Running a successful online business definitely has its own charm, but also comes with lots of challenges. When it’s the e-commerce sector, then starting a business of any kind is a challenging task as countless people are already in the leap with different innovative ideas. Yet, you can also try some new things with your ideas too. We’ve put together a collection of different ways to create an online store that will help you to find a product idea and a profitable business model.
When you think about e-commerce, the first picture that springs out is consumers loading their shopping cart online. Very often, people assume that it is limited to consumers’ shopping online. While it’s true that the pace of eCommerce is far-reaching implications beyond that.
Let’s know how e-commerce has altered the nature of businesses across the globe. According to Statista, Amazon and Walmart are among the most popular retail websites in the United States ranked by visitors. Walmart’s online sales saw 40% growth in 2018 and it became the third-largest online retailer in the United States. While Walmart’s online sales are projected to grow an additional 35% in 2019. Amazon also accounts for 40% of the U.S. online retail. Both Walmart and Amazon have made their progress in different areas with innovations.
Creating products that people will use every day can be the most satisfying choice. Take the example of clothing and apparel. According to Statista, the global online fashion marketplace is predicted to grow to $872bn by 2023. Fashion sites are the most effective when it comes to converting the traffic into sales.
According to data from CS Robotics, the number of retailer locations offering BOPUS (Buy online and pick up in–store) nearly doubled last year among US grocery retailers like Walmart, Kroger, and Target.
In order to ensure the collective growth of the ecosystem, other small e-commerce platforms have been working for generating opportunities, developing infrastructure, and driving tech adoption. Opening up with own online business is easier than ever nowadays. Thanks to the services and free software available on the internet. In order to make a profit from the online store, you have to sell goods to the end customer. And to sell goods, you should have to have a storefront. Before starting an online store, make research on market and niche.
Figure-out Specific Products on Your Niche:
Find a niche with huge demand and low competition. Make your eCommerce store stand out by doing things that other competitor eCommerce stores are not doing. Define your USP for your product and stand out from the competition in the market. Think about the costs involved in getting products from the manufacturer to customers.
First, decide what to sell. There are two choices: Commoditized and Unique products. We know a unique product sells best in the market. Thus, determine a product niche you are passionate about or the trending product running in the market.
Explicitly targeting niche audiences can be a prudent and lucrative business strategy. Niche products cater to a specific topic of interest and don’t have an impact to attract those who are not interested in that product. It is easier to create a targeted marketing strategy with less competition in niche–specific areas. The visitors are also likely to spend more time on your website. As they have a specific interest in a particular kind of product, engagement will be more.
Large companies like Amazon and Walmart have well-established in the market with their multiple products and brands. Take the example of Amazon! After making a list of top 20 products to sell on the internet, it decided to sell books because of their low cost and universal demand. Gradually it has expanded its market with many categories and became a multivendor marketplace on the internet.
In fact, focusing on niche–specific products for your online store can go into the market with more ease. For example, ASOS is a brand that is a pioneer in fashion brands and not into different products like other competitors.
It is equally important to consider the challenges in your product niche before you move forward with launching a store. For instance, you might be able to sell your products much less than your competitors, but will the shipping costs eliminate your profit margins? Analyze with your closest competitors to get an overview of what they are doing in their space. You want to have an eye on each of them.
How to Start Your Online Store and Make a Profit?
Unlike a brick-and-mortar business, you don’t need startup capital to start your online store. With lots of internet businesses running with free services will facilitate the possibility for you. For example, you can set up a website for free using WordPress. You can leverage third–party sites like Amazon or eBay to sell goods with no inventory costs. However, you need to choose a platform for your eCommerce store. Let’s know the different options available in the market to start an online business and make money with little cost!
Create an Online Store:
Starting an eCommerce online store is not much hard as before. There are accessible eCommerce platforms that build eCommerce websites and mobile apps in lesser time. Let’s know the best marketplace software for small businesses to large enterprises.
SaaS eCommerce platform
Custom eCommerce platform
A SaaS eCommerce platform delivers only software solutions, which are deployed on a third-party host offering the cloud services.
Custom eCommerce platforms are the ready-made solutions coming with source code access and are delivered as self-hosted. You can customize the source codes to add any new features.
Starting from scratch is also a good option to create marketplace software if you know the tech skills, coding and have enough resources and time. However, it is recommended to invest more in business development rather than website development.
Profitable Options for Creating an Online Store:
Dropshipping:
Dropshipping is one of the easiest ways to start an online store without worrying about carrying inventory. Once you set up an arrangement with a dropshipping distributor, you are ready to set up your online store and take orders.
As orders are received, all the information will pass to the distributor. The distributor is then responsible for delivering the goods to end customers. You will get the profit between your selling price and wholesale price you’ve negotiated with the vendor. Thus, dropshipping is considered one of the profitable ways with a little physical effort.
However, the profit margin will be fairly low compared to other storage options in dropshipping. Managing customer support is one of the major challenges in dropshipping. So it is essential to choose reliable manufacturers to work with.
Have you already decided about your niche? Investing in stock or dropshipping? Margins in dropshipping will be lower on average. And finally, you can make a profit. Thus, it is a good option to get a profit in dropshipping.
Selling Physical Goods with Inventory:
Selling goods with inventory is the most traditional way of making money via an online store. You buy physical goods from the manufacturer at a wholesale price, stock inventory, and ship the goods directly to the end customer.
The profit margins are high as compared to dropshipping in this process. However, it is a troublesome procedure at times. It also involves greater risk because you have to put some of your own money to upfront purchase inventory.
Selling as an Affiliate:
Becoming an affiliate is quite similar to being a dropshipping with no responsibility whatsoever. Just you need to refer someone to a product/service.
If a person makes a purchase from your affiliate link, you get a cut of the sale. Once the sale is done, affiliates are out of the picture. Being an affiliate is far the lowest way to make money. Unfortunately, it also carries the lowest profit percentage.
Conclusion:
Technically, it’s a new chance for you to start an online store and create a lucrative business for yourself. With the list of online business ideas in the market, you have plenty of options to get started with. Take a few niche ideas and run them with proper business strategy. You might get your own successful and profitable online business just like other giant competitors.
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