How to Create, Setup and Launch a Successful Online Store?
A decade ago, starting an online store was seemingly a daunting task, but now it is easier than ever to take any business online. With more and more consumers taking shopping decisions online, having a physical location for your business will not yield the desired results.
Following are the steps to create, set up, and run your online store successfully:
Pick a Niche
Choosing the right product niche is necessary to sell online or else you will lose a lot of money. Firstly, decide the target market that is appropriate for your business. For instance, if your target audience is pet owners, you need to evaluate their requirements. You need to find gaps in the market to spot the right business opportunity.
Say, you are planning to sell online office supplies. Check the popularity of these products on Google Trends, a tool that checks the search volume for different products. You need to look for products that are not easily available but are in great demand. ‘Amazon Best Sellers’ is another tool that can help you to identify how popular products are on Amazon.
Evaluate your Buyer Personas
A thorough research on buyer personas will give you a good understanding of your prospective and current customers. This will give good insights into their specific needs and accordingly you can analyze what products work best for your target market.
Decide your Business Model
Adopting the right business model is a crucial step in the success of your enterprise. Business models that require heavy investment initially should be avoided as the strategy can backfire. If you want to keep your company’s cost reasonable, you should set up eCommerce store with the drop shipping business model.
This model is best for resellers that don’t have enough resources to take their business online. What makes dropshipping popular is that you don’t handle tedious tasks like inventory management, packaging, and shipping. These activities consume much of your resources and increase your operating costs. With dropshipping, all these activities are taken care of by a third party, enabling resellers to focus on their marketing strategies.
Choose your eCommerce Platform
To build your online store, you have to pick an appropriate platform that best fits your business needs. The on-premise and open-source platforms are not budget-friendly and you will require technical skills to run your eCommerce website. On the other hand, cloud-based platforms are inexpensive and make it easy to set up and run your business online. These platforms do not require any IT infrastructure for hosting and simplify the process of running your eCommerce site.
Website Design Matters
Once you have chosen the right platform and decided what to sell, it’s time to focus on website design. It should be simple and have the right colors, fonts, and images. In case you have decided to sell online IT hardware, analyze what color combination will motivate buyers to place an order. Define your brand and add branding to your design so that you can give a unique look and feel to your website.
To boost conversions, categories, and sub-categories should be easy to navigate, apart from having an effortless checkout process. To build trust among your customers, you need to add social proof. When your shoppers view the positive reviews of your existing customers, it leaves a good impression about your business.
Listing your Products
This is the most important aspect of your website as product listing gives your customers the opportunity to view and browse the products before placing any order. To compel customers to buy your products, you should have high-quality images along with detailed descriptions. If hiring a professional photographer is not your cup of tea, how about sourcing content from rich content providers like IceCat and Etilize?
Add Payment Options
Did you know that the payment options available on your website can influence the buyer’s purchasing decisions? The more payment options you offer, the greater are the chances of conversions.
On the other hand, limited payment methods to sell online office equipment can lead to cart abandonment. Shoppers are not interested in completing the checkout process when they cannot find the payment method to make the purchase.
You might be selling high-demand products but if your website is not connected to multiple payment methods, expect conversions to be more challenging. Let your customers make payments through credit cards, debit cards, and even digital wallets. Digital payments like Google Pay, Apple Pay, etc., are increasingly popular and provide a convenient way to make purchases.
Connect with Carriers and Establish your Shipping Policy
While you might be offering the best products, it is your responsibility that every order reaches its owner. Establish a shipping strategy that maximizes your margins while ensuring that the delivery cost does not burden the customers. In case, you decide to sell electronics online with high freight charges, it will surely affect eCommerce conversion rates in a negative way.
Conclusion
With the latest advances in technology, it doesn’t make sense to use conventional methods for operating your business. When you sell products online with a fully functional eCommerce website, it ensures low-startup costs, enabling you to grow your business profitably. After launching your site, make sure to implement all the marketing strategies.
