There are plenty of start-up opportunities for budding entrepreneurs and all are equally as exciting. While there is a thrill in the challenge of a new business venture, it’s also important to be smart about your investment and be realistic about how easy it will be to turn this idea into a success. This is why focusing on an eCommerce business is a great idea for start-up companies. They tend to have much lower start-up costs and overheads than other ventures, and in turn, have a better opportunity for growth and good profit margins. However, this doesn’t guarantee success and it’s important for small business owners or individuals interested in starting one to understand the dos and don’ts of eCommerce.
Below is a brief guide to help you develop your eCommerce business idea and enhance your chances of success.
Market Research
The first place to start with any new business venture is market research. If you’re not selling a product or service that is wanted or needed by consumers, you’re already off to a bad start. At the very least, you will need to understand how to market your product in a way that gets people excited and interested enough to start buying it.
Before you start spending money on website design, stock, and other necessities, make sure you’ve done some thorough research into the current trends, and identify whether there is a demand for what you’re intending to sell. There are plenty of resources online to help you do this if you’re unfamiliar with the process.
Business Loan
Again, most businesses need a loan or an alternative source of financing to get started. While eCommerce businesses do generally have lower start-up costs, you might still need/want to get some financial backing from your bank, start-up loan scheme, or another investor.
To secure a loan you will have to present a thorough business plan to whoever you’re asking, and be prepared to answer any questions they have regarding your intentions. They will likely run a credit check on you, so think carefully about this before you start approaching people for loans and whether or not your credit score is good. If not, think of ways to improve this. They will also want to see realistic estimates of profits and a complete list and explanation of your overheads in a cash-flow forecast. Make sure all of the above is prepared and thorough before you meet with any banks or other loan providers.
Website for eCommerce Business
Of course, an eCommerce business needs a great website and you must make sure yours is of the highest standard. If visitors to your site find it difficult to navigate, think it looks messy, that the products aren’t presented well or the website has been poorly created in general, this will be instantly off-putting and will affect your sales. You can use website builders online to create a good eCommerce site, and while they still look and function fine there are limitations. You will need to choose from one of the templates provided, and will only be able to use the functions and tools that they offer.
Consider investing in a bespoke website by a professional designer, like the team at ALT Agency. They will be able to make your website stand out from other generic eCommerce sites, help you to develop apps for your business, assist you with digital marketing techniques, and much, much more. It might cost more to do this, but it will be worth the investment.
Content is King
To make sure you're adhering to good SEO tactics and to help increase your eCommerce website’s visibility in the results pages, it’s important to get the content on it right. It might seem like writing content on your site is easy, but you should think carefully about your choice of wording and topics in blog posts.
Using the right keywords will help your site appear in more search results and reach your primary demographic and beyond. It’s not just about your landing page and blog posts, either. Make sure you’re using the right keywords and language in your product descriptions so that they will show up individually in searches, not just your website.
Marketing
Another key point that all kinds of businesses need to get right is their marketing strategies. As an eCommerce business, the most obvious place to start would be looking at your digital marketing techniques. This includes SEO, but also the use of social media, email campaigns, pay-per-click, and so on.
Keep your business social media accounts active to ensure that your customers and followers aren’t forgetting about your existence, but don’t post so often that it feels as though you’re spamming their newsfeeds. Be creative with your posts, but make sure they’re relevant to your business. Other marketing strategies you might want to explore include asking a popular podcast to advertise your company/products, print media, and TV if that is within your budget.
Customer Relationship Management
You must keep your customers happy, and with your business being based online sometimes delivering quality customer service can be more of a challenge. Removing face-to-face communication requires eCommerce businesses to be more efficient in their response times to queries and complaints which is why many sites have ‘live chat’ options.
Social media will be another useful tool for you to use when it comes to engaging directly with your customers. In addition to this, make sure your payment system on your site is quick and easy to use, and offer customers the option to use PayPal or their debit/credit cards when they make a purchase. You should also make sure your refund policy is fair, and that the process is quick and easy to manage.
Bottomline:
Of course, there are more things to consider when trying to establish an eCommerce business and maintaining it, but the points above are a good place to start and should help you make it a successful venture.
