Amazon and Alibaba have made remarkable strides in expanding their online stores worldwide. These two models are a great example of how online business can be successful. It can be difficult to decide where to open an online shop.

The good news is?

To build an online shop, you don’t require much time or money. 

The potential for eCommerce and online businesses is untapped. In 2019, global eCommerce sales totalled $3.53 trillion, and are projected to reach $6.54 trillion by 2023.

Are these amazing statistics making your brain tingle? Are you still considering opening your own online shop? This article will help you if you feel a bit uncertain.

Step-by-step, I will show you how to create an online store.

Understanding the basics of eCommerce and websites

The eCommerce, or virtual marketplace, uses electronic platforms to conduct business transactions. People use the Internet every day to search for information, news and entertainment.

People can shop online from their desktops or mobile phones without ever having to visit physical stores. eCommerce offers great opportunities for business people. Customers can shop online at any time and anywhere they want. eCommerce is a better option than traditional businesses because it allows you to target each individual with personalized offers.

E-commerce is a huge market. It encompasses both B2B as well as C2C businesses . With the advancement of technology and the internet, more companies are getting into eCommerce, bringing products and services closer for customers. They are reaping significant benefits through the eCommerce landscape.

How can you get into this ground?

You can easily create an eCommerce website, or online store.

Your business idea is just as important as an eCommerce website.

A website allows you to tell your brand’s story, who and what you do, as well as showcase your products online 24/7. Your website allows customers to search for and purchase their preferred products at any time. Your business’ viability is assured by an eCommerce website.

12 steps to launch an online business

This step-by-step guide will help you start your online business, regardless of whether you are new to the industry or have been around for a while.

These 12 easy steps will help you open your online shop.

Step 1: Decide on a niche

It’s simply about the product you want to sell and who you intend to sell it to. This is the most important step. Your online business is more likely to fail if you choose the wrong product. 

Your niche will determine your sales strategy, marketing, customer service, and other factors. It’s important to spend a lot of time researching your niche. This should involve strategic research and careful consideration.

You might be wondering, “How can I find what I want to sell?”

Google Trends can help you identify hot products. Its data can be used to quickly determine which products can help your store make its first sale.

If you want to ensure that your sales transactions in the virtual marketplace are steady, then don’t focus on trendy products. You should choose a product that is growing in popularity.

Step 2: Assess the market viability of your product

You’ve probably already thought of a business idea. Now it’s time for you to consider product viability. It is important to examine the tactical aspects of your products, and how they impact your business in both a positive and negative way.

These are some things to keep in mind:

• Product size and weight are two key factors that determine the price of your product, as well as shipping costs and taxes. You can reduce shipping costs, deliver quicker and satisfy customers’ needs while preserving your profit margins.

• Product fragility: Product that is durable will help you to reduce shipping costs and minimize damage during transport. Shipping costs are rising and can pose a threat to your business’ viability.

• Product SKUs is a shorthand for stock-keeping. It refers to variations of a product such as size or color. It will be difficult to keep track of inventory if you have too many unoptimized SKUs.

• Competitors: Selling something that places you in a lower competitive position is a great place to start.

• Passion is key to the success of any business. Passionately pursue the product or service you are selling.

Step 3: Select the type of business you want

Next, decide whether to dropship your products or keep them.

Dropshipping can be a good option if you have a small budget. 

It’s true! Dropshipping is very popular right now. Dropshipping offers many benefits that you need to keep in mind. You don’t need to manage inventory. You won’t have to worry about fulfillment or warehousing.

Dropshipping allows anyone to sell online. It does have its flaws. You should choose the model that suits your business goals and budget.

Step 4: Register a domain name

Although your business name may not seem important, it is still very important.

These tips will help you avoid spending too much time trying to find a name that suits your business.

• Make sure your name is easy to remember and pronounce
• Be unique and original wherever possible
• Keep it brief
• Names that represent your whole business are best

Once you have chosen your business name, register it under a.com domain. It makes it easy for customers to find your business by having a clear domain name. It can also improve your website’s visibility.

Step 5: Select the best web hosting plan

Next, you need to find a web hosting service that will allow you to upload your website to the Internet. This allows your website to be easily accessed via the Internet. An excellent web hosting provider can even help boost your online sales. Web hosting is an essential part of any website.

These are the main types and features of web hosting.

• Shared Hosting
• VPS or dedicated server hosting
• Cloud hosting

The right web hosting can make it easy to set up your business and solve problems later.

Step 6: Create your store using the right eCommerce platform 

Choosing the right platform to host their online store is one of the most common mistakes people make.

You won’t make this mistake, right!

There are many eCommerce platforms. The best one for you depends on what your business goals are, how much control you desire over your store, and how your store is growing. It should provide a smooth shopping experience that allows you to sell products seamlessly.

An eCommerce platform is essential for any online business, regardless of whether it’s B2B or C-level. An eCommerce platform can improve customer engagement and streamline your business’ interactions with customers. When choosing an eCommerce platform, think about how it will benefit your business, customer engagement, lead generation, and other aspects.

There are four types of eCommerce platforms.

• Open-source
• Store owners can license and host the site
• Saas
• Paas

Step 7: Personalize your eCommerce template

Your website looks dull and boring at first glance. This is a problem that you can fix. Your website’s appearance is one of the key factors that customers will consider when making purchasing decisions. This highlights the importance of having a design template to help you build your eCommerce website.

There are a lot of templates and themes available. It is more difficult to make a decision when you dig deeper into the forest.

These are some tips to help you choose the best template for your website.

• Think about the purpose of your website: It is important to think about the overall goal of your company and the actions you need to take to reach it. The template should enable you to take those actions efficiently.

• You should make a list of the best template features. A template can have many features but you might not need them all. A checklist of essential elements will help you narrow down your options and find the template that best suits your needs.

• Take into account template compatibility. Not all customers will use the same browser. It is important to choose templates that are compatible with different browsers.

• Choose a mobile-friendly template: Mobile devices are undoubtedly in fashion. Customers are shopping on their phones. Mobile-responsive websites are not a good idea.   

• Customization: Your website should reflect your brand. You can personalize your website by changing the template features like color and font. Layout and many other things.

• Select an SEO-friendly template. This will make it easier to manage SEO issues in the future. Trust me.

Step 8: Add products

It’s simple to add your products on any eCommerce platform. Simply click on “Add Product” to upload all your products to the Product page. For better SEO, make sure to include the product title, description, and price.

You can then create other pages such as “About Us”, “Contact Us”, and “Terms & Conditions”.

Double-check all settings and publish your products to your website.

Step 9: Establish payment methods

It is crucial that your store payment methods work as they affect whether customers purchase from you. Your customers won’t be able to pay for products or services if they don’t have a payment gateway.

There are many things you should consider when selecting the best payment solution to your eCommerce store. Over the last few years, eCommerce payment options have increased dramatically.

There are thousands of payment options available. Your go-to method should align with your ultimate goal to create seamless shopping experiences and increase revenue. Your sales will soar if you have a simple and easy payment system. Negative or difficult options will make your customers unhappy and will result in a drop in sales.

These are some essential characteristics for your payment methods.

• Security
• This is the right fit for your business model
• Budget shouldn’t be cut
• Data portability
• Choose between integrated or hosted payment gateways 
• Simple and intuitive.
• Universal
• Excellent support

These are some of the most popular payment options:

•  Stripe
•  Moneris
•  SagePay
•  CartaSi
•  WorldPay
•  SecurePay
•  CommWeb
•  2Checkout
•  WePay
•  Westpac Payway
•  Barclaycard
•  ABN AMRO

Step 10: Establish shipping methods

You will need to consider how you ship physical products to your buyers (methods). What amount they are willing to pay for shipping (costs).

There are many options when it comes to the shipping method. 

• Offer overnight shipping or same day/two-hour delivery: This super-fast shipping method can be a great way for customers to please, decrease cart abandonment rates and increase customer retention.

• If you are looking to expand your market internationally, it is a good idea to offer global shipping.

• Allow in store pick-up. Think about it. Your customers will be more open to picking up their items than waiting for delivery.

After you’ve decided on the shipping method for your store, it’s time to calculate shipping costs. Some variables affect your shipping costs:

• Size and weight of the package

• Delivery time

• Distance between the origin and destination countries of the package

• Additional costs for insurance, tax and packing, trucking, warehouse, labeling, and other services.

No matter what shipping method you choose, it should be compatible with your goals. You may want to satisfy customer expectations, increase conversions, average order value, reduce shipping costs, or scale up your business.

Step 11: Launch your online store

Your website is now ready to go live. Before you publish your online store, there are some things that you should be aware of.

Check for little errors

Are you able to imagine the wrong product name? You might not notice the small details, but mistakes can happen. Make sure you take the time to proofread your website’s content. You should check for typos, images or videos.

Check the usability of your site

Once your website is live, all features must work properly. To scan your website, put yourself in the shoes of customers. You can see the content and experience of your website through the eyes of a customer. You should check if the loading times for pages or images are too slow. To make sure that your call to actions is working, you should also test any forms on your site.

It is important to verify that customers can add the products they want to their shopping carts and make payments.

Double-check the responsiveness

Your website is mobile-friendly Mobile compatibility is important for both a user-friendly experience and for ranking your website on the SERPs. Your website should work on mobile devices just as well as on desktops.

Look for URLs

You must ensure that your URLs work correctly on your live website. Your URLs should be concise and accurately reflect what you have on your pages.

Verify browser compatibility

Your users may not be able to access your website using the same browser as you. To ensure that users can access your website using any browser, test it on several browsers.

Navigating

Is your website simple to navigate? What is the average time it takes to load a page? Is your site search working smoothly?

If you want users to stay on your site, make sure you address all navigation issues. You might need to add more steps to your go-live checklist. All aspects of your website should be inspected before it goes online in the eCommerce world.

Once everything is in order, launch your website!

Step 12: Promote your online store

Although your website is performing well, you aren’t getting as much traffic as you would like. Your website is time to be promoted.

Here are some examples of the most successful eCommerce marketing strategies:

• Content marketing: Content is the king. Content marketing is a powerful tool that can be used to increase your marketing efforts. There are many content options for your website. You can use blog posts, infographics, and product introductions series. Use different content materials, such as audio, video, images, books and ebooks. Content marketing may not yield immediate results. Content marketing is the best way to establish a relationship with your audience.

• Social media marketing – Social media is great for marketing. Make social media profiles on the right channels for your products for your website. The big four potential marketing channels that you should be aware of are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

• Influencer marketing – If you are active on social media you will see how influential people are growing their reach. Influencers don’t have to be celebrities. Influencers can be YouTubers or vloggers. It is important to partner with someone who matches your products and has followers that are similar to your target audience.

Avoid these common mistakes when you start an online business

1. Too much attention to the little things

You should put a lot of thought into your online shop to make it look amazing. But don’t obsess over the little things. You will waste your time and money by focusing too much on details like the logo on your product bag. It is better to invest your time and effort in what will help your online business grow.

2. Have no financial estimates

You should anticipate financial problems from the moment you make the decision to start an online business. A strategic financial plan is essential in order to avoid jumping into fund-raising when your company runs out of funds.

3. Don’t forget about customer service

The biggest mistake made by new online businesses is to ignore the importance of customer support. There are many online shops in the eCommerce market, but you cannot retain customers by selling only what you sell. A great customer experience is key to eCommerce success. This is why you cannot afford to ignore customer support.

Be mindful of how you interact with customers. It is equally important to use the right tools, such as live chat, email, and phone calls, to communicate with your customers. Your customer service can be elevated by your attitude and voice.

4. Social media is dead.

Many founders ignore social media and miss the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage in the market. It’s smart to use social media when you are thinking about marketing your brand. You can easily build your brand and engage the audience using social media with a very small budget.

You can establish your online business presence on all social media platforms. Keep your content updated. To make things easier, you can use social management tools. This tool will assist you in all aspects of social media management, including scheduling, reporting and searching for content.

5. You can’t have it all.

Your business can grow and flourish in many different ways. You don’t have to stick with “best strategy for an online shop” if it doesn’t work out for you.

While it is good to follow best practices, there are no universal rules. You can still test other methods until you find the best, provided that you have control over financial risk and other important factors.

Conclusion

Anyone can get into the eCommerce world. This guide will help you build an online store, no matter if you’re a novice entrepreneur or an established entrepreneur who wants to grow your existing business online. I hope this article helps you to start an online store. If you have anything to share, I would love to hear it.