How to Open an Online Store

Opening an online store has many advantages over a physical store: you don’t pay rent and you can attract millions of customers from your own home. To be successful the first time, you should put as much effort into creating your online store as attractive as you would any other job. You need a great product, user-friendly website and a complete marketing plan. Read the tips below to get started.

Table of Contents

Develop Product Plan and Business Plan

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Decide what you want to sell. If you want to start an online store, you already have an idea for what to offer. Remember that some things are great for selling online while others can be harder to sell because they aren’t viewed in person by customers. Either way, you must have a strong belief in your product – otherwise, it will be difficult to connect with customers. Here are a few questions for you to consider:

Is it a physical product that needs to be delivered in person or is it an intangible product that can be delivered over the internet?
Do you need inventory (more than one) for each product or are they unique (e.g. artwork, antiques)?
Are you planning to sell a variety of items, or are you just going to focus on one category like just selling t-shirts or books?
Are you making your own products? If so, make sure you’ll be able to meet the demand. Build a relationship with a reputable supplier.
If you don’t make your own products, you’ll need a good manufacturer. Search various companies to find the right one for your business idea.
Decide how you will deliver. Plan your deliveries from home efficiently or plan for storage and delivery from a warehouse. You can also consider non-stocking if your product is manufactured by a third party.
You intend to stick with your product or service. To be able to go viral and market your store, you need to get to know the people in the industry. Make sure you can stick with the product for a long time.

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Look for a niche market. Knowing what you want to sell is only part of building a successful online store. You need to know what sets your product apart from other products and services that customers can choose from both in-person and online. Why would a customer choose a hand-knit sweater from your store when they can choose from 100 other similar online stores?

Let’s estimate the competition. Don’t jump into selling a product until you’ve visited all of your competitors’ websites. Find the main online market where you plan to advertise your product and check the competition there.
Try to come up with something unique. If you are selling crafts or selling artwork, uniqueness can be a factor in helping customers identify your product. However, try to strike a balance between originality and attractiveness of the product.
Be proficient and knowledgeable. Perhaps, the factor that helps differentiate your company from the rest will be knowledge of the product you are selling. For example, you are a professional baseball player who sells baseball gloves. Turn your passion and in-depth knowledge into intangible values that customers receive when they buy.
Provide a customer-friendly buying process. Even if your product is very similar to the product at other stores, you can still set yourself apart by creating a pleasant and enjoyable shopping experience. Make sure your site is easy to find and share. Be responsive and provide excellent customer service that other stores can’t.

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Experiment by selling in small quantities first. In a brick-and-mortar business, it would be wise to sell your products through low-commitment channels (consignment, flea markets, craft shows, etc.) before you go live and open a physical store. . The same is true of selling online. Try to sell your items on eBay, Craigslist, Half.com and similar sites first. Here are some questions to help you evaluate a trial sale:

Who will buy your product? Offer a coupon or free gift if they answer your survey. Find out where they shop online.
How much are they willing to pay? Experiment at different prices.
How satisfied is the customer? This is a good time to test how well you offer your product to customers. Do you use eye-catching packaging? Is the delivery method reliable? Are they satisfied with the product you provide? Would you describe it well?

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Make a business plan. Before you begin the process of opening an online store, take the time to develop a business plan even if you don’t intend to use it to raise capital. The plan will help you develop the steps you need to be successful. Calculate operating costs and develop a marketing strategy. You will need to consider the following factors:

Production costs whether you are making the product yourself or contracting with a manufacturer.
Transportation costs.
Tax.
Employee salary, if any.
The cost of maintaining the domain name and web service server.

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Register your business with the local authority. When you’re ready to go official, you’ll need a specific business (legal) transaction name and complete legal and tax forms to register your business.

Building an Online Store

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Domain name registration. Choose a name that is catchy and easy to remember. Choose domain names that are short, good, and easy to remember. Otherwise, it should also be a unique domain name because the good, obvious domain names are almost all taken before. Find a domain registrar and choose a domain name that is pleasing to you and unused.

If your favorite name is already in use, create a new one. Add numbers, letters or a dash.
The domain name registration service will suggest you some alternative names if the name you want is already used.

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Select the web server service. Choose a good service because the website is the heart of the online store. If it is too complicated, customers will hesitate to buy and sales will be affected. Free web hosting services are available but since you are selling online you need to pay for the necessary and quality services. ^{[1] X Trusted Source US Small Business Administration Go to Source}

You will need enough space to grow if your business is going well.
Choose a server service that allows customization if you plan to do the programming yourself.

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Design your website. You can do it yourself or hire a designer. The focus of the website should be on displaying the product so that the customer can buy the product as easily as possible. Avoid making the site too flashy – the more direct, the better when shopping online.

The website should have a feature that collects e-mail addresses so that you can send promotional emails and special offers. ^{[2] X Research Source}
Make it so that customers will need no more than two clicks to find a product.
Use only a few colors and fonts.

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Choose an e-commerce software. ^{[3] X Research Source} This allows customers to view products easily and securely through the checkout process. The software will store customer information and financial information. In some cases, e-commerce software also includes a marketing feature because it can be used to send e-mails to customers. Take the time to learn a lot of software before making a decision because the software you choose will play a vital role in influencing the customer experience and the success of your company.

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Open an e-commerce account. You need to set up a bank account so that customers can pay by credit card. The cost of maintaining an account is quite expensive, so many people use PayPal to save costs. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Use the Package E-Commerce Service

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Look for all-inclusive e-commerce services. If you are not motivated to design a website in the first place, there are still many services that provide a foundation from which you can set up an online store in a few hours at a very low cost. This way you won’t have to learn to code or hire a web designer, and you’ll still have all the tools to sell instantly.

All-inclusive services typically charge a fee each time you make a sale.
These services have many benefits but also have limitations because you have to work within their system. Familiarize yourself with many systems before you choose to get one. If you can’t find a service that fits your intended business model, consider starting an online store yourself.

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Explore general e-commerce services. Companies like Shopify and Yahoo! Stores will allow you to set up a very professional storefront when you move your own warehouse. E-commerce solutions can offer more such as store interface design, payment security, servers, mailing lists, data sales, customer support. This is a great tool for those who don’t want to program themselves.

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Consider reselling products for a profit. Store affiliate services like Amazon’s allow you to resell Buy.com and other products by writing product reviews and focusing on the topic of making your customers’ lives easy. than. Amazon stores allow you to do it quickly but do not allow you to have physical inventory.

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Take eBay to the next level. If you’ve sold a few things on eBay, and you can be confident that most of your customers will find you there, you can “graduation” to open an eBay store and save money. fee.

If you haven’t used eBay before, this method might not be for you as it’s a good place to start with existing customers. Your customers need to know about the web to easily use eBay.
Note that eBay tends to appeal to users looking for bargains and exclusive items (and bargains on these).

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Learn about Tips for selling. Tips is an online marketplace where you can upload an item or create a catalog for free. You upload a few photos, a description, and a sale price. You will be free to post for many months without having to update the listing. When the item sells for $35 or less, a 5% fee is charged. If the item costs more than $35, the fee is 3%. Besides selling, you can embed videos, blogs about products and services, and connect a free twitter account directly from the website.

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Try Cafepress if you’re selling modified items. Cafepress offers a great service if you’re selling t-shirts and other things you can “stamp” with unique designs like mugs, stickers, and buttons. Customers will search your store and place an order. You can start with the basic store plan for free and pay monthly for more features.

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Sell homemade goods on Etsy. Etsy is a favorite choice for DIY sellers. You pay a fee of 4,500 VND (20 cents) for items posted and Etsy keeps 3.5% of the sale price if the item is sold. You are paid directly and are responsible for delivery. You are charged (depending on what you sell) on a monthly basis. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Try selling on Instagram. Instagram is a fast-growing social network with a high engagement rate and a great place to sell fashion, DIY, and home goods. Upload photos of your items to Instagram and sync your account at inSelly.com to create your personal online store from Instagram photos. Payments are facilitated by PayPal and the service does not charge membership fees and commissions.

Attracting and Retaining Customers

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Promote your store on Facebook and Twitter. Social media is an important way to do business, especially an online business, and to market yourself. Start an account and encourage people to “like” and “share” your page to grow it everywhere.

Motivate your customers to promote your store. You can offer a discount and give gifts to participants .
Keep your account up to date with information about new products and purchases.

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Make a blog. Combining products with expertise is a great way to drive customers to your site. If your product is related to fashion, start with a style blog that describes the product. Find ways to join online conversations related to the product you’re selling.

Some all-inclusive services tout a blog appearing as part of a “facade.”
Describe other companies’ products on your blog and ask them to describe yours. This is a common practice for small online sellers.
Send product samples to popular bloggers or product review sites.
Take the role of guest and write articles on other people’s blogs. For example, if you’re selling homemade cookies, showcase your product on a well-known baking blog.

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Send emails to customers about discounts. Use an email program like MaiChimp to organize customer email addresses and send a series of beautifully presented e-mails about special sales. However, do not abuse this method to contact customers – they may unsubscribe from receiving emails from you if you send emails too often.

Advice

Make sure you take full advantage of the trials of all e-commerce software. This gives you the opportunity to test every aspect of the software without spending a dime. Also, if you don’t see a trial, contact your vendor to install it. Usually they will give it to you.
Notice what sales services/products you don’t have? They are often referred to as “unstocked sales” while in some cases they are real, most of which are scams. Even if this service is real, there is still a low chance of success because you are selling things other people have already sold. You’ll need special marketing skills to make it work in this case, so why not apply it to your product?

Steps

Develop Product Plan and Business Plan

Building an Online Store

Use the Package E-Commerce Service

Attracting and Retaining Customers

Advice

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