Are you guilty of overselling your product or service? It's a common mistake that can be easy to fall into, but it can also be damaging to your business. If you are wondering how to avoid overselling, you’re in luck.In this blog, we’ll learn why overselling occurs, how to combat overselling in eCommerce, and why overselling is harmful to your eCommerce business.
Stay tuned!
If you’re selling products online, overselling is a risk you need to avoid. When you oversell, it means you’ve promised more products to your customers than you actually have in stock.
This can lead to disappointed customers and negative reviews – not to mention lost sales and profitability. So how can you prevent overselling from happening?
What Does Overselling in eCommerce Mean?
To simply put, overselling means selling more than what you actually have. Sometimes, overselling isn't done intentionally by a company. A miscount can lead to an oversold product.
Inventory records not syncing fast enough can also cause items to oversell. Different locations or online outlets may not sync their inventory until the end of the day in some cases. Counting all of the inventory together can mean you sell more of the item than you have available.
It is possible that the inventory won't reconcile in the morning if people place orders overnight.
There are times when overselling is caused by forces that your company cannot control. In drop-shipping, the business that ships out the item might run out before it receives your order.
Additionally, unforeseen issues may arise with the manufacturer or wholesaler who delivers your inventory, causing a delay in delivery.
With Markaz app in hand, you forget all the logistical worries because we take care of that and so much!
4 Reasons Why Overselling Online can Hurt Your Business
1. Customer Retention is Important to Your Business
Cancellations are not a deal-breaker for everyone, but for some customers, they can end their relationship with you. An order cancellation might result in them stopping buying from your business altogether.
For now, you've lost the sale and the business of that customer, even if they return to your company for a future purchase. If you do not have what they want to buy, they will go elsewhere.
The fact that there are always more customers around might not seem like a big deal. The cost of acquiring a new customer can be 25 times higher than retaining an existing one.
Convincing an existing customer to make another purchase takes significantly less effort and time than getting a new customer on board. Moreover, returning customers are more likely to purchase more from you.
With Markaz as your trust eCommerce social platform, you can scale your reach as much as you like for the products you want to sell.
2. You Want to Maintain Your Reputation
People may consider purchasing from you less often if you regularly oversell items. The result might be that you end up having a reputation of always being sold out of the items people want.
You may never hear from your existing customers again, and they may warn others not to buy from you. Almost 83% of respondents in Nielsen's survey of 60 countries said they trusted recommendations from friends and family, so if people are telling others to avoid you, that can hurt your business.
The more happy your customers are and the more they tell others about your brand, the more likely you are to see an increase in sales. Nevertheless, if you've upset customers by overselling, your sales are likely to stagnate or even decline.
3. You Want to Stay Competitive
When it comes to overselling, it can be like tossing a ball through the hoop of the other team during a soccer game. By sending out-of-stock notices to your customers, you effectively push them to your competitors.
You shouldn't help the competition if you want to stay in business or grow your revenue.
Your customers expect you to have enough inventory on hand to meet their needs. Overselling regularly means helping the competition in a way you probably don't want.
Try putting yourself in your customers' shoes. Would you rather make a purchase from an organization that has items available and ships them quickly or from one that frequently sends out-of-stock notices or backorders?
People are less likely to wait for products in a world where two-day shipping has started to feel slow, and more likely to be disappointed when a product sells out. By keeping items on hand and shipping them to customers as soon as possible, your business can stay competitive.
4. You Want to Save Time and Money
Overselling items leads to a loss of revenue, and reversing the mistake can be costly. If you discover that the product is out-of-stock, someone on your team needs to send out the out-of-stock notice and refund the customer's money as soon as possible.
Depending on how popular the item is, you'll have to calculate how much you need to reorder.
5 Simple Steps on How to Avoid Overselling in eCommerce
Keep it Simple
Clarity is king. To avoid overselling, you need to be clear about your product or service's benefits.
People want to know what they're getting before they buy it. It may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but clarity is key in building customer trust and rapport.
This means that when they ask questions about your business or products/services, you should have an answer ready for them right away—not later on during an interaction with another person at your company (e.g., salesperson).
When you're selling online, it's important to remember that less is more. You don't want to overwhelm potential customers with too much information or too many options. Keep your sales message clear and concise, and make it easy for customers to find what they're looking for.
Don’t Overhype
It's important, to be honest when selling online. Don't trick potential customers into buying something they don't want or need. Be upfront about what you're selling, and be transparent about pricing and shipping costs.
Be honest. Overselling is a turnoff. It may signify a lack of confidence, experience, or knowledge. The best way to avoid overselling is simply by not doing it in the first place!
If you're not sure if your product or service is worth the amount you're asking for, try asking someone else what they think about it before making any final decisions about pricing and promotion strategies.
Back-Up Your Claims with Facts and Data
You should also back up your claims with facts and data. Data is a powerful tool, especially when selling products or services. You can use data to show how your product is better than your competitors' products in the same category or even better than similar products in other categories if you're comparing yourself against those as well.
If you're selling a new kind of food that's going to revolutionize the industry, make sure you have enough information available so people understand why they should switch over from their current brand-name offerings—and then provide them with some good reasons why this change would benefit them!
Don't Be Pushy
Nobody likes to be sold to, so don't be too pushy when selling online. Give potential customers the information they need to make a decision, but don't try to pressure them into buying something.
Overselling can also turn off your customers, and you don't want that! You want to be clear, honest, transparent, and a good communicator with your customers.
How can you do this? By thinking about what makes a person or company great in general; they are clear communicators with their customers. They listen well, respond quickly, and are always willing to help out when needed (even if it means picking up the phone).
This is how selling should be approached too – by being honest with your product/service offerings. This shows potential buyers that there's no room for second-guessing or confusion once they've decided what kind of business relationship they want (and hopefully vice versa).
Acknowledge The Limits of Your Product
When selling a product, it is important to acknowledge that some things cannot be fixed and will always be limited.
For example, if you're selling a house, don't try to sell an extra room or kitchen because these things can easily be added later on if necessary. Suppose someone buys an apartment by mistake and wants another bedroom added later. In that case, they will end up paying for it regardless of whether this additional space is needed or not—therefore overselling their needs (and yours).
Similarly with software products: don't sell something which doesn't exist yet! The customer might want features from your software that haven't even been thought about yet (or never existed in the first place), but if those features aren't ready yet, how could anybody expect them?
Offer a Guarantee
Offering a money-back guarantee, or a satisfaction guarantee can help to ease potential customers' concerns about buying online. They'll be more likely to purchase if they know they can return the product if they're not happy with it.
Money-back guarantee is Markaz’s top feature as well! Whenever a customer orders any product, they can pay via cash on delivery. If the customer does not like the product, the entire purchase price is refunded to them. In turn, this increases the trust level of the online customer buying experience. A win-win situation for both ends!
Don't Expect Perfect Reviews
Unless you're a celebrity or your local Chamber of Commerce president, you will never receive a perfect review. Everyone has something they can improve on, even if it's just one little thing that they could have done better in their last job interview.
This is especially true when it comes to customer service and salespeople trying to sell products or services at their companies—they may not realize their work's impact on clients and customers until after they leave their jobs.
Don't expect a perfect rating/score/rating system for your business online (or offline). Even though there are many ways for people to rate businesses online today, such as Yelp!, Reddit, and Facebook Reviews - none of them guarantee 100% accuracy due to human error from both sides.
Businesses posting inaccurate information about themselves; consumers posting fake reviews designed specifically only by marketers looking at getting good ratings so they can market themselves successfully later down the road.
Avoid ‘Magic Bullet’ Language
Avoid words like ‘magic bullet’, ‘miracle’, ‘perfect’, and ‘unbeatable’. These are all terms that suggest something is right around the corner. If you want your client to believe in what you're saying, then make them believe in it!
Instead of using these words, use more descriptive language like ‘a great solution’ or ‘a fantastic opportunity.’ This way, your clients can imagine themselves as part of the process instead of feeling like they're being sold on something new and different for the sake of selling it.
Why You Should Trust Markaz for Your eCommerce Business
The Markaz platform serves as a middleman between wholesalers and resellers in Pakistan. It provides a social commerce platform where anyone can register, select and purchase from over 10,000 products on credit, and run their business easily.
The Markaz app offers a variety of products and a convenient online ordering system, making it an excellent choice for entrepreneurs looking to launch reselling businesses with zero investment.
As a result, Markaz App has grown to become Pakistan's #1 online reselling platform.
With an active community of 100,000+ resellers enabling passive income generation across Pakistan, Markaz provides unparalleled services and benefits to its members, including customer support, a guarantee of quality, and customer support.
The importance of trust in online sales cannot be overstated. The products that resellers promote need to be of good quality, and customers need to be confident that their payment information is secure and that they will receive the products they ordered. And this is why you should trust Markaz before any other third-party platform.
Check out our exciting features to find out more!
Conclusion
Avoiding overselling is not a simple task. no one likes being sold something because it's in their best interest - only when someone feels comfortable with a decision do they truly feel free enough to go ahead with whatever was suggested!
Markaz's online selling app makes it easy for micro-entrepreneurs in Pakistan to sell online. A massive marketplace is built into the app, where resellers can select and share products with their customers.
The platform allows resellers to list products on any platform of their choice. Providing resellers with maximum exposure and helping them reach a wider audience.
Curious to know us more? Check out Markaz’s reviews here.
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