How To: Submit Your Products For Website Sales This Holiday

How To: Submit Your Products For Website Sales This Holiday

As we dive into the busy holiday season, we're always looking for ways to expand selling opportunities for our merchants, and we would like to invite you to submit items to be considered for the website, keeping in mind the limitations and standards listed below.

Since launching online sales earlier this year, we've seen a nice, healthy increase in both site-traffic and sales over the past few months. We do expect both to continue to increase during this holiday season and beyond. 

The online component is very important to Belleville Market's growth and marketing strategy. On average, 83% of US shoppers who visited a store in the last week say they visited a store's website before visiting the brick and mortar location. We take great pride in the product curation and merchandising each of our merchants bring to the customer's in-store shopping experience, and we look at the website to be an introduction to that experience - while at the same time being an additional source of potential revenue for each of you. 

There are no additional fees or commissions for listing and selling your items on the Belleville Market website. However, we are looking to keep the product assortment nicely juried and curated.

Because shipping costs are always a concern when selling online (IE: we want to ensure the shipping fee the customer pays covers the shipping rate charged by USPS/UPS/FedEx), we're limiting items to weigh no more than 4lbs and be no taller/wider than 10" (this limitation excludes soft goods such as apparel). Product weight must accurately be listed in your product listing on ConsignCloud as described below. 

Below, you'll find a step-by-step guide to getting your product listing ready and submitted for consideration. If you've sold products online before on your own, you know that it can sometimes be a lot of work, so we want to make it as easy as possible - for you and us. Once you've tagged your item as directed below, we'll go through and approve your item if all standards have been properly met. Please note, this can take up to 5 days, so please be patient with us. We'll try our best to promptly notify you if there's a reason that your item is not approved. 

We understand that selling on the Belleville market will not be for all merchants, and that's totally fine. We want you to do what is best for your business. 

Steps to Getting your Products Listed on the Website

  1. Product Weight
    1. Enter the product's actual weight into the ConsignCloud listing.
    2. The actual product weight in pounds and/or ounces (including the weight of the vessel/container for candles, food, etc.)
    3. Remember, your item should weigh no more than approximately 4 lbs (and be no taller/wider than 10")
  2. Product Photos
    1. Add your product photography to your product listing
    2. 1-4 clear (not blurry) high quality photos that clearly show the item and its detail. 
    3. Your main photo - the first photo the customer will see online - must be squared with a neutral background. This allows for a seamless look on our collection pages. 
    4. See our blog post on the Belleville Trade Blog which breaks down best practices for product photography.
    5. Need help with your product photography? Check out our Trade services.  
    6. If you're selling items purchased from a manufacturer/supplier, the supplier may provide product photography that is oftentimes perfectly suitable to use.
  3. Product Description
    1. Add your product descriptions
    2. Your product description should describe your item in detail. For example: Product dimensions; Product color; If your item is a food/drink item - include the Fluid Ounce and/or Net Weight; If your item is vintage, give its condition. 
    3. See our blog post on the Belleville Trade Blog which breaks down best practices for product descriptions.
  4. Correctly Managed Inventory
    1. The inventory quantity in your ConsignCloud product listing should always match what is actually in your selling area. 
    2. As long as you have sellable inventory in your ConsignCloud listing, your product will show that the item is in-stock on the website. If you're actually sold out (no stock on your shelves), but your ConsignCloud listing says you have stock and someone purchases online, then we're forced to return the item which leads to an unhappy customer experience and additional fees, which no one wants. 
    3. Likewise, if you have a product on the shelves but your inventory is incorrect in ConsignCloud (with quantities of 0 or less), then you will miss out on potential sales since it appears online that you are out of stock.
  5. Tag Your Item For Consideration
    1. In your ConsignCloud product listing, you'll find a field that reads Apply For Website. Simply toggle this field into the the on position for each listing item you'd like to appear on the website.  
Please note that merchants selling on the website is still a new process for us, and we continue to make this workflow as seamless, easy and as fair as possible. We appreciate your patience as we continue to improve this program.