How To Start eCommerce Business

Ecommerce is buying and selling products online by the use of the internet. Setting up an eCommerce business requires a lot of steps and we have put together these steps based on the most important tasks you will face while starting up an eCommerce. The five steps required when setting up an eCommerce business are:

Choosing a product

To build an eCommerce business, the first step is Finding the product you would want to sell i.e., getting to know what products you want to sell online, wholesale, direct-to-consumers. This is said to be the most challenging part in order to start a new business online.

The second step comes when you have decided about what product you would want to sell and that is you Evaluating your idea. Your product is decided now but how do you know it will sell? It is very important to validate your product idea and the potential market. The third step is to know how you will be Obtaining your product.

Once you are done making a strong product idea, you should start to work out how and where you will be obtaining your product. You should decide on the various methods for acquiring the product of your idea. Decide on should you manufacture it or wholesale or dropship? Or Who will be your manufacturer or supplier?

Research and Prepare

Now you have found your product, evaluated your idea of your product, and obtained your product but before this, don’t forget who you are up against i.e., your competitor and how different you are from them, in other words, Conduct a Research on your competition.

This can be known by conducting a SWOT analysis or Competitive analysis so you can keep track of any improvements to be made and how better or worse you are when compared to your competitor. When you are done conducting your research, the next step comes is Creating a business plan.

A business plan is basically or you could say it is a road map of your ideas and thoughts together on a paper. It helps you determine what to prioritize and how effectively you can reach or attract new customers. It helps you give an image in your mind of how your eCommerce business will function and look like.

Setting up your Business

Setting up your business will require you to Name your Businessi.e., the brand name of your business or deciding on a domain name. This is the 2nd most challenging decision after deciding on what product to sell. The next step is to Create a logo. Once you are done deciding your brand name, you should then create a logo that should be simple and unique and something consumers may look at and remember the brand.

The third step is to Understand the search engine optimization (SEO). This allows you to properly structure your site and pages for Google and other search engines. Upon understanding the search engines, you are now free to Build your store. Build high-converting product pages, write attractive product descriptions, shoot the pictures of your products beautifully and choose your attractive eCommerce color palette.

When you are done doing this, one of the important parts is Choosing your sales channels. This is important because the right choice of sales channel will attract new customers and the best way to reach them is to choose the channel where they already shop. Your products and target customers depend on the right mix of sales channels.

Preparing to Launch

As the launch of your new business, you should decide on the shipping methods and fulfilments you need to prepare for. You should look for international shipping methods, pricing your product and handling returns, reducing shipping costs for a small eCommerce start-up. It is also a very good idea to define your key performance indicators so that you can keep track of your success.

Post Launch

You have launched your eCommerce business, now you have the responsibility to market your products to the people as much as you can. Generate a lot of traffic to your website by digital marketing and also by your unique eCommerce website design. Your presence on social media will also give a positive impact on your customers.

You’re well on your way and it seems you have sold some products, now is the time to get serious and focused i.e., you should start Marketing your store. You should perform market tactics, expand it into driving traffic and convert this traffic into sales. This can be done using various marketing strategies and methods.

You can do this by using the Email marketing methodi.e., building your list, sending effective campaigns, and tracking the results. Also, market your store by driving traffic from social media. You can make an Instagram page and upload pictures of your products, interested consumers will make the way to your website found on your Instagram page and are likely to recommend products to their friends through Instagram.

Using social media to promote

You can also make a YouTube channel to promote your products. You can also use paid ads on Instagram or Facebook or any social networking sites and put up an advertisement that can attract many customers to buy your product. These paid advertisements can pop up on social sites and attract many new customers to your product.

Optimize for the higher conversion of the traffic into sales. Attract customers by using effective marketing strategies. Also, keep in track of your insights by using analytics i.e., how many people have liked your products, saved them, shared them, or visited your website.

Building eCommerce can be very exciting but it requires a lot of time and hard work to be input. You will learn a lot about the choice of your decisions and the methods you choose. It is very important to keep track of the competitors and changes in demand as you go along it and continuously bring improvement to your eCommerce business by using good marketing strategies.