Planning to start earning by selling goods online?
Online retail is now quite a booming business, but you need to go right from the first step or the entire process might get quite complicated. Starting an ecommerce online store is all about building a virtual store, with real live merchandise, branded products and lifelong customers – with you being the sole in charge.
Any ecommerce model is a bit different from any other online store which is involved solely with product sales. An ecommerce model is about:
- Niche and persona – it is not just about a product
- High profit margin
- Shipping costs and facts
- Launching new lines and understanding what is selling
- Growth projection naturally
Any online business is about a large investment, hence before you start deciding on your online business, you need to start thinking about the business structure and the basic models which are available.
There are a number of steps involved in starting an ecommerce store, which needs to be followed for the success of any business.
So, here are top 7 tips for starting an ecommerce online store.
Select Your Product
Selecting the right product, you wish to sell through your online store is quite crucial and often considered to be the most challenging. If you find it tough to select the product, you can take help of a few online tools, which help in product research. You will be guided through some potential products which have high demand. It is important to have the correct data related to monthly sales estimates, reviews, sales rank and even opportunity score which has high demand. Do not forget to consider the trending products and ones which are cost efficient with high value.
Manufacturer Facts
You might be having a great idea, plenty of website traffic but what if your manufacturer is not able to meet the demand? Thus, when you are considering potential manufacturers, you shouldn’t only focus on cost aspects, but consider the availability and capacity of the manufacturer. When you are 100% confident about your manufacturer being able to meet the demand, you should sign on.
Build Your Brand Name
You need to create your brand name which shouldn’t just be memorable but should be appealing to the target audience. Your brand name should be available with domain name and also social media handles. You can also brainstorm brand names and also use a name generator tool.
Website Development
Creating your website is the next step. You need to hire a web designer who will design the website layout and create a logo for you. Your designer will understand your business, know more about your business objective and design the entire website. You can select platforms like WordPress and also WooCommerce or from other options which are available. Shopify is also a popular platform for building an ecommerce store, especially in case of those who do not have much technical knowledge or budget. Platforms like Shopify have many themes which help in building your website and have it running immediately.
Fulfilment and Shipping
As you plan to start your ecommerce store, you need to decide if you will be able to handle the order processing or fulfilment in-house. In fact, this has plenty to do with the kind of product you choose to sell. There might be a few situations where you might have to just take orders and a third party will handle all the fulfilment requirements.
Plan Your Revenue Goals
For any business, revenue is an important aspect and should be planned in advance. You need to consider facts like the cost of your product, per unit cost of the product and other facts. You should also consider the shipping cost and the fulfilment components which includes the software, postage and staff. You need to consider the merchant processing fees as well. Besides, if you wish to increase your revenue, you can cut down costs as your sales increases.
Marketing Plan Designing
Now that you have a product and also a website, you should start thinking about ways of how you will make the product available for your customers. There are a number of things which you can start doing immediately to generate sales. You can launch a Facebook ads campaign and also include Instagram. You can also use influencer marketing which will help in driving conversations as quickly as you launch. Any marketing plan needs to include different long-term components like search engine optimisation which helps in increasing traffic, which can help in generating sales and revenue.
It is also important to be able to track everything. You need to set up the conversion pixels and different goals so that you are aware of the origin of your every single sale. The availability of correct data and information, helps in targeting traffic and increasing sales.
Good luck with your ecommerce store! Contact our team to help you start your first ecommerce store.
