E-commerce is an area that piques the interest of every entrepreneur as it is such a gigantic industry with so much potential for success. Additionally, setting up your own e-commerce store can be relatively straightforward and even operated from the comfort of your own home. It is easy to see why so many people are setting up their own e-commerce stores, but in order to succeed in this industry, you will need to put the work in to make your shop stand out from the crowd. Below is a must-know beginner’s guide to setting up and operating a successful e-commerce store from scratch:
Products
The first major decision is what to sell. The best kind of product to market will be something that is trending and expected to grow over the coming years so that there will be high demand. A few good options include:
- Smartphone accessories
- Health and beauty products
- Maternity wear
- Sports clothing
You must also make sure that the products are of the highest quality as consumers have a tremendous amount of choice at their fingertips. It means that you either need to source quality products or make them yourself.
Customer Experience
An e-commerce business without a website is no business at all! For that reason, the site must be expertly designed so that it is attractive, informative, easy to navigate and clear for a smooth shopping experience. It will include detailed product information, reviews, high-quality product photographs, and a “Contact Us” section.
As with any business, the customer service must be excellent so that the customer feels valued and that any questions or concerns are dealt with promptly and professionally. What’s more, for an e-commerce business to succeed, shipping needs to be affordable. Otherwise, you may suffer from abandoned carts at the final moment.
Marketing
Visibility is incredibly important when it comes to e-commerce, so you need to make sure that you are highly visible on search engines like Google. You can achieve the all-important visability through SEO and PPC. For the best results, it is worth enlisting the services of a reputable digital marketing agency. They will help you to climb through the rankings and establish your store as an authoritative source in the industry.
However, do bear in mind the world’s second largest search engine: YouTube. YouTube has over 5 billion video views each day which makes it a superb platform for your e-commerce store as you can create how-to videos, product reviews, interviews and any other type of film to raise awareness and drive traffic to your store with product links. It may seem daunting at first, but you can quickly learn how to make a YouTube channel online and attract a much larger audience.
Social media is another powerful tool for e-commerce businesses to raise awareness and communicate directly with their target audience. Be active across a range of channels and share regular and informative content directed at your target audience.
These are the main areas that you will need to focus on to create a successful e-commerce store. This is a gigantic industry, and there is potential for great success, but in order to do so, you will need to put the work in to make your store stand out in a hyper-competitive marketplace.
