Best Platforms to Sell Online in Pakistan

People are hooked on their phones. You are reading this blog online and someone somewhere just made their latest purchase of a new pair of shoes they saw on Instagram. I might just sell my brand new pair of Sketchers online and make a quick buck. 

Imagine this. You are brewing a hot cup of coffee and your laptop has a screen showing an online store with your cart open. Your favourite influencer just did a review of their new online store haul on their Instagram stories last night

You clicked the link and now are already contemplating how you're going to style them.

Platforms to sell online are popping up everywhere with people using social media to sell their products online. Because the consumers now prefer to use social media to decide what they're going to buy, online Marketplaces are looking for ways to segue the gap between retailer's websites and the consumers.

The leading Marketplaces in the world have had sales amassing over $3 trillion. Ecommerce has also paved the way for social commerce where social media has added direct purchase links so that people don't have to go to their shop's website to complete their purchase. This shows how the online marketplace list will keep on growing. 

The groundbreaking vision of Markaz

For retailers, Markaz has brought together a marketplace to find the best products from a catalogue of thousands straight from the wholesalers. In a world where small businesses are struggling to grapple with the challenges of the pandemic and other structural issues of their workflow, these platforms to sell online products and services have gained more popularity. 

The vision of Markaz is to help resellers with a platforms to sell online. With their widespread catalogue of products straight from high quality manufacturers to their efficient delivery systems for customers, it has become a promising platform among the online marketplace list. 

But, for those of you who are new to the concept of exploring online selling, there is a need for more clarity. We are here to give you that. 

Let's have a look at what makes an ideal online marketplace and how they fit in our world today (they fit pretty well btw)

First of all, imagine yourself as a customer. It's not hard to do. Online shopping is an unavoidable phenomena. Whether it is ordering daily groceries or outsourcing Air Jordans or Hermes bags, we are all contributing to the growth of ecommerce.

What draws you to it? Convenience, maybe? That is a blanket statement. The convenience of everything is the key. We live in a lazy economy. We are willing to prioritise convenience over anything. 

That's when the pandemic happened. And we were forced to purchase it online. Amazon experienced a shortage in paper towels and our world changed forever. 

The Best Platforms to Sell Online in Pakistan

Your guide to the best and most popular online Marketplaces in Pakistan. Although we must acknowledge the crawling progression of international Marketplaces welcoming the Pakistani market, it has no doubt gained more momentum in recent times. 

Daraz 

Daraz has become the leading platform to sell online products in Pakistan. Since 2012, it has become a platform to sell millions of products from retailers and wholesalers every month. With their iOS and Android compatible applications, their main niches include: electronic devices, home and lifestyle products, men and women's fashion, health and beauty etc. 

Registering as a seller on Daraz is easy and most of all, free. Just fill a sign up form, add the list of products, and just start selling once the products are listed. Receiving online payments is swift and safe via your Daraz account. Moreover, through the Daraz affiliate program, they also offer ecommerce training and video content to aid in customer service, managing inventory, sending and receiving orders etc. The best is, you only pay commission once you sell!

Amazon

Amazon is the highest peak of the mountain of ecommerce in 2022.  However, its arrival in Pakistan has been a long time coming. Amazon has a huge and I mean, the biggest platform of online customers for sellers and entrepreneurs to cater. 

Creating a seller account on amazon is convenient. Enter your preliminary information along with tax ID data, international payment gateway or bank account and business name.An example of how sellers online in Pakistan have managed to compete very well is Jabran Niaz, an Amazon entrepreneur who has ranked among the top 5 sellers globally. His sales have amassed over $360 million. 

AliBaba 

We are now moving towards the biggest B2B marketplace to sell online. AliBaba allows sellers to buy products in bulk and sell them at only retail prices. After you have chosen a product to sell based on market research and trends, you can start selling. 

For this purpose you would need to safekeeping your bulk stock. The concept of drop shipping involves directly giving your customer orders to wholesalers so they can deliver on time. This waynthe extra journey and legwork to store and manage your products is reduced. 

The importance of social media cannot be denied here. Once you have figured out your product, delivery and warehouse processes, it is time to build your digital brand. Your social media pages and website are great places to start. You can use promotional content, paid ads or SEO to market products. They also offer free consultation where sellers can meet with expert marketing teams to launch their store on AliBaba. 

Now imagine receiving another order from your online clothing store. It was your fifth order in the past hour. You just collaborated with an influencer for a paid and honest review. They had 20k followers. Sounds promising doesn't it? 

Your orders are aligned and ready to be shipped within the next five working days. Business is good. 

OLX.com

Now, let's move onto OLX, the no. 1 online marketplace to sell. Every month 6 million people promote their products and services using OLX platform. The interesting thing is they are not just focused on using their platform to sell cars, tech items, and homestyle products, you can also use free classified or featured ads. 

Moreover, they also launched  OLX Xsellerate. This is a startup incubation idea to promote business in Pakistan. Launched in 2019, the OLX culture has become synonymous with support for digital commerce and entrepreneurship in the country. 

With millions of people looking to sell, the competition on the platform is tough. This is why sellers focus on product description, title tags, images, and fair pricing to give their product a fighting chance. 

Goto.com

Goto promises an authentic and wide variety of products on its website. Their online service is based on trust, agility with their delivery and originality with their products. Their product range includes:

• Mobile phones 
• Smartphones
• Kitchen appliances
• Women's fashion 
• Grocery 
• Health and beauty 
• Home decor 

For sellers, their nationwide ecommerce operations are the best part. They offer IBFT payment methods to pay their sellers on chosen days and leave the delivery process up to Goto. They also offer an easy return policy which is supplied right back to the sellers within days. Their unlimited listing option offers sellers the option to add as many products as they want. Marketing and promoting your products on Goto is free. This allows sellers to use channels like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc. 

Homeshopping.pk 

Homeshopping is another major online store in Pakistan. From mobile accessories and tech devices to home appliances, their products offer truly unmatched prices for consumers. For sellers, they have to handle the shipping process themselves but they can use their warehouse for a certain rate. Moreover, payments are initiated only after six days of the customer delivery and the customer has sent a satisfactory note. 

The advantages of selling online

It seems obvious but with the changing nature of e-commerce and consumer's buying behaviour, we need to look at why sellers are moving towards online marketplaces. 

• If you are looking to expand your market beyond brick and mortar restaurants then an online marketplace to sell your products is the best way to go. Promoting on social media and using online payment methods, your online store is already set for success. When it comes to resellers, this creates a bridge between wholesalers and reduces the legwork to acquire inventory. Markaz is an example of how resellers can send products to their consumers straight from the wholesalers. 
• Online sellers and microentrepreneurs in Pakistan also need to look at the profit margins by using online marketplace. Surveys have shown that businesses are getting more than 20% more sales profit. 
• Better management of your inventory and scheduling deliveries is possible with online stores. You do not have to worry about setting up a physical store. Your contact with vendors and wholesalers is the key. Once you have received an order, you only need to schedule the delivery once you have checked for its availability.

For Pakistan, the growing ecosystem of ecommerce was ushered into social commerce, especially during the pandemic. Social media accounts are used to sell everything from baked goods to the latest lawn collection. It is only going upward from here. With Markaz, your entrepreneurial dreams can become a reality. Discover your business potential with Markaz today.