Best Practices to Sell on Alibaba.com - A Guideline from an Official Channel Partner

If we were to tell you that there is a platform where you can connect with other businesses all around the world and communicate directly with the manufacturers to get your materials and products, would you be interested to sign up?

This platform that we are talking about is Alibaba.com, the biggest business-to-business (B2B) platform in the world! While this platform originated in China, millions of businesses have an account on this platform to source for materials for their products at manufacturers' prices.

There are several good reasons why you should put your business on Alibaba.com if you haven't already done so. If you already have an account on Alibaba.com, that's a great start! Here are some steps and best practice guidelines that you can apply for your own business.

This step is pretty straight-forward. All you need to open an account on Alibaba.com is a valid email address after all. However, if you are intending to open a new account as a seller on Alibaba.com, then you also need to prepare the following details:

• Company Name
• Company Location
• Company Phone Number

When you sign up for a new account on Alibaba.com, you can choose whether you would like to have a seller account, a buyer account or a mix of both. The latter choice makes sense for business owners who need to source for materials / ingredients to run their own business.

You might want to set up a nice and proper company profile - this is what your customers are going to see when they enter your company page to understand who you are and the types of products you provide. Below are some of the information that are included within your company page:

• Business category
• Business location
• Product range / Coming-soon products
• Company size
• Target market - where you are planning to sell your products

By providing information about your company and your products, you are building trust in your potential buyers. Most individuals who purchase online, especially in a B2B context, will want to ensure that their suppliers are genuine and reliable.

Information such as your company location, company website and contact methods are just as important - this way, your potential buyers will know that you are a real business and they have higher confidence in your business.

If you have product reviews from customers, product test results and certifications, don’t be shy to display these information on your company page!

Well-certified goods can do well for EU standards and any other safety standards which are important factors for certain products and ingredients.

We already have a step-by-step guide on how you can sell your products as a seller on Alibaba.com. Free members can list up to 50 products, while paid members, otherwise known as gold suppliers, can list an unlimited number of products and even choose to showcase certain products!

While the number of products available under your business name is an important factor, so is adding enough information and images for each product. Try to rely less on stock photos and create more images focusing on the products that you are selling for more credibility.

If your company page has only 1-5 products, your page could look incomplete or even empty to some potential buyers. As such, sellers are advised to complete details about their business and products, as well as to list enough products in their shops.

If you are a Gold Supplier, then you can respond to inquiries from your potential buyers. Think of quality communication as one of the key factors to help seal the deal. When customers read your product descriptions, they may want to know about the estimated time the goods can reach their place, or other details that may not be included on your page.

Alibaba.com has a chat platform or a message center that will help you to manage your communications with your potential buyers. Just be logged on whenever you can and respond in a timely manner to increase your chances of securing a deal!

A free membership on Alibaba.com won’t get you far as a seller due to its extremely limited features. There are three different membership levels for Gold Supplier Memberships, so you can choose the one that fits you needs.

The three tiers have different priorities for product rankings and number of products they can place in their product showcase. All three Gold Memberships allow unlimited product listing, the ability to quote buyer requests, logistics arrangements, and Alibaba.com high currency exchange rates.

Alibaba.com has a training center for sellers to learn everything they should know about selling on the platform, so make use of it! If you happen to have partnered with an Alibaba.com official channel partner like us , these channel partners also provide in-person training to teach you how you can set up and optimize your Alibaba.com storefront.