eCommerce is the future of commerce as many brick and mortar stores come to the realization that if they are to make strides in converting more customers, then the only logical way forward for them is to make sure that they have a strong position in this space. To this end, many platforms have evolved to take advantage of the shoppers who prefer to make their purchases online and as a forward-looking business, you need to stake your claim in this space as soon as yesterday.
Therefore, for you to get up and about with your listings on eBay, you need to make a point of doing all the market research so that you operate your business on eBay in the most efficient manner possible. Therefore, you must not only have the proper tools to conduct this research but you must know how to use them effectively. This guide of eBay market research will help you to do all that is necessary in ensuring that you make the maximum profit from your listings on this platform.
Exponential Potential on eBay
Before we proceed any further, it is important for you to have a glimpse of the huge potential that exists for sellers on eBay. The following statistics speak for themselves; it has 162 million users, 25 million sellers, 12 billion live listings whose gross value is USD $82 billion. This means that there is a real chance of making a lot of money only if you know how to go about the whole process as well as you should. This eBay market research guide will point you in the right direction.
- Audience. It is incumbent on you to understand the target market as this will help you get all the intelligence on the needs of the people who are likely to buy or who have already bought your project. This information will help you design your product in such a manner that it aligns well with your audience. The point is that understanding your target market is the key to acting proactively and thus maintaining your competitive advantage.
As an eBay seller, there are many eBay market research tools that you can use for finding out which approach works well for your purposes. Some of the tools which you can use include the free eBay data and research tool, which if used well, will go a long way in making sure that you have a high sales rate.
- Market. One of the best tools that you can use to research the market is the completed listing. This provides historical data on similar items to yours which have been sold in the marketplace within the past 30 days. This means that you have the chance of checking out how items that are similar or identical to yours fared on the marketplace.
From this, you can come up with lots of interesting information which is of immense value to you including: the closing prices, whether the fee included shipping, the format of the listing, images used and much more which will give you a clearer picture of the items value in the market.
The ideal tool should allow you to conduct this research by inputting the appropriate keywords in order to get a feel of how the buyers arrived at the destination. This information will go a long way in helping you figure out optimal pricing, timing and presentation in order for you to make the most sales.
- Persona. Though it is never a good idea to make generalizations about people in the case of making sales on eBay, it pays to have a clearer picture of the people who purchase the products that you have listed in order to create a realistic persona. The information includes their click-through-rate, their preferences, the keywords they use when searching for the product and much more.
The more you know about the individuals who make up your market the better placed you will be to target them and to make sure that you are offering them the product that fulfills all their expectations. Therefore, the best tools should have an intuitive interface that helps you get all this information quickly and accurately to help you come up with the best offering.
- Market Analysis. Of what value would all these tools that collect this data be if you could not use the data collected to arrive at useful information that will add value to your sales and marketing efforts? Here is the value of the tool. You can use it in a myriad of ways to make sense of the data and design actionable processes which will keep you a leg up on the competition. Some of the information that will be available for your use includes trend reports, competition reports, product demand and availability among many more.
