Many people today are thinking about starting an eCommerce business, but only some know where to start and how to organize their company’s work. In the first stages, you must carefully think through all the steps and create a successful work strategy. We have developed 5 essential steps that you should take for your company to be successful.
eCommerce business: what is it?
Such companies offer to buy their products or services online. These are classic online stores in which we are used to buying goods. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this industry began to develop and continues to grow today.
There are two types of organizations – business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). Examples of B2B businesses include wholesale suppliers, industrial equipment manufacturers, IT service providers, and many others. Examples of B2C businesses include online retail stores (clothing, food, beauty, and health products).
Why should you start an eCommerce business?
According to statistics, about 22% of all sales fall on the eCommerce business. Practice shows that you can turn this into a primary type of income or use it as a side job. It has several significant benefits:
- You can earn passively;
- You can work anywhere;
- There is potential for rapid growth;
- Easier to manage your time and resources.
A prime example of a successful eCommerce business is Amazon. Initially, it was a small startup that developed very quickly, and today has become a vast marketplace with no analogs in the world.
How to start an eCommerce business?
Launching an eCommerce business is a rather complicated process because you need to think through everything to the smallest detail. In addition to the classic steps in creating a business, you must create unique software and build an app testing strategy. We have identified 5 main stages that you need to overcome.
1. Study the market and test your business strategy
You must carefully study the market and highlight your main competitors. Next, you need to understand how your project fundamentally differs from theirs and what unusual things you can offer your customers.
You should also find out the opinion of your competitors’ customers and understand what they would like to receive. Market analysis by venture capital involves collecting and analyzing a vast amount of data, which can take a long time. You can ask data analysts to do this work for you.
2. Find original products
Once you decide what you want to sell, you must find reliable suppliers. There are several strategies for selling goods. So, you can create products yourself, buy them from manufacturers for storage or use drop shipping. The choice depends on how much money you will invest in your business in the early stages.
3. Choosing an online sales channel
If you need more experience with eCommerce, you can use something as simple as social media pages. So, you can start selling your product through Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest. You can also create your store based on Amazon.
When your project becomes more successful, you can create your own website or mobile application, which allows you to sell products or services more effectively.
4. Creation of an online store
An online store is reasonably complex software with several required attributes – the main page, product cards, shopping cart, payment, etc. You may select testing services to ensure your software works correctly and performs the necessary functions and the critical bugs don’t affect your business.
When creating an online store, special attention should be paid to the following:
- Creation of an attractive main page;
- Create a competitive selection of products and beautiful product cards;
- Expand the choice of payment methods and ensure the security of transactions;
- Ensure the security of clients’ data;
- Consider delivery terms.
Everything on your site should encourage a person to take action, namely, to buy your products or services.
5. Marketing and promotion of your business
First, you need to do SEO optimization of your site. It is crucial that search engines like your platform. SEO optimization can take a lot of time and requires financial investments, but it will ensure a stable influx of traffic for a long time.
You should also develop a marketing strategy, advertise in the media and increase your audience on social networks. You should also formulate various promotions and special offers, set up an email newsletter, and create multiple strategies to stimulate buyers to action.
Here are a few tips that might be helpful to you
Unfortunately, there is no universal scheme that will help any business become successful, but we can highlight a few tips that may be useful to you:
- Invest in your company’s image;
- Avoid common mistakes when choosing products;
- Create a plan for the implementation of your products;
- Collect reviews;
- Use A/B testing
- Regularly conduct analytics.
It will be good to involve business analysts who will help you track the activity of your users and give helpful advice on how your company can grow.
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