5 Steps to Starting Your eCommerce Business

If you’re looking to start your own business, eCommerce is a very popular business model with a huge amount of potential for success. And, getting started with an online store is easier than ever to do yourself, with a huge number of user-friendly platforms to choose from and plenty of popular industries to get into.

These days, you can sell almost anything that you like online from household essentials to clothing, personalized goods, and gifts to furniture and even larger items like cars and vehicle parts. Whatever your niche, every eCommerce website has the potential to be very successful with the right approach. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when starting your online store.

Choosing a Niche:

Today, online shopping is very mainstream and it’s not going anywhere any time soon. Consumers love the option of shopping for products online since it means that they can get what they need quickly and easily without having to leave their home or even their sofa. Gone are the days of spending hours searching the stores on foot for the perfect item or the best deals; today you can just do a quick Google search and find exactly what you’re looking for in minutes.

When it comes to choosing a niche, consider what you’re passionate about alongside thinking about what will sell well. It’s always better to choose a niche that you enjoy yourself since this will shine through in your business compared to picking a product to sell simply because it is popular.

Choosing a Business Model:

Once you have decided on the products that you are going to sell, it’s time to consider how you are going to get them to your customers. There are two options to choose from when starting an eCommerce store. You can purchase the products beforehand and hold inventory, or you can use the dropshipping model, which bypasses the middle-man and allows products to be sent directly from the manufacturer to the customer when an order is placed. Dropshipping is an ideal choice if you want to start an eCommerce store on a budget, as there’s no need to buy products in advance. You’ll only pay when the customer does.

Branding:

Spend some time coming up with a brand to make your eCommerce store stand out from the rest. This is a key feature as the market is so saturated, the last thing that you want is to simply blend in. Consider the visual side of branding, such as your logo and brand colors, but pay more attention to your brand voice and unique selling proposition (USP). What makes your eCommerce different from the rest? Consider Amazon, for example, who became the most popular selling site online simply because they offered a range of different convenient options to customers, such as one-click ordering and personalized shopping suggestions.

Choosing an eCommerce Platform:

When it comes to creating your eCommerce website, you have two options: pay a web developer to design a site for you or do it yourself using an eCommerce platform.

eCommerce platforms have become a very popular option in recent times since they offer a much cheaper way of getting started with an online store and the majority are extremely user-friendly and do not require any coding or development experience. Typically, you will choose from a range of pre-designed professional templates and themes and use one that is in line with the type of store you hope to achieve and your niche and branding. You can usually adjust the colors, fonts and other aspects of the theme to create a unique design that reflects your brand. When choosing an eCommerce platform, some of the most important aspects to keep in mind include:

• SEO: Is the platform that you choose SEO-friendly? Will your site be optimized for Google search in order to ensure that you are ranking well and get the best results?
• Mobile-friendliness: When it comes to the templates and themes that your platform offers, are they mobile-friendly? Today, people are shopping more and more often on mobile devices and tablets, which might not provide the best viewing experience on a website that’s designed only for laptops and computers. Be sure to choose a platform that provides a range of responsive designs.
• Support: Can you access support as and when you need it? If your website goes down, will you be able to contact the platform’s customer service team and deal with the issue promptly? Even overnight downtime can have a huge effect on your online sales, so it’s important to opt for a platform that offers 24/7 support.
• Content: Does the platform offer an option for you to have a business blog so that you can use interesting content to attract more customers to your site?

Marketing:

There is a range of channels that you can use in order to market your eCommerce store and it makes sense to utilize as many of these as possible. Social media is a great place to start. You can use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to market your brand overall and draw attention to more specific products. The best way to ensure that you put together effective marketing campaigns for your eCommerce store is by getting to know your target audience well, and social media is an excellent tool for doing this.

Once you have set up business profiles, don’t just focus on sharing advertisements and promotional content, but dedicate a lot of time to sharing information and asking open-ended questions to your followers to gather the information that you can put to use in the future in terms of how to best reach them and generate interest. Instagram is a highly effective marketing tool for many eCommerce brands since it’s very visual and allows you to easily showcase your best products.

eCommerce is a very promising business model for anybody looking to start their own company. Keep these factors in mind to get your online store off to the best start.