We are gearing up for digital transformation and online digital shopping is one of the things that everyone wants to get the piece of the pie. We take it that launching your eCommerce business on a digital platform can be a bit overwhelming. And if you have decided to launch an eCommerce business, there are certain things that you don’t want to overlook.
As per the famous quote of Thomas Edison, ‘The value of an idea lies in using it.’ So, you shouldn’t shelve your ideas and your dreams without even trying. And therefore, we have come up with a guide that will give you incredible power to uplift your ideas and turn them into a business that everybody admires. And for the same, you can use some powerful uplifting tools. If you have planned to build your eCommerce store on Magento 2, then we have got some splendid Magento 2 extensions for you.
Below we have made a clear and concise guide on how to launch an eCommerce business and everything you need to know before you do that.
1. Find a Niche and Products Around that Niche
As per Dave Thomes, the founder of Wendy’s, you need three simple things to start a business. First, know your products better than anyone, second, get to know your potential customers, and third, have a burning desire to succeed.
Niche is something like a theme of products you want to sell on your eCommerce store. For example, health care is a broad niche that most people are widely interested in. But finding a narrower niche has its benefits. Sure, targeting a huge audience can be beneficial in the long run. But going narrower would give you more advantage of targeting only specific persons who are highly inclined towards trying your products.
And it gives you an initial boost to grow your eCommerce business on a larger scale later. If you are still confused about what products to sell, then we suggest you spend some time researching on Google Trends, Amazon Best Sellers, eBay Top Products. Once you have finalized the niche of the product, take care of the different variations of the same products. Know about your product as much as you can and make them available in all variations on your eCommerce site. For the same, you can use a tool like a size chart extension if you plan to operate your store on a futuristic platform like Magento 2.
2. Find Quirky Name for Your Online Brand and Setup Website
The next thing you want to do is come up with a few brand names and suggestions that can be relatable to the niche you have selected. Don’t be forceful to have only niche related brand name. You can always choose whatever you want as your brand name. But it should be easy to remember and appeal to your target group of customers.
Also, it should be available as a brand domain name and social media handles. If your business will deal only in your origin country, then we suggest going for a country specific domain. You can also go for the dot com domain if you have plans for expanding in the future.
Finding a quirky name for your eCommerce business is as important as finding a powerful hosting and using a phenomenal platform like Magento 2 to set up your eCommerce website. Also, find a designer to develop graphics and logos for your website. These things do matter if you want to be a popular brand in your selected niche.
3. Finalize Your Product Suppliers/Manufacturers
Once you have taken care of all the above things, then start focusing on the main things now. Reliable and trustworthy product suppliers are what it takes to build up and run your eCommerce store. You may get hundreds and thousands of endless traffic on your site but you are not able to live up to your promises because the suppliers are unable to fulfill the demands.
Communicate with your suppliers on a regular basis. Also, find alternatives to your regular suppliers. Expand your reach and make new connections with other trustworthy suppliers. Cross off the suppliers who do not live up to their words. Because if they can leave you to dry for once, they can do it again. So, it is important to make connections with your suppliers and manufacturers.
4. Take Care of your Shipping Department
The significance of the shipping methods and its costs can be found in the fact that more than 50% of the US adults abandoned their carts just before checkout. Therefore, adopting shipping solutions like flat rate shipping and free shipping are a better option. Shipping plays a vital role in the success of any eCommerce business and that’s why it can make or break a business. If you are planning to build your eCommerce store on Magento 2, then you can use some powerful Magento 2 shipping extensions and solutions that enhance the shopping experience of your customers.
Shipping methods that you will provide depends on the model and structure of your eCommerce business as well. For example, you are only taking orders and the third-party takes care of the shipping and fulfillment. Here, you don’t have to worry about taking care of what happens after the customer places an order. But if you are selling products stored in your warehouse, then you have to partner up with outside carriers.
Here, you have to be careful because partnering up with wrong carriers could drastically affect the sales of your eCommerce business. You don’t want to partner up with carriers that don’t live up to their commitment. And due to that, your customers would have the worst shopping experience and suffer due to no fault of yours. What you can do here is research about the carriers in your local area and ask other eCommerce store owners operating in your country about their shipping partners.
5. Setup Marketing and Advertising Plans
You have taken care of products and developed your eCommerce website with some powerful shipping options. But you need to figure out how you would market and promote your products in front of your consumers interested in buying those products. For instance, you may want to focus on the SEO of your eCommerce website.
But that would take a long time to start giving you some fruits. So, until then, you can start running ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. Also, you can go for an influencer marketing strategy. You can also go for affiliate and referral programs if you have a little budget to develop them. All these solutions work best for promoting and marketing your eCommerce business and products you sell.
Wrap Up
Any business, online or offline, needs some initial efforts and desire to be successful. It’s hard for any business to get success at an early stage. And therefore, we have come up with a guide on nearly about everything you need to know before launching an eCommerce business. All these things will help you to make a bigger impact on your eCommerce industry niche. And the bigger it would be, the better it will be for your store’s sales.
Summary
The Ecommerce industry is one of the profitable business ventures everyone wants a piece. But launching an eCommerce store can be a bit overwhelming. And there are things that you shouldn’t overlook.
