This is definitely the golden age for entrepreneurship, never before have so many alternatives and facilities been seen to start a new project, especially in the virtual field. World 2.0 or the Internet is like a huge pie of economic opportunities, of which more and more people want a piece.
Among so many possibilities, one of the favorites is that of online sales or better known as e-commerce. Basically it is about using a platform of your own domain or already existing to sell products, either bought from a wholesaler or manufactured by you.
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The problem is that as simple as it sounds, it is also simple to fail by not having the correct information or by ignoring tools based on the business world.
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Also keep in mind that e-commerce does not require an investment as large as in traditional stores, but you cannot start without a single euro. Next, I will give you all the key information so that you do not get caught off guard:
- Choose what you are going to sell
And it is not just about choosing any product to sell just because. When thinking about the product you must take into account all the marketing variables that this entails. Potential customers,
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Imagine that your dream is always to open a restaurant. But even if it is your passion, if you open it on the same street as a popular restaurant with very good reviews, it is clear that you will have a long way to go to catch up with it. It will be too late?
To open a business and offer certain products or services, you must first have common sense and then analyze the most direct competition well. Study what they offer and what you can offer even more attractive, thus differentiating yourself from them. It is not an easy task to get there, I know, but it is necessary to do it to get where you want.
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From there, everything will be a little easier and you can start thinking about suppliers, logistics, marketing, online platform, among others.
Remember, the best salesperson is the one who knows exactly what he sells. And with this example you will see it better: the owner of a vegan restaurant will not be successful if he does not know the typical vegan recipes or if you do not know what are the main ingredients that these contain plates. Do not you think?
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- Your brand name and domain
This is the fun part, choose a name that represents well the product or service you offer. It is important that this name is not very long and is easy to remember, also for the domain of your page, preferably that it is related to the name of the company.
What is the point of naming a product that has nothing to do with your business philosophy. Some brands that I have found on the Internet have been these: aphrodisiac wine "Follador", "Herpes Pizza ”, Ice Cream“ Alpedo ”, Cookies“ Ano ”, or a Chinese restaurant“ Tan dao vien ”and I could continue with the ready. Horrible names that instead of attracting customers, scare them away.
- Providers
So far everything has been simple. Where setbacks or difficulties can begin is in choosing a good provider. If you do not have business experience, the issue of bulk purchases can be complicated, especially for investment capital.
If you want to have your own stock of products, most vendors will sell you a minimum of 100 units per product. If you have the funds for this level of acquisition, great! Since it is a great savings. But for most newbies it is another story.
For these cases there is an option called Dropshipping, it is a sales method in which the supplier is left with the responsibility of sending the product directly to your customers. For example: on your page they bought a pair of shoes, you pass the invoice to your supplier and he is in charge of sending the order to your client, with the name and image of the company; then, at the end of the month, you must pay the supplier a certain percentage of sales. It's that simple, and it is possible to get started without any initial investment.
- Choose your CMS or web provider
At this point you have two options, you can go all out and hire the best to develop your website and maintain it or have a CMS (content manager).
Taking into account that it is possible to start your business without a stock of products, then the recommendation would be to make the effort to pay for quality. The speed of your platform, its aesthetics and ease of use can make the difference between getting a sale or not. There is a saying that “People eat through their eyes,” so choosing a subject that is easy on the eyes should be a priority.
Among the most used CMS are Drupal, Magento and Oscommerce. Another quite well-known and viable option is Prestashop. If you use a CMS, be sure to choose a template that matches the main theme of your store. Common sense again!
- Add payment methods
It is fair and necessary to add as many means of payment as possible. To begin with, it would be infallible to have Paypal (very convenient for customers who never have their bank card on them) and if it is possible with transfers or direct deposits to your bank account, without forgetting the cash on delivery (for the most distrustful of the ecommerce). Once your company is consolidated, more can be added.
One of the biggest fears of buying online, as you know, is the lack of confidence that consumers pay online. Although this fear is gradually disappearing, we must give an image of a safe and reliable company.
And for this, I advise you to use SSL technology, this will help protect customer information and is responsible for encrypting the data that is transmitted between a browser and a web server. In other words, SSL security reduces the risk of third parties intercepting and misusing customer information.
Likewise, consumers are becoming more and more informed about these aspects and verify in a simple way (if a padlock appears in the browser) that the page is safe and reliable. So don't forget this important point for your clients if you want your business to grow and survive.
- Marketing plan
Having “the carpentry” ready, it is now time to settle down on what really matters: how we are going to get clients. The entire structure involved in developing a marketing plan is not complex, but it takes time to consolidate.
It is about covering everything necessary to increase traffic to your page, an excellent way is the use of social networks through a Community Manager, Google Adwords, the establishment of an SEO strategy, a blog related to the sector that your product occupies, here you must begin:
- Blog and profiles on social networks: creating a blog will help you build trust with your readers, in what way? You will add quality articles, with interesting information for your reader. For this you must know your readers well, what are their problems, their fears, their concerns, and give them what they really need. Thus, they will value you and begin to trust your brand and your business in general.
And the blog will be of no use if you do not spread the entries you write so that it reaches more and more people. Here social networks come into play, effective tools to make your posts visible and to create engagement with your audience.
If you sit idly by, waiting for new readers to arrive, you can keep waiting. If you want to sell, make use of the wide showcase that is the Internet.
- Advertising campaigns: then we will take one more step to achieve faster results. And I mean paid advertising: Adwords. This will allow you to position yourself better in search engines and thus obtain a greater number of visits.
If you follow these steps in order and you take your role as a business owner seriously, there is no doubt that in Less time than you expect, your online store will fully compensate you for the investment costs.
Courage in your new project and do not hesitate to leave us your comments and experience with the business you have just started below.
