What you need to know when opening an online store?
Many start-up entrepreneurs share one mistake - they think they know everything about starting online store. But until you try, you won’t understand that everything is not as simple as in theory. We suggest you not to wait for your own experience to learn, but to use other people's “stuffed cones”. So less painful and more economical :)
So, after reading this article, you will be 5 steps closer to the successful and effective e-commerce website creation (kodulehe tegemine). We have derived these 5 tips from the practical experience of many entrepreneurs - they will help you formulate the right strategy for future sales.
Find out the popularity of your products
The first thing you should do is make sure that there is a demand for your product. Otherwise, any next step will not make sense.
How to do it? There are several options. First, competitors need to be analyzed. How successful are similar online stores? Do they even exist? How are they doing, how do they promote their product? Find answers to these questions.
The following method is suitable for you if you are going to sell something fundamentally new - your invention, handmade items, decor elements, designer cosmetics, etc. In this case, ask a direct question on social networks. Tell your friends and followers about your idea and track the reaction. Please note that you can’t count on the most impartial answer here - the answers of your friends will have a personal relationship with you.
The third option is to turn to search engine tools to analyze the frequency and number of queries from your topic by region: Yandex (Wordstat) and Google (KeyWord Planner). Analysis of the most popular queries will help you better understand your potential customers and increase traffic in the future.
Establish contacts with several suppliers of goods
Limited to one partner for the purchase of goods, you are at great risk. Your deliveries can be disrupted for dozens of different reasons, and the availability of fallback options reduces this possibility by several times. Do not put yourself in dependence on one supplier - the proverb “do not put all your eggs in one basket” is as relevant anywhere in business.
Delegate authority
At the beginning of sales, most likely, all processes will be tied to you - receiving and processing applications, organizing delivery, accepting payment, filling the site, etc. But leaving everything in this position means taking away the opportunity to work on strategy and business development. Therefore, all operational functions will eventually have to be assigned to assistants or other employees. In general, the staff of a fully functioning online store includes: administrator, content editor, accountant, sales manager, loader (if necessary), courier.
Create unique content - photos and texts for the site
The unique high-quality content of the online store is one of the main conditions under which the site will be able to occupy high positions in search engines and bring stable traffic for the necessary requests. Do not copy texts - make at least high-quality rewrites. There is no desire and opportunity to do this - contact the freelance exchange, look for a reliable copywriter or copywriter for this work there. So you can create a solid foundation for the stable development of your online store. By the way, earlier we talked about how to take pictures for an online store.
Do not delay with the start of sales
Another favorite mistake of businessmen is to put off the beginning in a long box. Having decided to open their own business, most startups plunge into the subject literature to study all the processes. And there are many processes - the choice of CMS, hosting and domain, and the creation of design, and filling with goods, programming, layout, promotion, sales and dozens of other near-niche issues that will be difficult to comprehend yourself, if not pointless. Someone is engaged in the development of a theoretical base in order to save, someone - to control performers. But the result is the same - sales are postponed.
Therefore, we recommend that you study the basics, understand the essence of starting a business in e-commerce, and we are ready to advise you for free already in the process of all kinds of nuances. In the meantime, we offer a selection of materials that will help you get the initial “education” in technical and legal nuances in e-commerce.