Starting an E-commerce Business: 5 important Considerations

in Business

It is an enjoyable challenge to start a business from nothing and nurture it to grow. You’ve created it and no one will be able to take that away from you. Online retail business is booming. There will be 1.93 billion worldwide digital buyers in 2019 – that’s about 25 percent of the global population. Starting your own e-commerce business isn’t that hard – you just need to consider a few key concepts and you will be well on your way of becoming a successful online retailer.

The idea behind it

Your starting idea needs to be refined, even before thinking about starting your own ecommerce store. First off, decide what it is you wish to sell. However simple this may seem, this decision will determine everything about your business. For example, if you want to sell physical products like furniture or hardware, you might need freight forwarding services to ship products across the country or to other nations. You will also need a large storage space and an entirely different audience focus than if you were to sell sports supplements.  As global major brands like Amazon currently dominate the market, it is better to carve out your niche at first. It is much easier to excel in one niche before you start thinking about expansion.

Choosing products and personas

Once you’ve identified a niche, you might think it time to start hunting for products to sell. It isn’t. Before this, think about personas. You can’t rely on people purchasing your product if you don’t understand who you’re selling to. Who is your ideal customer? What does your store represent? You need to project a consistent brand image. A vegan supplement company that sells animal-based products won’t last very long. Your store-persona needs to match the expectations of your customers and the products you sell.

Once you know what image you want to project and what clients you’re catering to, it’s time for product ideas.

Domain name

The beginning of your ecommerce store lies in choosing your new business’ domain name. For online stores particularly, your domain name will be a part of your brand’s identity, also, this is not an easy thing to change, so it’s vital to opt for the one you intend to keep. Your domain name is perhaps the first thing that a consumer views in relation to your website, so make sure that it is:

  • Easy to type – too difficult or too long names deter people when they don’t get the result they were expecting.
  • Memorable – if individuals cannot remember it, they won’t find you online.
  • Related to your brand’s ethos – serious brands don’t have silly names.

Business analytics

Your online store

Once you’ve decided about your domain name, you will need to register it and find an ecommerce shopping platform and ecommerce software. As there are hundreds of ecommerce shopping platforms, choosing the right software isn’t simple. You will need to asses stuff like features, loading speed, compatibility with different payment gateways, SEO-friendly features, and more. As you complete this part, instead of hiring a “CRO expert”, opt for a theme. There are various themes for Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. You can also sell products online via marketplaces like Amazon. If you want to go with Shopify, you can hire a Shopify Agency to set up everything for you.

Responsiveness and performance

If your online shopping website is slow, you will lose clients in the middle of a purchase. User will stay on your website, browse and become interested in your products only if your website is optimized to perform quickly and allows smooth navigation. It is quite possible to compress pictures, use caching and combine website’s CSS or JavaScript resource files into singular ones to increase the loading speed. The same applies for responsiveness – smartphone users actually brought the internet revolution, leading to a rise in ecommerce. Ensure your website is optimized for all devices, not just computers. A responsive online store enables your visitors to view products adequately on their smartphones, add them to cart and checkout easily.

That’s it! Hopefully, by now you understand what are some important considerations to make when you’re starting your own online retail business. Research everything – from customers to marketing and products – and success will follow you closely.

Like this article? Share with your friends!

We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links. Learn more.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related