5 Capable Steps on How to Start an Ecommerce Business

How to Start an Ecommerce Business

It all starts with an idea and some market research. Or maybe you have a brick and mortar store already and want to create an online storefront for it. Either way, you want to know what your competitors are up to before you start building your store and optimizing it for your target audience. Read on to learn how to start an ecommerce business without stress.

1. Determine the Type of Store You Want to Create

Will you be selling products or services? Are your customers consumers, businesses, or both? Will you be selling your own goods or be a retailer?

And do you plan to keep your inventory in your warehouse or fulfill orders with dropshipping to reduce costs?

If you’re not sure how to answer any of these questions, you want to take the time to consider carefully what store you want to build. That’s important before you can contact vendors and arrange partnerships.

2. Check Out Your Competitors

Knowing where you stand in relation to your competitors will inform the entire process of building your store. It can also help you choose the right inventory and as well as the right marketing message. Market research will get you a long way.

But if you don’t have the time or the budget for that, you can at least use Google to locate competitors in your area. Type in keywords relevant to your store and visit each of the top 10 to 20 results or so.

Browse their stores as a customer would. Look at their design, how they present products, how they integrate social media, whether they have a blog and what they post on it. This process may take time, but the insights you gain will prove valuable.

After you get to know your online competitors, ask yourself what you can do differently from them. What brand identity and marketing message should you develop to stand out from them?

3. Choose the Right Ecommerce Platform

Building an online store doesn’t have to be a long and costly process. In fact, creating an ecommerce store today is easier than ever. One of the easiest approaches is to choose WordPress and WooCommerce, two open-source platforms.

WordPress is the most popular website platform and content management system on the web, powering more websites than any other site builder. WooCommerce is a plugin you can add to it to transform your site into a customizable online store.

Both platforms are free to use and enable you to create a professional store in hours. Your store will be fast, appealing, and easy to manage and customize. Then, depending on the type of store your want, you can use paid plugins and extensions to add more features to it and create the best user experience possible.

Don’t have time to set up your own store or not sure how to do it? You can always team up with experienced developers who can create an online store for you.

4. Customize Your Online Store

Building an online store with WordPress and WooCommerce means you can fine-tune the look and feel of your store. You can also easily install a shopping cart solution and add and manage the products you want to sell.

What’s more, you can integrate social media into your store and optimize your site for search engines. A well-optimized site will increase your visibility online. That’s because most online shopping sessions start on Google.

5. Spread the Word About Your Store

Once your store is live on the internet, you want to make sure that your target customers know about it. You can market your store online using social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. You can also use online advertising.

But often, the most effective way to promote an online store is to optimize your site for search engines. Search engine optimization is a process rather than a simple strategy. It optimizes every single page on your site to maximize its discoverability. While it takes time, for most stores it’s the best way to generate a steady source of traffic.

How to Start an Ecommerce Business – The Wrap Up

You don’t need to know code or be a marketing expert to start an ecommerce business. You don’t even need any previous experience managing a website.

But you do need to research your competitors, customize your site, and market it. Take things one step at a time and your store will be up and running in no time.

Ladical Digital Marketing, located in Waterloo, Ontario, have a number of Ecommerce Packages available, in building your online ecommerce store.