How to Start an Ecommerce Business: Build an Ecommerce Store
An ecommerce business is any business that buys and sells goods or services over the internet. E commerce business’s will digitally transfer money and data to execute these online transactions.
If you’re a skilled entrepreneur or craftsperson, you’ve probably dreamed of starting your own ecommerce store and building a business that gives you a sense of achievement and freedom. You’ll learn each step in this guide.
We’ve put together a comprehensive blueprint for starting a business, compiled from Shopify’s most popular content. These blog posts, guides, and videos have been organized based on the most important tasks you’ll face when researching, launching, and growing a profitable e-commerce store.
How to start an ecommerce business
1. Find product opportunities and choose what to sell
Finding a product to sell
The first step to building an e-commerce store is knowing what products you want to sell direct-to-consumer. This often is the most challenging part of starting a new online business. In this section, we’ll highlight strategies you can use to find product opportunities, explore the best places to look for product ideas, and finally, look at trending e-commerce products to consider.
Evaluating your idea
Once you have a product idea in mind, how do you know if it will sell? In this section, we’ll cover a few approaches that active entrepreneurs have used to validate their product ideas and potential market.
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Obtaining your product
After landing on a strong product idea, your next step is figuring out where and how you’re going to obtain your products. The next four posts cover the various methods for acquiring your products, along with the pros and cons of each model.
Sell your retail products online
Many independent retailers face a challenging road ahead. Shifting your brick-and-mortar business online can help you weather this storm, generate cash flow, and build a more resilient business. You’ll need to find a good ecommerce solution to build your store on, like Shopify.
2. Thoroughly research your competition and write a business plan
Research your competition
You’ve found your product, evaluated its potential, and sourced a supplier. But before you get into that, you’ll need to thoroughly research your competition so you know what you’re up against and how you can differentiate your business from theirs.
Writing a business plan
With your competitive research complete, it’s time to write your business plan. A business plan is a roadmap that helps bring your ideas and thoughts together. It’s vital in determining what to prioritize and how to effectively reach potential customers. A business plan also highlights your company’s mission statement to show investors and employees the core values of your brand.
3. Choose a logo and name and set up your online store
Choose a business name
Aside from finding an actual product to sell online, another challenging decision is determining your business or brand name and choosing an appropriate and available domain name. These blog posts will help you tackle these important tasks.
Creating a logo
Once you’ve selected a memorable name and registered a corresponding domain, it’s time to craft a simple logo. In these resources, we’ll show you several options for creating a great logo for your new business.
Understanding search engine optimization (SEO)
You’re almost ready to begin building your online store. However, before you jump into it, you should understand the basics of search engine optimization so you can properly structure your site and pages for Google and other search engines.
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Building your store
With a better understanding of search engines, it’s time to build out your store using a website builder. There are many crucial elements to consider. Below, we’ve listed our essential reads to help you build high-converting product pages, write captivating product descriptions, shoot beautiful product photography, choose your ecommerce color palette, and much more.
Disclaimer
This presentation focuses on the e-commerce-specific aspects of great design. It is recommended to also apply all the general design principles not listed in this lesson (proximity, hierarchy, CTA highlighting, contrast, accessibility, and so on). It is worth underlining that the success of an online shop depends on the quality of the product and the use of appropriate marketing strategies as well.
Have a regularly updated blog, make a commitment to properly using social media, blogging on a regular basis, and displaying some individuality. Try being consistent, authentic, and relatable, and don’t be afraid to show the human side of the business. This will build trust, propel engagement and help you connects with your audience.
Don’t force shoppers to create an account
According to the NNGroup, `guest checkout with optional registration simplifies the checkout process and welcomes visitors to register when they are ready, rather than forcing undesired signup`. Of course, there are many advantages to registration (e.g. keeping the contents of the shopping cart, cross-device storage, etc.), but by making registration mandatory, some potential customers do not convert into actual buyers.
The ‘skip navigation’ or ‘skip to main content’ link is (almost) everywhere on the web. Since optimizing keyboard navigation is crucial for people with disabilities, having such a button can come in handy. On most websites, it can be displayed by pressing TAB. In addition, there are a number of fundamental accessibility aspects to consider: proper tagging, support for zoom, link and button behavior, color, contrast, etc.
Allow for international shipping
Accordingto research by Akamai, issues relating to shipping and handling were responsible for 38% of online shoppers abandoning transactions on ecommerce stores. If a customer lives or works abroad it is extremely likely that they would want to have their goods delivered to their home or workplace. By not providing options for international shipping, ecommerce site owners are losing out on international sales and limiting their potential for international growth.
Culture can differ dramatically from country to country. It is important to respond appropriately to differing customs and traditions when conducting business in new territories.
For example, there are many differences between the business culture’s of China and the United States. In terms of initiating business affairs, relationships come before economics in China whereas in the U.S. economics generally take a front row seat to relationships. Chinese people do business with people they know and trust.
In terms of negotiation, the Chinese tend to haggle and believe that there is room for negotiation on every deal. Even communication styles differ. Chinese people tend to be quiet and reserved in business settings while Americans tend to be outspoken and eloquent.
Religion can also have a huge effect on an organisations ability to conduct business in another country. A shared religious belief may enhance trust and therefore reduce transaction costs between trading partners.
To help you research global opportunities, we’ve collated some data from Wikipedia, InternetWorldStats, mysql.com and the Office of National Statistics to produce an interactive map allowing you to filter by population, annual gross domestic product per capita and internet penetration to identify regions which may be suited to your organisation’s international expansion plans.
Once these regions have been identified, you can click on the map makers to display languages spoken in these countries, currency information and details of the dominant religions within these countries.
Sources:
https://www.shopify.com/blog/ecommerce-business-blueprint
https://uxdesign.cc/a-designers-70-ecommerce-tips-with-real-examples-3b92b2c672f9
https://toppandigital.com/translation-blog/6-tips-for-global-ecommerce-success/