Information Technology Blog - - 10 Steps To Start An Ecommerce Business - Information Technology Blog
Starting an e-commerce business can be more beneficial than running a brick and mortar store. The former option allows you to overcome geographical limitations, gain new customers simply by using different eCommerce software, eliminate travel time and costs, and remain open all the time. An e-commerce business will also require lesser costs to start-up since you don’t have to pay for lease and utility bills.
Although beneficial, starting an e-commerce business also comes with several challenges. For one, there are countless e-commerce businesses operating in different parts of the world today, and standing out can become a challenge. This is especially true if you’re going to offer products that have been sold by household names in the industry. Still, starting an e-commerce business is challenging, but there are now several strategies that can make this process easy for you.
Starting an e-commerce business yourself is much easier nowadays than it used to be. As long as you know which tools to use, you can actually start your own e-commerce business with ease and earn customers and profits fast.
This is why so many people have opened their online stores and now sell various goods and services.
Here are ten steps to start an e-commerce business for those who don’t know how to get started.
General Research
First, you need to start with general research on your market. You will also have to know the kinds of platforms there are for creating online stores (e.g. Spotify) and how to use each of these platforms appropriately – or rather, only the one you will be using. The most commonly used platform is, of course, Spotify because of its accessibility and user-friendliness.
After you complete your general research, you will need to have a general picture of what you will be doing next. You should be sure about the market, the platform you will be using for your store, the design of your online store, and other “technical” details.
Conducting research is one of the most important steps before starting an e-commerce business. The business arena is fast-paced and changes rapidly, and diving into it without in-depth knowledge will lessen your chances to attain success. In some cases, this can even become the reason why your e-commerce business will only be short-lived and result in debts and bankruptcy. The more you know, the easier it’ll be for you to manage your e-commerce business and finally attain business success.
Niche Research
After the general research, you will need to do some more niche research. This will help you get down to the smallest details from the age of your customers to their daily habits. Niche research aims to aid you in constructing your buyer personas to better understand what you will need to do to attract the attention of each type of your customers.
To paraphrase, this is similar to segmenting. Once you do enough research and have enough data to analyze, you will be able to start doing better decisions about your marketing, web design, and so on. Niche research might also help you determine the products you want to start selling.
Audience Segmenting
And now, we are getting to the audience segmenting itself. This will be especially helpful if you suddenly discover that you have made too many buyer personas and you want to sort out your audience at least to some extent. Here are some tips on how to segment your audience effectively:
- Consider all the details connected to your audience: hobbies, interests, etc.
- Group the buyer personas according to a common feature that is more general than the specific details: men/women, repeat customers, etc.
- Remember to give enough attention to each of your audience segments or select the ones you will be working with.
One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make when starting their businesses is attempting to serve as many customers as possible. They think that the more people they cater to, the more profit they can earn in a short period. However, this is not true because attempting to satisfy millions of individuals can be challenging, and in some cases, a near to impossible task.
Don’t make the same mistake and focus only on a specific target audience for your products. Segmenting your audience will make it easy for you to understand what they want and what marketing strategies are accessible to them.
Product Selection
As mentioned earlier, good research can help you with product selection. If you have enough data to analyze, you will be able to make a smarter choice concerning the products you want to sell, who you want to sell them to, and how you will sell them (from marketing to shipping).
Keep in mind that having a limited selection of products can still be very useful for you as an e-commerce business owner (e.g. laptops under 200 of five to ten brands) because you will be able to direct your efforts more precisely and the results of your marketing will be much better,
Branding
Branding is all about building a certain image for your business. Think of it as you would of a personality. You want your customers to perceive you in a certain way, and branding is what will help you make this image in their minds.
The best way to work with branding is by using high-quality writers from a service like Online Writers Rating. Good writers will be able to follow an objective you set for them without losing their pacing. They will write content in a uniform manner with a “tone” that will show what your business is like: playful, professional, funny, etc.
Store Creation
After you have done the research, you know who your audience is, you determined the platform for your website, and you have outlined your branding strategy, you can think about store creation. In other words, you can actually start creating your store rather than theorizing about what you will do next. This is the second part of your journey which is more active.
Depending on the platform, you might have to hire a professional web designer to create your website. Whatever the case, make sure that the design corresponds to the tone you have chosen. After the site is ready, start filling it with content for your branding.
Attracting Customers
The last three steps on this article discuss the three main types of marketing you will need to use to attract customers, but first, you need to decide on the more general aspects of your marketing including:
What is your budget? How much are you willing to spend on each of the elements of marketing? Is there a way you can save some money and then use it in other spheres of your business?
Do you want to use one type of digital marketing or will you use several (e.g. social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, video marketing, and so on)?
What else do you think should be considered before you get into marketing?
Content Marketing
Content marketing is very widespread nowadays especially considering that it often encompasses all the other types of digital marketing even including guest blogging. In addition to that, content marketing is very organic and natural which means that more people have positive feelings about it.
To get started with content marketing, go back to your buyer personas and brainstorm what topics each of these would be interested in that are relevant to your niche. Then, create a blog on your website and start posting articles on these topics.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is related to content marketing because it also requires you to write content. However, the biggest difference is that you post this content to social media platforms and you often need to use good visuals that overshadow the text.
If your brand relies on visuals (e.g. you sell apparel), then you need a social media platform like Instagram or Pinterest that will let you display this beauty and attract customers. In other cases, use Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is more “underground” than content marketing and social media marketing because the content you create for your emails is often only accessible to the people on your mail list while the content you publish on your blog or social media accounts is seen to everyone.
That being said, you could combine your tactics. Write an article for your blog or post an important update to your social media account and then send an email to your subscribers telling them to check out the article or update.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, it is quite simple to get started with online stores and e-commerce business in particular. Just follow the steps outlined in this article and you will have a general plan of action that will assist you in this journey.
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