Worldwide, ecommerce sales represented 14.1% of total retail sales in 2019 – and this figure is predicted to rise to 22% by 2023.
As e-commerce continues to grow, you may want to consider starting your own store. Thanks to the various ecommerce website builders and other website building platforms available in the market, creating one has never been easier. But platform selection is only one step of the process.
Well, in this post, we’ll walk you through how to start an online store step-by-step. After that, we’ll go over the costs of starting one, so you’ll know how much money you’ll need. Let’s get started.
- Identify your ecommerce niche
- Register a domain
- Pick your platform
- Choose a theme and customize it
- Add products
- Build a checkout funnel
- Set up main pages
- Add blogs
- Install add-ons
1. Identify your ecommerce niche
You need to decide what you’re going to sell and who you’re going to sell before you start an online store. Basically, you need to decide what your ecommerce niche is. A niche can lower marketing and advertising costs, limit competitors, and inspire better brand loyalty as a result of establishing a niche, among others.
A highly specific niche represents an untapped market and targets a highly specific buyer. It means that existing products and brands have not been able to satisfy market demand. A tool like Google Shopping Insights can help you identify fast-growing ecommerce niches. Google will use this tool to pinpoint which retail categories are increasingly popular in Google Search, where those categories are growing, and what searches they are associated with.
2. Register a domain
Domain names are the first thing you’ll need to buy and register for your online store. There is a wide selection of domain registrars available.
Choosing a short, unique, easy-to-remember, and easy-to-spell name is the first step in making your purchase. In addition, your store’s name should contain a hint about what you sell. It’s easy to register a name once you’ve decided on it. You can register a domain by visiting a registrar, searching for a name you want, and selecting a billing term.
3. Pick your platform
Platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify enable you to start an online store without having to build it from the ground up.
You’ll pay a monthly fee for a Shopify plan, which includes hosting and other features. The WooCommerce plugin allows you to quickly create your online store through your WordPress website. Despite being free for download, you do need to purchase separate web hosting for WooCommerce. Your online store will also be more difficult to manage on a day-to-day basis as well as for performance and security.
Choosing the right platform (and choosing a host, if needed) will allow you to connect your domain name and set up your store.
4. Choose a theme and customize it
It’s important to select a theme that’s compatible with your store’s goals, brand identity, and needs. It’s also important to select a theme that can display merchandise and:
- Delivers an exceptional mobile experience.
- Provides pre-designed e-commerce templates.
- Includes options for customizing every page on your site, including the product pages.
- Helps users search for products more easily.
- Features an organized search box and categories.
Installing or activating your theme will allow you to begin customizing it to reflect your brand’s unique style and look. The changes may include logos, color schemes, images, headers, footers, navigation menus, and any other features you wish.
5. Add products
Your online store needs merchandise. Every product should be added one by one, with a description and an image. Sorting and browsing your products will be easier if you categorize them.
Besides providing pricing, inventory, and shipping information for each product, you’ll need to add further details. Other features you can add to your product pages include “Add to Cart” and “Purchase” buttons as well as customer reviews and testimonials; they all help you persuade customers to make a purchase.
You can publish a product page once you have entered all the necessary information, and start over if necessary.
6. Build a checkout funnel
The next thing you need to do is set up your online store so that people can purchase items. There are three major steps to an online checkout:
- Shopping cart: Customers can add items to the shopping cart, see the price of all of the items, and proceed to checkout.
- Checkout page: The customer can view the payment options and shipping details, as well as place his or her order.
- Confirmation page: A confirmation page shows that a customer’s order has been successfully processed.
Your dashboard has general settings you can use to set up this funnel, such as enabling coupon codes, taxes, shipping locations, and currencies.
7. Set up main pages
An online store should have pages such as About, Returns & Exchanges, Shipping, FAQ, and Contact.
Prospective and existing customers can use these pages to obtain essential information about the company, such as its mission, shipping and return policies, answers to questions, and contact information. Such information increases trust and confidence among consumers.
8. Add blogs
A blog can help by attracting visitors, converting them to leads, and boosting visibility on the search engine results page. You will increase the chances of converting visitors into leads by regularly creating content to address the challenges of your target audience.
Your ecommerce site’s SEO can be improved by blogging in addition to generating leads. Your site’s index will grow if you blog. Blogs can help improve your ranking on SERPs and drive sustainable organic traffic to your online store since search engines consider them more established than sites with fewer indexed pages.
9. Install add-ons
If you wish, you can either deploy your site live or install additional functionality through add-ons. Shopify and WooCommerce are flexible platforms that allow you to install extensions right away or at a later date, as needed.
A video gallery is a great way to show off your new products if you’ve increased your inventory. Perhaps you wish to integrate with a customer relationship management system to improve order management. Adding an add-on can improve the functionality of your store in a variety of ways.
Conclusion
Creating your own online store is a great way to monetize a great idea. It gives buyers and sellers more control and convenience, and it makes up an increasingly large share of retail sales worldwide.
With platforms such as WordPress and Shopify alternatives, starting one is easier than ever before. A simple ecommerce website can generate sales with less than $100 of investment.
