Ecommerce had already started to gain prominence in the past few years, with several established brick and mortar stores, as well as startups jumping on the bandwagon. Now, with the world in the grip of a pandemic, it has become all-important, with online stores across the world catering to the shopping needs of people. 

There are two types of entrepreneurs looking to get an online store:

1) who are just thinking about getting into business and

2) those who just want to begin an Ecommerce site for their brick and mortar store. If you are mulling starting your own online business, but are apprehensive about how to go about it, here is some information that can help.

In today’s world, getting your eCommerce site is not a difficult thing to do; however, you need to maintain it and keep it updated regularly. So let’s take a look at how you can go about it.

1. Choose your Niche

This step is probably the most important one for those who are just stepping into business. It basically refers to what products you want to sell. If you have an existing brick and mortar business of course, you will not need to do this. You’ll need to do a little research to determine:

• The demand for the products that you intend to sell
• The competition that exists and is likely to come
• Your target market and ideal customer or buyer persona
• Availability of the products, and storage
• An effort that will be required for customer support
• How you will price your products so that you can earn a profit after accounting for all overheads

A simple google search can give you answers to the first two factors. You can check the sales volume for the products (or similar products) in the current year, as well as the data for the past few years. This will give you an idea about the trend – is the demand constant, is it rising, or falling, and so on. You will also be able to see the major players in the market.

This is critical information because you will have to have a strategy to compete with them and eat into their market share. Your buyer persona is something you need to create – depending on your products, the locations you are planning to serve, and other factors. If you plan to deal in appliances or electronics, you need to be prepared to offer continued customer support for an extended period.

Consider if your products are transported over a long distance – does warehousing cost much? For instance, if you are dealing with products that need to be stored at certain temperatures, etc. In such cases, your overheads are likely to be high. This means you need to price them so that you cover all the costs, and yet make a decent profit.

To reduce your operating costs, you can choose to dropship; this means that when you receive an order from your customer, you place an order with your supplier. They ship the product directly to your customer in your name. The advantage here is that you only pay the wholesale price, and you also avoid warehousing costs.

2. Decide on a Domain Name

Your domain name is your website name, which you will need to register. The name of course has to be unique, and should reflect your business – meaning, it should give an idea of what kind of products you are selling.

Make a list of a few domain names, and search on sites like Godaddy, NameCheap, or others, to make sure that it is not already registered.

3. Craft a Business Strategy

You need to have a blueprint was drawn, where you will write down what kind of growth you are aiming for, where you want to see your business in 2 years, 5 years, 10, and so on. This could be in terms of business volume, number of customers, number of locations served – whatever you aim for.

It helps to have it in writing. For the first year, you will also need to have a plan on how you will reach your target audience, get customers, how much you will spend on marketing – loads of stuff, really.

4. Find a Reputable Web Development Company

There are hundreds of website or ecommerce app development agencies in the country; finding the right one can be tricky. Do a thorough online search for reputed companies, and check their previous work, and do go through the feedback left by their customers.

Shortlist a few companies, and contact them – ask for a demo if possible, and definitely get quotes from them. You may need to strike a balance between quality and your budget here. After a thorough and careful examination of all the factors, make your choice.

IPIX Tech Services is a web development company based in Calicut, Kerala, and Dubai, with over a decade’s experience in providing innovative and bespoke digital solutions to global businesses across industry verticals.

We have a prolific team of dedicated developers, designers, and testers who are adept at using the latest tools and technologies to deliver high octane ecommerce websites to our customers.

Our services are cost-effective, and our solutions are flexible, and scalable, handling increased workloads smoothly. Contact us today for a quote for your online store.

Author Bio:

IPIX Tech Services Pvt Ltd, Leading software and web development company in India & USA. IPIX is a Group entity of Kreston Menon, foremost professional advisory firm in Dubai, UAE.