How to Open an Online Store in 7 Steps
With the substantial growth in the eCommerce world, opening an online store can be one of the most lucrative business ideas to attract high income. Whether you wish to start a dropshipping or wholesale business or have some handmade stuff you’d want to earn a living from, you can attract many customers with an ideal website.
Let’s walk through opening an online store and succeeding in a few easy steps.
1. Research and Plan Wisely
Like any other industry, upcoming investors should thoroughly research eCommerce before opening and operating an online store. Some guiding lines in your research should include your potential business’s current, and immediate market trends, possible victories and challenges, and the estimated capital requirement.
After you’ve acquired a rough idea of the above details, you can develop a strategic plan to guide you through the business. Your business plan includes the description, management system, business structure, financial considerations, executive summary, competitive analysis, and anything else that may appear essential to you. A business plan is crucial because it defines your store’s future objectives and the strategies for accomplishing them.
2. Shopify Fulfillment Services
You cannot discuss online stores without touching on Shopify fulfillment services. Like standard order fulfillment, Shopify fulfillment services allow online business owners to manage all their shipping activities, orders, and inventory.
Some benefits of adding Shopify fulfillment to an online store include faster and more reliable customer services, better conversion rates, less time spent on outsourcing and managing the inventory, and more straightforward returns and refund processes.
3. Choose Your Products
Now that you have a practical business plan, you can choose the type of products you wish to sell at your online store. When selecting the products to sell in online stores, individuals should mind the trends, go for new markets, or optimize a popular product by making it better.
Some of the products people can sell through online stores include coolers, cups/mugs, coasters, key chains, sandals, hats, joggers, hoodies, wine keys, beer glasses, t-shirts, or tote bags. This is also the right stage to decide which business structure you desire to embrace for your online store, between a partnership, corporation, or sole proprietorship.
Ensure to choose reliable suppliers for your products to achieve the best for your online store. Additionally, you should set reasonable product prices after evaluating the targeted audience and competitors.
4. Get a Domain and Choose the Platform
After choosing your desired products, you should get a domain and select the online platform you wish to operate your business. You can choose from plenty of domain registrars at an affordable price. The domain registration process is also quite manageable for first-time online entrepreneurs.
An eCommerce platform for online businesses is where they will virtually build and manage their store. Individuals can choose from many eCommerce platforms with different features and affordability. Some factors individuals should consider when selecting an eCommerce platform include user-friendliness, ease of navigation, price, and more.
5. Design Your Store and Connect Payment Methods
Since you now have the eCommerce platform to operate on, you should design it to suit your business specifications and preferences. The next step is to name your store, most preferably with the one you had chosen for your business, theme or template, business logo, homepage customization, and add listings.
This is also the right time to include your preferred payment methods to integrate with the store and ensure an effortless product checkout process. Lastly, when designing your online store, have other essentials such as shipping or tax calculators in the setting configurations.
6. Start and Market Your Store
With an accomplishment on all the above steps, your online store can now be ready to commence. Starting your selling process at the new online store often begins with an official welcome to the platform, acknowledging and appreciating all your upcoming in advance.
Once you’ve started the operations, you should incorporate some strategic marketing skills you may have prepared. Strategic marketing involves engaging your customers through various social media platforms, embracing email marketing, using paid marketing tools, and applying for Google Shopping ads.
7. Work Hard
The process of opening an online store doesn’t end after you’ve started making your first successful sales. It would help if you remained determined to create an unshakeable brand through the store, a crucial part of eCommerce.
Business owners should strive to keep their current customers while attracting new ones through personalized shopping services. As days proceed, you should seek to maintain a good relationship with diverse customers through excellent communication skills.
