The rise of ecommerce has made it possible for people to sell all sorts of products and services online – you may think that Amazon and Ebay have the market cornered, but the great thing about the internet is that it allows creative thinkers with innovative products to carve out new niches in which to sell products without the costs associated with setting up a brick and mortar store front. The process of setting up an ecommerce site has also become much easier in the past few years. To learn more about the steps involved to set up a site on Shopify, Magento, Big Commerce and many others. However, no matter how easy it is to set up an ecommerce site there are some things to bear in mind.
Online Stores Don’t Make Money By Themselves
A mistake that people often make is to confuse the process of setting up an ecommerce site with the process of doing business. Ecommerce sites are a great business tool and offer some real advantages that make it possible for people to bring their ideas to the marketplace. But they are not a substitute for having a well thought-out business plan, dedicated resources, committed staff (even if that is a staff of one!) and a great core service or product to sell. Without these things, any business – whether online or not – is more likely to fail than to succeed. And even when they make money, it isn’t instantaneous – like every business, time is required to build a customer base.
A Marketing Plan is Key
While “if you build it, they will come” might work for fantasy baseball teams, it is not great advice for running your online business. Simply building an online store is not going to be enough to bring traffic or customers, no matter how great your product. You will need to dedicate resources to developing a strategy to market your ecommerce site. This might involve both online marketing and more traditional approaches. You might find that this is something to get professional help with, perhaps from a company specializing in SEO, email marketing, or traditional media.
You Need to Find Your Customer
It isn’t enough to have a great product or service – you need to make sure that there are customers who are willing to buy that product or service. In general, it is easier to tailor a product or service to existing customers than it is to find customers for a product that you have already developed. No matter how cool your product or service may be, if there is no one out there willing to buy it, then you are out of luck. Spend time researching the ideas you have to make sure that the thing you want to sell is filling a gap in the market, and that they haven’t already been patented by someone else. If there is already another business selling to that niche, explore ways to differentiate your product or service from the competition. If you can’t then you should probably rethink your plan.
With some careful planning and research, ecommerce websites can be a great way to launch a new business or grow an existing one.
