The global glassware market looks full of opportunities due to increased beverage consumption, use of luxury drinkware, and use of glassware in promotional products. The market is expected to reach an estimated $12.4 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 1% to 3% from 2020 to 2025.
In such a scenario, selling glassware online seems to be a profitable idea. Starting a glassware business online begins by crafting a roadmap that includes market analysis, building an online store, logistics plan, etc.
A well-written plan gives you the ability to lay out your goals and track your progress. To help you with critical factors to consider when selling glassware online, we have prepared this plan. We will discuss the major trends in this space, how you can start selling quickly, marketing plan, and more.
Here is a list of topics this post includes:
- Have an Idea that Sells
- Go Online in Minimum Time
- Choose a Printing partner
- Have a Solid Shipping Strategy
- Get on Instagram to Promote and Sell Directly
Have an Idea that Sells
Apart from passion, there are two things that an entrepreneur must have to succeed – (a) a knack for taking advantage of emerging trends and (b) skills to market those products.
If you can understand the current trends, it will be a lot easier for you to make strategic decisions and capitalize on the best opportunities.
When it comes to the glassware business, the latest trend is customization. It has enabled businesses to create great shopping experiences. And this trend is not going away anytime soon.
But why are customized products such a huge deal? Why do customers love them?
The reason is pretty simple. As a consumer, if I can customize a product that I purchase, it will make my product, and thus I stand out from the crowd (and show off 🙂 )
Customizing a glass of wine by either adding initials or a quote may look like a buyer is only enhancing the product. But there is more to this.
Journal of Information Management Technology conducted an exploratory study – Why Would People Purchase Personalized Products Online? The study reveals some 11 reasons why shoppers buy personalized goods.
Since enjoyment was the most salient feature, the study brings it to the main category. Under enjoyment are subcategories – (a) use enjoyment and (b) design enjoyment. Shoppers will fall into either of these two categories depending on what they are seeking.
Shoppers in category ‘a’ either enjoy the appearance or function of an item. In contrast, buyers in category ‘b’ enjoy participating in the design process.
This boils down to one idea – every customer coming to your store is unique with different priorities. The key to making them happy is catering to their needs specifically.
Did you know 80% of customers are more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand that provides personalized experiences?
Hence, for successfully selling glassware online, do consider offering customized products a priority. Your customers will find value in the products that they purchase and feel like you care about them. And that is a stepping stone to keeping shoppers engaged, providing good experiences, and increasing sales.
Brush Your Ideas has been helping businesses sustain and grow their business with our product customization tool. We are glad to share with you the journey of one of our clients.
PorcelainSite is a Germany-based online store selling glassware products. They wanted to join the trend of customized products and hence partnered with us to integrate our tool. It helped them bring more diversity to their offerings. Whether it is a wine glass for a party or a glass jar for freshly made jam, their customers can get all types of options and design the way they want.
Below is the image of the tool using which customers can add text, images, clipart, and more on their glassware.
Let us help you start a glassware business that you shoppers will love to keep coming back to. Our skilled team of business analysts, designers, developers, marketers will guide you at every step of your journey. Find out how with a customization tool, you can stand out of the crowd and attract more customers.
Go Online in Minimum Time
1. Develop an eCommerce Website
To sell glassware online, a website is a necessity. While tools and technology have made it easier to build websites from scratch, there is no denying that website building is time-consuming and some work. But then building a business is some sort of work too!
To begin with, you need to start by choosing an eCommerce platform such as Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. With primary research on each platform’s website, detailed guides, you will be able to analyze features, pricing, and more.
Once you choose a platform that suits your business needs, you have to make it appealing to your shoppers. When you have your design and SEO strategy in place, you can start selling glassware online.
2. Build a Web-to-print Store
If you do not want to invest many resources in developing a website, you can create a web-to-print store. It’s a ready-to-host solution that will enable you to begin selling glassware immediately.
With customizable and easy-to-integrate themes and a home screen, you can easily create a professional-looking website for your glassware business. Since web-to-print stores are integrable with ERP tools, you can seamlessly manage your operations like inventory, order management, printing, etc.
The best part about web-to-print stores is they are easily customizable as per your business logic. Get in touch with us to develop a web-to-print store that’s perfect for your glassware business in terms of technology, branding, and marketing.
3. Create a Mobile App to Sell Glassware
With more customers turning to mobile apps to interact with brands, we see businesses investing heavily in app development. It increases customer engagement, builds brand awareness and loyalty, and gives a competitive edge. When selling glassware, you can even consider building a mobile app.
There are app builder companies that can help you take your shop to everyone’s pockets. With the help of a pre-built framework, you can launch your mobile app in just a week. Using an app builder, the price and efforts of app development also significantly reduces.
One of the most critical steps in selling glassware online is choosing and building a medium. A ready-to-host web-to-print store enables you to start selling quickly. But as your business expands, you need to have a more solid option. Consult our experts who will help you choose the most suitable option as per your goals and requirements. Let’s get in touch!
Choose a Print Partner
There are two common options that you can consider to print glassware.
A. Set up in-house printing infrastructure
Such a glassware printing facility should be equipped with good quality printers, coating, and finishing units, to print on glass without any glitches.
You need to choose a printing method. Screen printing is one method that you can use to print color images on glassware. This method is inexpensive when the quantities are low. However, the cons of screen printing include limited color ranges and low-quality printing.
Another method is UV-LED printing, an emerging technology in the personalization industry. This method offers improved durability, flexibility, and scratch resistance. There are other printing methods available like digital printing, 3D printing, etc. Each has its pros and cons; therefore, detailed research will help you choose the best method.
B. Third-party Providers
If you do not want to hold your inventory, you can partner with a local print vendor who can deliver quality, cost-effectiveness, and speed. Partnering with a printing company requires you to ask the right questions to find the right fit.
In most cases, your choice comes down to finding a provider at an affordable range. However, price is not the only factor to consider. You would want to get the best quality at a decent price. Secondly, inquire about turnaround and delivery times. For instance, do they offer delivery in 24 hours or 48 hours? What is their turnaround on standard jobs? etc.
Glass is Fragile – Have a Strong Shipping Strategy
A major concern you might have when you sell glassware is how do you ship it to customers without breaking it? Moreover, failed or delayed deliveries will impact both your brand’s reputation and the relationships you are building with your customers. Hence, choosing the right shipping fulfillment model is crucial. Here are the main fulfillment options you need to consider.
1. Self-fulfillment
Managing product sourcing, packaging, and shipping give you a lot of control. But it also means you need to invest more time managing orders instead of focusing on how you can grow your business.
In case you are planning to go with this option, you would want to create a great first impression. High-quality custom packaging can help your brand stand out and create a better customer experience.
2. Third-party Fulfilment
Third-party logistics providers can reduce the burden of shipping, thus allowing you to focus more on getting new customers for your store. Third-party providers will not just handle storage and delivery, but their enhanced tracking services will ensure that your customers get their products on time.
The major advantage of partnering with a 3rd party provider is that you need not invest in a warehouse. Here, you directly send your inventory to the logistics provider. When you get an order in your store, you inform the logistics provider who delivers the product.
3. Dropshipping
One of the most popular shipping models is dropshipping. Startups require capital to stock inventory. You purchase an extensive inventory and hope that everything sells. But with dropshipping, you can start a glassware business online with zero inventory.
When you receive an order, your online store automatically passes on the order to the dropshipping supplier. They will then prepare the order and ship it to your customers.
Each fulfillment model has its pros and cons. Choosing the right one depends on several factors like order volume, budget, etc. And as your business grows, your shipping fulfillment strategy will evolve.
Get on Instagram – Promote + Sell Directly
Over the years, Instagram has come a long way from being a traveler’s favorite to a major marketing platform for brands.
As of January 2020, there are nearly 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram. With the platform becoming increasingly popular, 71% of US businesses claim to use Instagram for business. Moreover, 7 out of 10 hashtags on Instagram are that of brands.
Your brand has a great opportunity to use Instagram for marketing and selling glassware online on Instagram shop. Following are some tips that will help you get the best out of Instagram to promote and sell glassware there.
Use Hashtags to Grow Your Audience
Hashtags are just like keywords for search engines. Your potential customers can discover your content by searching hashtags. Instagram allows you to use 30 hashtags in a post. However, you do not want to spam by adding too many hashtags. Using tools like Hashtagify, All Hashtags, etc. will help you find the most suitable hashtags for your post.
(Results for #customglassware on Instagram)
Make the Most of Instagram Stories
58% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it on Instagram stories. This makes stories an excellent feature that you can leverage to create engaging experiences for users. You can create amazing content using GIF-like images, boomerang, rewind videos, etc. You can even use this feature to highlight a current sale or time-limited offer.
(Shimmer Pop Shop on Instagram Sharing their New Arrivals Using The Story Feature)
Open Your Shop on Instagram
Once you fulfill all the requirements, you can enable your followers to shop directly on your business profile page. For instance, Udarely is a good profile with more than eighty thousand followers. The brand sells on their page using shoppable posts.
(Udarely’s Shoppable Posts)
When selling on Instagram, it is important to note that you are not pushing only promotional posts. Maintain your content strategy and incorporate shoppable tags to posts that are a natural fit for your profile.
Are You Ready to Execute This Plan?
There is no scarcity of tools and technology that will enable you to sell glassware online. But choosing the right one is crucial to achieve short-term goals and create a further layout for future objectives. A step in the right direction will bring more shoppers, growth, and sales.
Brush Your Ideas is a one-stop solution for all web-to-print services. For 14+ years, we have been helping businesses build and grow their business with our designer tool and web-to-print solutions. We even assist in developing marketing strategies that help in bringing the right leads to your online store. Let’s help you in building and managing your glassware business.
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