Starting an eCommerce business is one of the best ways for individuals to get started on their own and create a great life for themselves. Now that much of the world is connected online, you can easily reach countless people interested in your products. It’s why the eCommerce market is expected to reach $1 trillion in sales for the first time in 2022.
If you have a desire to start an eCommerce business, you need to know how to do it right. Follow the steps below to start an eCommerce store with success.
Determine Your Niche
The first step to starting any retail business is to figure out which industry you want to sell products in. You need to understand the industry, the problems people have and have a solution to those problems.
However, you can’t just start a business in an industry and hope for success. Whether you’re dropshipping products or have your own idea, you need to validate your business plan.
Reach out to potential customers in your industry and see their problems. Are there products that can solve problems, and does your potential competition address those issues?
The better you can position yourself as a company that solves problems, the easier time you’ll have to get customers.
Set Up Your Business Structure
Once you validate your product idea, you’ll need to set up the legal structure to sell products in your country. For most people, that means registering a new business with your government.
You’ll need to understand the different business structures and what they offer your business. An LLC is a great choice if you plan to handle things mostly on your own and with freelancers. However, a corporation is better if you plan to hire employees and grow your business into a large organization.
If you aren’t sure which option to choose, get help from an experienced professional. Accountants and lawyers can tell you the pros and cons of each structure and recommend the one that makes the most sense for your eCommerce company.
Pick an eCommerce Platform
Once you decide on an eCommerce niche and have your business set up, the next step is to pick an eCommerce platform to sell products with. Luckily, this is easier than ever.
You have two main options for eCommerce platforms. Those options are self-hosted and hosted platforms.
A self-hosted platform is a software you run on your own web server. You’ll need to buy server space, install your eCommerce software, and manage everything yourself. You have more to do in this scenario, but you have more control over your data and eCommerce software.
You don’t have as much to do with a hosted eCommerce platform. Your provider takes care of all the technical details. All you need to do is design your store and set up your products to sell.
Get Software to Help
An eCommerce platform isn’t the only thing you’ll need to run your eCommerce store. You’ll also need a way to manage your data and run the other parts of your business.
Here are a few software options you can consider for your business:
- Accounting software
- Stock management
- Email list
- Graphics programs
- CRM
Additionally, there may also be software unique to your industry. You’ll have to learn more about those programs to see what works best for your company.
On top of that, your eCommerce platform may offer integrations to your chosen software. Look through the plugins available for your eCommerce website to see what works well. You can find anything from Shopify accounting to email list opt-in software.
Create Standard Procedures
It isn’t efficient to do things at random all the time. You constantly have to remember how to do things and spend more time than needed on tasks.
It’s more efficient to create standard procedures for all your common tasks. Think about the steps you should take to handle your work and write them on paper. From there, you can think of the best way to handle those tasks and make changes until you optimize your processes.
This is also important when you start hiring employees. You don’t want people doing things their own way. Standard procedures keep everyone on the same page and make it easy to onboard new employees on your team.
Create a Marketing Strategy
Even if you have a great product and professional store, you won’t see success when you start a business online unless you can draw in customers. Unfortunately, that’s not easy to do these days.
There’s tons of competition, making getting someone’s attention harder than ever. You need a marketing strategy that will help your business stand out.
SEO is an excellent option if you don’t need immediate sales and can work on a long-term strategy. You build content that builds your authority in your industry and rank on Google. You’ll get free search engine traffic for as long as you stick around on the first page when you succeed in ranking.
If you want immediate results, paid ads are a great choice. You can choose Google PPC or social media advertising for this.
However, you’ll need an excellent customer persona to create targeted ads. Otherwise, you won’t be able to connect to your customers and convince them that you can solve their problems.
Now You’re Ready to Start an eCommerce Business
It’s easier than ever to start an eCommerce business, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to make it successful. There are a set of steps you need to take if you want to maximize the chance of success. Follow the guide above to start your online store and prime it to start making sales.
However, running an online business is a constant process of learning, which means there’s always more for you to learn. Check out the blog to learn more about creating a successful business.