How To Start Selling In Shopee

Written by Marc Adrian

So you’ve finally decided to start selling in Shopee. Kudos to you, you’re about to join the most popular e-commerce site in the Philippines with over 54.6 million monthly web traffic as per Statista. 

Shopee makes it easy for you to immediately gain access to a vast audience of potential customers and offers a seamless experience when setting up your store. You will, however, need to take a few important measures before listing your first product.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps you’ll have to take before, during, and after your Shopee store setup.

What to do before you start selling in Shopee

While Shopee may be one of your best choices to sell your products digitally in the Philippines, it’s also best to manage your expectations in terms of sales. Simply listing a number of products won’t guarantee a staggering amount of sales – or even any sales to begin with. 

The rise of e-commerce’s popularity during the pandemic has seen merchants flocking to online sales. This means that along with a vast reach comes tough competition in the platform. Before listing your products, here are some steps that you need to take:

Identify your niche

Lucrative niches change over time, depending on a lot of factors. During the height of the pandemic, for instance, there has been a drastic increase in the demand for health and hygiene products such as face masks, rubbing alcohol, sterilizers, etc. However, you are likely to see a dramatic drop in demand when the pandemic ends. 

It is extremely dangerous to build a shop that only chases trends. So it is advisable to find a niche in which you find sustainable.

This could come in the form of mass-market products like selling clothes, electronics, or cosmetics; or you could choose smaller niches like collectible figurines. The idea is to build an inventory that you know you can sell, even if your profits won’t be sky-high.

Product research

The next step is to conduct product research on your chosen niche. Say, for instance, you want to sell tech goods in the market. Search through keywords that are related to your product. Afterward, you’ll have the option to sort your products by:

• Relevance
• Latest
• Top Sales

By simply looking into the Top Sales, you can identify which of the following products are popular in the tech market. You can also take a look at their price point to have an idea of the price range you can set for your products.

Evaluate the level of competition

The top sales, consequently, will be hard to beat. People will likely purchase products based on the numbers that they can see. Therefore, it’s best to evaluate your level of competition. If you simply can’t compete with the top sales, try looking into alternative or similar products in the same niche. 

Conversely, you can also make yourself stand out amongst the competition by giving a lucrative offer. Assess the areas of weakness on the Top sellers. If users in the reviews section are constantly complaining about the poor quality of the tech products, you can set yourself apart by addressing the needs of these buyers. Make sure to highlight what makes you stand out in your product description.

When in doubt, you can use the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to find out where you are likely to stand in your chosen market – and what you need to do to improve your position.

How to set up your store in Shopee

1. Go to shopee.com and click the ‘Sign Up’ button to create an account.
2. Choose whether to use your phone number or an existing Facebook, Google, or Apple account for your account.
3. Add your phone number and email address.
4. Complete your store profile in Seller Centre via seller.shopee.ph and click ‘Shop Settings.’

Seller Center requirements

Anyone can start a store in Shopee, you just need to have the following in order to build your store’s profile:

1. Shopee Philippines Seller shop name –  Choose a name for your store and make sure it follows Shopee’s Shop Naming Guidelines.
2. Images and Videos – To give your store a strong brand identity, upload up to 5 photos and videos.
3. Shop Description – To attract customers to your store, write a brief, precise description. You may include details like your shop’s history, product types, and chat response times. Don’t ask consumers to perform transactions outside of Shopee or provide personal information (email or phone numbers). You can follow Shopee’s guide on how to create a good shop description. 

Shopee’s Seller Center registration process

Seller Center is where you sellers can manage their store’s orders, shipping, and payment. In order to have full access to this, you need to complete the following:

Phone number verification

To avoid your items being hidden from Shopee consumers, make sure you have a confirmed cellphone number registered to your account before adding your products.

1. Go to your account name and then to ‘My Account.’
2. Enter your phone number and press the ‘Send Verification Code’ button. On the phone you gave, you will get a six-digit verification code.
3. Click ‘Confirm’ after entering the verification code.

Set up your pickup point or address 

1. Go to ‘Seller Centre’ and click on My Addresses.
2. Click on 1) + Add a new address, 2) Fill up the contact and address details, and 3) Click on Set as Pickup Address.

How to create your first product listing

1. Select “My Products” from the Seller Centre.
2. Fill up the product name, category, product characteristics, and description by clicking + Add a New Product.
3. Snap a picture of your product in high resolution, and as much as possible make it look professionally done.
4. Add shipping options like weight and parcel size. It’s important to keep in mind that various shipping companies may charge varying shipping prices or have different limits on shipment size and weight.

How to ship out your orders from Shopee

When you finally get your first order, here are the first few steps that you need to do:

1. Go to ‘My Sales’ in the Seller Centre and choose ‘To Ship.’
2. On the ‘To Ship’ page, look for orders that need to be dispatched out.
3. To arrange for shipment, click on Ship (Make sure you arrange for shipment before the stated ship-by date)
4. Pack the order according to Shopee’s Order Packaging Guidelines and include any relevant papers, such as the airline ticket.
5. Hand over the order to the shipping company.

Product listing tips

A good product is not enough to drive sales into your Shopee store. The entire platform is saturated with sellers who might be selling the same product as you – these are your competitors. It’s also just flooded with so much information that customers may not even notice you. The only method to help your store surface on your customer’s screens is by optimizing your listing. 

Here’s how you can do that:

Product name and description

Your product name and product description are the most crucial aspects in terms of visibility in the search results when a customer searches a product through the search bar. Make sure you use a keyword research tool to look through the best keywords to use for your product. Your keyword usage will determine whether your products are easily searchable or not. 

Category and price

Add the right category for your product. This will make sure users will find you when they look through Shopee’s product categories. Then, input the price for your product. If you’re planning on having price drops or discounts, Shopee will give you an option to do so!

Stocks and variation

Make sure to input the right amount of stock number in your product list. Moreover, add the variation in your products. If your products have different colors, sizes, and textures, make sure to add everything on the listings to minimize customer inquiries. 

Shipping Fee

The shipping fee will be dependent on the type of courier, weight, and size. 

Conditions

Highlight the necessary conditions that you want to set up for your shop like your return policy, how to qualify for discounts (if there are any), or how to avail of perks like free shipping. By being transparent about your conditions, it will be better to manage any customer concerns anytime.

Product Photo

Make sure to add high-definition product photos and videos that reflect the real product. You wouldn’t want to dupe your customer into posting photos that are too far from your real product. 

And, that’s it! You’ve set up your own Shopee store. Once you receive your first order, you can visit Shopee’s guide here to fulfill your order. 

Setting up your Shopee account is quick and easy, but making sure you sell the right products to generate great sales will need enough time and research. Moreover, you will need to have a realistic expectation of your sales. Once you finish all the steps necessary and get past the stride, your Shopee shop may lift off sooner than you think!