Would you like to open an online shop to gain your independence, run a business and change careers? Discover our tips to get off to a good start.
Before launching headfirst, you should carefully consider the advantages of your e-commerce compared with your competitors. While it's relatively simple to put an online store online, generating enough sales to make a living is much more complicated.
Before you start, you should think about simple but essential things for the success of your business.
Summary:
- What kind of business do you want to create?
- What will be the added value or strength of your e-commerce compared to your competitors?
- Which solution should you use for your e-commerce?
- What will the price of your e-commerce be?
- What will the brand or shop name be?
- How will you operate and promote your e-commerce?
Also check out our white paper: Succeeding with your e-commerce site.
1 – Create the foundations of your e-commerce
Find a product to sell
It is very important to choose the right product to sell. By itself, it can determine the success of your business.
A good product could be summed up as follows:
- A hard-to-find product
- A specialized product
- A product for enthusiasts
- A trendy product
- An in-demand product
By choosing a product that is hard for your competitors to find and is in demand by internet users, you start your activity with an interesting advantage.
To go further in choosing products for your e-commerce, discover our guide: How to find a product to sell?
Define your business objectives, target audiences and scope
Before creating an e-commerce site, several points need to be addressed. It is important not to skip steps. Define clearly the expected objectives of your business: your quantitative and qualitative goals.
Then define the targets of your project. To do this, describe the profile of your store's customers and that of your website visitors. This will help you clarify your ideas and, above all, never stray off course.
Describe as much as possible the age of your targets, their habits, etc. The more precise they are, the better you can adapt your e-commerce to Attract as many visitors as possible and increase your sales.
Also read: Create a buyer persona in 4 steps.
Finally, define the scope of your project:
- Does your e-commerce site need to be multilingual?
- Which payment methods should be integrated?
- Should the site have a mobile version or a dedicated app?
- Will your e-commerce site feature a product rating system?
- What specific requirements should the provider know (use of geolocation, account creation, multisite setup, etc.)?
2 – Create added value with your e-commerce
Why generate added value?
To start generating your first sales on your online store, you will need to provide enough added value for your visitors to feel the need to place an order.
Added value will allow you to build a customer base, gain reputation, and generate sales.
How to generate added value?
You can add value to your e-commerce in the following areas:
- The product
- The price
- Offers
- User experience
- Support
- Deliverability
- Inventory management
The type of added value may vary depending on the area:
- Speed
- Exclusivity
- Performance
- Optimization
- Etc.
By being different and cultivating your strengths, you will naturally protect yourself from the competition while generating sales and trying to maintain healthy margins for your growth.
Feel free to consult our tips to learn how to create added value for your e-commerce.
For example, the usability and design of your e-commerce site can strongly influence your added value. It is therefore very important to pay special attention to them.
To do this, it is necessary to clearly define certain points:
- The sections and subsections that will make up the menu and submenu of your e-commerce store
- The different navigation and search filters possible (by category, topic, price, etc.)
- The characteristics of your product pages: image, description, price, size, etc.
- Your visual identity (style, fonts, colors, etc.)
The more precisely you address these points, the more your e-commerce will catch the eye... of your potential customers!
Also read : 6 mistakes that prevent you from making money with your site
3 – Choose an e-commerce solution?
The choice of e-commerce solution is also very important for its success.
You should choose the right solution based on:
- Your skills
- Your budget
- Your time available to devote to maintaining your e-commerce site
Among e-commerce solutions, two types stand out: open-source CMS or SaaS.
Open-source solutions
Open-source solutions have the advantage of being free and you will need to find a a service provider specialized in e-commerce to help you install it, configure it and customize it.
But once the solution is configured, the solution (and the content) belongs to you. It costs nothing, in theory only, because you will still have investments to improve it and ensure maintenance. One important thing: investments to improve it can increase the resale value of your e-commerce site.
Discover our quiz which will reveal the e-commerce CMS best suited to your needs.
SaaS solutions
SaaS solutions offer the launch, creation, installation and hosting of your online store.
Warning: The solution will never belong to you. You will have to pay a monthly subscription and a percentage of sales.
You will also enter an ecosystem of modules and enhancements specific to the solution, which will often make installing these services paid and/or impossible for an external provider.
Don't hesitate to consult our comparison of e-commerce solutions, and our guide "how to choose between a SaaS solution or open source" ?
4 – Understand the cost of an e-commerce site
Before you embark on this venture, it's important to know the cost 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
Feel free to check our tips to calculate the cost of an e-commerce site.
5 – Find a name
The name of your e-commerce store will also be crucial to your success. A good name for your shop should:
- Be short
- Be easy to remember
- Be easy to type
- Be easy to pronounce
- Leave no doubt about its spelling
- And, of course, be available on the Internet.
By trying to follow these simple rules as much as possible, you ensure that friends, visitors and prospects you meet will be able to find their way to your online store without you.
To find name ideas, you can check our business name generators.
6 – Run your e-commerce
Once you've defined your strategy, how you'll deliver added value and your e-commerce solution, it's time to think about bringing your online store to life.
Bringing an e-commerce site to life is crucial for your revenue. Indeed, simply putting a tool online is not enough for it to generate sales. You will need to attract targeted visitors and convert them into customers.
There are different ways to bring an e-commerce site to life. Here are two:
Use content marketing
Content marketing allows you to create useful content for visitors and prospects to help you get known through search engines, social networks and the word of mouth.
Some examples of content marketing for an e-commerce site:
- Create an infographic
- Improve your product pages
- Maintain a blog
- Create a buying guide
- Do interviews, etc.
Use social media
Social networks are very important in an e-commerce strategy. They let you build a community of customers and prospects around your brand, interact directly with them for customer support, and extend word-of-mouth to their friends.
We saw a while ago 5 best practices from major e-commerce players on social networks, don’t hesitate to draw inspiration from them.
Also discover a list of tools that could be useful for finding ideas and properly managing your social media.
In general, identify all the elements that will make up the content of your site. Also define your expectations regarding related needs for the project (hosting for your e-commerce, back-office training, integration of third-party services, etc.). Finally, create a schedule with the desired dates for approval of the different stages of creating your e-commerce site.
All of these elements will help your project run with as few hiccups as possible and will enable the provider(s) you work with to better understand your needs and therefore work under the best possible conditions.
Conclusion
We hope these tips will help you begin opening your online store in a methodical way. Feel free to ask your questions in the comments.
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