I was among the millions of people who lost their jobs due to downsizing during the pandemic.
But now that I look back, it might’ve been the best thing that happened to me because it allowed me to explore e-commerce and become my own boss.
Starting an e-commerce store wasn’t an easy task. However, all those sleepless nights spent finding the right product, adjusting the business’s logo, and so on were worth the effort. I learned a profitable skill and, importantly, something that’ll stick with me for the rest of my life.
As of now, I have multiple e-commerce stores, all of which are top-rated on different platforms. And in this comprehensive guide, I’ll share my recipe for starting an e-commerce store.
So, let’s get started!
Create a Business Plan
A solid business plan acts as the foundation of your e-commerce store. Creating a comprehensive business plan can offer a clear roadmap for vital business operations such as budgeting, marketing, etc.
Other than this, starting an e-commerce business includes a lot of factors. For instance, you’d need to create a website, search for products, decide what sort of business model you’re going to opt for, etc. So, when all these factors are clearly answered in a detailed plan, growing your store becomes a fairly simple job.
Additionally, most newbies are unaware that there are several e-commerce platforms available to share your responsibility with. While I’ll discuss their role in the next heading, ensure to add them to your plan and explain in what capacity you’ll use them.
Take Help from E-Commerce Platforms
Choosing the right e-commerce platform is incredibly important for your business. Technically, from the very first step of designing your store to adding a checkout page and finally inaugurating the business, a platform will help you out for sure.
Below, I’ve mentioned some major e-commerce platforms you can choose from:
- Shopify
- SquareSpace
- WooCommerce
- Magento
Personally, I’ve created all my e-commerce stores on Shopify. Though this platform is a bit on the expensive side, it offers a diverse range of templates, e-commerce tools, and customizability options.
Having said that, one major factor why I use Shopify, an expensive platform, is that my internet, Xfinity, compensates for it with its competitive pricing. The internet is one of the most fundamental things required to run these platforms like a breeze.
Since the Xfinity Internet price is fairly low compared to other providers, it allows me to leverage the best e-commerce platform without breaking the bank.
Source or Manufacture Your Products
It is probably one of the most important business decisions when creating an e-commerce store. Choosing whether you’d source products or manufacture them can directly affect the cost. And that is why you must be 100% sure before making this decision.
In my experience, sourcing products is cheaper, but it limits your control over their quality. On the other hand, your product prices can spike if you manufacture them yourself.
For that, you’d need a proper setup, i.e., manpower, machinery, raw material, etc. However, you also need to be able to provide quality products to your customers.
So, all in all, it’s a subjective choice on what you want to do.
However, I’d still suggest you outsource products that are complex to manufacture, especially when you have limited funds to set up your e-commerce store.
Market Your E-Commerce Store
Once you’ve set up your e-commerce store, don’t forget to market it on different social media platforms. Although your store can grow organically via different methods, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I believe the paid marketing approach is more useful.
You can run paid ads on different social media platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram, etc. These platforms allow you to create campaigns with different objectives, such as lead generation, sales, impressions, etc.
Additionally, such paid campaigns are highly customizable and offer detailed insights. You can constantly track paid campaigns and, based on data, optimize them for better results.
Explore New Products or Markets
Ideally, the goal of any business should be to capture more markets or introduce new products. And, this is also what you should aim for.
Here, I’d advise not to rush while expanding your business. Only plan to expand your business when you’ve cemented your place in the market. And, once you do that, explore how you want to expand your business.
As for me, I’ve either introduced new products or entered new markets to expand my e-commerce stores. Generally, these approaches largely depend on the nature of your business.
For instance, if you’re selling niche products related to a specific community, then entering new markets might not work. So, always keep in mind the nature of your e-commerce store, simply because it’ll dictate how you should expand the business.
This is how I’ve created and established a few profitable e-commerce stores in a span of a few years. And before I wind up, I believe most people think that e-commerce has become a saturated field.
While I won’t deny this, I believe the e-commerce market is too big to be captured by anyone. And, if you’re able to find the right product, then you wouldn’t face too much trouble growing your e-commerce store.
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