy a space within them to advertise their products and services.
In fact, as a study by consultancy firm Ebit|Nielsen emphasises, marketplaces were the fastest-growing online sales platforms without a website over the last year, accounting for 78% of all e-commerce globally.
As well as increasing the security of the buyer, since the Marketplace verifies the business before giving it permission to use its "digital facilities", these platforms stand out in online sales for their many advantages, such as
- Putting the brand or product in front of a large audience;
- They work like an online shopping centre, offering easy access to thousands of customers;
- There is no need for technical knowledge of online shop management;
- The platform takes care of logistics, returns management and website maintenance, among other advantages.
In Portugal, the most relevant marketplaces are Amazon, OLX, eBay, Farfetch and Dott.
Social networks
It's inevitable to talk about online sales and not emphasise the role of social networks in the process. Apart from the fact that virtually half the world's population has a social media account, which gives your products and services incredible reach, the ease with which you can create a page and start selling are two excellent reasons to use these platforms.
What's more, the latest innovations introduced on Facebook and Instagram not only make it possible to sell online without a websiteIt also provides direct integration with other sales channels, such as marketplaces.
Here are some good reasons to sell via social media:
- It helps increase your company's exposure on the market;
- It can improve communication with the client;
- It enables a series of digital marketing actions to be carried out;
- It's an efficient way to lead the consumer to conversion/purchase.
If Facebook and Instagram make it easier for your products and services to reach millions of people, WhatsApp is no exception, as you can use your personal contacts to automatically start generating sales.
Although you don't want to stop at the sales you may or may not make to your contacts, WhatsApp is a good way to receive feedback and understand how to improve the presentation and communication of your product.
The ideal is to combine WhatsApp with another online sales channel (Marketplace, for example) and use it to work on the relationship with the customer, leading them to make more purchases. For example, you could put your WhatsApp number in your Marketplace contacts and invite people to contact you to receive a discount, leave feedback or, as we saw with the solution REDUNIQ@Paymentsdo the online payments of your purchases.
YouTube channel
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth? Nowadays it can be worth millions. As well as YouTube being able to monetise your videos based on your subscribers and the channel's ad system, you can use this platform to sell your products and services directly to your audience without needing a website and with highly reduced marketing costs.
If it's feasible, consider using these two ways to increase your chances of earning money with the platform.
Email Marketing
Although businesses without a website don't usually use e-mail marketing in isolation, the truth is that this sales channel helps to make consumers aware of and attracted to your products and services and, consequently, lead them to conversion/purchase.
As it can be worked in cycles according to the consumer's "awareness and attraction" stage, this sales channel respects the consumer's time and offers personalised, less invasive approaches.
