Would you like to open an online store to gain your independence, manage business and change jobs? Check out our tips to get started.
Before you go ahead, you should think carefully about the advantages of your e-commerce over your competitors. If doing an e-commerce online is relatively simple, it is much more complicated to generate sales to earn a living.
Before you start, you need to think of simple but essential things for the success of your business.
summary :
See also our white paper: Succeeding in Your E-Commerce Site,
1 – Build your e-commerce basics
find a product to sell
Choosing the right product to sell is very important. In itself, this can be the success of your business.
A good product can be summed up as follows:
- hard to find product
- a particular product
- A product for enthusiasts
- a trendy product
- a requested product
By choosing a product that is difficult for your competitors and in demand by Internet users, you start your business with an interesting advantage.
For more on choosing your products for your e-commerce, find our guide: How to Find Products to Sell?
Define the objectives, goals and scope of your business
Before building an e-commerce, there are several points to be taken into consideration. It is important not to skip steps. Define the expected objectives of your business correctly: your quantitative and qualitative objectives.
Then define the goals of your project. To do this, describe the profile of your business’s customers and visitors to your website. This will allow you to keep your thoughts clear and above all, never deviate from the right path.
Describe the age of your goals, their habits, etc., as much as you can. The more accurate they are, the more likely you will be able to optimize your e-commerce to attract more visitors and increase your sales.
Also read: Build A Buyer Persona In 4 Steps,
Finally, define the scope of your project:
- Should your e-commerce site be multilingual?
- What are the payment solutions to integrate?
- Should there be a mobile version of the site or a dedicated application?
- Will your e-commerce site have a product rating system?
- What are the features that the service provider should be aware of (using geolocation, creating an account, creating a multi-site, etc.)?
2 – Create added value with your e-commerce
Why generate additional value?
To launch your first sale on your online store, you will need to add enough value so that your visitors will feel the need to place an order.
The added value will allow you to build a customer, gain reputation, and generate sales.
How to generate additional value?
It is possible to bring added value to your e-commerce on the following items:
- the product
- price
- offer
- user experience
- Support
- deliverability
- stock management
The type of added value may vary depending on the situation:
- pace
- Specialty
- performance
- Customization
- e.t.c.
By being different and developing your strengths, you will naturally protect yourself from the competition while generating sales while trying to maintain attractive margins for your growth.
Don’t hesitate to take our advice to learn how to create added value with your e-commerce.
For example, the ergonomics and graphics of your e-commerce can strongly affect your added value. In fact, it is very important to pay special attention to this.
For this it is necessary to concretely define some points:
- Sections and sub-sections that will constitute the menu and sub-menus of your e-commerce
- Various possible navigation and search filters (by title, theme, price, etc.)
- Features of your product sheet: image, description, price, size, etc.
- Your graphic charter (spirit, fonts, colors, etc.)
The more precisely you answer these various points, the more your e-commerce will keep an eye on your potential customers…!
read also 6 mistakes that prevent you from making money from your site
3 – Choose an e-commerce solution?
The choice of e-commerce solution is also very important for its success.
The correct solution should be chosen on the basis of:
- your skills
- Your budget
- Your available time to dedicate to maintaining your e-commerce
In e-commerce solutions, we will maintain two types: Open Source CMS or SaaS.
open-source solution
Open source solutions have the advantage of being free and you need to find a service provider specializing in e-commerce to help you install, configure and customize it.
But, once the solution is configured, the solution (and the content) is yours. It just doesn’t cost anything in principle, because you will always have an investment to repair and ensure maintenance. One important thing, investing in improving it can increase the price for resale of your e-commerce site.
Discover our quiz that will reveal the best e-commerce CMS for your needs.
SaaS Solution
SaaS solutions offer the opening, creation, installation and hosting of your online store.
Warning: The solution will never be yours. You have to pay a monthly subscription and a percentage on sales.
You will also enter an ecosystem of modules and improvements specific to the solution that will often make the installation of these payment services and/or impossible for an external service provider.
Don’t hesitate to consult our comparison of e-commerce solutions, and our “How to Choose Between a SaaS or Open Source Solution” guide.
4 – Know the price of an e-commerce site
Before embarking on an adventure, it is important to know the price of your e-commerce site.
Price will be affected by:
- Selected solution type
- Number of stakeholders on your project
- Customization and depth of customization
Don’t hesitate to take our advice for e-commerce site price calculation.
5 – Find a name
The name of your e-commerce will also be very important in your success. A good name for your store should be:
- be small
- rest easy
- type easily
- pronounce correctly
- Do not doubt their handwriting
- And, of course, be available on the Internet.
By trying to respect these little rules as much as possible, you ensure that the friends, visitors, and prospects you meet will be able to return to your e-commerce business without you.
For name ideas, you can check out our business name generator.
6 – Animate your e-commerce
Once you’ve defined your strategy, the way you’re going to bring added value and your e-commerce solution, it’s time to start thinking about animating your online store.
Animation of e-commerce is important for your turnover. In fact, having one tool online is not enough to generate sales. You have to attract targeted visitors to convert them into customers.
There are different ways to animate e-commerce. Here are two:
use content marketing
Content marketing allows you to create useful content for visitors and your prospects to know through search engines, social networks and word of mouth.
Some examples of content marketing for e-commerce:
use of social networks
Social networks are very important in an e-commerce strategy. They will allow you to build a community of customers and prospects around your brand, to interact directly with them for customer support, to extend talk of mouth with your friends.
We looked at 5 best practices from major e-commerce players on social networks a while back, don’t hesitate to take inspiration from them.
Also find a list of tools that may be useful for you to find ideas and properly animate your social networks.
In general, determine all the elements that will constitute the content of your site. Also define your expectations regarding project-related needs (hosting your e-commerce, back office training, integration of third-party services, etc.). Lastly, create a schedule containing desired dates for verification of the various stages of building your e-commerce.
All of these elements will allow your project to run smoothly and allow the service provider(s), with whom you will likely be working, to better understand your needs and thus operate in the best possible conditions.
conclusion
We hope these tips will help you to open your online store systematically. Feel free to ask your questions in the comments.
Register now at Codeur.com to discover the various freelancing providers available to help you open your e-commerce.
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