How to Open an E-commerce Store from Scratch
Successful Internet entrepreneurs claim that the basis of a profitable business – a popular product that is very much liked by the entrepreneur himself. To open an online store from scratch, it makes sense to focus on two things:
Choose to sell the product that causes you a sincere feeling: it’s cool, interesting or useful. In addition, you should be well versed in this product in order to create the necessary level of service in your online shop.
If you want to open your own online store, the market and consumer demands dictate their conditions: even if you like the product, it may turn out that there is absolutely no demand for it. Before you understand which online store to open, determine what is best for you now.
How to organize the work of the online store: suppliers, delivery, work with orders
What do you need to open eCommerce store? Of course, the product is for sale. Of course, if you are a manufacturer yourself, everything becomes much easier: you have the goods in your hands, you know the exit schedule, you have a warehouse or at least the place where you store them.
If you do not have a product, but want to open your own online store, you need to look for suppliers. Specialized Internet catalogs will help here, where suppliers place their information about themselves. In addition, you can find them at thematic exhibitions.
By the way, the address and phone number of manufacturers are often indicated on the product packages, which will gladly help and tell you how to handle their products and how to open your online store with their help. Having decided with the supplier, you order the goods from him and sell them.
Another system of working with suppliers is the so-called dropshipping. The point is that you are the link between the buyer and the supplier. You receive the order, send it to the drop shipper, which in turn sends the goods to the specified address of the client. The supplier receives his share of the money, you – the amount of markup.
Open eCommerce store website: how to create and how much does it cost?
Having decided on the organizational part, you need to decide on the technical part and understand which online store is more profitable to open. You can go three ways: do it yourself, order from a programmer or buy a ready-made platform and start trading.
In the first case, you only count on yourself: the monetary investments are minimal, but the temporary ones – wow! How much will you make your first online store? A year or even two? If you believe in your strength and perseverance, and the desire “I want to open my own online store!” does not leave you for a minute – it is worth a round of applause!
The second option – the creation of an online store for professional programmers. The variant is very attractive because the site will be made on your terms of reference: from and to. But the budget suffers: the development of an online store begins at 1 000 $.
Which online store is profitable to open? This question can be answered by the third, the most optimal option for beginners, the option of opening an online store – a ready-made platform. Everything has already been taken care of for you: here you can download goods directly from the excel table of the supplier, and a lot of useful modules at Mageworx company, and technical support, which helps to cope with various questions.
You can rent an online store and not worry about hosting, which is included in the number of monthly fees, or buy the entire store, buying a license: for you – the full functionality and open for improvement code. In fact, you do not even need to think about how to open an online store: it is ready.
Advertising – the engine of trade: ways to promote the online store on the Internet
You have launched your online store – now it’s time to think about how to attract visitors and customers to it. To the question of whether it is profitable to open an online store, you can answer “YES” – if you pay due attention to its advertising.
Proven and effective way – contextual advertising. It shows advertising messages to those users who ask the search engine about the product you sell. Context is oriented to the request, and therefore, to the target audience. In addition, the online store will need SEO-promotion, when you open eCommerce store which allows the site to get into the top of the search results in your subject matter.
