What Selling Online Involves
The five parts of every online sale, and the plan of this course.
8 min
Activities: 0 of 2
Many small businesses start selling online because a customer asks, "Can I order this from you on my phone?" The first order is easy. The fiftieth order shows whether the business is ready. Selling online is not only a website. It is a chain of five parts, and a weak part breaks the chain.
- The shop front: where the customer sees your products. This can be your own store, a marketplace, or a social media page.
- The product page: the photos, words and price that must answer the customer's questions without a salesperson.
- Payment: how the customer pays, and how the money reaches you.
- Delivery: how the order is packed, sent and handed over.
- Service: answering questions, handling returns and earning reviews.
Why the whole chain matters
Customers judge you on the weakest moment. A beautiful page does not help if the parcel arrives late. Fast delivery does not help if the customer cannot reach you when the size is wrong. Online, a customer cannot touch the product or see your face, so trust is the thing you are really selling. Every part of the chain either builds trust or loses it.
Selling online also changes your costs. Each order carries costs that a shop counter does not: platform fees, payment fees, packaging and delivery. A product that makes money in a market stall can lose money online if these costs are not counted. Module 2 shows how to count them.
How this course is built
- 1
Module 1
Ways to sell online
Own store, marketplaces, social media and messaging apps, and how to choose.
- 2
Module 2
Products, pages and prices
What to sell, product pages, photos, the true cost of an order, delivery charges and returns policy.
- 3
Module 3
Taking payment safely
Cards, wallets, bank transfer and cash on delivery, payment fees, and paying in parts without interest.
- 4
Module 4
Delivery, stock and service
Couriers, packing, stock across channels, customer messages, reviews and returns.
- 5
Module 5
Traffic and numbers
Where shoppers come from, repeat customers, conversion rate and average order value.
- 6
Module 6
Rules, risks and launch
Consumer rights, privacy, fraud, chargebacks and your launch plan.
Match each part of the chain to its question
- Shop front
- Product page
- Payment
- Delivery
- Service
A shop has excellent photos, but many customers complain that parcels arrive a week late. What is the main lesson?