It is growing by 24% by the end of 2020, according to Statista.
This growth has made e-commerce an attractive point for everyone who wants to start a business without the risk of renting or buying a property and opening a physical store.
You must now think about the amount of profits that you can achieve if you start working in e-commerce. You may ask yourself how to enter the world of e-commerce and whether it is difficult! Rest assured, entering the world of e-commerce requires you to take some simple steps, such as choosing the field you want to work in, the target category, products and suppliers, and the name of your online store, then build it.
In this article, we mention to you the most important 7 steps that you must follow if you want to sell online, and make profits with the least possible risks.
Now, in seven simple steps, how do you enter e-commerce from its widest doors?
1- Choose the products you want to sell
Determining what to sell is the most important step in getting into e-commerce and building your own online store. Perhaps you have a variety of interests, or you are looking for a field that will bring you a large margin of profit, for example. The best way to make this decision is to think in a general area and then move on to thinking about a specialized field. Qanawat always advises you to narrow down and customize your business. Choosing a limited market makes competition easier for you.
For example, you want to set up a new kitchen supplies store, and of course you will be facing stiff competition with large, well-established brands that sell complete sets of kitchen supplies.
In this case, as an online store owner, you will need to have expertise in a wide range of products in order to make your brand and new online store stand out from the competition.
Having access to one type of product, such as coffee makers, will allow time, energy and money to be invested in a much narrower area, leading to better results and profits.
As you choose the selling area for your online store, think about the types of products that interest you. Starting your business and building your brand will be much easier if you choose an industry that you are passionate about. Also consider potential suppliers. Will you make a product yourself, or buy stock from a wholesaler? Will you start with dropshipping and work with sites such as Amazon, Qanawat, and Ebay? These are important questions you should ask yourself before starting your online store so that you can create a viable business plan.
2- Choose the right domain name for your online store
The domain name or URL is the web address that a customer types in to find your online store.
It is a good idea to name your project and choose your domain name at the same time, as you will then be able to choose a domain name that accurately reflects your business.
It is very important to choose the right domain name. Domain names should be short, memorable and clear.
If your business name doesn't already include keywords related to the products you sell, you should add your most important keywords to your domain name for SEO purposes.
Your domain name should also be easy to say out loud. When talking about your business, you don't want to go into detail to explain how to write your store's domain name. Stay away from words that sound very similar to other words, numbers, and anything else that sounds awkward or ambiguous when spoken. People also used to write domain names as “one word”, so try to choose one word domain name.
One last mistake to avoid is the unintended creation of other names or trademarks when you combine words to create your own domain name.
For example, the Robertscamera website has the word “scam” in the middle, even though it might be meant to say “Bob cams.”
So, choose your company name and domain name carefully, to avoid this.
3- Build your online store
Many business owners are afraid to start a website because they lack technical knowledge, but today you can create a professional online store without writing a single line of programming language.
It is important to choose an online store with the features and format that best suits your products so that you don't end up paying more for the necessary features.
There are a wide range of sites that allow you to design and build the complete system of your store such as GoDaddy or Shopify and you can learn how to build your online store on Shopify
You can choose your design first, and then start directly adding products.
You will also need to add some additional pages to share information about you and your business, including an “About Us” page, pages for your store policies, and a “Contact Us” page for easy customer contact.
4-Build a Payment System to Collect Your Money
There are a few ways you can start accepting money online, and some are faster and easier than others. You can go the traditional route and open a merchant account with the bank, or you can skip this step and use an easy and premium payment gateway like PayPal, Payfort or Stripe.
These are all great payment gateways because they are easy to set up and already built into most e-commerce sites.
Credit cards are the most popular way to pay online. Digital wallet solutions such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Visa Checkout and Masterpass also provide a quick alternative for customers who do not want to enter their credit card number while shopping.
These services provide a way to save payment information for use on multiple websites.
It is noteworthy that if you have an online store and are considering expanding and opening a new site in the future, your online store should include a POS system or be compatible with popular solutions such as Square POS.
5- Select your store's shipping methods
Shipping is one of the most important aspects of e-commerce, since your customers are shopping online, you will need a way to get your products to them, unless you sell digital products like e-books or music files.
If you sell tangible physical products, you must specify the shipping companies you want to use and set the appropriate prices to collect delivery fees from the customer.
In order to be able to provide shipping service in your store, we recommend that you integrate your website with the website of the shipping company and start setting prices on your site directly during the customer purchase process as provided by your shipping company.
This ensures that you do not increase the cost to the customer or lose a portion of your profits by not charging enough fees for the shipping process.
6- Use e-marketing professionally
You should start marketing your online store right away to ensure that customers come to your store and browse for your products. The best marketing methods are social media marketing, email newsletters, search engine optimization (SEO), as well as paid advertising.
You can also provide promotions and coupons such as discounts on specific products your customers want to buy.
Social media like Facebook is a great way to spread your name and reach your customers, as are Instagram, Snapchat, and more. You should create an account using your brand name, and post attractive and clear images of your products? In addition to the need to publish interactive content that brings you closer to your customers.
You should also send out email newsletters on a regular basis to inform your customers of new products and other latest news. Your newsletters should be interesting and fun to read, not just an advertisement. Do not exaggerate the number of messages, once a month is enough for each brand.
You can also send an additional newsletter on rare and important occasions such as the release of an expected product, new features on your online store or congratulations on holidays and official events.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps new customers discover your website through searches on Google and other search engines. You can boost your SEO by providing high-quality content on your site, covering the right keywords for your products, whether in store content, product descriptions, or in blog articles that we recommend on your online store.
The technical aspect of SEO - like correct URL structure, page speed, and site XML maps, is a little difficult to manage unless you use a good tool when setting up your store.
7- Follow the growth and development of your project
Maintaining success is the most difficult task for any business venture. Once your business has taken off and the orders in your online store increase, you will need to manage the time you spend on various business tasks while being able to provide excellent customer service.
That's why it's important to have the tools you need to grow and maintain your business.
It is a good idea to find an online store system that allows you to add employees in your store, with the ability to define their powers, as well as a good database storage, and to develop detailed reports in real time on the traffic and activities in your store, in order to be able to monitor, maintain and develop the overall performance.
You can also integrate your store with Google Analytics to see how customers find you.
What are you waiting for? With these steps, you are ready to sell! To ensure that customers are constantly attracted and to achieve profits with the least possible risks, Qanawat team advises you to follow these steps.
And in case you need help to start your online store, we are here, you can contact us through the live chat on our website or through the “Contact Us” page. We wish you success and a lot of profits.
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