Health Food is one of the crazes of the moment in every country in Europe. Everyone’s always looking for new recipes and new healthy international foods to try. You too can ride this wave and make great money with your own online store! In this article we’ll go a bit deeper into starting your own store in Europe and how to make your online store a hit.
1. Check out Google Trends often in Europe
Of course, if you’re into healthy food, there’s a big chance you know what the new trends are as soon as your local healthy supermarket starts stocking the products or whenever your favorite healthy bloggers mention the product. But if you want to have your own store, it’s better to know the trends before they become a trend. This might sound a bit vague, but if you look at Google Trends often, you can notice the spikes when people start searching for certain products. There are also trendwatching agencies you can hire that look for trends in your area. If you’re the first to offer a certain product, you can make a lot of money!
2. Sell on multiple platforms in Europe
Building an online store can be expensive. If you don’t want to invest the big bucks, you can still sell your products on multiple platforms. Everyone knows that you can sell everything you want on Amazon, but you can also build a good Facebook page and show off the products you have there. We also recommend some old-school networking: make sure you always have business cards with you, that you can give out to everyone you meet. Also take a look at the fairs in your area, it might be handy to sign up to have your own stand!
3. Put effort into your marketing
Google and Facebook Ads try very hard to seem particularly easy, so people invest a lot of money into their ads. And you can make a lot of money by having good ads, that is true. Unfortunately, many people mostly pay a lot, without having a good ROAS (return on investment). That’s why it’s always a good idea to work together with a marketing professional or a marketing agency. They’ll optimize your ads so way more of your clicks convert into actual sales. And more sales = more money!
This is the digital age, so we recommend everyone to put effort into online marketing. Did you know that for instance on Facebook, you can advertise super specifically? To give you an example, you can advertise on all women aged 20-30 that have an interest in vegan food. You’ll probably generate more sales through that group than through a non-filtered group. There are so many possibilities!
4. Don’t lose money – not even small amounts
If you work with a webshop, your clients probably have to pay before they can order. But if you for instance sell to a colleague of your mom, or through Facebook it might all get a bit more muddled. Make sure you always make invoices for everything you sell, even if it’s just for a friend of a friend. You never know if they may not pay your invoice – and you can’t afford to lose any money!
If you start offering big orders through invoices, it’s important to keep track of whether they’re paid in time. If you notice one of your clients forgot/ignored your invoice, we recommend you to talk to a debt collection agency (Dutch: incassobureau). They can contact your debtor to pay up with a bit more urgency. If needed they can even hire a bailiff (Dutch: deurwaarder inschakelen) to seize their assets.
Good luck with your health food store in Europe!
