10 Ways to Make Money Using E-commerce

E-commerce has been steadily growing over the past decade and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Today, online shopping makes up about 8% of all retail sales in the United States and that number continues to grow. If you have an online store or are thinking about starting one, it can be hard to know where to begin when it comes to making money with your e-commerce business. This guide will provide you with 10 ways to make money using e-commerce so you can explore different options and find out what works best for your business.

1) Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of many ways to make money online. As an affiliate marketer, you sell someone else’s product and get paid a commission for every sale. The beautiful thing about affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to create or manufacture a product before promoting it. You can simply sign up for an affiliate network like ClickBank, ShareASale, and CJ Affiliate by CJ. Then, search for merchant offers within your niche and apply to become an affiliate for those products.

2) Amazon FBA

For many online entrepreneurs, Amazon is a goldmine of opportunity. Amazon offers several ways to generate income from its website and even more opportunities through its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. In short, FBA lets you store your products in one of Amazon’s warehouses (or drop shippers), sell them on Amazon’s platform, and use their fulfillment services for shipping.

3) Selling Physical Products

In e-commerce, you can sell almost anything. Whether it’s your own products or third party brands on a platform like Amazon, there’s room for everyone. Most online retailers use Shopify or Magento to power their online stores and provide shipping services, so setting up an e-commerce business only requires a bit of upfront investment. And of course, once it’s up and running, your profits will begin to flow in without any extra work on your part.

4) Referral Programs

This is a process in which you pay your customers for bringing new customers to your site. PayPal and Amazon both offer referral programs (which I use for my online store) that pay you a small fee every time someone signs up using your link. If a customer buys something, you earn even more money! You can make tons of cash by having referral programs in place on your site, so it’s definitely worth exploring. To learn more about how they work, click here .

5) Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is a common practice used by online retailers. Essentially, it allows you to create a product listing on your site even if you don’t have inventory for that item. When someone buys your item through your site, you then place an order with a manufacturer/supplier and ship directly from their warehouse.

6) Product Bundling

One of e-commerce’s benefits is that it allows merchants to sell products that wouldn’t have been profitable in a brick and mortar store. A digital storefront allows you to bundle related products and then discount them as a group. For example, if you’re selling supplements like Vitamin C, you could bundle these with Alka Seltzer and sell them as a three-pack for half price.

7) Collaborations with Influencers

One of the most effective ways of boosting sales is by collaborating with influencers, who already have a strong fan base. If you come across an influencer with a large number of followers and an engaged audience, consider partnering up with them. Often these collaborations are mutually beneficial in that your business can help promote their product and vice versa.

8) Web Design and SEO

One of the biggest ways people make money from their website is through web design and SEO. If you’re handy with Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, or if you know how to code in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (or willing to learn!), it’s a great idea to consider freelancing in those areas.

9) Working for Fulfillment Centers, Data Entry Centers, etc.

Many fulfillment centers and data entry companies will hire people in order for them to work from home. A lot of these require that you make your own schedule and are available as you’re needed, but most also give you a set schedule of hours so that there’s always work for you when you log in. Depending on what your skills are, services like these can give opportunities for full-time or part-time income.

10) Starting your own digital store/website

To start an e-commerce business, you don’t need an enormous investment. You can choose one of these two routes:

 1) Buy a pre-existing website or

 2) build your own using WordPress or Shopify. If you want to buy an existing online store, be prepared for either a high cost of purchase or hiring someone to upgrade/rebuild it—making sure it’s mobile responsive, secure and properly optimized for search engines. 

Alternatively, if you’d rather build your own site from scratch, there are plenty of free resources out there (including our very own Shopify Unite conference) that will teach you how to do so on a budget. Once built, get ready to market your new site by blogging about relevant topics, participating in forums and social media groups related to your niche, and reaching out to bloggers who might want to feature you as a vendor on their sites.