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How to organize a store based on the social network VKontakte? VKontakte products: how to design a showcase without leaving the social network

It is more convenient to sell through the most popular social network in Russia using the Goods service or a special application

The most popular social network in Russia, Vkontakte, has long become for many entrepreneurs not only one of the channels for promoting their goods and services, but also a sales platform. Of course, you can make a page, post an album with photos, write motivating posts to buy, and write "For purchase questions, write in a personal." However, there are more effective ways to sell online. You can make a store where it will be convenient to choose and buy. The TexTerra Internet Marketing Agency has prepared detailed instructions for launching an online store on the Vkontakte social network.

For the buyer:

    No need to go to other sites to choose a product.

    It is easy to contact the seller.

    You can immediately leave a review after the purchase.

For the seller:

    It's easier than starting an online store from scratch, you don't have to rack your brains over choosing a platform and hosting, buying a domain, etc.

    Social proof works: likes and number of followers. If there are 2000 subscribers on the store page on the social network, this immediately inspires confidence. And some unknown site on the Internet - not always.

If you do not yet have a page on Vkontakte, then the first thing you need to do is create it. And the next stage is the organization of sales using an online store. This can be done either using the "Products" service, or by creating a special application.

Service "Products - a popular way to sell in contact"

In 2015, the VKontakte social network launched a new retail service. So far, this is not a 100% online store, but rather a showcase with goods. To place an order, you need to contact the seller (it has become more convenient: a message with a link to the product can be sent directly from the page of this product). If it goes well, the developers promise to expand the functionality, ideally – to automate the order and payment. The immediate plan is to create a general catalog of goods on VKontakte, similar to Yandex.Market.

You can connect the Goods service using . From the side of the social network, this is a free service. A new block with products will appear on the page immediately below the main information (and below the pinned post, if any).

Setting up the service is easy without outside help. Let's go over the main points:

1. The product card should contain as much information as possible:

    several photos (product from different sides, at the time of use, in packaging, etc. - no more than five photos);

    detailed description of the goods (composition, characteristics, weight, size, materials, etc.);

    "Contact Seller" button. The buyer's message will go to the person you specified during setup.


2. The customer can select an item by price and date added, but not by type. Therefore, if you are really looking for ways to sell on VKontakte, be sure to combine products into groups (“VKontakte” they are called “collections”), especially if the range is large. The collection is similar to a regular photo album. One product can be added to several collections at the same time. For example, a bracelet with stones can be in the "Bracelets" and "Jewelry with stones" collections.

3. Only three products are shown on the main page of the community. They come here from the main collection. Create a separate collection (for example, "Bestsellers" or "Promotions and discounts"), check the box "This is the main collection of the community", and add products that you want to sell quickly there.


4. In a regular online store, you can make a purchase at any time: on weekends, at night, etc. On VKontakte, the buyer writes to the seller and waits for a response. In order not to lose the client, specify additional contacts (mail, instant messenger, phone, etc.). Write what time you answer, and when it is better not to wait for an answer. And respond to requests as soon as possible.

5. Write in detail about delivery and payment: what payment methods, what delivery options, how much does delivery cost, is it possible to return. So you avoid unnecessary questions and save time for yourself and your customers.

6. If you are tech savvy and your product catalog is huge, use API "VKontakte" and download products "wholesale". But if it has come to this, then perhaps it makes sense for you to make a relatively full-fledged online store.

Create an application

Another way to sell VKontakte is to create a store application. It looks like one site is inserted into another.

The application works as a full-fledged online store: buyers place an order and pay for it on their own, all data on sales and customers is saved (and can be synchronized with accounting programs). Plus, an online store website is automatically created with the application, which can work on its own.

If you already have a website with an online store, you can create your own application (entrust this to the programmer). To help - developer section and store app placement rules. If there is no online store, then you can use ready-made solutions.

The finished product application looks like this:


Cost: up to 10 products free of charge for an unlimited period, then - from 790 rubles per month (when paid for the year - 659 rubles per month). on creating the VKontakte application or watch the video at this link.

The Shop-Script application has a special theme that mimics the VKontakte interface, so all online stores look about the same:


Cost: trial period 30 days - free of charge, then from 499 rubles per month (when paid for the year - 399 rubles per month).

ShoppyBoom

ShoppyBoom ​​is a platform for creating online stores, which also allows you to find new ways to sell online. For the social network, you need to create a separate application, the principle is the same as that of Shop-Script.

    Register an online store account, confirm by the link in the letter. A site is automatically created with the address shop.shoppyboom.ru (instead of "shop" there will be a name that you yourself will come up with).

    Set up a store and fill it with products (see

2014 brought the Vkontakte company to a whole new level by capturing 60 million Internet users per day, and I will even say more - 99 percent of the users who read this article have their own profile in contact. Now I will reveal the cards, but most likely you have already understood what this article will be about - promoting your product on social networks, namely Vkontakte.

Many of my readers who are interested in selling goods from China or in general selling goods ask questions about how to sell through social networks. Actually, this is what I want to talk about today in this article and give my recommendations. So, let's start how to open a Vkontakte online store!

Demand for your product among VK users

To get started, look at your product and think about whether it can attract buyers from social networks? Yes, it can, and without much difficulty, unless of course it belongs to the luxury segment.

The ideal product options for selling through social networks are clothes, accessories and other oversized goods that the client can receive by mail and does not need a gazelle for transportation.

How to open a Vkontakte store

To start working through social networks, you need a page or community through which you will sell goods. Create a group, come up with a good name, for example, "Brand clothes ..." or "Clothes at low prices ...", remember that the name should fully reflect your work, the visitor should understand what you offer him only by the name, and he should find out everything else after when he looks at the page and starts to be interested. After that, read the article. After reading it, you will be able to make a convenient product catalog.

Materials for a group in a social network

A good quality photo of the entire range of goods is a mandatory attribute of a group on a social network, but in addition to photos, good descriptions are needed, which should not be skimped on. Describe each product in detail, this will significantly improve the attitude of social network users to your product, and if you trifle, the visitor will leave, and you will not see not just a sale, but even a repost of your post.

Next, you need to start attracting regular customers, for which you should start writing articles on the topic of your store, for example, about cosmetics, and post them in the created group at the same time. This approach allows you to attract regular customers who will come at the same time to read the next post or instructions and find something new in the assortment of your product, as well as help in promoting the group among Vkontakte members.

Paying for purchases on a social network

Everyone likes to choose, and I’ll say right away that you need to provide a choice of paying for goods, for example, with virtual money (Webmoney, Qiwi or Yandex money), transferring funds to your bank card, postal order or cash upon receipt of goods by mail (cash on delivery).

Marketing and PR

For faster promotion of your group for the sale of goods, you should organize an action, or better, a lottery of goods, where the user must like and repost the post on the wall to participate, after which the winner must be selected through the generator.

Yes, you will have to give a gift to the winner of the competition, but in turn, the group on the social network will receive a large number of subscribers and reposts, which will bring more profit later than just sitting and waiting for customers who will not appear on their own. Understand that you need to be heard or read about, but how to do this if no one reposts records about the group?

Well, if you are categorically against gifts, then other options are possible, for example, a 20 percent discount for a single visitor on the next purchase, and selection can be made, for example, by a photo contest that visitors send in on the topic of your trade. You can come up with a huge number of such contests, the main thing is that you personally like it.

Community advertising from a social network

Community PR naturally requires funds, but you hit the nail on the head. For example, you have car accessories and naturally a group of car enthusiasts, then this is the target direction that you need to stick to. So, write to the administration of the group and offer cooperation, according to which they post a small post mentioning you and, accordingly, receive a small reward for this, but remember that the cost of a post depends on the number of group members and the more there are, the more expensive such advertising will be.

Or just buy ads in thematic publics with good traffic and activity statistics. You can also use where you will pay for clicks or impressions. But this is for beginners sooner and later I will describe the step-by-step process of setting up targeting in VK (subscribe to the blog and do not miss the article!)

Communication with the client

As soon as users start paying attention to your group and viewing photos, questions will begin that you should not be afraid of. Respond, do not drag and start dialogues with visitors. You need to have good conversations with customers, not just say yes, no, in stock or out of stock; explain to them, but do not be zealous, otherwise it will seem to them that they are not competent in some matters and will leave you.

Example: the user is interested in the presence of a blue T-shirt, which is not available, you should not answer him briefly: “No”, formulate the offer in such a way that he comes back again. Say that at the moment green T-shirts are in great demand and now you have them in stock, and blue will be brought a little later. Try to interest him, write the date of the product update, make the client come again or direct him to something similar, suggest a product that you think he might like.

Conclusion

Well, now you know how to open a Vkontakte online store. Naturally, a group on a social network is great for small and even medium-sized businesses, but with an increase in sales, you should also think about creating a personal online store, which allows you to use contextual advertising and expand the boundaries of trade. There is a whole section on my website about how to create and promote an online store and call it:. But do not forget about the beginning of your work and do not leave the previously created group in contact, continue to work and expand the boundaries.

I look forward to your questions, additions and objections! Have you tried selling on VK yet? Share your experience!

Sincerely, Schmidt Nikolai

The solvent segment of VKontakte (age 25+) in Russia alone is 28 million people. This is a huge audience for business promotion and direct sales. Are there any of your customers among these 28 million? What do you think?

So, who and what is beneficial to do VKontakte?

Promotion + Sale

Let's think logically.

VK users are the most ordinary people. They are happy to receive information about brands and their offers through social networks. And they buy your products here without leaving VK.

Accordingly, if you sell something not very expensive at retail for individuals, it makes sense for you to a) promote your company on VKontakte and b) give people the opportunity to make a purchase here.

What sells well in VK?

- These are consumer goods of low and medium price category.

  • Clothing, footwear, accessories, including sporting goods.
  • Gifts.
  • Toys and children's products (just be sure to provide evidence of their safety).
  • Almost all types of handmade, including even such unexpected ones as author's confectionery.
  • Private services (hairdresser, photographer, celebrations, flower delivery).
  • Cosmetics (if you are an official representative, for example, Avon or Oriflame).
  • Eco goods (again, if you can prove that you can be trusted).
  • Inexpensive household appliances or electronics (if you are an official dealer).
  • Very small wholesale (for example, clothes in joint purchases or accessories for handmade craftsmen).
  • Etc.

The VK infrastructure makes it possible to carry out transactions immediately, without going to an external site, and people are ready to do this.

Only promotion

If you are selling very expensive goods or services, such as real estate, cars, household appliances, it is useless for you to try to make deals on VKontakte. This is due to the problem of people's trust in sellers on social networks. People are ready to part with a small amount of money (see the previous block), but they don’t want to give even 20-30 thousand rubles without additional verification (at least without going to an online store).

However, such companies successfully use social networks, including VK, to promote the brand, strengthen the position of the brand and trust in it, to turn on word of mouth, to spread "viruses", for technical support and communication with customers, for market research ... As you can see, there are many possibilities. So if you are selling, for example, luxury washing machines, do not rush to discount the possibilities of social media.

VK is not needed

Always keep in mind who your customer is and where they are looking for information. Are you a b2b, wholesaler, such as equipment or natural resources, and your clients are corporations? Obviously, a large (and even medium) corporate client will not be looking for a VKontakte supplier. Here, completely different channels for disseminating information and completely different sales platforms will work for you, even if you have a very small company.

In most cases, it will be useless for you to try to organize technical support on VKontakte or research your customers there. A large b2b client will not ask you questions in private messages or participate in polls on the wall. So if you sell jewelry in bulk, it’s better not to look in the direction of VK.

Both yours and ours

As usual, the exception to all the rules is microbusiness.

If your customers are representatives of very small businesses and businesses in one person, you slightly move from the b2b segment to the private segment. Microbusiness owners are similar in behavioral factors to ordinary (non-business) people. Therefore, often you can not only promote, but also sell your product or service to micro-business owners directly on VKontakte.

For example, my service is for micro business owners. For me, it makes sense both in promoting VK and in researching the VK audience. And at the same time, they periodically order a consultation or a text from me directly through personal messages.

Here is such a phenomenon.

So if you are also working with a micro business, explore VK as a potential platform for promotion and sales. And this applies not only to those who provide services. In the end, they can buy a cake for a corporate party from you - also without leaving VK.

In 2016, the Products section appeared among the main menu items. Let's take a closer look at what it is. Now you can sell various things, accessories, services from your page, simply by describing your product and indicating its cost. Your listings will be available first to your friends and to all those who are looking for the item you are going to sell.

How to sell goods through Vkontakte

We are looking for the Goods item in the menu on the right, if it is not there, turn it on through Settings.

Your friends' ads are displayed immediately, you can add the product to your favorites to buy later and place your products with the button Submit an ad. The list of created products can be viewed in the tab My goods.

First you need to select a category. A huge number of groups are presented, also divided into subgroups. From the wardrobe to the list of services, I'm sure you can easily select the desired item. In the name of the goods, it is advisable to briefly and accurately write what you are selling, because users search for goods by name. In the description, add a brief description and details related to the product or service. Be sure to attach an image, as the first glance of the buyer usually falls on the picture, and then on the text. Specify the cost of your product, you can first search for similar products to find out the approximate price. And, as an option, for a faster and more successful sale, you can make the cost of your product lower than that of competitors.

To purchase, you can contact the seller through private messages. You can pay for the goods both on Vkontakte using money transfers, and in a personal meeting with the seller - as agreed. I also want to add that in the section Products products are located not only from the personal pages of users, but also from communities. That is, now all the goods are located in one place, which is quite convenient. There are restrictions on the number of goods, judging by the Vkontakte API, but there is no specific figure, apparently no one has come across this yet. Therefore, if you have reached the limit, write in the comments how many products you were able to upload to Vkontakte.

You will learn how to make an online store in VK and what benefits it will give your business. Read about how to promote a trading platform on a social network from scratch and make good profits.

26.03.2018 Maya Terentyeva

In this article, we will consider the main advantages of an online store in VK, learn how to create and promote it. We will review proven applications for creating an online store and give detailed instructions for installing them.

In addition, you will receive some practical advice on how to promote a store on your own without additional investments. Pour yourself some tea, sit back, and we'll begin!

VKontakte online store is an excellent platform for business

The VKontakte online store today is a popular tool for business. It allows you to promote your products to the target audience, thereby increasing the number of customers in any niche. Just imagine, the audience of the social network has about 90 million users. It is easy to guess how many of them there are potential buyers.

Connecting a virtual marketplace to any public page or group is easy and completely free. This does not require a separate domain with hosting, the services of a programmer and designer, which will cost several thousand rubles.

The VKontakte online store is a combination of an impeccable trading platform and all the features of social networks. You post your products, and then warm up the interest of customers with regular useful posts, read and respond to comments, receive feedback - in other words, constantly interact with the audience.

Why an online store in a social network is convenient

If 10 years ago the social network was used exclusively to communicate with friends and acquaintances, now millions of users not only publish their stories, read the posts of others, but also actively buy. Yes, yes, they buy - it's so convenient, I went to read the posts and immediately found what interests you.

We list other advantages of creating a store in VK:

  • it's fast and easy - the trading platform is created in 4 clicks;
  • optimization of the social network for online stores - you place your services in the appropriate section, and you can communicate with customers through personal messages right in the group;
  • constant feedback - communicate with your audience by posting interesting posts, arranging promotions and reporting the latest news;
  • ranking by search engines - social network stores are ranked by search engines as well as any sites, so with the right approach to promotion, you will definitely get to the TOP of search results.

How to create an online store VKontakte - proven methods

To place a trading platform in VK, it is most convenient to create a community, and not a public page.

There are several reasons for this choice:

  1. It is convenient to create various sections here for the convenience of users - the latest news, discounts and promotions, delivery and payment.
  2. The news section can be easily broken down into sections, each of which will lead to a separate page.
  3. The "Discussions" section is placed under the "Products" section, users will look more often.
  4. There is a special section "Documents", where it is convenient to place all the necessary documentation.

Don't forget the decor! Your community is the face of your store, so pay special attention to this issue - from the profile picture to the details.

Once the community is ready, start launching the store. There are 3 main ways.

Method 1. Connect the "Products" service

Go to "Community Management", select "Sections" and activate the "Products" button.

Important! Only 3 products will be displayed on the main page, and which ones are up to you. To do this, simply select the desired collection and check the box "This is the main selection of the community." Don't forget to regularly update the list of offers displayed on the main page!

Method 2: Create an application

Thanks to the application, you will get a full-fledged online store in which customers will place an order and pay for the purchase without your direct participation. The link to the store will be located on the right.

To do this, go to the VKontakte applications page, click "Install application" and follow the instructions.

Method 3. Use 2 options

This is the most convenient way that allows you to display all the products on the content page, as well as organize a full-fledged online store from which you can upload a product catalog to a social network. Community and store data will be synced.

For example, if you arrange a promotion for a group of products, they will automatically be displayed in the community. In addition, you do not have to manually reconcile balances, they will be recalculated automatically after each purchase.

TOP-3 applications for creating an online store in VK

Application overview will make your choice easier.

Study, compare conditions and use the most convenient option. Please note that some applications are more suitable for the Chrome browser than for Mozilla or Opera.

ecwid

Here is the instruction for you:

  • on the VK applications page, click "Install application";
  • create a community or public page to which the store will be attached;
  • register using the form and click "Create a store";
  • copy the link from the address bar and add it to the "Links" tab;
  • come up with a name for the store and go to it from the community;
  • fill in the description;
  • go to "Management", add a product and fill in all the proposed fields;
  • store is ready!

You have the right to post up to 10 products for free for an unlimited period. When adding 11 or more products, the cost of maintaining the store will be from 790 rubles per month, and with a one-time annual payment - 659 rubles per month.

Shop Script

Specific steps:

  1. Register on the page and confirm the registration, after which you will be allocated a separate technical website address ID.host.webasyst.com, where instead of ID there will be the name of your store.
  2. In the control panel, add products according to the instructions.
  3. Then follow the step by step instructions.

To get acquainted, use the application for 30 days completely free of charge, then the cost of maintenance will be from 499 rubles per month, and with annual payment - 399 rubles per month

fresh shop

The option is more suitable for those who already have a website in the Bitrix system.

If you don't have it, use one of the simpler options above or see the detailed instructions for creating the Fresh shop module;

The period of free use is 7 days (excluding the cost of creating a site on Bitrix). Renewal will require a one-time fee of 8690 rubles

There are several ways to promote a store in VK - both paid and free.

If you do not have the time and desire to engage in promotion yourself:

  • contact freelancers;
  • use a special paid program;
  • order advertising in a popular public, and preferably in several.

Prices for promotion - from 1000 rubles to infinity.

If you want to promote the trading platform for free, we suggest using the following tips. Of course, the result will not be quick, but with the right approach, it will be no less effective.

Regularly replenish the product grid with new positions. Try to pay special attention to the description, clarify all the details so that the buyer does not have any questions.

If you post a picture, be sure to indicate its dimensions, materials of manufacture, year of painting and other information that may be of interest to buyers.

Look for communities with similar topics and invite administrators to post your product. This increases the chances of increasing the target audience.

For example, the "mom" community will be an excellent platform for placing children's goods.

Place an ad with an offer of goods and services in the relevant blocks, or do it on third-party sites (Avito, Yula, etc.). Be sure to include a link to your social media profile.

Tip 4. Prioritize your home page

Determine the most relevant product group. It can be your best works, seasonal offers, promotional products, etc.