What to sell online in India

Here are some tips to get started with online selling

by Swati Bucha on 19/09/2018
Setting new benchmarks in the e-commerce industry, the online shopping bandwagon in India has grown up to 84.6%* in 2017. The rapid rate at which the Indian e-commerce market is growing clearly validates the rise in the number of online buyers, which has grown from 93.4 million in 2015 to 224.1 million in 2018. What doesn’t sell in our country? From bestselling products like electronics, kitchen appliances, apparel, and books to niche products like regional handicrafts, and DIY products – there is an opportunity for everything online. However, in such a vast market, how do you find your fit? Given below are some of the tips that will surely enlighten you on the topic:
What to sell online for online shopping

Keep up with the trends

You are there to stay if you have captured the trends early on. Think of products that have been trending in the recent years in categories such as electronics, beauty, technology, etc. You can establish yourself as a brand and carve out space in your consumers’ minds when you are aware of the trends. In the case of trendy products, which may be newly launched (having less competition), or products that have been trending for some time now (having high competition but high demand as well). The latter requires building a strategy to beat the competition.

Do what you can do the best

There are countless stories of successful online entrepreneurs. If you research about any product and you might stumble upon so many entrepreneurs who make millions by just selling their products online. But, you need not get overexcited or depressed, thinking that you will be able to create history/who will purchase my product in the presence of successful sellers. Just start your business instinctively. Make your online business venture on your passion. Sell a product, which you know will speak to the minds of your prospective buyers. For every passion, there will be a business opportunity.

Try to create your own brand

When you sell a branded item, you sell someone else’s brand. As you are not the only one who is selling that item, you are also not alone in yielding its benefits. In such cases, you probably get fewer benefits since other sellers have been selling such items longer than you. So, in order to monopolize the market, it’s important to build your own brand. Your success may have a longer gestation period, but as and when it comes, you will not look back, that is for sure.

Find an opportunity gap

They say innovation is the key to success. Create something that can solve any problem– however big or small. Ask yourself, “What can you do differently or better from what everyone else is currently doing?” Opportunities are everywhere; all you have to do is to discover them. Gunjeet Singh from Aligarh discovered that he could sell brass products online to people who either live at very remote areas in India or even settled overseas, and hence have no access to brass products. Also, watch how Meeta discovered a need in the Indian toys market and created a successful brand for it.

Niche products might spell success

Find a niche product with a quieter market and start selling there. Products that serve a specific segment of customers and are one-of-its-kind can be termed as niche products. Think of a leather iPad case, an exclusive beaded necklace, or a handmade dreamcatcher. Such products are easily distinguishable and are often made on demand.


Apart from the above tips, below are the top selling categories on Amazon you should keep in mind when deciding on what to sell online:

Sell mobiles and electronics online: Owing to the high volumes of an affordable range of smartphones available in the market, the Indian smartphone market grew around 25% last year. Also, customers prefer buying home appliances on Amazon because of the convenience and the enormous amounts of discounts they get.

Sell apparel & fashion accessories online: Recent studies show that the fashion and apparel industry generated the maximum online buying interest in the customers growing more than 72% over last year. The quintessential factor behind this rise is the availability of branded apparel, footwear, gifts, jewellery at cheaper rates. Learn more about selling apparel and fashion online.

Sell beauty and personal care products: This category is all the more profitable due to repeat purchases. Around 80% of the revenue comes from frequent buyers.

Sell home furnishings online: The online furniture market in India witnessed high-volume growth at 49% over last year. Heavy demand for furnishing items has been conducive to the growth of this market in India.

It is now time to finalize the products you are going to sell. Launch your online store on Amazon and start your online journey today.

* E-commerce market may cross $50 billion mark in 2018: report
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