Whether it’s chocolates or hard candy, both adults and children enjoy candy. It’s ideal for an everyday treat or for a special occasion like a holiday or anniversary. With such a big market, you may wonder if you should open your own online candy store.
Having an online candy store will allow you to make money from the comfort of your home. However, the process of opening a business like this isn’t as simple as it might sound.
Selling wholesale products, such as wholesale candy and snack food including healthy snacks, requires a thorough understanding of the market and planning. This blog includes five essentials you need to sell online candy successfully.
Online Candy Store: Picking a Product
Before starting a wholesale business and learning how to run a wholesale business successfully, you have to pick a product. This is also true when selling bulk candy and wholesale snacks because the market is so broad.
There are different wholesale products to choose from when it comes to selling candy. There are wholesale chocolates, gourmet popcorn, boiled candy such as hard candy, gums, mints, toffees, jellies, and caramels.
Conducting research to evaluate current candy trends and growth is essential to know which wholesale items to sell. This will also help you create a wholesale marketing plan by identifying potential competitors. These include brick and mortar candy shops and other online candy stores.
Key Takeaway: To start an online candy store or an online bulk candy business, you don’t have to have a sweet tooth. However, you do need to have a desire to start the business, an investment, and a knowledge base.
5 Essentials You Need for Your Online Candy Store
More and more people are starting to use the internet which is why many sellers are choosing to move their businesses online. In fact, the average number of internet users worldwide is set to reach 5.3 billion by 2023.
In order to run a successful wholesale distribution business online, sellers must keep up with current trends and buying preferences. These include eCommerce trends, food trends, beverage trends, and DTC trends.
Here are five essentials you need to run an online candy store:
1. Mobile-First Design
Your online candy store should be optimized for mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. Having a responsive design means that you have a website that supports different devices. As a result, the website will seamlessly adjust to different screen sizes.
This kind of design will allow you to attract more potential customers during the customer acquisition process. A mobile-friendly website is also ideal for customer retention and customers that want to easily purchase products directly from their mobile devices.
2. High-Quality Images
Having high-quality and appealing photos on your website is crucial. This is what customers see first and that’s why it’s important to pay attention to each picture that is uploaded to your website.
Not only should you include eye-catching images, but also ones that have high quality and resolution. This makes your business look professional and well put together.
3. User-Friendly
No one likes a slow website or one that is difficult to navigate. That’s why it’s important to have a user-friendly website and design.
A way to ensure that your website is user-friendly is to have a clear design layout that is easy to follow. This will allow customers to quickly make a purchase without having to guess where to go or what comes next.
User-friendly designs include filtering capabilities for the products, categories that customers can browse through, and product comparison options. When starting an online candy store, you also want to consider including reviews, FAQs, an about us page, and store policies such as a privacy policy.
4. Customer Reviews
One customer acquisition strategy you should have as a new online business is utilizing customer reviews. Customers rely on reviews to determine the quality of the products, reliability, and legitimacy of the business.
This is because with online shopping customers lack the ability to physically inspect the products before purchasing them. A review section for your business will help you increase sales.
5. Quick and Easy Checkout Process
It’s hard enough to get customers to the checkout page, especially if you’re a new business. However, a slow and tough-to-navigate checkout process will likely result in an increase in uncompleted purchases. It’s also possible to have an increase in your cart abandonment rate.
However, one way to avoid this is to have a quick and easy checkout process for your website. This is one of the cart abandonment solutions to consider, and it’s beneficial for your business as a whole.
To do this, make sure you have an eCommerce platform with HTTPS and SSL support for security. Do the necessary research to determine what features help with a speedy checkout process.
Marketing Tactics for Online Candy Sales
An online candy store will require solid marketing tactics in order to be successful. This will help you get to the first page of the search results page and become more discoverable online.
The first step to doing this is to pick an eCommerce marketplace with built-in SEO tools. Next, pick a product, in this case, a type of candy, to sell to your desired niche market.
Utilizing different marketing channels and platforms is crucial to reach different audiences. Such channels include social media, different types of email marketing, and print advertising.
Here are five marketing tactics to consider that ensure online candy sales:
1. Offer Promotions, Sales, and Discounts
Not many people will turn down a good deal. With that being said, a good way to attract potential customers is with a sale, discount, or promotion. Examples of this include seasonal sales, loyalty program discounts after registration, candy shipping discounts, and buy-one-get-one discounts.
2. Social Media
A way to promote your online candy store is through social media. Most social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, have tools that allow you to measure the effectiveness of your posts and advertisements.
With social media, you have the option to utilize paid advertisements and free marketing efforts. Keep in mind that it’s essential to have a detailed social media marketing strategy in order to ensure results.
Popular social media marketing tactics include:
- Engaging with related pages. Even though related pages will be your competition, engaging with them gives you a chance to interact with their fans. Odds are that they’ll be interested in your candy and products, too.
- Posting regularly. Maintaining a consistent posting schedule is essential for any new business on social media. This allows you to reach local customers and then expand outside your area.
- Hosting giveaways. An ideal way to gain traffic to your social media accounts and website is by hosting giveaways. However, it’s ideal to do this once you gain somewhat of a following so that people are aware of your brand.
3. Maintain a Blog
A powerful marketing tool for online businesses is a blog. Maintaining a blog gives you the chance to use SEO tactics to gain traffic to your website and increase brand awareness.
This is due to having keyword-rich content and it’s possible with thorough eCommerce keyword research. As an online candy store, you can include recipes using your candy and similar products. It’s also possible to write about anything candy-related.
4. Link Building
This is an SEO tactic that helps websites rank higher on search engine results pages (SERP). Link building consists of internal linking and external linking. Internal links are links that are within your website and external links are those that lead to websites other than your own.
Increasing your links will improve your site authority and search engines will start to favor you in the SERPs. They’ll do this by increasing your ranking position and improving your website visibility.
5. Email Marketing
Once you obtain leads, you can develop your eCommerce email marketing campaigns. With email marketing, you can inform customers about new products, upcoming promotions and sales, and special deals, and tell them about new blog posts.
Proper email marketing will allow you to consistently engage your customers. It will keep them in the loop by reminding them of your business.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Candy Stores
Opening an online candy store may seem easy. However, it requires proper planning and technique to get the online candy business off the ground on the right foot. Start by selling bulk candy locally to build your brand recognition and social proof. Consider the following commonly asked questions before starting your business.
Why Should I Sell Candy Online?
Selling candy online is a profitable business because there is a huge market for it from people of all ages. In fact, people purchase candy for everyday consumption and for special occasions and holidays.
Is Having an Online Candy Shop Profitable?
Yes, having an online candy shop can be profitable if you do the proper research and planning for your business. However, profitability isn’t guaranteed, as with all businesses.
While there is a large market for candy, not every business owner will start off making money. The hard part is acquiring customers and keeping the customer acquisition cost low.
How Much Money Can You Make Selling Candy Online?
The amount of money you can make selling candy online will depend on the sales volume and costs. It’s possible to make $100+ per month; however, some business owners manage to make a full-time living from their online candy business.
Your profits will depend on how much work you put into the business and your other obligations. It’s important to pay attention to the initial business startup costs in your eCommerce business plan, so you can plan accordingly. Be sure to also research and test your products beforehand.