Since online shopping is already a norm, there’s no better time to start an eCommerce business than now.
The global eCommerce market is estimated to reach $6.3 trillion in 2023. So, how do you get your share of that numbers? Simple. Put up an eCommerce website that makes purchasing easy and convenient for customers.
The market will continue to grow in the next few years and potentially reach $8.1 trillion by 2026. So, investing in an eCommerce website isn’t just about meeting your 2024 goals; it’s also for the future of your business.
In this article, we’ll teach you how to create an online store in 7 simple steps.
Understanding the eCommerce landscape in 2024
For online store owners, it’s crucial to know what’s trending in eCommerce in 2024. This way you can keep up with the trend and ensure that your website stands out.
- Customizing for customers: Nowadays, shoppers expect online stores to know what they like. By showing customers products that match their tastes, you can boost sales significantly. Reports show that sales can increase by up to 10% with personalized shopping experiences.
- Shopping on smartphones: More and more people are using their phones to shop online. In fact, over 70% of online shopping is done on mobile devices. This means having a mobile-friendly website is a must.
- Eco-friendly choices: A lot of shoppers care about the environment and prefer buying from brands that are eco-friendly. Around 60% of online customers favor brands that value sustainability.
Why technology matters to eCommerce in 2024
Keeping yourself familiar with tech is another important thing to take note of. Here’s why it’s important:
- Better shopping experiences: New tech like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR/VR (Augmented and Virtual Reality) are changing the way people shop online. These tools make shopping more interactive and informative.
- Smooth operations: Technologies like automation and AI help your business run better, from keeping track of stock to handling customer questions.
- Safe and secure: As more people shop online, keeping their information safe is crucial. Using the latest in cybersecurity helps build trust with your customers.
In short, knowing the latest trends and tech in eCommerce is not just helpful—it’s essential. It helps you meet your customers’ expectations and keeps your business ahead in the online market.
7 steps in creating an online store
Whatever you do – selling handmade crafts, retail, wholesale, dropshipping, or anything else – having an eCommerce website helps you easily sell online.
Get started on your own online store with the following steps:
Step 1. Choose your niche and understand your target audience
So, what’s a niche? It’s a specialized market segment for a particular product or service. Let’s say the market is “pop music” with niches like American pop, K-pop, P-pop, J-pop, and so on. It’s simply the subset of a larger market.
The people you want to reach are just as important as your niche. You want to ensure they’re interested in your products so it’s easier to make a sale.
When choosing your niche, consider if it’s profitable, in demand, or something you’re passionate about.
Here are a few tips for finding a business niche for your eCommerce website:
- Consider your interests.
- Find issues that you can fix.
- Focus on interested individuals; not everyone will buy from you.
- Experiment and explore.
- Get valuable insights from feedback.
- Check your competition.
- Identify your unique selling point.
- Test ideas.
- Reevaluate your niche.
Step 2. Pick the products to sell for your eCommerce store
Once you find your niche and identify your target audience, you can start choosing the product or service line to sell. This step can be challenging, but make sure you’re not selling a product that no one is interested in buying. On top of that, ensure that you have the resources, such as shipping and storage, to accommodate your products.
When picking a product with established competition, ask yourself the following questions before starting production:
- How do you set your product apart from the competition, especially if it’s a product that’s already well-liked?
- Is it possible to enhance the existing product?
- How will you ensure that this product is available only from your online store?
To help you better understand this step, here’s our guide to picking the right products to sell.
Step 3. Choose the name of your own online store
One of your first chances to impress viewers is through the name of your online business. It’s a way to show your company’s identity while building trust in your brand.
Customers will mistrust you if you choose a name that doesn’t match your products, personality, target audience, or values. It can also become the reason customers leave you for other brands.
Step 4. Register your online business
Even though you can run a business without registration, it’s best to do so as your company grows. By registering your business, you give it official status with the government and ensure that your personal and business assets are legally protected.
So, make sure to register your business. Not only does this give your personal liability protection, but you also get legal and tax benefits.
Step 5. Pick the platform and hosting to build your website
Aside from a website’s design, usability, and efficiency, consider its long-term purpose and required resources. Many business owners overlook the long-term purpose of a website until they run into problems.
For example, as your business grows, your site traffic increases. If your site can’t handle it, you’ll waste many potential customers. So, ensure that your hosting service can accommodate the growth in your traffic. Otherwise, you’ll end up migrating your website to a new host – which can be a tedious and complex task.
Another thing to think about is website management. After your website goes live, when you make changes to improve the website or correct misspelled text, how easy is it for you? You wouldn’t want to always contact a developer to make minor changes, right?
The good news is you can use content management systems (CMS) to build your website. CMS, like WordPress, lets you customize your website through plugins. It’s user-friendly but can sometimes require a certain level of technical know-how to add specific functions.
As an alternative, you can use a drag-and-drop website builder. It’s an intuitive tool that lets you create a website from scratch without writing a single line of code. It includes eCommerce features, such as marketplace selling, eCommerce reporting, payment options, and more.
Step 6. Promote your online store
Of course, you need to promote your online store!
A website that doesn’t generate leads is useless. The whole point of a website is to attract revenue-generating leads. With this comes the need to strategize your marketing game.
How?
There are a lot of things you can do to promote your online store. Here’s a list of a few of them:
- Build and utilize your email list.
- Use social media.
- Use paid ads.
- Optimize your website for search engines.
- Create engaging and useful content.
Step 7. Build a good business relationship with customers and promote loyalty
Customer loyalty makes the difference between a one-time sale and a customer who comes back. One-time customers help you reach your short-term sales goals, but loyal customers help create a sustainable stream of business revenue.
Taking care of your customers is important for many reasons. Think about these:
- Repeat customers spend more than newer ones.
- Loyal customers have better conversion rates.
- Retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring a new one.
- Loyal customers regularly shop.
The question now is, how do you build a good relationship with your customers? We’ve got you covered with some tips below:
- Get to know your customers.
- Offer a customer loyalty program.
- Start a referral program.
- Stay true to your brand values.
- Engage with your customers.
- Always ask for feedback.
What eCommerce products to sell and how to utilize landing pages
What do I sell online? Which products are ideal for eCommerce?
For first-time or aspiring entrepreneurs, these are the questions that naturally arise. While it’s true that any product can be sold online, some products do better than others.
When creating an online store, it’s always important to plan out the products that you’ll offer. You can choose the right products to sell by taking notes of these tips:
- Check product popularity (selling trends, SEO trends, consumer preferences).
- Avoid market saturation.
- Pick products that sell within your budget.
- Sell products that you’re passionate about.
After choosing the products to sell, utilize product landing pages to increase your conversion rates. eCommerce product pages can make or break a sale. So, pay attention to the details included in them.
There are several elements to include in your product pages, and each of them helps provide customers with a great online shopping experience.
A product page that sells includes the following:
- Product title
- Product description
- Product images
- Return policy, if applicable
- Shipping details
- Customer feedback
- Call-to-action
Customers who shop online expect eCommerce sites to be convenient. Successful retailers understand the expectations of their clients and design their websites, including product landing pages, accordingly.
How much does it cost to start an online store
To achieve long-term success in the eCommerce industry, creating a budget that provides you with what you need and allows you to generate business revenue is necessary. Naturally, it requires some trial and error and might not always work immediately.
You can start an online business for as little as $300 or as much as $1,000. That is significantly less than building a brick-and-mortar store, which mostly requires a few thousand to several hundred thousand dollars.
Figuring out how much it will cost to start an online store requires tedious work. It’s because you have to consider many different things and assess what your company needs. So, to help you know how much you’ll need, here are a few items to note:
- Hosting platform
- Site fees and other expenses
- Product sourcing (supply chain)
- Branding
- Product images and videos
- Inventory management (storage facility)
- Shipping fees
- Marketing
Once you determine the initial costs of starting an online business, take into account the cost of product renewals. This helps streamline your budget and avoid hurting your business revenue from unexpected fees.
Online marketing: How to gain and keep customer engagements
The work doesn’t end after your website goes live. Next step is ensuring that your eCommerce website won’t drown in the millions of webpages on the web. So, let’s talk about online marketing and how to effectively drive digital engagements to your website.
- Targeted social media campaigns. Identify the platforms where your target audience is most active and engage them with tailored content. Use data analytics to refine your approach and increase engagement.
- Influencer collaborations. Partnering with influencers can amplify your reach. Choose influencers who align with your brand values and have a genuine connection with their followers.
- Regular and relevant posting. Consistency is key in social media. Regular posts keep your audience engaged and help in building a loyal customer base.
Make your online store easy to find with SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for making your online store visible to potential customers. Here’s how to do it right:
- Keyword integration. Identify keywords that are relevant to your business and naturally incorporate them into your website content, blog posts, and product descriptions. This improves your site’s search engine rankings and makes it easier for customers to find you.
- Mobile optimization. With more people using mobile devices for online searches, ensure your website is mobile-friendly. This not only boosts your SEO but also improves user experience.
- Quality content. High-quality, informative content can significantly improve your SEO. Regularly update your blog with useful information that your customers are searching for.
We get it. SEO isn’t something you master overnight. But with today’s tech, SEO tools designed to simplify search engine optimization exist. Additionally, professional SEO services are also on the rise to help businesses with their SEO strategies.
Content marketing and branding
Effective content marketing and strong branding are essential for any successful online store:
- Tell your brand’s story. Use your content to communicate your brand’s story, values, and mission. This helps in building a connection with your audience.
- Educational and engaging content. Create content that educates your audience about your products and industry. This positions your brand as a trusted authority in your field.
- Consistent brand image. Maintain a consistent brand image across all platforms. This includes your website, social media, and all marketing materials, ensuring your brand is easily recognizable.
Overall, a robust digital marketing strategy, effective SEO, and strong content marketing are indispensable tools in the arsenal of any online store. They not only help in attracting and retaining customers but also establish your brand as a leader in the digital marketplace.
Build a Winning Online Store with Web.com
Regardless of your business’s industry, the above tips aim to help your online venture succeed.
Complement that with solutions that help you easily start an online store. Check Web.com and find the products you need to get started.
