If you've only been selling your artificial flowers, floral supplies, or foliage in a local shop then you're missing out on a lot of potential customers. Every single year online sales increase – more and more people are buying online. This means that if you do not have an online presence, you're going to struggle. It's going to be harder to expand and compete against those who do sell online.
Making a web store may sound like a challenge, but over the years some incredibly good programs have been made which make the whole process much easier. Many of these programs are open source and free to use. With a bit of effort anyone should be able to do it. It will not be fast or easy, but you do not need to know how to write HTLM code or have any complex coding skills. These days hosting is also very inexpensive, for a basic package you'll only be looking at £ 3-4 per month.
If that still sounds like too much you can always look at selling on eBay or Amazon.
EBay is not just for people who want to auction their old left over junk. People run full time business on eBay from the product listings which can be created. The "buy now" option works just like a standard store – you pay the money and get the product. So listing your flowers on eBay can give you access to a massive pool of new potential customers. This service is not free however; You will need to pay an insertion fee. But if this method remains profitable after the fees then it's certainly worth doing. What you lack in terms of profit per sale, you will hopefully make up for in volume.
Selling on Amazon is quite similar to selling on eBay. You list your products and hopefully they will sell. The great thing about selling on Amazon is that it already has lots of established trust amongst buyers. Like eBay, Amazon has fees, although you will only need to pay them if you actually sell a product. The rate you'll need to pay is usually around 15%. If this is well within your margins then it's a really good way to obtain more customers.
For both of these methods it's essential to build up your ratings on the sites. So offer great customer service and respond to buyer questions / problems quickly!
Combining your own eCommerce site with eBay and Amazon can substantially increase the amount of customers you're selling to. It may start slowly, but given enough time, and effort, your online sales should begin to constantly improve. They may even expand to the extent that they're making more money than the sales from your physical shop.
