E-commerce is booming these days. As predicted in research by Nasdaq, 95% of purchases will be made online by 2040. E-retail revenues are projected to grow to $4.88 trillion by 2021. It is a prosperous business with plenty of room for further growth.
In this promising market environment, having an e-commerce website is a must. If you are still not online with your goods and offerings, e-commerce website development might seem like an overwhelming task. And it is if you don’t know all ins and outs to consider. Below you will find the essential tips that will make the process of website creation seamless and faster.
1. Find Your Niche
Do you already know what you want to sell in your online store? Even if you do, market research is a step that you can’t skip. The worst thing that can happen is launching an e-commerce website with products no one is interested in.
Invest some time upfront in studying the market and choosing the right products to sell. You can use Google Trends to find what people are interested in or work with services like TrendHunter that shows various product niches and the most popular items on the market.
After you successfully identified potential products, it is time to answer one more question, “Are you interested in the niche you’ve chosen?” As you are going to spend much time dealing with an e-commerce business, you don’t want to invest yourself into something that doesn’t spark interest in you, right?
2. Purchase a Domain Name
A domain name is a part of your brand identity. It should define your brand and correspond with the type of products you want to sell. Many sites sell domain names. You just need to choose one of them and buy the right domain for your business. In most cases, you don’t have to pay much; you can buy a domain as little as for $10.00.
3. Build Your Website
There are two ways for you to follow during this important step. You can either use one of the platforms that provide e-commerce website templates or hire a development company.
In the first case, there are many options like Shopify, WooCommerce, SiteBuilder, etc. However, there is an important thing to pay attention to if you go this way, and it is the quality of your site. Website builders usually have issues in this regard.
If you choose to hire a web development company, take a look at all vendors that provide such services. Take into consideration customer reviews, qualification, experience, equipped facilities, and price. Look for an excellent price-quality ratio. Hiring a web development company ensures that the end result will be up to your expectations.
4. Add Payment Options
The best part about e-commerce is that you can make purchases without leaving your home. Providing various payment options enables you to sell to the highest number of people. You don’t want your customers to leave your shop without a purchase just because your e-commerce website doesn’t support the payment systems they use, right? The right way is to study the local market and to integrate the most popular methods in your region.
5. Devise a Pricing Strategy
Whether you are launching a brand-new business or just establishing an online presence for the already existing one, you need to develop a pricing strategy. E-commerce business is a little bit different from the traditional one.
When you sell online, consider the following factors:
- The cost of materials and the price of the products you sell
- Web hosting of your website
- Shipping expenses
- Taxes
- Fees you pay for using other services like payment systems, etc.
6. Create Product and Company Pages
Customers tend to buy more from companies they trust. That’s why it is so important to have a company page on your website. You can tell anything you want customers to know about your business, from what stands behind the idea of your store to what your values are.
Providing customers with detailed descriptions of products you offer reduces the number of questions customers ask and streamlines the whole shopping experience. Make sure the description contains:
- Photos of products made from different angles
- Detailed reports that cover all features
- What’s in the box section
- Dimensions and weight
This data is useful for buyers, especially when you sell furniture, home decoration, or toys as it helps them to understand how a product would look like in their home.
7. Market Your E-commerce Business
There is no growth without a marketing strategy in place.
Selling on such platforms like Amazon, eBay, FlipKar, Etsy, etc. is one of the ways to broaden your online presence. Social media offer almost limitless opportunities for promotion and establishing customer relationship. Share relevant content, both through your blog and social media pages, cooperate with niche influencers, provide coupons and discounts, etc. There are various tactics you might want to try to choose what works best in your case.
As you can see, building an e-commerce website is quite a challenging process that requires a lot of effort. Following this checklist will help you to make it smooth and seamless. Start small and grow big!
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