Starting an Online Store? Here's What You Need to Get First

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September 1, 2020 Business

Online business is becoming a trend, given the governments’ measures to minimize the COVID 19 pandemic spread. Its popularity has also been affected by the convenience that comes with transacting and promoting products online. However, operating an online store can be challenging if it is not well planned and customized. If you intend to start an online store, consider various factors such as selecting your products and identifying your target audience, among others discussed in the article. Keep reading to learn what you need to create a well customized online store.

Identify your Business Niche

A business niche refers to a gap in the market. You can identify your niche by identifying a group of persons whose needs have been unmet by the existing online stores.

You may also decide to offer products that are already in the market and secure your competitive advantage through strategic promotional campaigns. You can use the following strategies to determine your business niche:

Do Background Study

List down the products you wish to offer when you start your online store and then research the various online stores offering them. Also, identify the consumers of their products and why they prefer the products.

Visit the websites of the existing stores to learn more about the shortfall of their products. The above knowledge will help you in identifying your competitors as well as the target audience.

It will also help you devise the most effective promotional strategy and make improvements to lead the competition.

Analyze their Pricing

Since your business is at the basic level, you need to investigate competitors’ prices and charge lower prices for your products to attract new customers and return customers.

However, the low prices do not mean you operate at a loss. Ensure each product’s price covers the production cost, promotional cost, and any other cost incurred before it reached its final stage.

Ideally, you should make low profits while gaining more customer loyalty.

Select Between Dropshipping And Holding A Physical Store

After identifying your niche, the next step is to decide whether you will be dropshipping the products or hold your products. We will go through the buying process, the pros and cons of each to guide you in making your choice.

Dropshipping

With drop shipping, you don’t have to hold a physical store for your inventory. A customer will order for a product through your online store. You will then pay the wholesale price to the supplier after receiving the customer order. In turn, the supplier will ship or deliver the products to the customer under your business name.

Dropshipping allows anyone interested in the business to start an online store. This is because there is no need for start-up capital nor warehousing costs. Moreover, there are no packing or picking expenses incurred. Thus, you can list as many items on your online store as possible at no risk.

The only disadvantage is that you don’t have control over the goods, and it can be problematic if the supplier delivers defective products to the buyer.

Holding Products

Holding your products gives you less flexibility as you have to incur the cost of purchasing inventory, storage, packing, and picking. It is more expensive and time-consuming than dropshipping.

However, holding a physical store connects you directly to your customers. You can easily learn the customer experience and make the necessary adjustments. It also allows you to market your brand on social media platforms.

If you select this option, ensure that you make timely deliveries and offer properly packed quality products.

Register the Business and Create a Website

Before registration, you need to have your business name at hand. Ensure that your business name is unique, easy to pronounce, and has some business significance. Experts from a Canadian web hosting site recommend that business owners select names with an available “.com” domain as customers mostly prefer them. Then use the business domain to create a website with one of the online store builders. The site will help you in:

Create Awareness of your Brand

Assuming that your website is fully customized, potential customers can use it to learn about your business, what it has to offer, and its credibility. If it interests them, they are more likely to make orders via the website. You can also use it to respond to customer needs and generate more leads. Ensure that your web pages are well optimized to rank well on search engine result pages.

After securing a business website, suppliers, products, and any other requirement, its now time to incorporate your business. Set up your online store and obtain all the legal requirements to avoid conflicts with the governing law. If you are not conversant with legal processes, you can hire the services of a business lawyer. The business lawyer will guide you or process all the documents on your behalf at the agreed fee.

Market Your Online Shop

The above steps will be useless if you don’t market your new online store. The idea is to inform potential customers about their needs and how you can solve them.

Your promotional strategy should have a high conversion rate and cost-effectiveness. There are various marketing strategies you can use to market your products online including,

Content Marketing

Content marketing involves generating more leads, business ranking, and increased conversion and retention rates using SEO-optimized content.

It involves posting high-quality content about your products’ various aspects and using links to direct customers to your website.

The navigation of your site will equip them with the entire information about your brand, hence increasing the chances of widening the customer base.

Social Media Marketing

Social media advertising involves the use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others to create awareness of your products and services.

It involves the use of media such as videos, pictures with quotes, and so on. Social media advertising gives you access to worldwide customers at a low cost and has the highest conversion rate.

You now have all it takes to set up and start an online store successfully. Dedicate enough time and effort to execute every step correctly. Also, allow third party advice, evaluations, and criticisms to develop a successful online store.