Would you like to open an online store to gain your independence, manage a business, and change jobs? Discover our tips for getting started. Before you go headlong, you will need to think carefully about the advantages of your e-commerce compared to your competitors. If it’s relatively simple to put e-commerce online, generating sales to make a living is much more complicated. Before you start, you will need to think about some simple but essential things for the success of your business.
Create the basics of your e-commerce
Find product a to sell
It is very important to choose the right product to sell. On its own, it can be the success of your business.
A good product could be summarized as follows:
- A product that is difficult to find
- A specialized product
- A product for enthusiasts
- A trendy product
- A requested product
By choosing a product that is difficult to find for your competitors and requested by Internet users, you start your business with an interesting advantage.
Define the objectives of your business, its targets and its scope
Before creating an e-commerce business, several points must be addressed. It is important not to skip the steps, so correctly define the expected objectives of your business: your quantitative and qualitative objectives. Then define the targets for your project. To do this, describe the profile of your business customers and that of your website visitors. This will allow you to clarify your ideas and above all, never to stray from the right path.
Our advice: Describe as much as possible the age of your targets, their habits, etc. The more precise they are, the more you can adapt your e-commerce to attract the maximum number of visitors and increase your sales.
Finally, define the scope of your project:
- Does your e-commerce site have to be multilingual?
- What are the payment solutions to integrate?
- Should the site have a mobile version or a dedicated application?
- Will your e-commerce site have a product evaluation system?
- What are the specifics that the service provider must know (use of geolocation, account creation, creation of a multi-site, etc.)?
Create added value with your e-commerce
To start generating your first sales on your online store, you will need to add enough value so that your visitors feel the need to place an order. The added value will allow you to create a clientele, gain reputation, and generate sales.
It is possible to add value to your e-commerce on the following items:
- The product
- The price
- The offers
- The user experience
- The support
- The deliverability
- The inventory management
The type of added value may vary depending on the position:
- Speed
- Exclusivity
- Performance
- Optimization
By being different and cultivating your strengths, you will naturally protect yourself from the competition while generating sales and trying to maintain attractive margins for your development.
For example, the ergonomics and the graphics of your e-commerce can very strongly influence your added value. It is indeed very important to pay particular attention to it. For this, it is necessary to concretely define certain points:
- The sections and sub-sections which will constitute the menu and sub-menu of your e-commerce
- The different browsing and search filters possible (by sections, themes, prices, etc.)
- The characteristics of your product sheets: image, description, price, size, etc.
- Your graphic charter (spirit, fonts, colors, etc.
Choose an e-commerce solution
The choice of an e-commerce solution is also very important for its success.
It is advisable to choose the right solution according to:
- Your skills
- Your budget
- Your time available to devote to the maintenance of your e-commerce Among the e-commerce solutions, we will retain two types: open source CMS or SaaS
How much for an e-commerce site
Before embarking on the adventure, it is important to know the price of your e-commerce site. The price will be influenced by:
- The type of solution chosen
- The number of people involved in your project
- The depth of customization and optimization
Find a name
The name of your e-commerce will also be important to your success. A good name for your store should be short to be memorized and written down easily, and of course, be available on the Internet. By trying to respect these little rules as much as possible, you make sure that the friends, visitors, and prospects you come across will be able to find your way to your e-commerce without you.
The name of your e-commerce will also be important in your success. A good name for your store should:
- Be short
- Easy to type
- Correct spelling
- And, of course, be available on the Internet.
By trying to respect these little rules as much as possible, you make sure that the friends, visitors, and prospects you come across will be able to find your way to your e-commerce without you.
Animate your e-commerce
Once you have defined your strategy, how you will bring added value and the solution of your e-commerce, it is time to think of animating your online store.
Running an e-commerce business is critically important to your bottom line. Indeed, it is not enough to put a tool online for it to generate sales. We will have to attract targeted visitors to convert them into customers. There are different ways to animate an e-commerce platform. Here are two:
Use content marketing :
Content marketing allows you to create useful content for visitors and your prospects to help you make yourself known through search engines, social networks, and words of mouth. Some examples of content marketing for an e-commerce business:
- Create an infographic
- Take care of your product sheets
- Keep a blog
- Create a buying guide
- Do interviews, etc
Use social media :
Social networks are very important in the e-commerce strategy. They will allow you to create a community of customers and prospects around your brand, to interact directly with them for customer support, to expand word of mouth with their friends.
In general, determine all the elements that will constitute the content of your site. Also define your expectations regarding the needs related to the project (hosting your e-commerce, back-office training, integration of third-party services, etc.). Finally, create a schedule containing the desired dates for the validation of the different stages of the creation of your e-commerce. All these elements will allow your project to proceed with the least snags and allow the service provider (s), with whom you will probably work, to understand your needs as well as possible and thus to work in the best possible conditions.
Conclusion
We hope these tips will help you get started on your online store methodically. Feel free to ask your questions in the comments.
