We are already six months into 2023, and one thing that has remained in demand is handbags and purses. Consumers have already gotten rid of the old baggage of 2022 and are moving ahead to shop bags that are in trend right now.
Handbags and purses are a must to elevate an outfit like other accessories. It is a great time to invest in this business and create a unique shopping experience for your customers, with the handbag market exponentially rising.
Although the competition in this industry is intense, many sellers still find it difficult to boost their business growth in this market because they are unaware of how to sell purses and handbags online. Figuring out the right ways to sell purses and handbags can be time-consuming.
Thus, we have created a detailed guide to help you sell purses and handbags online without any hassle. Get your reading glasses on as we break down the steps to selling purses and handbags online. Come, let’s find out.
How to Start a Handbag Business Online — 8 Steps to Follow!
Here are 8 steps to help you understand how to sell handbags online. So, let’s get started and know everything about selling purses and handbags online.
1. Choose a Niche
Did you know that the global handbag market is projected to grow to USD 78.46 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 6.7%?
Thus, starting a handbag business opens up numerous possibilities for businesses because these handbags come in different varieties, shapes, and sizes. It is critical to focus on one niche to attract your desired target market and grow in this industry.
Don’t focus on selling all types of handbags and purses. Since there are many players in the market, it may confuse the audience and lower your chances of hitting the milestones of high sales and revenue. It is ideal to narrow down the choices based on your business growth, audience demand, and the niche market.
You can choose from a wide range of handbags: Designer handbags, travel handbags, clutches, evening purses, eco-friendly handbags, lightweight wallets for men, and more.
Here are a few points you need to consider before considering your options and making a choice:
Conduct market research and analyze the trends. Check out marketplaces like Alibaba, Amazon, etc, to know what is trending and most loved by the customers.
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or UberSuggest to get insights into the searches people are doing online. It will help you understand the market demand better.
Once you have analyzed the current trends and market demand, choose a niche that interests you the most. Make sure to choose a niche with fewer players, as it will reduce the barrier to entry and give you a competitive edge.
Apart from your interest, choose a niche that has earning potential. For example, tote bags may interest you, but the market demand may not be similar to your interest in the industry.
Focusing on one niche can let you leverage the untapped potential of the market and gain a better target audience.
2. Create a Brand
The next critical step in understanding how to sell handbags online is creating a brand. Branding enhances customer relationships and provides a direction to boost growth and increase the value of a company.
It can be overwhelming because you need to consider several factors to build a brand from scratch. Follow these 5 steps to develop your brand through a seamless process.
Identify your target audience and competitors to understand the current niche you are entering into.
Establish the tone and personality of your brand. For instance, determine if you want to be known as a humorous or a luxury brand.
Choose your business name. But make sure it is easy to pronounce and remember.
Create a logo and choose the colors & font carefully. Because these elements will reflect your brand personality. A logo is usually the first thing people look at and make an impression about a company.
Write a tagline that either describes the brand briefly or its values.
You can surely do it on your own. But if you have the budget and want to give a professional look to your brand, hire a small agency or freelancers to help you execute the same.
3. Select a Platform to Sell Your Products
When we speak about how to start a handbag business online, it doesn’t stop at choosing a niche and creating a brand. There’s more to it.
Selecting a platform to sell your products to the target market is a critical step in boosting your business growth in the industry. There are two ways to sell your products: Social media platforms and eCommerce platforms.
Social Media Platforms
Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are the two prime platforms people think of when starting an online business. There are several websites to sell handbags, but it is easy to start your handbag business on social media platforms; however, after a point, it can get challenging because you need an excellent content strategy to increase your awareness and reach the right target audience.
eCommerce Platforms
Although online businesses are exponentially rising, not many understand the value of creating an online store on eCommerce platforms. Even if they understand, the majority of them choose marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, or eBay, to sell their highly competitive products. Although these marketplaces provide immense opportunities to reach a global audience, it is challenging to grow your business because of the constant price war on these platforms.
You have various options for choosing websites to sell purses and handbags. Creating a personalized online store is crucial to keep your positioning intact and stick to one target market and not many.
We will tell you how to use the best eCommerce platform to create an online store without any hassle.
Be At Par With Photography and Product Descriptions
You may have explored numerous handbag brands before starting your business. But do you know what keeps these brands different from your competitors? Their excellent photography and product descriptions.
Photography
Good photography means covering all the details of your purses and handbags and showcasing the same through breathtaking visuals. Beautiful and eye-catchy photographs are a great way to create brand trust and recognition.
Customers are not able to see or feel the product physically. Thus, the product images can do the selling for you and convert your audience into your customers. So, whenever you list your products, upload high-quality product photographs from different angles. They may not be able to feel the fabric but can be persuaded through the attractive look of the handbags.
If you have a good budget, hire a good product photographer(s). They can bring your more creative ideas about how you can showcase your handbags or purses on your website. But what if you don’t have a budget? Don’t worry, and let your phone camera do the talking. Explore product photography images to learn about angles and get them right for your business.
Product Descriptions
Product copywriting is one of the fundamental aspects of your business. In simple words, a great copy sells. If you want to increase sales, you also need to focus on product copywriting.
Through product descriptions, promise them an experience that your handbags and purses can bring. Descriptions speak directly to your readers. It should cover every detail of your product: Fabric, size, features, and more. Provide as much factual information as you can. Along with it, use the right keywords to improve your search engine rankings.
Good product descriptions help customers make an informed purchase decision. It makes your website look more professional and builds trust among your target audience. You may be good at business but not copywriting. Hire professional copywriters who can write engaging, relevant, and well-crafted product descriptions for your purses and handbags.
Here are some tips for writing excellent product descriptions:
Identify your target audience
Focus on product benefits
Tell a story through these descriptions to convince the buyer
Use your brand tone
Use power words in your copy like spectacular, jaw-dropping, amazing, etc., that sells
Make your copy scannable and easy to read and understand
Use keywords for better search engine rankings
Use high-quality and relevant photos
Keep a Fair Pricing
Knowing about fair pricing is a crucial step in understanding how to sell purses online. Pricing can make or break your brand. High pricing may take your customers, whereas extremely low pricing may make your products look low in quality.
The former happens because many players are selling similar products at lower prices and have already won the trust of your audience. The latter happens because of the consumer mindset.
Thus, price your products fairly because it is a stepping stone to your business's success.
Consider market price, operational costs, raw materials, labor cost, your time invested, and more to price your products fairly. Along with it, understand consumer psychology to understand the pricing of handbags and purses.
You can also choose one from the following three options to price your product:
Keystone pricing refers to the pricing that lets you set the selling cost of your product at twice the cost of the wholesale price.
Set your prices suggested by your wholesalers or retailers from whom you source your handbags and purses.
Keep the pricing of your handbags and purses similar to your competitors. Make a list of your competitors, understand their pricing strategy, and make an informed decision.
Pricing is one of the most important factors in determining the success of your business. Remember, you can’t go wrong with it, especially when you are starting out.
Create an Online Store
Creating an online store is a critical step in this guide on how to sell purses online. Social media platforms aren’t the only way to sell your products. An online store or an eCommerce website is one of the best business decisions you can make if you want to sell handbags and purses online.
Unlike big marketplaces like Amazon, Alibaba, Flipkart, etc., an online store gives you freedom and control over your business, sales, and revenue. It means this business is purely yours, and no third party has any control over it.
Indeed, building and designing online stores or eCommerce websites to sell handbags can be overwhelming and challenging at the same time. But it was years ago. The processes have become much easier and hassle-free with technological advancements.
For instance, Windo can be a great option for creating a personalized online store or website to sell purses and handbags online. It is known as one of the best Shopify alternatives that do not require any prior coding knowledge or expertise in the same.
You can create and design a beautiful handbag store in a few minutes. It is specially designed for solopreneurs and small businesses who want to establish their online store and start their business without any hassle.
It has many advanced features like custom domain, live chat integration, WhatsApp integration, customized themes, Instagram sync, marketing, payment integration, and more. You name it, and they have it.
Windo has three pricing plans: The Sprout Plan, The Blossom Plan, and The Garden Plan. It costs $0, $12, and $19 respectively. If you want to understand the functioning of this eCommerce platform, you can try their free plan i.e, The Sprout Plan; however, if you want to scale your business and reach greater heights, choose the blossom plan and the garden plan respectively.
It is a user-friendly platform that is simple and easy to understand. You don’t need to hire a professional to understand the functioning of Windo. Simply sign up on the platform and get started.
Packaging and Shipping
Over the years, there have been complaints regarding the packaging and not the product. Customers love to see attractive or minimalistic packaging as much as they love a high-quality product. Make sure you focus on the quality and aesthetics of your product's packaging because it will leave a long-lasting impression on your customers.
Excellent packaging can enhance customer experience and build a positive brand perception in the minds of the customers.
But along with packaging, make sure you have a smooth shipping process. No one loves delays, especially your customers. They appreciate receiving products quickly from their favorite brands.
You can leverage Windo to get trusted shipping partners for different countries and cater to customers globally. Check the shipping partners that are available in a particular country and connect your online store to those delivery partners. Its shipping feature also counts shipping rates and communicates with customers automatically in a hassle-free way.
A seamless shipping process and great packaging can improve customer satisfaction and keep them invested in your brand. It means repeated customers and increased sales and revenue.
Market Your Brand
In the end, everything boils down to marketing. You won’t get repeated customers or improved brand awareness if you are not marketing your business. Simply put, marketing is the bread and butter of every business.
Social Media Platforms
Social media channels like Instagram and Facebook are excellent platforms to market your business because of their global reach. Everyone who wants to buy handbags and purses is majorly there on these platforms. Since handbags need visual representation, there is no better platform than Instagram.
However, the competition is high on these social media channels too. Thus, to enable or persuade your audience to buy your product, you need to create a full-proof content strategy. Discounts, offers, content & giveaways, can be aligned with your content strategy to boost your engagement and increase your conversions.
Follow a content strategy for a minimum of one to two months to understand what is working for you and what is not.
SEO
Marketing is certainly incomplete without SEO efforts. If you aren’t leveraging SEO, you want to be able to increase awareness and drive traffic to your online store. It is a great way to improve your store’s online visibility and reach more audience.
A good SEO strategy can help you rank higher on search engine results and reflect brand credibility. Because the more traffic you drive to your website, the higher the chances of increasing your conversion rate.
Paid Ads
An organic content strategy is a great way to build a trusted community on social media platforms. But paid ads on Facebook and Instagram can increase your reach, enhance your brand awareness, and improve your conversions.
You can set a budget and time for running ads. These ads usually work effectively and reach your desired audience because it allows you to target specific customers at particular locations.
If you want to drive more traffic to your website, you can even use Google ads for better search visibility.
To Wrap Up
The handbag industry is highly competitive because of the presence of numerous players. And most of the time, you may find it difficult to get started because of a lack of knowledge.
But we hope this article about how to sell purses and handbags online gives you a detailed understanding of starting a handbag business. From choosing the right niche to marketing your product, we have covered everything in this guide. So, it’s time to execute these learnings and build your dream business.
FAQs
1. How can I sell purses online?
You can sell purses online through many big marketplaces like Amazon. But we suggest you sell it through an eCommerce platform by creating your online store. Because it gives you more authority and control over your business.
2. Can you make money selling handbags?
Yes, you make profitable handbags and purses. This industry is huge and the demand is constantly rising, making it a profitable business; however, because of the high competition, it is advised to choose a niche like designer handbags, wallets, tote bags, etc., to determine your USP and create a unique space for your brand in this industry.
3. Can I sell purses on Amazon?
Yes, you can sell purses easily on Amazon. But if you are a small business or starting out, don’t fall into the trap of these marketplaces. They charge a high registration fee and even cut a certain amount from your sales. Moreover, it is difficult to create a unique brand on Amazon because customers don’t see the quality but the prices. You will find many competitors selling similar handbags at low prices. A price war may make it difficult for your business to grow and earn profits.
4. Where can I sell my homemade handbags?
You can sell your homemade handbags either on social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. Or sell it on your online store. You can easily create a personalized online store through platforms like Windo and start your business operations smoothly. An online store is an excellent way to create a unique business identity and improve your online visibility.
5. Can you make money selling purses?
Yes, you can make good money by selling purses because of the rising customer demand; however, it is always advisable to choose a niche before getting into this market. If you don’t, your brand may get lost in this intense competition, and customers may soon forget about your business before even making an impression.
6. How to advertise handbags online?
There are several ways to market your handbags online, like social media platforms, SEO, and paid ads. Every strategy requires patience and expertise. So, you can start with one platform or strategy and slowly shift to others.
7. What app can I sell designer bags?
You can leverage Windo to convert your online store into an app and sell your handbags and purses from there. It can help you enhance customer experience and double your sales and revenue. Moreover, it may lower your acquisition cost and increase customer retention.