If you’re starting an e-commerce business from scratch, it’s time to start ticking off things from your checklist, so here it is.
STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR E-COMMERCE NICHE
Choosing a niche is the most important step in starting an online business. It is proposed to begin this process by recognizing successful businesses that are already operating in this sector. Therefore, a good option is neither the most competitive nor the least competitive market.
“Narrow it down and make your niche more precise if you have problems with this segment.”
You can more effectively rate your content for similar keywords when you narrow it down to micro-niche marketing. The advantage is also that there are a lot of “shoulder” niches with which business owners can work together to expand the client base.
STEP 2: RESEARCH BUSINESS MODELS
The aim is to find a form of business model that works best for your company. A business model refers to an effective business development strategy, and how it applies to the industry’s existing goods or services.
As discussed above, here are the 4 main types of e-commerce models. They describe almost every transaction that takes place between consumers and online businesses.
- Business to Business (B2B)
- Business to Consumer (B2C)
- Consumer to Business (C2B)
- Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
STEP 3: BUYER PERSONAS AND PRODUCT SELECTION
Often, it’s even easier to think about the buyer personas of your brand before creating the concept of your business. Who are you? Who are your customers? What does your business represent?
“The brand’s persona must fit the desires of the customers and the products you choose to carry.”
Since your aim is to achieve a lot of targeted traffic in your business, you need to project a consistent brand picture. You have to know who you’re selling to in order to expect customers to purchase your stuff. Surveys are a source of quality in this instance. You can get a deeper insight into the variables by surveys that keep the customers buying again and again. You will find individuals that are truly interested in your brand that way.
STEP 4: ESTABLISH YOUR BRAND AND BUSINESS
When the image you want to project and target group for your ecommerce business has been established, it’s time to start with product ideas. Whatever it is you go for, note that less is always enough. Assess it carefully before you invest in the product.
On your website, almost anything that damages visitor conduct can be A/B tested.
Often, start worrying about the price of your product and what consumer concerns they are addressing. That will give you a better understanding of how to correctly set your pricing model. If you set too low a price, you might fail to return your investment. In the other hand, it is highly likely that a lot of your customers will not be able to afford it if your price is too high.
STEP 5: CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
Consider price, features, support, ease of use and efficiency when selecting an ecommerce store builder. You will need to start thinking about the design, registration of your domain name and any related redirect URLs in this process. It doesn’t mean, however, that you’re going to have to employ a construction company. Using a theme will be enough. In that scenario, you would just need to pay a small fee to get a good template, depending on your business brand.
If your online store has been established, start thinking about the various channels where your audience is most present. Build an Omni channel strategy for consumer engagement to develop greater awareness of the brand and better shopping experience!
Step 6: Attract customers to your ecommerce store
In online marketing, the best ecommerce sites spend a lot. There are also other forms of boosting visibility if you don’t have money. This is personal, though, and depends on whether you’re going to use sponsored content, social media, pay-per – click ads, or all of them together. Keep watching what campaigns are driving traffic to your store until you decide. If selling the site seems daunting, however, consider recruiting assistance.
STEP 7: MARKETING YOUR PRODUCTS ONLINE
Track the flow of the traffic on your site. To help you track and optimize every step of the sales process, you can use analytics tools.
If you find that the sales curve is not growing, take a close look at your product listings and carefully develop each website, even if you’re driving traffic to your store. To track the progress of your e-commerce business, there are thousands of marketing metrics, but only a few of them directly reflect the state of your business and can be transformed into actionable insights that help you develop.
These are the eight most important metrics we believe every ecommerce store owner should track:
- Sales Conversion Rate
- Email opt-ins
- Customer lifetime value
- Customer acquisition cost
- Revenue by traffic source
- Average order value
- Shopping cart abandonment rate
- Net Promoter Score