How to use Trade Me to acquire new customers for your online business

With almost 4 million members, Trade Me is the largest online marketplace in New Zealand. Often described as the Kiwi version of eBay, it has a loyal and active following. According to data from June 2016, an average of 738,444 people visit the site every day. Basically, if you live in New Zealand, then you probably know Trade Me.

If you want to sell products online to New Zealanders, then building a Trade Me presence is a good place to start. However, with high listing fees, many businesses cannot afford to use Trade Me as their sole sales channel. Instead, they use Trade Me as an effective customer acquisition tool.

The idea is to list some of your best-selling products on Trade Me. Then, once a buyer has made a purchase, you can try to convert them into a website customer.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Offer a free gift to website subscribers
In your Trade Me order confirmation email, encourage people to sign up to your website or subscribe to your newsletter and offer a free gift as an incentive. Once you have their email address, you can market to them directly (without needing to go through Trade Me). Be sure to include links to your social media profiles in the email too.

Send Trade Me buyers a voucher for your store
Include a printed voucher in your shipment package to encourage customers to visit your website when they want to place their next order. For example, the voucher could offer 10% off or ‘buy one get one free’.

Include your branding on Trade Me
Make it clear that you’re selling products on Trade Me as a business, as opposed to an individual. With more than 3.5 million listings on the site at any one time, you want your listing to be attractive and professional. Share your business name and post high-quality photos. And most importantly, provide excellent customer service to foster customer loyalty.

The main idea is to get creative and make sure your customers know about your website and have a positive experience with your brand.

Bonus tip: Automate product listings
If you use an ecommerce platform such as Bigcommerce or Magento, you can use tools such as Commerce Connect or Omnivore to automate your product listings on Trade Me.