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In the global jungle called online retail, you need to stand out to get the desired visibility (and sales). One of the less explored but vastly effective ways of doing this is by selling exclusive products. If your product has any of the following features, it can be branded exclusive:
- Scarcity – If the product is not available in large quantity (like limited edition products)
- Desirability – Makes your customer feel intelligent simply by choosing this product
- Expensive – People tend to associate price with quality and class
- High-quality – The product features are better than those of competitors’. Better still, there is no viable competition
Selling exclusive products can give you an edge over your competitors and if done the right way, it can give you two-pronged benefit: brand building and increased sales. You can carry only exclusive products, or you can have a category to carry exclusive products. Either way, carrying exclusive products can help build brand which will improve sales.
Why Exclusive Products are so attractive to consumers
To be successful at selling exclusive products, you need to know why people are so attracted to them. By understanding the consumer psyche, it is easier to do targeted marketing as well as intelligent product selection. There are many reasons why people buy exclusive products, and most of them depend on what makes the product exclusive.
Status Symbol (expensive or scarce products)
The ability to buy exclusive products (despite high price tag or scarcity) emphasizes the social status of the person. So it’s human nature to buy exclusive products and flaunt them. This works to your advantage as this gives a focused publicity for your product (and brand) that is much more effective than an ad campaign and you can help this along through your social commerce strategies.
Product Utility (desirable or high-quality products)
“Beauty of an item is in its utility,” goes a saying. So the product that you are selling should be one-of-a-kind in terms of utility as well. It should have at least one feature that no other product in that category can boast of. This is reason enough for customers to buy from you rather than your competitors.
Helping Hand (sustainable or socially responsible products)
Buyers are increasingly becoming socially responsible. If the exclusivity of the product comes from it being easier to the environment, or helps a social cause, people enthusiastically buy the product. In some cases, the guilt of splurging is offset by the greater good they are helping with. For example, if your product is made of bamboo instead of plastic/metal (sustainability) or made by underprivileged women (social responsibility), products are actively bought.
Choosing to sell an exclusive product is a wise decision that reaps benefits in the long run. So if you want to be in online retail business for long, you must have a strategy for selling exclusive products. In next article, we will focus on how do you prepare to sell exclusive products and do it successfully. Stay tuned!
