With steady year-to-year growth in the last decade, global eCommerce sales are expected to total $4.921 trillion in 2021, and they are only likely to continue their uphill trajectory. For solo entrepreneurs and retail businesses alike, this chance for success sounds as encouraging as it’s exciting.
While it is correct that the eCommerce market is poised for habitual growth in the following years, it can only bring success if you approach and build it the right way. That demands an understanding that it takes more than just launching a store and shipping goods to grow and scale your eCommerce business. Like any other business plan, you will need to build it with a unique strategy and take care of all the little things you need to do to launch a successful eCommerce business in your field.
So, if you’re an entrepreneur who wants to start your first eCommerce business, you’re at the right place. In this brief article, we’ll go through the most critical stages when launching a new online business from scratch and explain them in simple language so that everyone can understand.
Research the eCommerce Space and Select Your Niche
You should first research the eCommerce industry thoroughly and make some crucial decisions regarding your specific business. For instance, you’ll want to know what exactly your brand-new eCommerce business is going to offer. Also, are you going to sell products, services, or both? Along these lines, you’ll also want to consider the type of business model you wish to employ, such as whether you’ll offer single products, subscriptions, packages, or something else.
These lines of questioning are integral to the beginning of your eCommerce adventure and will help you begin creating and writing your business plan. Once you have a comprehensive business plan for your operation, you’ll get a better sense of your particular goals and how you will reach them. Finding your niche and knowing the answers to the aforementioned questions is incredibly significant in the eCommerce business.
Choose Your Business Name and Select a Legal Structure
Once you have a solid plan for your eCommerce business, the next step is to select a name. Like any other type of business, you should go with a unique name that also indicates what your eCommerce business does. While choosing your name, check with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to ensure that you’re not going with a name that another company already claimed.
Also, check to see if your potential business domain name is available. If it’s not, you can consider having a different business name or a different structure, like yourdomainname.io, instead of yourdomainname.com.
Afterward, select your business’s legal structure as the entity type you’ll pick will have significant financial and legal implications for your eCommerce business. In general, you can go with a sole proprietorship general partnership, LLC, or corporation. Also, take your time to find reliable business insurance provider for your company, as you’ll want to protect your business and employees from mistakes that certainly happen in the business environment at all times.
Source or Develop the Product You Wish to Sell
After selecting your business name and getting a domain, you should put your efforts into creating a first-class eCommerce store website on some of the most popular eCommerce platforms or independently.
Afterward, you need to source or develop the products you’re about to sell on your website. You can either make your own products, source them from reliable distributors, or if you’re selling services, for example, if you want to work as a life coach, you should describe and list your services on your business’s website.
Market Your eCommerce Business and Become Successful
Once your products or services are well-prepared and listed on your eCommerce store, your website is up and running; and you’re practically ready to start serving your first customers. However, to bring your first customers and lure in people who’d gladly recommend your eCommerce shop to their friends and family, you first need to properly market your business to become successful.
You can decide to utilize many marketing strategies, from social media ads to Google ads, email newsletters, word of mouth, and many more. However, at the most basic level, you’ll need to optimize your eCommerce shop for SEO and take advantage of any online marketing tools included with your eCommerce platform.
Final Thoughts
Keep in mind that these are just the essential things you need to do to start your eCommerce business. Although the process can seem intimidating, you can make it happen. Work through it step by step, learn by doing, and adapt as you go. With a bit of practice, you’ll have a successful eCommerce business you can be proud of in no time.