As global eCommerce sales reached nearly $5.5 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $5.1 trillion in 2026, it’s no surprise that eCommerce product businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors in small and medium businesses today.
Despite the bright future that eCommerce may have, however, starting such a business may seem daunting. Certainly building an e-shop requires hard work, at a time when many steps and decisions need to be taken at the right time.
So, in order to be able to set up a scalable and profitable business, resistant to time, you need to have the right guidance, as well as a long-term vision for building it that will bring real value to the market.
Watch below step-by-step how you can start your e-Commerce business and reach millions of online customers.
Step 1: Research e-shop business models
Before you decide what to sell online, you should first understand the different business models available.
There are 4 basic models:
- The B2B (business to business) model, which involves businesses that sell products to other businesses; in this case, the e-shop can be vertical or horizontal. The vertical focuses on a specific product category or product. Horizontal, on the other hand, focuses on a wide range of products that are targeted at a wide audience.
- The B2C (business to consumer) model, which involves businesses selling products to consumers.
- The C2C (consumer to consumer) model, which takes place when consumers sell to other consumers.
- The C2B (consumer to business) model, which takes place when a consumer sells his or her products or services to a business or organization.
Still, if you want to make a profit without investing heavily in your startup, dropshipping is a smart choice for you. In this distribution model, the consumer buys a product in an online store and the distributor receives the order. Once it is finalized, the dropshipping supplier itself ships the consumer their product. Thus, the eCommerce site owner is freed from the management tasks.
If you like the idea of having your own warehouse with the products you sell, you will need to invest more in your startup and work according to a wholesale or warehousing model. In addition, if you have a business idea for a product that you want to sell under your own brand, it would be a good idea to consider white labelling. In this case, the products and services will be produced and offered by the company without having its own label (brand) and will be marketed by third parties.
In order to arrive at your niche, therefore, you need to consider the type of product you wish to sell, who you will sell it to and how you will distribute it. You will make all the decisions when you start the business and see what works best.
Step 2: Follow a Business Plan (Business Plan)
Now is the time to write down your business plan and determine your start-up budget, as well as your monthly expenses. Plan in detail the goals for the coming months, regarding product supply, stocking and marketing budget. Research your current competitors and decide the audience to which your products and services will be directed (target market).
Step 3: Choose the name of your e-shop and enter the name of your e-shop
Before you create your e-shop, you need to register your business and create the so-called brand. Especially in the case of white labeling businesses, mentioned above, the brand is very important for their success.
So, first of all, you need to find a name for your business that fits the specialization you have chosen. It should be a unique name that accurately describes the product and can be translated into other languages, in case you are targeting the general public.
Your logo design, moreover, need not – and should not – be original. For its design, we recommend that you contact a specialized graphic design company.
Afterwards, you will have your business license in your hands and you will receive your corporate VAT number.
Step 4: Create your online store
Once you have legally registered your business, it is necessary to register your domain name and any redirect URLs that may be relevant. Whatever design you choose for your e-shop should be compatible with your e-shop software.
Choosing the right software is not an easy task. There are hundreds of eCommerce platforms and in order to decide which one to use, you need to carefully evaluate things like loading speed, compatibility with different payment gateways, compatibility with your business structure, strategic SEO friendly features and more.
Of course, creating an online store is much more than just adding products and content. You need to set up proper marketing strategies before you get traffic to your e-shop. E-commerce marketing, in particular, is essential for increasing purchases. Make sure you set up coupons, thank you emails and upsells so that you can convert your visitors into buyers.
Step 4: Create your online store
Once you have legally registered your business, it is necessary to register your domain name and any redirect URLs that may be relevant. Whatever design you choose for your e-shop should be compatible with your e-shop software.
Choosing the right software is not an easy task. There are hundreds of eCommerce platforms and in order to decide which one to use, you need to carefully evaluate things like loading speed, compatibility with different payment gateways, compatibility with your business structure, strategic SEO friendly features and more.
Of course, creating an online store is much more than just adding products and content. You need to set up proper marketing strategies before you get traffic to your e-shop. E-commerce marketing, in particular, is essential for increasing purchases. Make sure you set up coupons, thank you emails and upsells so that you can convert your visitors into buyers.
Step 5: Attract customers to your online store
Once you have created your e-shop, you can start adding product names, descriptions and photos. As far as sourcing the goods and services is concerned, you can either go ahead and produce them yourself or get them from a wholesaler. You will then have to take care of the logistics, i.e. branded packaging, storage, inventory management, and shipping of the products.
Furthermore, to attract customers to your online store, it is necessary to put in place SEO strategy. Specifically, you need to think about the keywords and search terms on each page of your website, as well as your URLs and advertising campaigns.
Your goal is to increase traffic to your e-shop and sell your products. So seriously consider investing in digital marketing (social media, pay-per-click ads and more). Other promotional tactics are also effective, such as running a giveaway and providing coupons and content to consumers via email, which will help keep the brand in their minds as well as ensure credibility.
As we can see, the journey to building a successful ecommerce business requires motivation, strategy and passion, but it is something that is extremely rewarding.
Additional tips
- When starting out, we advise you not to invest directly in hundreds of products.
- Start slowly by carefully building your business.
- Keep up to date with the trends that are circulating, such as environmental sustainability, which is seen as one of the biggest trends in eCommerce in 2022.
- Experiment with marketing, launch a campaign and thus benefit from partnerships and multi-channel strategies.