How to Start New Online Store?
Online selling is what is referred to as ecommerce and looking at the popularity it has gained, nearly every business owner whether established one or new wants to try hands-on ecommerce store. Certainly, if you have an online store you would generate good revenue for your brand once you set up your store full-fledged.
Well, if you are planning to start your online store, you may need little help on how to go about the process so that everything falls in place for you. This article will help you follow simple yet effective steps to open your online store successfully.
Identify the products you want to sell via an online store
Much before you step into the details of other steps that you need to follow to start your new online store, make sure you identify the products you would like to sell via your online store. No matter what the products are you should be keen and excited about selling them.
Decide on products that you won’t lose interest in selling in via your online store in future. Still, if you are not sure what to sell then grab in some ideas from reputed drop shipping companies and sell them through your portal.
Select the right ecommerce solution
It is really important to know the right kind of ecommerce solution that suits your store depending on your budget and the products you specialize in.
Here are the options to choose from to select the right ecommerce solution for your store
Open source
This ecommerce solution comprise of free downloads wherein you are asked to build the store website right from the initial phase of design and development. Undoubtedly, you can opt for this solution to get full control over customization but you should also consider the fact that you need some additional skilled programming in order to configure your website properly. For this you need to seek the services from professional Ecommerce Website Development Company that takes care of the programming section.
Licensed
These types of solutions are ready made solutions which you can start using immediately after installing them on your PC. In this case, you have to arrange for own hosting and take care of security measures which turns out to be a daunting task though.
Hosted
This is the ideal solution for newbies who step into site building for the first time. Hosted solution let you host your website on their servers. They also provide you with online software to create and boost your online store.
It’s time to build your store now
Start working on your mission. Yes, start building the online store you dreamt of. Irrespective of the ecommerce solution you select, you need to get acquainted with its features and how it works. After you get familiar with these aspects set up the important pages that consist of the home page, product page with categories, content pages etc.
You need to ensure that your design and branding are perfect all through the journey of a building of online store as both the components are crucial for having a successful ecommerce portal.
Choose an appropriate domain name
Domain name means the URL of your website through which your customers can find the online store you launch. It is one of the most important aspects so spare some time to find a relevant domain name. It is always better to have a simple and short domain name that speaks about the brand. Select the extension you want and finally register the domain name with your provider.
Promote your business
Now your online store is all set to be launched online. You need to promote your online store for which you need to do online marketing. You can use social media platforms, emails, online forms, SEO or any other online marketing techniques to let the world view your online store.
Well, the key points stated will certainly help you set up your online store successfully or you can also hire reputed ecommerce Website Development Company in India to help you with technical aspects.
Yes, technical aspects need to be considered when you are planning to launch your online store. Have a look at primary technical aspects that you should not overlook.
Security measures with a proper security plan
A lot of confidential information gets leaked from the ecommerce portals like details of billing address, credit card numbers or any sensitive personal details. These details should be secured on your site to gain reputation else your ecommerce site can get bad reviews too.
Well, nowadays most ecommerce solutions are packed with security measures still you need to check them twice before you start selling via your online store. Here are some points you can keep in mind related to security concerns while purchasing an ecommerce solution.
- SSL certificate – It offers complete security for confidential transactions and information like credit card details etc.,
- Server protection – maintain service offered by the hosting agency or a firewall.
- Secure the storage plus password requirements where say you may not allow entering the password as 1234 or simply a plain text.
Make sure you monitor all the essentials updates available for your ecommerce software as these updates alert you on bugs or new threats. You can definitely seek help from Ecommerce Website Development Company on necessary updates that you need to keep a check on. This will help you take the necessary action to prevent your portal against bugs or threats.
Automatic backups are crucial
There are chances that you end up deleting files that contain important information or customer records. You may accidentally click a button and lose the data.
These things are prone to happen and thus you need a solution that is automatic backups especially for your online store before you get into selling any product. The automatic backups certainly help you avoid the mess created due to accidental data loss.
Ideal software to manage shipping activities
You just need to plan out how will you ship the orders placed by your customers? You may think of labelling the boxes with related labels or update the customers with the shipping information that they can track online.
To keep a track of the shipping activities, the only solution that many online store owners go for is purchasing shipping software that takes care of all outgoing shipments, create and print labels for all packages and track the shipping activities on all orders and send out automated emails.
Payment system
The main purpose of starting an online business is to make money isn’t? So, make sure you give equal importance to the payment system through which you will get paid by your customers. There are different payment methods you can opt for like PayPal etc, but the most preferred and safe method is credit card payments.
You need to choose your payment gateway wisely as there are plenty of them available in the market depending on currencies that are accepted in each region.
You need to have a merchant account to make use of any payment gateway. As all the payment gateways charge fees and you need to consider the fee structure in long term too.
Conclusion
It takes a lot of effort to set up your online store. It certainly pays off in the long run, but you need to start it right. You also need to plan the launch time for your store wisely. Of course, you need to consider the aspects mentioned above so that you do not miss out on any of the crucial factors may it be technical or general. Your hard work and organized approach will pay off and it is certainly a rewarding experience to have your own online store.
