How To Start An Online Store In 2024: Steps To Building An E-Commerce Shop From Scratch
Published March 25, 2024 at 3:16 pm
Launching a successful online store often has low upfront costs, but requires time and energy to build it into a sustainable and profitable business. For most people, the biggest priority is determining which products to sell and the business model you’ll follow.
Whether you choose to sell wholesale or handmade goods, or start a dropshipping business that requires little to no inventory on your end, having a well-thought-out plan is imperative. Below is our step-by-step guide to starting an online store from scratch in 2024 and achieving your e-commerce goals.
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Vault’s Viewpoint
- Starting an online store requires little initial capital, usually limited to launching a website, advertising and identifying a primary inventory source.
- Once established, marketing the online store to potential customers can be done via social media and using other popular digital marketing tools (like email and ads).
- Hiring a virtual assistant can help maintain the business, handling menial tasks that take up time (like uploading new items, creating product descriptions and the like).
What Is an Online Store?
An online store is an e-commerce business that sells products or services over the internet. These online stores are often run by a shop owner, who’s primarily responsible for sourcing the products, marketing, sending orders and managing all of the other operational activities required to successfully run the shop.
Online shopping provides convenience to customers. Rather than driving to a shopping center and walking through countless stores to find what they’re looking for, customers can now use online search tools to quickly find what they need, check out online and have the items shipped to their doorsteps without lifting a finger. It’s also a profitable business model for store owners who want to sell physical or digital inventory on an ongoing basis.
Online vs. Brick and Mortar Retail
An online store is operated over the internet, though there is often also a physical location from which tangible shipments are processed, even if customers can’t visit. Brick-and-mortar retail stores, by comparison, are operated from a physical location that customers can visit.
E-commerce shopping is a convenient way for shoppers to get what they need at any time, without even leaving home. However, there’s always the risk of buyer’s remorse due to unmet expectations or even false advertising. Customers also can’t try before they buy when shopping online, making it difficult to confirm whether they’re making the right purchase.
Brick-and-mortar retail is the traditional way of shopping. It provides a more immersive experience for shoppers in the sense that they can look around, try on different items and test things. However, some shoppers lack the time or energy to visit a physical store, which is where online retail presents itself as the more convenient shopping alternative. In fact, some brick-and-mortar shops also have an online store presence, offering shoppers the best of both worlds.
What’s the Benefit of an Online Store?
Online stores make life easier for many consumers, cutting down on the time necessary to shop and even allowing them to buy items day or night. With searchable websites, products can easily be found and purchased, eliminating the time it takes to look for things in person at a physical store.
For the owner, an online store’s earning potential is also limitless. They can reach and serve customers globally rather than in one local area. They’re able to stock more items online than they can maintain at a storefront. And by allowing customers to shop day or night, they make it easy for consumers to buy quickly and even on the go, without finding the time to come into a store location. It’s a win-win across the board.
How to Start an Online Store
Whether you’re an e-commerce beginner or an expert, anyone can start an online shop in just a few simple steps. Here’s our hands-on guide outlining the steps to launching your store.
1. Choose a Niche and Target Audience
The first step to starting an online store is choosing a market and identifying your ideal buyer and their needs. Do you want to sell clothing? Household essentials? There’s a niche for every product category, from beauty products to office supplies and everything in between.
If you can figure out a way to tap into a specific market, you could hit the jackpot in product sales. With so many places to shop online, it’s important to pinpoint where to find your potential customers spend their time. They could primarily be on Facebook or TikTok, for example.
2. Source Your Shop Products
After selecting a target audience and niche, the next step is to start thinking about what products to sell and where to source them. The key to pleasing your target audience is to present the right products to them at the right time and the right price. This is where your merchandising and product-buying strategy comes into play.
Most online store owners either go the route of utilizing wholesale or drop-shipped goods. Retailers purchase wholesale goods from suppliers at a fraction of the price that they will sell them at retail. Dropshippers don’t purchase or store inventory upfront. Instead, purchased items are ordered and shipped directly from a supplier to the customer.
There’s also the option of handmade goods, which entails making goods from scratch and then offering them directly to your customers.
3. Solidify Your Branding
Good branding is what keeps your shoppers coming back. A solid brand goes a long way toward solidifying a good branding strategy, requiring (at the bare minimum) eye-catching brand assets like your logo and company name. Some individuals may tackle this themselves, while others may opt to hire a branding strategist to create these assets.
A good rule of thumb when choosing a business name is to check domain registrar sites to see if it’s already taken. Choosing an unclaimed domain name helps you stand out from the competition and helps avoid certain legal complications.
For logo creation, you can use a site like Canva which has a template library featuring a collection of pre-made logos that you can make your own by changing the names, colors, and imagery. You can also opt to hire a designer through an online or local company, an agency or even websites like Etsy or Fiverr.
4. Register the Business and Get A Seller’s Permit
Before selling goods online, it’s important to make sure that you’re able to do so legally. This typically means getting an employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS for tax purposes.
You have the option to either classify the business as a sole proprietorship, corporation, or LLC. The latter is the best way to go, as this best protects your assets in the event of impending legal issues. LegalZoom makes it easy to set up an LLC.
5. Launch An E-Commerce Website
Decide on an e-commerce platform to host your shop’s website, where you’ll advertise and sell your products. Popular options include Shopify, WordPress and Squarespace, all of which are great platforms and provide something different in terms of pricing, features and user-friendliness.
Squarespace is arguably the most user-friendly out of the bunch with its drag-and-drop design capabilities. WordPress offers the most flexibility in terms of theme customization, while Shopify has the best point-of-sale (POS) system for online retailers. After choosing a platform, build your site and optimize it for maximum search traffic.
6. Promote Your Store
After launching your website, marketing is the next step. A solid marketing strategy will get as many eyes on your site as possible, whether through search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing or online advertising. You choose to do this yourself or hire someone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Choose the Right E-Commerce Platform for My Online Store?
There are a few factors to consider when deciding on an e-commerce platform, such as cost, included features, customization options and your own level of technical expertise. Some are user-friendly interfaces with plug-and-play features while others have state-of-the-art e-commerce features, integrations and online point-of-sale (POS) systems. To narrow down your choices, simply think back to these factors when comparing your options.
Which Products Should I Sell In My Online Store?
When deciding what to sell, think about your target audience, competition, trends and your niche interests. A simple market research query can help you pinpoint your target customer, as well as their needs and pain points so that you can hone in on a niche that suits their best interests. Solving their problem is the best way that you can serve them, which begins with presenting them with products that serve as solutions. Other factors to consider are pricing, product quality, shipping logistics and profit margins.
How Can I Attract Customers and Drive Traffic to My Online Store?
Attracting customers and driving traffic to your e-commerce store requires a solid and complete digital marketing strategy. This involves engaging your audience, sharing enticing content, displaying products and advertising on social media platforms to attract the right customers. Ideally, this strategy maps out everything from performance-driven social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing and paid advertising tactics. You might also use email marketing to send personalized campaigns, nurture customer relationships and attract repeat customers.
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