My own Online Store — Tips and tricks to be a professional on e-commerce!

In the year of 2020 the E-commerces have been raising stunningly!

While more of the population is getting digital, more the businesses too. Many incredible new shops have emerged (as startups, or as a transformation of physical ones) with amazing branding and strategies which create an experience in the digital journey.

So if you are thinking about quitting your job, or just getting an extra income in a partial time, this is for you!

I developed an online store 6 years ago, with no previous knowledge about how to set it up. Through all these years I have had successes and failures, which have taken my enterprise to the top point of sale in the company, and outstanding over competitors in the sector.

In this article I will reveal all the steps you need to know while developing your E-commerce. Get ready!

Usually the entrepreneurs start by themselves, from the idea, the design, the marketing, logistics, accountings, customer support, etc (just to mention some). The great benefit is working from home (or anywhere in the world) and establishing your own schedule, but the reality is that you will need organization and planning. Another advantage is that most of the time is quite cheaper to manage than a traditional business.

To consider:

• There is a lot of information and strategies to learn, and important: its needed to be aware of the emerging trends!
• It can be a hard work and time consuming (more than what you can imagine) to maintain updated the products, prices, photos, marketing, logistics, and accountings, etc.
• It can take some time to have the expected sales you need to achieve your revenue goals.
• It is important to develop credibility and trust.
• Availability for a quick response is essencial for the customer service.

Are you ready to begin?

What to sell?

This is the first step to consider, as it is a crucial decision to make. Think about this points:

• Is the product interesting for a big market or a very specific segment?
• Is there an actual demand for it? Or have you thought about how to “create” the need of it (in case the product is an innovation)
• Is there any competitors online already? What will be your differentiation?
• Can you obtain profits from it? (do not forget about the indirect costs, packaging, shipping, or other tariff/fees).

It is required to pay attention to all these questions so you can identify the best product opportunity and raise the probability of having success.

What kind of suppliers to choose?

The incorrect choosing of a supplier can seriously limit your growth potential, so for finding the suitable ones you should invest time. Options of suppliers can be: Wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers, or dropshipping suppliers.

Key information to ask them:

• Availability of the products
• Personalized products with your own brand mark (if needed)
• Manufacturing time if that’s the case
• Wholesale prices
• Payment methods (if they can offer credit)
• Way of communication between you and the supplier
• Guarantee over defective or retourned products
• Invoices
• Product training (if needed)
• Shipping fees and carriers

Once you have chosen the suitable supplier for your business, I recommend you to negotiate the prices!

E-commerce configuration

Consider being professional in the choosing of:

• Name, logo and branding (usually clients are very visual, and this can give you a huge advantage when determining an esthetic look). If you are not a designer, you can take advantage of some easy design platforms to create it by yourself! (there are plenty of options)
• Original photos of your products. I recommend taking photos of different angles, and editing with white background. Marketing tip: prepare photos of the product in usage (so the customer can visualize it and dimension it).
• Prepare an attractive description of the product, and add all of the information about it: material, dimensions, usage, restrictions, etc.
• Important: Register your brand (you won’t want it to be stolen later), and register your business in your country’s tax administration system.
• Select your payment methods: I recommend accepting deposits, transference, card payment, and PayPal for Business (consider the fees).
• Select the platform. There are several options you may study about before; either you can create it from 0 in a site such as WordPress with an e-commerce supporting feature, or a platform like Shopify with a very easy management (you can find plenty of tutorials in the page or in YouTube so you can set it up very quickly). Another idea is to sell on an established marketplace like: Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Linio, Mercado Libre, or any other available on your country; consider that they can charge high commissions, and you may have competitors, but it is also possible to have high revenues with these, and forget about your own web page. Facebook and Instagram can be a very easy and good idea too, as they have business features and marketplace!
• Establish delivery or pick-up options

Starting your own business needs research, planning, organization, discipline, creativity and patience… But from my own experience, I can tell you: it is worthwhile when you will see the “fruits” of it, and you start feeling free to work anywhere, and gaining customers!

Get ready to work from home, in the nature, your favorite coffee shop or anywhere in the world!

Be creative and Good Luck!

About this article

This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Strategy Management. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminate the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DSM.