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Do you dream of having an online store? How ready are you for the venture? Do you know what it takes to start and run an online store? Read here how you can start the business from scratch and how outsourcing your order fulfillment comes in handy.
An online store is a profitable venture. With the wake of the internet, people are shopping online more than they are visiting brick and mortar stores. It is not all rosy, in any case. You need to have the right information and guide on how to start and run your business without a hustle.
6 Essential Steps to Starting an E-Commerce Business
Statistics estimate that 95% of all purchases will be through e-commerce by the year 2040. To be a wise entrepreneur, the following are five vital steps to starting an e-commerce business in 2021.
6 Essential Steps to Starting an E-Commerce Business
- Find the Niche
It is the most crucial step. You need to find the niche to venture in. You do that by conducting proper research. So, look at other successful online stores and see what they do to succeed. Go for a niche that is not overly crowded but has healthy competition as it shows demand for the products.
Some of the profitable E-commerce niches include:
• Personal Care Products
• Pet Products
• Fashion Accessories
• Party Supplies
Be specific with the field you want by narrowing down. The more you do, the more unique you become, and the lesser your competition will be. Also, remember to stay away from products that giant brands dominate. - Select the Right Product
What do you want to sell? Before you answer the question, look for what people want to buy. Whether you want one central, multiple, or one primary and supporting products, have customers in mind. Always think of them and forget “I” when choosing the product to sell. Think of the image you want to project to customers. After that, you can come up with the right product.
- Choose a Platform
Choosing the right software that allows you to create a business store makes your work less stressful. There are many platforms available online. However, the question you should have in mind is, how do you know the right one?
The right platform is the one that has no design and technical headaches. Since you want to start small, you should look for one that has a low cost of entry and has tools to enable you to create and manage your site without difficulties.
Here is a list of the most popular E-commerce platforms.
• Shopify
• Wix
• Bigcommerce
• Weebly
• Squarespace
All of these platforms are reliable. However, among all of them, Shopify is quite simple to use and easy to set up. It has hundreds of elegant, mobile-friendly themes. Besides, it also supports numerous third-party payment gateways. - Launch and Market
Once you have the website layout and products to sell, launch your business. Don’t wait for a perfect moment to do so. According to many successful e-commerce businesses, changes occur while the company is running. Launch your business and let people know about it. How do you do that?
You can do that by marketing your business online. Let people know that your business exists. Also, make it a bit easier for buyers to locate your website. You can do it by having a search engine friendly features in your site, URLs, and ad campaign to drive steady traffic to your site. Moreover, advertise your products on other social media platforms and entice people to your website for them to see and buy your products. - Scale Your Business
Once you launch and advertise your business, orders will start coming your way. It is time for you to meet your customers’ demands. You can do that by selling the products they want. Set in place a mechanism of how your products will reach the customer as fast as possible.
- Outsource Your Order Fulfilment
In short, outsourcing your order fulfillment means looking for a service provider who will receive, process, record, and deliver products to the right customers on time. According to veterans in the e-commerce business, the most expensive and challenging part of the business is order fulfillment. Thus, to make it easier for you, contact an order fulfillment company to take care of the shipping.
5 Benefits of Outsourcing Order Fulfilment in E-Commerce
After launching and marketing your store, orders come knocking. But, how do you ensure that products reach customers efficiently to avoid order cancellation, and build trust? Contact an order fulfillment service provider to take care of the shipping process. The following are the benefits of outsourcing your order fulfillment.
1. Reduces Cost
Do you know Amazon spent $21.7 billion in order shipping in 2017? It shows sorting out orders and delivering them is quite expensive. You need the help of an order fulfillment company that has the infrastructure in place to handle it for you. The advantage these companies have is that they ship in bulk. So, they can offer services at an affordable cost.
2. Offloads Shipping Tasks
You spend more time in making orders coming your way by continually reaching out to customers. Therefore, having a service provider that takes care of the order sorting and shipping relieve you the stress and provide you ample time to concentrate on managing the business.
3. Guarantees Faster Delivery
Many customers love it when they order a product and get it the same day. However, 35% of order cancellation in online business happens due to delay in delivery. Thus, you must outsource order fulfillment to reduce order cancellation incidences in your industry.
4. Expands Your Marketing Scope
Once you start your business, you don’t have to limit yourself worrying about orders from all over the globe. With a delivery company, you can deliver your products to wherever your customer wants it to go. Furthermore, that expands your marketing scope and sales too.
5. Improves Customer Service
As an e-commerce business entrepreneur, you need to have impeccable customer service. Delivering the right products to customers is a good start for customers to trust and give positive reviews on your product and services. That, in turn, brings more customers since they can trust your service.
Over to You!
Online business is the way to go now. So, if you want to venture into the field, now is the time to arm yourself with the right tools and information. The above steps can assist you in launching your business.
Remember that the crucial part of the business is getting your products to the right buyer. A proficient order fulfillment company helps you lower operation cost, build excellent customer services, eliminate order cancellation, and offloads you from shipping tasks. Contact us and watch your business growth.
