How to Open an Ecommerce Store – 7 Steps Online Business Guide

Vs Lamba November 15, 2016 e-commerce, Startup tips Leave a comment

What you should know before opening an Ecommerce Online Shopping Store?

Today, the most rational way of investing the cash, knowledge, and time is to open your own business. With proper organization, the business will provide a good income and financial well-being of the entrepreneur.

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Setting Up an Ecommerce Storefront- A 7 Steps Guide to Launch and Run your Online Ecommerce Business

In today’s world network traffic has become very popular. More and more business people are thinking about opening an online store. The creation of such business requires certain knowledge and costs and assumes some of the difficulties on the way of implementation of the project.

Let us consider the main points of how to open an ecommerce store, which you should know before starting. Also check: What are the Benefits of selling online

Step 1. Identify a Niche (where you are going to Sell)

Before you create your own ecommerce store, specify the tasks that you will be put in front of you. First of all, it will depend on what types of products you will be selling. Relate the cost of products with your own capital.

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Identify a True Niche for your ecommerce business

If you have a small budget, do not plan to open an online store selling the expensive Jewelry, electronics, mobiles, and other high-value products.

You can also make a deals and coupons website as well from which you can earn money by affiliate marketing for other sites products ad services. See here the list of 25 best coupon sites to get an inspiration for yourself.

Pay attention to the demand of the selected type of goods. Make an independent market research to define the demand or consult the marketing professionals. Find out the popularity of the chosen niche among other sellers – both on the Internet and outside the global network.

Step 2. Find Suppliers

You should search for the suppliers in advance. There are many peculiarities that we will cover in other articles. By the time you start to the registration of all necessary documents, you should already know the exact list of providers you can work with.How to get the right Suppliers for your Store

Find Suppliers for your Ecommerce store

It’s even better if you’ve already got in touch with some of the manufacturers or distributors. It would be very unpleasant, if, by the time of opening of the ecommerce store, it turned out that you do not have the established contacts or a partnership agreement with the suppliers. Try to pre-negotiate all the terms and conditions of your cooperation.

Step 3. Legal registration

You should decide at an early stage about the kind of legal form of organization it’s better for your ecommerce store. Workflow and costs will vary significantly.

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Most likely, you will also need a bank account, because quite often the existence of a bank account is the only way to carry out mutual payment with the suppliers.

Step 4. Rent office and warehouse, if necessary

Warehouse rent:

Whether you need a place for storage you can decide, based on the fact you are working with local or foreign suppliers, as well as whether or not you’re willing to spend money on this. It is possible that at the initial stage you will not need a warehouse, but if you decide to rent it, then keep in mind and estimate costs in advance. You can learn about the cost of the storage space rent in your city from the Internet and other sources. Do not rush to call the number provided in the cheapest ad. Look at the location of the warehouse, on the technical condition, as well as, on the storage space.

Calculate your potential costs and compare them with the cost of postal delivery. It is possible that delivering the goods by mail or courier will be much easier and more profitable. In this case, you do not have to constantly pay the rent of the warehouse.

Office rent:

Many new businesses use the offices to demonstrate their prestige, but the rental cost of the premises can be very high for you. Also, note that the office will imply the presence of at least one or two employees.

Initially, for meetings with key partners, you may use conference rooms, restaurants, and other neutral territories. It is possible that in the future you will have to rent the optimal own office, but, in practice, it interferes in the initial stage, rather than contributing to the successful development of an ecommerce store.

Step 5. Create a website

[ 5 best Platforms to Design your Ecommerce Website ]

Creating a website is crucial because without it the online store simply cannot work. Therefore, you can start to develop the site together with the registration of all necessary documents.Most likely, you will need to consult a professional designer to create a logo and corporate design of the website. This is very important, because even before the first text will be added, you already have to evaluate the attractiveness of the online store for future buyers.

Step 6. Website content

Texts:

Most likely, you will need to constantly post different descriptions of the unique goods. An important point: it’s strongly recommended not to copy the content from other sites. This may result in sanctions by the search engines, which significantly reduces the number of visitors to your website (read: potential buyers).It is better to ask specialists to write the texts, as it is not expensive.

In most cases, writing is a not very expensive item of expenditure, but do not forget about them. Quality, competent, and informative text content is no less important than a good design.

Pictures:

Photographing products can be done directly at the warehouse or in a separate studio. Studio photography gives the best image quality, but it’s more costly. Moreover, not all types of products can be easily and safely carried from place to place.

In addition, your best bet is to hire a photographer for professional photos of the products.

However, at the initial stages, it is not reasonable to spend money for the services of photographers. As an option, you can ask product catalog from the vendor, and from there take photos for the site.

Step 7. Promote your Ecommerce Store

Even the best quality online store will remain invisible without the Internet promotion. Therefore, in a list with costs for opening an online, be sure to fill in the cost of its advertising and promotion. This subject is very broad and we will provide you several articles about the promotion of online stores in the nearest future.Along with that, if your financial capabilities allow you, use the quality print and outdoor advertising as well.

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