Small Business Advice: How to Sell High Ticket Items Online
Selling high ticket items online isn’t easy. With eCommerce stores such as Amazon and Alibaba dominating the industry, often times small online retailers, who in fact specialize in the items, are left with the challenging task of even getting noticed.
The first thing to understand is that the psychology behind a high ticket purchase can be substantially different from the psychology behind an impulse buy. It’s a lot harder for a consumer to spend $400 as opposed to $40, and even more challenging to get a customer to spend $4,000.
With a bit of planning however, even the smallest stores can emerge as large players in the industry and start selling high ticket items.
Take High Quality Photos and Videos
When people are planning to spend more, they expect more. Use a professional camera and take lots of photos of your inventory. Shoot from different angles, and take close-up photos of important features. If you have the means, include videos, detailed product specs, downloadable PDFs and other rich content. Create an experience where the consumer feels like they have the actual item in front of them.
Sell Well-Known Brands
When selling common products such as televisions, appliances or watches, you’ll be at an advantage when you sell popular brands. For example, a consumer is probably more likely to purchase an LG or Panasonic TV than a Changhong or UpStar, even if the off brand is half the price and has the exact same specs. Leverage this for your own website. By all means include affordable, lesser-known brands in your product portfolio, but be sure to have a majority of well known, influential brands. The trust people have in these brands will also transfer to your store in general.
Make it Affordable
One of the most logical ways to compete with large players is by making the same products more affordable. There are two ways to do this. The first is to simply lower your prices. However, this can have a negative impact as you join your competition in a race to the bottom.
Rather than selling high ticket items at the cheapest price, you could offer your consumers to purchase in installment payments. If a consumer wants to better manage their cash flow, and has a choice between paying $6,000 up front, or dividing that purchase across six monthly installments of $1,000, it is very likely for them to choose to spread their payments out. In fact, 62% of shoppers prefer interest-free monthly payments over a 10% store discount.
Splitit allows shoppers to use their existing credit and debit card and does not require any registration or applications.
Manage Your Online Reputation – Get Reviews
In addition to allowing users to publish product reviews on your website, you should seek out reviews beyond your website. Ask your satisfied customers to post positive reviews on TrustPilot, Google and even your Facebook page. Register with the Better Business Bureau or local Chamber of Commerce. That way, when a consumer is on the fence about buying from you and decides to do a bit of due diligence they’ll likely find positive reviews that will increase the chances that they will make a purchase from you.
Post Sale Follow-Up
Getting a high ticket sale is a challenge, and many retailers forget that the sale doesn’t stop there. Consumers often experience buyer’s remorse after making a large purchase. The follower questions run through their head: Could I have gotten it cheaper? Did I make the right choice? Can I really afford it?
Be proactive after making a high ticket sale. A simple survey by email can identify any concerns buyers might have. Quickly, accurately and positively addressing these concerns will make people feel more comfortable about the decision they’ve made to spend their hard-earned money with you.
If you’ve sold them the item on an installment plan, then remind them of the benefits such as no added interest and building credit score. Personal communication is key to building loyalty and something that the big industry leaders are unable to do.
