How to launch an e-commerce business

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E-commerce need of today’s business world, online retail is a booming business. But too many e-commerce businesses struggle to get traction. Running an online e-commerce store can get complicated fast.

Research The Basics of e-commerce Business.

It’s not rocket science, but it does impact your business structure.

Wondering which type of online business should you venture in? You can rest all your queries and concerns because here we provide a wide variety of options to choose for starting an e-commerce business. With numerous online business opportunities available, we will help you in making the right choice that best suits your business requirements!

Are you looking to start/expand your business with e-commerce Digital Marketing?

You must be lured to kick-start the process of how to make e-commerce website, aren’t you? If you wish your e-commerce business to make a mark in the industry, understanding of market and consumers is a must.

Enlisted below are the basic steps involved in the process of e-commerce website development.

Step 1: Design an E-commerce Business Model

Planning out and designing an e-commerce business model is the base when thinking to set-up an online business. The business model should be drafted such that the details pertaining to the business concept, market research, marketing plan, operations plan and financial planning are all taken cared of, adequately.

Step 2: Choose Product/Service to Sell Online

To make a choice of the product/service you wish to sell is one of the crucial moves.

The next important step is to identify the platform for selling the product/service. Either sell on your website or sell on marketplaces. Interestingly, opting for the latter paves an easy way to start an e-commerce business as the sellers can join multiple marketplaces to sell their products.

Some of the popular marketplaces are Amazon & Alibaba, etc. If you want to sustain the competition in the online business industry, you must know how to sell on Amazon & Alibaba. But if you wish to create a niche for yourself, need to think on launching your e-commerce store vigorously.

Above everything else, you must ensure to choose the most demanded products.

Step 3: Do Market Research

Wondering how to do Market Research? Worry not, here is the quick checklist:

Logistics charges
• Decide upon the product/service you plan to offer
• Study the demand of that product/service
• Identify the possible number of competitors
• Conduct customer surveys either via phone or personal visits, as is feasible
• Find out if there is a market need that has not been met.

Formal marketing research simply makes this a familiar process orderly. It provides a framework to organize market information for the best selling products online.

Step 4: Understand the dynamics of the Online Business Model

Moving on further in the process, it is important to list the capital to be invested besides other costs involved in setting-up the e-commerce business.

The cost of starting an online business varies basis the type of service being offered. However, there are a few costs involved that are incurred by online businesses, generally:

• Market research cost
• Web-hosting charges
• Email Marketing Services
• Professional Website Design
• Human resources
• Cost of manufacturing product(s) offered
• Warehousing expenses
• Logistics charges
• Traditional Marketing cost
• Business taxes
• Accountant and financial institution fees
• Rent and utilities

So, make a thorough provision of funds to ensure smooth workflow.

Step 5: Establish Your E-commerce Business Legally

a.) Decide upon the legal structure of your Online Business

Legal formalities must be duly fulfilled before you start running your e-commerce business. For this, decide upon the structure of business entity you wish to run: sole proprietorship, partnership structure, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) or a Company format.

b.) Enquire about taxation formalities for your business

Once you’ve finalized upon the business structure, the next important thing is to inquire about tax details. Whether it is sole proprietorship, corporation or a partnership based structure, you may require to fulfill taxation formalities, its better to consult an expert.

c.) Get the necessary licenses and permits to run your Online Business

Furthermore, it is equally important to obtain the necessary licenses and permits to run your online business, which may vary depending upon your location. For instance, if you are offering to account for financial services, you may need a license.

Step 6: Set-up your E-commerce Website

a.) Decide whether to do Self-hosting of the website or outsource

Self-hosting a website is beneficial for the simpler form of e-commerce businesses like content writing, parenting tips, motivational thoughts etc. While, if your e-commerce business is exclusively online, you must consider hiring a digital agency for e-commerce website solutions to get a polished website. The latter being a bit more costly than the former option, accordingly define your budget.

b.) Upload the product & services details

Once the website hosting is completing, jump onto publishing the relevant content:

• Details of fast selling products – pictures, and descriptions in detail
• Company objective (to differentiate you from your competitor)
• E-commerce business history and personal bio
• Blog or any other additional content you plan to add
• An engaging shopping cart and details defined on the payment gateway

c.) Work upon the SEO of your Online Business website

Trading in the e-commerce business will be incomplete without defining the SEO strategy. Both on page SEO and off page SEO activities carry importance ( SEO means simply putting your website on the first page of google search )

• Add relevant keywords, that prospects must be searching for. You can do this by accessing tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, etc or let your digital agency do the job for you.
• Have both internal as well as external links on the website. The external links must be that to authoritative websites such as Wikipedia, or other relevant websites based on the type of your online business.

Step 7: Draft Marketing Strategy

Everything sorted, said and in place, it is now time to take the actual action! And that is- spread a word about your newly launched e-commerce business. Elements of a successful online business strategy are:

• Eye-catching design
• Advertising techniques
• Email Marketing activities
• Website monetization
• Analytics & online traffic analysis
• Online PR
• Search Engine Optimization – on page and off page
• Social Media Marketing

Amongst the aforesaid, we’ll highlight upon 2 important activities:

a.) Social Media Marketing

After the website, it is the social profiles of a business that customers check out! So, cash upon these sources to make a mark in the minds of your prospective customers:

• Create a Facebook page.
• Have an active Pinterest account (especially if dealing with fashion, travel, food-based business)
• YouTube is another most effective platform that generates interest via audio-visual interaction.
• Use Social Media for E-commerce Brand

Most of all, being active on Social channels is what matters the most instead of merely having a presence. So, understand the fact that it is important to keep your followers updated with the new product launches, sale or any other important business information that they must know.

b.) Make money from AdSense

Another assured way to start making money from your online business is to start running ads on the website. Following steps will help you start making money from AdSense:

• Join an affiliate network (Commission Junction, ShareASale, ClickBank and so forth).
• Apply for different affiliate member programs in a speciality (e.g. Payday Loans, or Web Hosting and so on).
• Promote the affiliate program that offers most extreme payout and with a decent reputation.
• Sign-up for Google AdWords
• Start your promotion campaigns by making advertisements and correct keywords (use long tail keywords)
• Your advertisement(s) will show up on real Pay Per Click web search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
• Potential clients will click on your advertisement and finish a deal.

You will learn how to earn from Google AdWords, as you will earn the commission by means of an affiliate network that ensures the deal of best-selling products online.

Step 8: Test & Launch

Well, now it’s time to do the test run of your website and check for any loopholes. Once sorted, you are all ready to launch your online business.

Now, you are all aware of the tit-bits on how to start an e-commerce business. Do not miss out on any step to ensure the smooth set-up of your online business.

Feeling complexed and exhausted? An expert digital agency can help you out in all the aforementioned tasks.

Give your business a new Philip by combining your requirements with our host of e-commerce service which can cover each and every spectrum of your online business from scratch to final launch.

Good luck!