5 tools DIY makers are waiting for

1. Handmade at Amazon

There are never too many channels to list your products — especially when they really can generate sales for your business. Handmade at Amazon is a new store on Amazon.com for invited artisans to sell their unique, handcrafted goods. Amazon, as a general marketplace with enormous traffic, exists already for quite a long time, but it is just now that they create a special place dedicated for DIY products.Many merchants expect that Handmade at Amazon will become as powerful as Etsy is now (or even more). They hope that the platform will bring them thousands of new clients and will generate many purchases. It is difficult to predict now what will the impact of this new channel be, but it certainly has an enormous potential and is a thing that DIY makers are impatiently waiting for. So am I.

2. Click-to-shop Ads on Instagram

Statistics show that more than 300 million people use Instagram already (which is almost 30% of all people who access internet). What is more, Instagram seems to be a perfect place for DIY/fashion promotion. Its users just love browsing images of beautiful products. Letting them buy those they like directly from the app seems to be an obvious move. Sadly enough, it is not possible. Though Instagram has announced some advertising possibilities, they are still not accessible to everyone — they are being tested by the biggest brands and are not offered to small/medium sized businesses.The solution Instagram has invented is called Carousel Ad. It consists of a couple of images. Once a user is interested in a product, he can swipe through to see more photos and, at the end, click through the Learn More button to be directed to online store to buy the item.You can see it live here. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? I bet posts of this kind will soon become a huge traffic source for online stores/marketplaces with DIY and fashion products. That is why we are all looking forward to Instagram making them available for all the sellers — even the smallest ones.

3. Omnisale

Omnisale is a tool which aims to solve problems with multichannel selling that crafters and designers have. It is now available only for private beta-testers and then will be launched to general public. Basically, it is one place to sell everywhere — you can connect all the channels you use (i.e Etsy, Shopify, eBay, Dawanda, WooCommerce etc.) and manage them together. It means, you have all your inventory, orders and clients in one app. Consequently:

• you can fulfil orders from one place
• your stock levels are updated automatically across all the channels after each sale (no more logging in and out to all the marketplaces and doing it manually)
• you have all your customers under one roof, so you can incentivise them to make more purchases

Seems like it will really help save a lot of time ;)

Omnisale will also analyse seller’s inventory and suggest him new channels with demand for his products. They will integrate with all of them, so you will also be able to list in new marketplaces easily and quickly. This feature seems like a big novelty that can actually revolutionise ecommerce, letting designers and crafters grow their sales, listing everywhere their customers are. Can’t wait to hear first feedback from merchants that used it!

4. Facebok Buy Now Button

With more than 1, 44 billion active users all around the world, Facebook is certainly one of the biggest sources of customer acquisition. More and more sellers use Facebook Ads to attract users to their stores and the possibilities seem to be really wide (especially in terms of targeting!).Nevertheless, there is still one thing that Facebook lacks — the possibility of purchasing a product directly from News Feed (while browsing), without having to leave the portal. But — no worries — Facebook is already working on it. They have introduced a “Buy” call-to-action button on ads and Page posts that will let users purchase a product immediately, still being on Facebook.

This really has a great potential and may increase Facebook’s conversion tremendously. The purchasing process will shorten significantly, as consumers will even be able to pay through Facebook. The feature is already tested by some of the Shopify store owners, but I hope it will become available to wider public very soon. I am really curious how will customers find this new way of shopping — will they consider it a great convenience or rather act distrustfully, being concerned with security issues. What do you think?

5. Pinterest Buyable Pins

Last but not least — Pinterest buyable pins. Another thing being tested now, but not yet available to all sellers. Pinterest, again, is a huge traffic generator for ecommerce businesses, but still isn’t 100% adapted to online sellers (and buyers) needs. That is a big waste, as, according to statistics, 93% of portal’s users plan to purchase products they browse.But, happily enough, Pinterest recognises its own potential and they found a way to make the most of it — Buyable Pins. Scenario here is pretty similar to the one on Facebook. A user can buy things without ever leaving the Pinterest app (the feature is developed for iPhone and iPad right now). The payment goes through Apple Pay to make sure credit card info is secure. The good news is Pinterest doesn’t charge you any commission, so you get a new sales generator completely for free. It seems really exciting and may turn out to be one of the most effective channels in ecommerce. Hope Pinterest makes it accessible to everyone as soon as possible, so that we all can turn our followers to our… customers.

Conclusion

Ecommerce market is constantly evolving. There are hundreds of tools developed every year to make online shopping easier — both for selllers and buyers. Nevertheless, only some of them turn out be game changers — such as for instance Etsy (for DIY industry), Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest (for free marketing and branding opportunities) and Google (as a place where people look for products). The 5 novelties I mentioned above have, in my opinion, big chances to become next game changers. Which tools/business would you add to this list? Share your ideas in comments — I am really curious about other sellers predictions.