How to Start an Ecommerce Business in 10 Steps (2023)

In this introduction to ecommerce, we are going to discuss how to organise and build a successful online retail business. We will cover all you need to know to launch your very own prosperous e-commerce business. In light of the fact that one person out of every three is uncertain about whether or not they will have sufficient funds to have a pleasant retirement, starting your own eCommerce business is undeniably a wise choice.

When you’ve finished reading this, you’ll have an understanding of the prerequisites necessary to open and maintain a successful online business.

What Will We Cover In This Guide?

1. How to do market research on potential items to sell online
2. Choosing the best business model for your e-commerce
3. Putting your product concept through its paces
4. Putting your business on the public record and incorporating it
5. Where to get the items you need for your business
6. Putting together a strategy for the company
7. Putting your store on the market
8. Increasing the number of visitors to your online store
9. Generating sales and evaluating the outcomes of those sales
10. Auto-pilot your shop and enjoy life

Steps To Starting an E-Commerce Business

How to do market research on potential items to sell online

To achieve financial success, you must sell one of these two categories of products. The first category consists of goods that are in great demand within a market segment that is expanding, while the second category consists of commodities that are of high quality.

What About Niche Markets and Its Products

Products that fall within a niche market are for particularly specialized kinds of customers. You decide on one high-quality item, potentially with numerous varieties, and then you build a focused marketing plan for that one product rather than offering a hundred various product lines.

Products that fill a specific need and are in great demand are known to have low price elasticity and, as a result, often have relatively large profit margins. It’s possible for niche items to be either one-of-a-kind (like a crocheted shawl or a hand-thrown piece of pottery) or produced in small batches, like handmade leather bags and seasonal preserves.

It’s also possible for them to be one-product businesses, like Larq, which exclusively manufactures bottles that can clean themselves when they become dirty. Customers of Larq are known for their extreme devotion to the brand, and as a result, they are prepared to spend more on items of superior quality.

What About Commoditized Market and Its Products

The term “commoditized products” refers to digital or physical goods that are in great demand or are essential and already have a large customer base. In a nutshell, these are items that are required by everyone. The bulk of business-to-consumer online transactions is made up of things that are considered to be commodities.

Because of their prevalence and the intense level of rivalry in their industries, online retailers constantly change their pricing in order to maintain a competitive advantage.

Commoditization occurs across the board, affecting everything from chargers and saucepans to footwear and software applications, as well as clothing and toys for children. It’s interesting to note that the process of commoditization often starts with the introduction of a really innovative product that goes on to achieve widespread success.

Subsequently, other businesses begin copying the original product in order to compete with it. Two companies that operate in the market for commoditized goods are the footwear manufacturer Adidas and the technology corporation Dell.

Combination of Niche and Commoditized Products

There are a lot of successful startups in the e-commerce industry that offer a combination of niche and commoditized goods. Their specialized items are what set them apart from the competition, while the well-selected commodities bring in more customers to their online shops. Take, for example, the company Amcor Packaging.

In addition to a wide variety of essential packaging items, the company specializes in the creation of bespoke packaging for goods of all kinds.

How to Select the Right Products for Your E-commerce Business

It’s possible that you already have a concept that’s entirely original; maybe you’re an inventor or a designer with a prototype of a product that’s currently in production. If that is the case, then everything will be excellent. If this is not the case, there is no need for alarm; you do not need to invent the next great thing in order to launch a successful e-commerce company.

Instead of stressing out about coming up with a game-changing invention, focus on the needs of your clients and what you can do to satisfy those needs. You may increase your chances of coming up with a good concept for a niche product to sell online by using the following tips:

• There is a solution to every problem: Are you able to come up with solutions (items or services) that can be sold to others who have the same issues that you have on a daily basis?
• Find your lust: Because you are going to invest a significant amount of time and energy into your new e-commerce firm, you need to be sure that it is built on something that will continue to pique your interest
• Determine the possibility for brand building: In the world of e-commerce, branding is essential. What kind of name would you give your product? Who will make up your audience, and how do you plan to cultivate a sense of community among them via your different online retail outlets?
• It’s okay to indulge in certain guilty pleasures: People put a significant amount of money into the pursuit of things that they like. With a solid product, you will almost surely be able to establish a client base if you are able to tap into the passions or vices of potential customers
• Always be on the lookout for new opportunities: The most successful businesspeople are always on the lookout for unfilled niches in the market. If you pay attention to changes in society, you’ll be able to spot emerging consumer trends long before they become mainstream. It’s even possible that you’ll aid in their actualization
• Jump on the bandwagon as soon as possible: Concerning trends, if you do become aware of an interesting new product trend, you should get on board with it as quickly as possible. When you enter a new market at an early stage, you increase the likelihood that people will consider you an integral part of the business from the beginning. Brands that are considered “authentic” get a more significant portion of the market share
• Recognize the potential of niche markets: We discussed Larq previously since it is a fantastic illustration of a niche concept. Larq saw a need for a solution (unsanitary water bottles) and developed an e-commerce platform to meet that need (a renewable sterilizing water bottle). Prior to ever having completed a single manufacturing run, Larq was successful in raising millions of dollars in venture money

Try 1000+1 Ideas for Selling Your Products

When you are through thinking about business ideas, perhaps you will have a list of potential goods or services to choose from. In such a case, you should make an effort to determine who the primary rivals are for each product.

If you find yourself in the midst of a field that is already saturated with competitors, you should move on to the next concept, and the next idea, until you discover a niche that is less congested. The next step is to choose the item that you will sell.

Choosing the best business model for your e-commerce

You already know the product that you intend to sell; the next step is to decide where you will sell it. In the world of e-commerce, there are primarily four different types of business models: business to consumer, business to business, consumer to business, and consumer to consumer. Take a look at each of these categories.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Companies that engage in B2B e-commerce market their wares to other commercial enterprises. Sometimes the consumer and the business buyer are one and the same. The vast majority of business-to-business deals, on the other hand, involve wholesale stock, components, or raw materials. In general, the sales cycles for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce businesses are much longer.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

B2C E-commerce refers to conventional online shopping. Your clientele is comprised of average members of society, and the pricing of the goods or services you provide is retail. While some B2C enterprises offer actual goods, others focus on digital goods, such as computer software or mobile applications. Still, others deal in a variety of reoccurring subscriptions of different types. Because there is less risk in business-to-consumer online trade, the sales cycle tends to be shorter.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

C2B may be unfamiliar to some people, but it’s an actual business model all the same. When people sell their products and services directly to companies, this kind of business is known as consumer-to-business (C2B). Freelancing websites are a great example of this kind of business model since they enable organizations to recruit independent contractors to work on a variety of tasks.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

Customers are connected to other consumers via the C2C model of commerce. When individuals sell their goods or services to one another, they are subject to a variety of costs, including subscription fees, listing fees, and transaction fees.

Companies that hold auctions, such as eBay, and websites that publish classified ads, such as Craigslist, are two examples. Its company’s business model will determine its structure, while your business revenue model will determine how much money it brings in. 

Business revenue models, which are also known as value delivery strategies, are what dictate how you should go about managing your inventory. The following are some other well-liked choices:

Direct-to-consumer (D2C)

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies offer their wares directly to end users without going through any intermediaries. Others of them construct a supply chain and then contract out the manufacturing of their goods, while still others of them make their items themselves.

D2C enterprises are able to maintain very high-profit margins since they do not engage in bulk sales of their products. D2C firms have a great deal of control over the customer experience (CX) since they engage in direct communication with customers and sell straight to end users. As a consequence of this, they often expand rapidly and establish devoted followers.

Dropshipping

An intriguing e-commerce business model is known as dropshipping. With this model, you act as a merchant by selling a selection of items on your website, but your dropshipping supplier is in charge of the shipping and order fulfillment process.

It is a beautiful way to try out new product ideas while minimizing shipping expenses and money spent on maintaining inventory. Although it does not provide you as much control over your branding and customer support, it is an excellent way to test out new product ideas.

Subscription Services

Amazon’s “Subscribe and Save” feature is one example of a subscription service, while Marquis Wine Club’s monthly wine delivery service is another. Both of these examples demonstrate how subscription services convert one-time buyers into loyal customers by providing discounts on repeat purchases. A significant number of businesses also rely on other income streams to supplement their subscription services.

Wholesaling Model

The rates that wholesalers charge other companies for the products they sell in large quantities are much lower than retail pricing. Their clients either resell those items under their own brand name or utilize them in the manufacturing of final goods or the provision of retail services. If you decide to go with a wholesale model for your company, you should think about dividing your intended customer base into big and small businesses.

Private Label and White Label

White labeling and private labeling may seem to be the same thing on the surface, but they are, in fact, quite distinct business models. The white label business concept is applying your company’s branding to products that are otherwise supplied by a distributor. A

private label business concept is contracting the services of a manufacturer to produce an item just for the company’s use. White labeling and private labeling both save time. However, white labeling is less costly than private labeling. In any case, you will have the opportunity to focus more of your efforts on marketing and developing new technologies than on design and manufacturing.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

Companies who decide to use Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service essentially hand over their storage and delivery responsibilities to Amazon.

Your bulky items will be kept and sent to your customers from an Amazon fulfillment center once they have been transported there. There is a cost involved, but you won’t need a warehouse, and you won’t have to send any stuff at all.

In addition, Amazon will be responsible for anything that goes wrong with the shipping procedure. It is a beautiful approach to begin selling on Amazon without the need to have extensive prior expertise with a website.

Putting Your Product Concept Through its Paces

At this point, doing market research is really necessary if you want to ensure that you have an excellent concept for a product. In addition to this, you will need to establish one or more buyer personas, which in the long run, will assist you in developing marketing tactics that are highly targeted.

You may be surprised to learn that doing market research isn’t as difficult as you would assume and that developing customer profiles is really rather enjoyable.

Do the Market Research

It seems that doing market research is something that requires the assistance of a specialized business. You are free to do so, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to compile the information you need in-house. You don’t need anything more complicated than a plan and the appropriate instruments.

The following are the three most effective techniques to learn more about the people that make up your customer base:

1-    Consumer Surveys

In order to collect information from customers, surveys will often utilize good, old-fashioned questions. One of the simplest methods to establish an email list is via the use of social media.

All you need to do is to create a page on social media for your new company and give incentives to individuals who would complete your survey, such as ten percent off a future purchase or entrance into a prize draw.

You are able to attract traffic to your page and target a particular audience with the assistance of paid social media advertisements. The development of surveys is simplified by a number of excellent marketing platforms, such as SurveyMonkey and QuestionPro, amongst others.

Signing up is the only step required, after which your first questionnaire may be crafted, and recipients will get it through email. Be sure to monitor the percentage of recipients that read your emails and make use of the data obtained from your survey in order to form an opinion of your customer base.

Consider carefully what information you need from customers, then frame your inquiries in such a way as to elicit that data from them. To get you started, here are a few themes relating to demographics:

– Educational status

– Gender

– Age

– Marital status

– Household income

2-    Interview Consumers

Interview some of the people who took your survey over the phone or through Zoom if you have the opportunity. Interviews with a single person may assist you in answering specific topics in more depth.

It would be a mistake to exclude people who seem to have negative attitudes since they could be able to provide constructive criticism that will help your company succeed. Send the people you want to interview a list of four or five questions in an email a few days before the interview.

Instead of putting them on the spot and forcing them to deliver a response on the spot, giving them time to consider beforehand will result in better replies. During each interaction, make it a point to jot down as many notes as you possibly can.

3-    Create Focus Groups

Focus groups often result in a chaotic environment, but they can provide valuable ideas. If you are excellent with people and want to have a brainstorming session with many customers who fall into the demographic of your target audience, you should absolutely go for it. You have the option of doing this in person or by using a video chat tool like Skype or Zoom.

Putting your business on the public record and incorporating it

You will need to choose a business structure and register your company before you can get started in a serious manner. You may register as a single proprietor if you are a freelancer who trades under your own name. Otherwise, you would most likely establish your e-commerce firm as a partnership, an LLC, or an S corporation. If you are a freelancer who trades under your own name, you can register as a sole proprietor.

The finest services for LLCs will provide you with the appropriate guidance on your particular requirements and will be able to direct you when it comes to making choices that will have an effect on your business both in the short term and in the long run. When you are starting up your business, it is crucial to understand how your personal finances, as well as your business finances, will affect the company.

Sole Proprietorship

People who work for themselves but do not want to register as an LLC or are not yet prepared to do so are the perfect candidates for this kind of company structure. In the vast majority of areas in the nation, the procedure is uncomplicated.

You are exempt from the need to register your freelancing business in several states if you do not use a pseudonym while doing business. There is no statewide sales tax in Oregon, Alaska, Montana, Delaware, or New Hampshire. You are required to make quarterly payments of sales and use taxes in the majority of states.

Although it may be easy to get started, operating as a single proprietorship has a few significant negatives to consider.

To begin, under the provisions of a sole proprietorship, your personal assets are not safeguarded in the event that your firm declares bankruptcy.

Second, you’ll have to pay a self-employment tax, the rate of which is proportional to the amount of money you bring in. What is the solution to both of these problems? Choose a different organizational structure for your company.

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

When you establish your business as an LLC, you protect yourself from personal responsibility by isolating your personal assets from those of your company.

In order to begin things rolling, you will need to choose a registered agent, who is the individual who will represent the limited liability company, and submit articles of formation with the state in which you reside.

You will be required to pay a charge, but the real cost shouldn’t exceed a few hundred dollars at the most. You have the option of managing your own firm if you are the owner of a limited liability company, but you also have the ability to hire employees to conduct the job on your behalf.

Before you can begin recruiting staff members, you are required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to get an Employer Identification Number, often known as a Federal Tax Identification Number (FTIN). You are not required to submit a tax return that is special to your limited liability company (LLC). Instead, the earnings from your LLC are distributed to you via the firm, and you are responsible for paying self-employment taxes on all of your gains.

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

There are several critical distinctions between a limited liability partnership (LLP) and a limited liability company (LLC), despite the fact that both may be formed with comparable ease. In contrast, an LLP must have at least two members and may have as few as one. Unlike LLCs, limited liability partnerships are required to identify at least one partner member who will accept legal responsibility for the conduct of the partnership.

Investors and silent partners in an LLP are protected from personal liability in the event that the firm is sued, goes bankrupt, or incurs business debt. Owners of small businesses often register their companies as LLCs, whereas partners in professional partnerships such as law firms and accountancy firms, for example, opt for LLPs. Annual reports are a requirement for both limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships. LLPs, much like LLCs, are considered to be “pass-through” entities for the purposes of taxation.

Two Types Of Corporation

To legally form a corporation, it is not required that your annual revenue is in the millions of dollars. Having said that, the vast majority of massive enterprises that are publicly listed are corporations. There are two different structures for corporations:

The C Corporation

When a company incorporates, it immediately becomes a C corporation unless the owners file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service to convert it to an S corporation. C corp owners, much like LLC owners, have limited liability, which means they cannot be held liable for the corporation’s losses. If you need to raise a considerable amount of cash, you have the option of taking your company public and offering investors shares of the company as well as bonds. On the other hand, you are subject to double taxation: first on your personal income and then again on the earnings of the firm.

The S Corporation

Creating an S corporation requires first forming a C corporation and then submitting an application to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for S corp taxation status. S companies, much like LLCs, are often used as pass-through businesses.

The owners pay themselves wages and are required to pay income taxes on those earnings. But, they are exempt from paying taxes on any profits that remain after that. Because S companies are limited to having no more than 100 shareholders, you will have to change your business structure to that of a C company in order to take it public in the future.

After you incorporate your business, you can be practically sure that your spending on accounting services will increase. If you opt to establish your company as a corporation, you will be required to release periodic financial statements, and tax season will be quite a bit more complicated. As a result, the amount of money you spend on accounting services will almost surely increase on an annual basis.

Licenses You Need To Incorporate Your Business

If you want to do business as a limited liability company, a limited liability partnership, or a corporation — essentially anything other than a sole proprietorship conducted under your own name — you will most likely be required to get some kind of business license.

For instance, if you operate a dropshipping company out of your house under a fictitious name, you will be required to get a DBA license as well as a sales tax license. Because the standards for obtaining licenses and permits for businesses differ from one state to the next, it is essential to determine whether or not your company fits into any of the categories that are applicable in your jurisdiction.

Brand Your Company to create brand awareness

Visual branding is a complicated subject that warrants its own independent post of 2,000 words, but we’ll cover it in a basic manner here in this article. You need to come up with a logo and complementing branding colors that are consistent throughout all of your sales channels if you want people to remember your business and get familiar with your brand.

This will help you make your company more recognizable. You have the option of designing a logo for your company yourself, or you may hire a freelance designer to acquire a more polished end product.

Even infants can see the Golden Arches of McDonald’s from up to half a mile away, making it one of the world’s most recognizable logos. The finest logos in the world are identifiable, even when all surrounding text is removed. Deuter, a manufacturer that specializes in high-performance camping gear, features a logo that is easy to remember and can function either with or without the neighboring logotype.

Where to get the items you need for your ecommerce business

Now is the time to go a little bit more particular about the product sourcing strategies we discussed in the section on business models. There are primarily three approaches to getting products: doing it yourself (DIY) manufacturing, purchasing from a wholesaler or manufacturer, and dropshipping. Many internet merchants mix different revenue streams in order to attain financial stability.

DIY Manufacturing

Since the beginning of time, people have been producing goods and selling them to others. Beads, pottery, and sculptures were all products that merchants in the Neolithic period had to transport across the land to sell.

In modern times, however, it is possible to sell handcrafted items all over the world over the internet. The initial investment required for a do-it-yourself project is often not very high, but you will need to devote a significant amount of your own time to the endeavor.

On the other hand, you have complete control over the manufacturing process as well as the user experience, and you are able to make adjustments to the designs on the fly in the event that the items do not work as expected. As you grow your company, you may come to the conclusion that it would be beneficial to collaborate with a manufacturing firm in order to produce things on a larger scale.

Manufacturer And Wholesaler

If you are ready to produce and transport things on a bigger scale, you may want to think about employing a wholesaler or a manufacturer as a source of the products you need. Take a closer look at both of these options.

Wholesalers

Wholesalers offer brand-name items in bulk. In addition to that, they provide white-label items in bulk sales. You put your brand on the product, and then you resale it to your consumers as generic goods. Working with a wholesaler may save you both time and money, making it an attractive option for businesses that would instead devote their resources to expanding their customer base and marketing efforts.

Manufacturers

You may form a partnership with a manufacturer if you already have a product prototype or if you want to expand the size of your do-it-yourself firm. Production companies in the United States and other countries create private-label goods in large quantities as a service to their clients. Some manufacturers offer assistance to startup companies in the creation of new products and in the management of the product development process from beginning to end.

Dropshipping

If you don’t have an original idea for a product, don’t want to deal with a manufacturer, and don’t want to buy merchandise in large quantities, dropshipping may be the best option for you when it comes to sourcing products.

You will be considered a retail distributor after you have established a partnership with a dropshipping provider. You list the wholesaler’s wares on your website, and the vendor is responsible for the production of products as well as the shipment of orders on your behalf.

Although the profit margin is lower for dropshipping than it is for white-label or private-label reselling, this business model is much simpler and more time efficient. Some businesses offer dropshipping in addition to do-it-yourself options. For instance, a painter who works out of their home and sells and ships one-of-a-kind paintings may also use a dropshipper to sell reproductions of their work as well as branded mugs.

Putting Together a Strategy for Your Company

Before plunging headfirst into a new endeavor, you should first give some thought to the years to come. Roughly half of all new enterprises are unsuccessful in the first five years, often as a result of poor planning.

The process of writing a business plan can provide you with a more in-depth understanding of your distinctive offering, as well as assistance in locating the resources you require to run your company, determining what your competitors are doing, recognizing opportunities in the market, defining your target market, and visualizing the future of your company.

Seven Steps of Developing A Business Plan

A minimum of seven distinct components are required for most business plans. You are free to develop your own strategy by using the template that is provided below:

1. Executive Summary: Your company concept is condensed into a few lines and presented in an executive summary. It is placed at the beginning of your business plan and informs readers about the activities of your firm, the objectives of your enterprise, and the goods or services that are for sale
2. Company Overview: This is the part of the business plan in which you provide the readers with a truly comprehensive overview of the firm. This part starts out with your company’s name, then moves on to its business structure (LLC, S-corp, etc.), and then finishes up with its domain name
3. Market Analysis: In the market analysis, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate how well you understand your ideal clientele. The findings of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) study serve as a starting point for many business owners. After that, they go on to the analysis of the competition
4. Products and Services: This is the section in which you provide specific information about the product or service you provide. Tell your readers more about the items you sell or the services you provide; if you sell a wide variety of things, write in broad terms about your inventory and the reasons why your firm is unique among its competitors in the industry
5. Marketing Plan: You are going to provide the readers with information on your marketing strategy in this area. This section starts out by giving a detailed analysis of your marketing budget, and then it moves on to give a list of the various marketing channels that you plan to employ to advertise your company
6. Operations and Logistics Plan: Your plans for operations and logistics include everything that is necessary for you to physically manage your business. This category contains requirements for office space, technical demands, staff, and warehouse needs, among other things
7. Financial Plan: To get your e-commerce firm off the ground, you will need financing. To get started in trading, you will either need investors or a loan from the bank if you do not already have the money for the startup fees. You need to demonstrate to prospective investors and lenders that you have a firm grasp of financial matters and that you have the plan to turn a profit with your company

Putting your store on the market

After establishing the viability of your product concepts, incorporating your firm, and developing a business plan, it is at last time to start constructing your website. The majority of online retailers and wholesalers use sales as a service (SaaS) platforms because of the ease with which they can be utilized and the fact that they include website-building capabilities in addition to e-commerce platforms.

There are a significant number of SaaS providers available, and some of them are superior to others. Test out the functionality of a few different options with a free trial before committing to one. When selecting an e-commerce platform, make sure you keep the following aspects in mind.

• Built-in SEO tools and fully customizable URLs
• Zero transaction fees
• A practical in-product website builder
• Full PCI compliance
• Ecommerce marketing features like discounts, analytics, and promotions

Now that you know what features are a must for your online shop, we recommend you review the web builders below. They are all great for ecommerce businesses.

Wix

Wix boasts a wide variety of professionally crafted templates, tools for search engine optimization (SEO), an intuitive WYSIWYG editor, and a selection of gift card and promotion opportunities, all of which contribute to its popularity among small companies.

Building a website takes less than an hour, and getting it up and running is a snap. Wix has a store-builder tool as part of its standard offering, and you can make use of the platform’s in-built product galleries to organize your wares or services in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Wix is a beautiful option for companies that have a restricted product catalog since it provides additional features like a safe checkout, customer service that is 24/7, and numerous payment channels.

Shopify

The ecommerce platform Shopify is a mammoth player. In general, they perform best for dropshipping shops since it is both quick and straightforward to set up the site and integrate products. A few of the platform’s features include the ability to retrieve abandoned shopping carts, free SSL certificates for websites, marketing tools, and adequate customer support.

There are certain downsides associated with using Shopify. To begin, Shopify only allows you to create up to 100 different product variations. This means that if you have a vast product catalog with a variety of product alternatives (size, material, color, etc.), Shopify may not be the best solution for you.

3dcart

3dcart is most well-known for the powerful SEO tools that it has. Additional benefits include the absence of transaction fees, the availability of limitless bandwidth, and a pre-fabricated Facebook shop. You may create adjustable deals, unique discounts, scheduled promotions, coupon codes, and more with the help of 3dcart’s promotion manager.

The basic plan of 3dcart is more affordable than that of many other SaaS platforms, but, as is the case with the vast majority of things, you get what you pay for. Because it has fewer features, fewer themes, and no enterprise capability, this supplier is better suited for use by smaller firms than it is for medium-sized sellers that are trying to grow.

Squarespace

If you are more of a visual person and have fewer requirements for your online store, Squarespace may be the appropriate ecommerce service for you. It is not a platform designed for use by enterprise-level businesses, but it does include a website builder that is quite simple and straightforward to use.

Customers of Squarespace are given access to an extensive template library that is optimized for mobile devices, tools for product administration, and a variety of applications developed by third parties for shipping and fulfillment. If you want to open an online shop on Squarespace, you will have to pay for one of the more costly service levels since that is the only way to do it.

Volusion

The ecommerce platform Volusion is a user-friendly oldie. Kevin Sproles, the company’s founder, began his career in website construction in 1999 when he was only 16 years old. In 2002, while he was just 19 years old, he founded the company Volusion.

This solid all-rounder is practical and stable, and it provides an essential subscription that costs just $26 per month. This bundle includes online assistance and an unlimited number of items, and there are no transaction fees. 

Because the recently revised content builder of the platform enables you to modify article pages from the front end of the shop, you can make rapid adjustments to anything that seems to be out of place. You may leverage the in-house team at Volusion to help you build a high-quality commerce plan even if you don’t have much experience with search engine optimization or marketing.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce, which offers a variety of subscription levels from Standard to Enterprise, is widely regarded as the industry’s top SaaS platform. Each and every BigCommerce plan comes with a selection of high-quality themes, a website that is responsive and mobile-ready, various sales channels, unlimited storage space, unlimited bandwidth, and expert analytics.

You will have access to a variety of additional features, such as a bespoke SSL certificate, segmentation tools, and an abandoned cart saver if you sign up for the Pro plan. Another significant advantage offered by BigCommerce is its remarkable support for customers. BigCommerce is ideal for companies that are expanding since it is both scalable and robust.

Increasing the Number of Visitors to Your Online Store

Launching an online store is a simple process. Where you need to get people to visit it, that’s when the issue begins. In this section, we will discuss both paid and free digital marketing strategies that may help increase the number of customers visiting your website.

Organic marketing channels need more time and effort to get momentum, but they provide the highest return on investment (ROI) in the long run. The following are the most effective strategies to increase the number of your website’s visitors:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Email marketing
• Link building (off-page SEO)
• Content marketing
• Social media pages

Paid Marketing Channels

Paid marketing channels generate immediate results and make it simpler to develop a lucrative online shop, which is why they are such a popular option for startups as well as major enterprises with larger marketing budgets. Although they provide fast results in internet marketing, their return on investment (ROI) is often lower than that of free strategies, with the exception of affiliate marketing, which has an excellent ROI.

• Affiliate marketing: Affiliate commissions are provided for bloggers and other online influencers who join the affiliate program offered by your firm. These individuals get paid for any purchases that are generated via the use of their affiliate links
• Influencer marketing: Influencers on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, as well as other platforms, will promote your items in exchange for payment
• Pay-per-click advertising: You pay Google a fee every time one of their users clicks on one of your PPC advertisements once you’ve put them up with Google. This may also contain Google Shopping advertising, which synchronizes with your product catalog and make it possible for customers to purchase your wares via the Google Shopping network
• Social media ads: Paid advertisements on Facebook may target both new prospects and those who have visited your website in the past. Utilizing Facebook’s own DPA advertisements is among the most successful advertising approaches the platform has to offer. These advertisements showcase the exact same goods that customers viewed when they visited your product pages on your website. They are shown to Facebook users who have visited those sites. In addition, you may sell products directly via Facebook by creating product listings

SEO Marketing Is Considered The Best Option

If we were starting an online store from scratch right now, the first thing we would do is develop a solid search engine optimization plan. This involves performing keyword research to identify keywords that have high search traffic and the potential to bring in the audience you’re looking for. 

For those of you who sell camping gear, for instance, you might create a blog post like “The Top 10 Backpacking Boots” and embed links to your product pages within the text of the article itself.

To get backlinks, you will first need to create a robust plan for link building and then collaborate with other sites that are relevant to your subject.

Your website’s Domain Authority (DA) will improve as a result, and it will be much simpler to rank each and every one of your pages on search engines.

Generating Sales and Evaluating the Outcomes of Those Sales

You can get a better understanding of how people get to your website and what they do once they get there with the assistance of ecommerce analytics tools like Google Analytics. In the end, they are also able to supply information on your sales and conversion rates.

You may improve your product descriptions and page content by making use of the data you get from analytics in order to convert a more significant percentage of your site’s visits into prospective clients. Ecommerce software as a service (SaaS) systems like BigCommerce offer connections with Google Analytics.

If you are a client of BigCommerce, all you need to do to set up an account with Google Analytics is go to the Advanced Settings of your control panel and choose Web Analytics.

To get started, select the checkbox that is located next to Google Analytics and then copy and paste your tracking ID into the area labeled Property ID. Via BigCommerce, you are able to assess individual page visits and search phrases thanks to the integration of Google Analytics, which also enables Enhanced Ecommerce and Site Search.

You have the ability to monitor metrics under Google Analytics (site traffic), Facebook Insights, and the email service you use.

The Most Vital Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

In general, you need to look at these insights and take action on them in order to generate more sales.

• Sessions: It refers to the number of times individuals see the information on your website
• Reach: It represents the total number of individuals that were exposed to one of your advertisements
• Email click-throughs: It measures how many of the people who receive your messages actually open them and then click on the links that you contain
• Social media engagement: It refers to the number of “likes,” “shares,” “comments,” and “clicks” that a post receives after it has been published
• Online Shopping Cart and Checkout Abandonment: This process refers to the number of customers who add items to their virtual shopping carts but then navigate away from the retailer’s website before commencing or finishing the purchasing transaction
• Average order value: The average total amount of a single order placed on your website is referred to as the “average order value” or “AOV”

Final Thoughts

To launch an online retail business that is profitable requires a person to have a lot of self-discipline and commitment.

You will also need an excellent business plan, the appropriate e-commerce platform, a well-researched marketing approach, and a fantastic product in a market segment that is expanding. If you break down your ambitions into more doable tasks, you’ll be able to build an e-commerce firm that you can be proud of.

Setting up your own e-commerce website might very well turn out to be one of the wisest choices you ever make. The fact that online shopping is available around the clock is the primary motivation for consumers to do their shopping online.