Starting an ecommerce business? Here's what you need to know

  Starting an ecommerce business? Here's what you need to know

Starting an ecommerce business can be exciting and intimidating at the same time, especially if it’s your first time doing so. Although there are many platforms and suppliers you can use to set up an ecommerce site these days, it’s always better to have an idea of what you’re getting into before diving in. Here are some tips to help you get started on opening an ecommerce site.

Account Planning

eCommerce may be your ticket to entrepreneurship, allowing you start a company with minimal investment. Consider these factors when starting a new online store: 

What are your long-term goals for the site? How will the store be promoted in the future? Will you focus on SEO and Content Marketing as part of your digital marketing strategy, or are paid ads more your style? Do you have competition already established in this niche and if so how will they affect your company goals going forward? What do I want my brand image to look like across all platforms my customers interact with me on (email, website, social media)? Where can I find suppliers that provide the items I want to sell? Who is my target customer - who will want to buy from me on a regular basis?

Product Pricing and Setup

The pricing of your products will depend on many different factors, such as the size and quality of the product, shipping costs, time needed for fulfillment and so on. The good news is that these are all variables that can be adjusted depending on your specific needs. Whatever you decide on, be sure to double-check your math! You also have a number of options for setting up an online store. To make things easier for yourself down the line (think: hosting more products or offering more payment methods), it may be worth investing in a store builder. These platforms can offer robust features like analytics tools and automated inventory syncing which will save you time over time!

Payment Processing

3. Payment Processing 

After providing information about your products and pricing, the next step is to provide information on how your customers will be charged for their purchases. All payments processed by bigCommerce come through a secure gateway, and we offer several different payment options, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal and PayNearMe. 

If your customer wants to pay with a card that has no cashier authorization required (such as a Visa or MasterCard), they will enter their card details during checkout: credit card number; name on the card; expiration date of the card; security code on the back of the card; country code for credit cards issued outside of Canada.

Shipping Costs and Options

When opening a new business, shipping options are often the hardest part. There are many different shipping carriers to choose from and options for how items are shipped. Determining which carrier to go with is often one of the toughest decisions for first-time entrepreneurs. Â Â However, before making that decision, there are some factors to take into consideration. One factor is the cost associated with each carrier.

Branding and Marketing Materials

1. Pick your branding. What kind of tone do you want your brand to take? Does your logo say something about who you are and/or the products or services that you offer? There are plenty of websites where brands can create a logo and customize it in ways such as adding their initials, filling it with color, changing its font, etc. Do not forget to include this on the marketing materials for your business too!

2. Create a website or blog. Your first step should be building out a website, creating social media accounts (Instagram and Twitter are best for visuals) and creating compelling content that shows customers how awesome your product is and why they should buy it from you.

Site Design

Be clear about your goals and expectations for the project. When hiring a freelancer, it's important to set expectations and clarify roles and responsibilities. By being clear about the desired outcome, there should be less ambiguity and frustration, which may lead to better work.

Check out previous work samples before agreeing on a contract. There are tons of design portfolios available on the web that can offer insight into the skill level of potential candidates. Remember, look at more than just one example. 

Consider outsourcing some tasks if this is part of your budgeting plan. Oftentimes smaller companies have generalists who can take care of some design or copywriting tasks without being too expensive in terms of time or money spent.

Working with Freelancers

Freelancers are generally easier and cheaper than hiring someone full-time, and it can be easier to find the perfect person for your job. It’s worth looking into this option before hiring someone full-time, but there are some things that should be taken into consideration before hiring a freelancer: 

1) Make sure the company is legitimate.

Staying Organized

It may seem like a straightforward process, but running your own online store requires careful organization. In order to keep things running smoothly, try the following tactics:

-Start with a plan! Set goals for your new venture and draft up a specific outline of how you'll reach them. It may take some trial and error before things are working exactly as they should be, so being proactive will help keep anxiety at bay. 

-Nail down your inventory and purchase products in bulk to save on costs when items run out. As long as customers can still find something on your site that meets their needs, it shouldn't be too difficult for them to place another order without worrying about shipping costs or items taking weeks or months to ship from abroad.

Choose your niche carefully

Building a successful online store requires time and planning, but there are plenty of platforms available with tools and pre-made templates that can make the process easier. Some of the most popular platforms for building eletronic stores include Shopify, BigCommerce, and WordPress. While these three popular options are great for beginners, each one does have its drawbacks.

Test, Test, Test

If you want to launch your online store, the best thing you can do is start with small orders and see how things go. You may not realize how much planning goes into a website, how long it will take to ship out items or how much staff you'll need to run it all day. The more time and money you put into your ecommerce site in the beginning, the more success is likely going to come in the future.