The product you are selling is obviously your extra virgin olive oil. You
will still need to differentiate your product – have a unique selling point
– to beat the competition to the consumers’ pocket.
Everything within reason that you can do to give the buyer confidence will
help sales. So your product should have third party certification, information
on the chemical tests, medals awarded in competitions and celebrity
endorsements.
Service is also your product. Quick and safe despatch of orders, properly
packaged so the customer doesn’t receive a smashed oily parcel at the other
end. Some bottles fare better in the mail than others – those with long necks
are particularly prone to breaking. Some caps leak as well, so the seal is
important. Deliver one oily parcel and you can kiss any future sales goodbye.
Consistency is also just as important when selling online.
Price
Customers will still buy on price. One of the advantages of shortening the
supply chain should be that you can offer a better price than the retail store.
However, for individual bottles, the packaging and postage can increase the
price substantially, especially with overseas orders.
Promotion
There is no doubt that the most effective internet selling is associated with
the physical presence of your product in stores. The product is tasted by the
consumer who subsequently buys, hopefully repeat buys, and then for convenience
or price buys from the internet.
All bottle labels, brochures, press releases, articles and any other
promotional material should have the web address where your product can be
purchased online.
People
Whenever possible the customer-salesperson relationship that is so important
to sales in a store should be mirrored on the internet. This is difficult given
the medium being used. However, providing information, encouraging discussion,
online chat-rooms, web-cams, efficient product replacement for breakages,
consumer comment and giveaways are all possible.
Internet sales are another means of retailing your brand of extra virgin
olive oil.
Successful web sales will come from careful positioning of the site and
delivering the principles of retailing effectively.
There will be disappointment for those that pay good money to have a website
built that is little more than an advertisement in an awful lot of space.
Success will come over time to those that attach themselves to an online
selling facility and use store sales and other promotion to build up an online
consumer base that has confidence in the product and the service that delivers
it.
Selling in cyberspace is little different from selling in supermarkets.
Simon Field is the Managing Director of Olive Business. The company website,
