Open Online Product Selling Store
Starting an online product selling store has become a profitable and flexible business option today. And through this article we are telling you what kind of strategies will be needed to start this business, which you can follow.
business plan for online store
First of all, you need to have a clear business plan for business, which should include target audience, products, revenue model and goals and strategy. In this plan, you have to define your target audience, so try to know which age group, gender and location of customers you want to target and are you targeting urban areas or rural areas?
Next you have to decide what type of products you want to sell like fashion, gadgets, beauty and health, home decor etc. Product selection will depend on your market research, competition, knowledge and budget. Next you have to decide the revenue model of your business because it is important to be clear on how you will run your business. Decide whether you will choose the option of direct sales or subscription model or affiliate marketing option. Apart from this, it is also important for you to have a clear growth strategy and goals for your business. For example, you should know how you will establish your brand presence through social media and influencer marketing in the first six months of business and how you will achieve thousand plus monthly customers in 12 months. By considering all these points, you can prepare a clear and strong business plan for your online store, which will help you a lot in achieving your goals.
Niche selection and market research
To make your online store unique among the market competition, you should choose a niche and while choosing it, you should consider market demand, competition analysis and your passion and interest. To understand the market demand, you have to know whether customers are interested in your product category? How much potential is there in the niche you have chosen? To know this, you can use google trends where you will be able to see which product category or trend has more search volume. Similarly, by using keyword research tools, you can also know which products and services people are searching for more. Next you have to analyze the competition as well, you have to find out if there are already many stores in your niche in the market? Will you get the opportunity to establish your brand? And in this competition, you also have to clearly define your USP i.e. unique selling proposition.
Next, you have to select a niche considering your passion and expertise, only then you will be able to serve your customers better and grow your business. So identify your passion and expertise and accordingly choose the best niche from fashion and apparel, home decor, gadgets and electronics and health and wellness so that you can easily make better sales and loyal customers.
Choosing a platform for your online store
Choose the platform. To start an online store, you have to choose a platform and while making this selection, you have to keep in mind your business goals, budget and technical skills. You can choose from two main options: self-hosted website and ready-made e-commerce platforms. Now if you have technical knowledge and you can get time and resources to customize your website, then you can choose the option of self-hosted website, which is more flexible and customizable. For this, you can take the option of WordPress and WeCommerce in which you can create a website on WordPress and WeCommerce is a free plugin with the help of which you can create an online store. Similarly, Open Cart is an open source e-commerce platform for small and medium businesses and Magento for large businesses.
The other option is readymade e-commerce platforms which are user friendly and you do not have to worry about hosting and maintenance. Shopify is considered a good e-commerce platform for beginners and Wix is also a suitable website builder for online stores. After knowing this, select a suitable platform according to your business goals, technical knowledge and business requirements.
Domain Name and Hosting: Important Factors
Buy domain name and hosting. Domain name and hosting directly impact the online visibility, user experience and overall success of the online store. So while selecting them, keep some things in mind like: Domain name, which is the online address of the online store like www.myfashiononstore.com. Select this domain name which is catchy and memorable, relevant to your business, easy, avoid using hyphes and numbers in it and if possible, choose a shorter extension. For this, you can take the service of domain purchase providers like Go Daddy Namecheap and Blue Host. Next choose web hosting this hosting service keeps your website live on the internet and you need to choose fast, reliable and secure hosting service for your website so that your store can run smoothly for this you can take service of hosting providers like Blue Host, Site Ground and Host Gator in this way you can purchase domain and hosting and link your purchased domain to your hosting account.
Online Store Setup and Design
Set up an online store. Now it’s time to set up your online store, in which you have to select store design, product listing, payment gateway integration and delivery options. The design of your store should be simple and user friendly so that visitors can easily navigate and discover your products easily and the layout of the website should be very user friendly without being too bulky. Your store should also be mobile friendly and the theme of your store should also reflect the identity of your brand. So design the store keeping all these things in mind. Next is product listing, for which only upload high quality product images. Provide detailed descriptions for each product, which include information like product size, dimensions, material, color options and shipping details.
Product Inventory & Payment Gateways
Next, if we talk about payment gateway integration, then while integrating payment gateways in your store, provide multiple payment options to the customers which are secure and user friendly like UPI, PayPal, Razor Pay and credit and debit cards. It is also important to set delivery options and shipping settings in your store which includes shipping zones, shipping cost, delivery time. For this, you can tie up with popular delivery partners like Blue Dart, India Post or Fedex.
Legal Requirements
Fulfill the legal requirements. For the smooth operations of your business and for the protection of the business, it is also important to fulfil the legal requirements. Therefore, you should consider business registration, taxes, terms and conditions, IP protection and e-commerce regulations. Register your business which can be registered as a sole proprietor partnership or LLC i.e. Limited Liability Company. According to your business, you will also have to understand the tax obligations like sales tax, GST and income tax. To explain the rules and regulations of your online store, you will also have to create a clear terms and conditions page and apart from this, it is also necessary to create pages for preview policy and refund and return policies. If you are selling your own products, then use intellectual property i.e. IP protection to protect your brand. For which get your brand name, logo and original product designs trademarked. Apart from this, also fulfill the e-commerce regulations according to your business like consumer protection laws.
Marketing and Customer Support
Create marketing and promotion strategies. Marketing is very important to make your online store successful because only through marketing you can reach your products to potential customers and build your customer base. For this, you can use social media marketing, email marketing, influencer marketing, SEO and paid advertising strategies. For social media marketing, you can post your products on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. For email marketing, you can collect emails from visitors on your website and send regular newsletters to your customers and send offers and reminders through personalized emails. Similarly, you can also do influencer marketing with the help of influencers related to your niche. By making your online store i.e. website SEO friendly, you can optimize the website content so that its reach to customers can increase and using paid advertising strategies, you can promote your store through Facebook ads and Google ads.
Customer Support & Analytics
The quality of customer support directly impacts your store’s reputation, so provide timely and helpful support to your customers. For efficient customer support, you can add a live chat feature on your website, create a support email address, create an FAQ section and provide solutions to common queries and issues. Similarly, it is also very important to constantly track your store’s performance so that you can improve your strategies and grow your business. For regular performance tracking, you can use Google Analytics to track your website’s traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates so that you can know which pages are being visited the most and which products are selling. You must also take customer feedback through surveys and reviews so that it can help you improve your products and services.
So in this way, to start your online business store, you can follow these nine effective steps i.e. to open your online store, prepare a business plan, choose a niche, choose a platform, buy a domain name and hosting, set up an online store, manage product inventory and supply, fulfill legal requirements, create marketing and promotion strategies and give importance to customer support and analytics and make your business successful.
