Several people dream of starting their business but fail due to the lack of necessary knowledge and skills. In the modern age of the internet, building an eCommerce store and selling products online has become a lot easier.
We agree that there is a lot of hard work involved in setting up an online store and running it successfully. Coming up with a product idea and creating or sourcing the products is a great step that you need to handle. However, the creation of a website is potentially not a strenuous job.
Even if you are a beginner, you can use online tools and software to build an eCommerce store with ease. So, are you interested in learning more? Let’s quickly dive into the blog post to learn how you can build an online store and the approaches you can take to effectively sell your products online.
But, before jumping straight into the learnings, let’s understand the most important aspect, i.e., WHY should you build an eCommerce store?
Contents
- Why is it Essential to Create an eCommerce Store?
- Safe and Convenient Shopping Experience
- Get More Product Exposure
- How to Build an eCommerce Store?
- Step 1: Start with a Plan
- Step 2: Choose an eCommerce Platform
- Step 3: Select Elements to Include in your Website
- Step 4: Design your eCommerce Website and Add Products
- Step 5: Create a Great Checkout Experience
- Key Takeaways
Why is it Essential to Create an eCommerce Store?
It is evident that eCommerce growth has many perks for businesses, but there are more reasons to start an eCommerce store. Following are some of the benefits that a business can derive through an online presence:
People Spend Money Online
The eCommerce sales in the year 2021 jumped up to USD 1140.42 billion, and it continues to grow at the rate of 43.7 percent every year.
It means that more and more people are spending online. If you have a traditional brick-and-mortar business, you are missing the cherry on the cake.
The competitors are advancing their business rapidly in the online world. If you fail to do so, you will lose your business in the long run.
Safe and Convenient Shopping Experience
It is sometimes frustrating to browse different stores to buy the required items when you are busy, sick, or feel lazy. Moreover, it is an arduous experience for people who are living with disabilities.
In contrast, shopping from an eCommerce store is a lot easier and faster. When you sell your products online, you remove various obstacles you might have otherwise faced in a traditional store.
Get More Product Exposure
According to Oberlo, 230 million US buyers look for products and services online.
Without an eCommerce store, you cannot showcase your products to potential customers online. Investing in SEO practices will also help you to rank higher in the Google search rankings. This way, your products get more exposure in the online world.
Costs Less
Running a traditional storefront incurs huge expenses, including property rent, utility bills, licensing permits, and much more.
On the other hand, running an eCommerce business cuts down most of the costs. However, you still need to pay for web hosting and marketing. But, these costs are more economical and easy to plan for.
How to Build an eCommerce Store?
Building an eCommerce store is easier than you think. There are multiple eCommerce solutions available in the market, but you still need to understand what will work best for your business.
Here is the blueprint of all the steps that you need to take when selling your products online.
Step 1: Start with a Plan
To have a successful eCommerce website, you need to have a comprehensive plan. You have to list down all the details that are appropriate for you and your business.
It is significant to forecast the greatest needs and challenges that the business might face in a growing phase. If you are thinking of how to sell your products online, you must decide on the shipping process in advance. The businesses that sell digital products need to think about the delivery options and bandwidth when selling online.
Hence, it is crucial to have a plan so that the entire process of building and scaling an eCommerce website is done at ease.
Step 2: Choose an eCommerce Platform
Your eCommerce platform is the residing place of your website, and you have plenty of options to choose from. Finding the right eCommerce platform is one of the vital steps in your journey.
VARStreet lets you manage, sell and grow your online business with its modern features. It’s pre designed templates and responsive website makes your eCommerce store visually appealing and optimized for all digital devices.
With VARStreet, you get a secure eCommerce store with seamless order processing, free updates, omnichannel marketing, ready integrations, analytics and a free CRM that integrates with your eCommerce store to give you better insight on your customer data.
It also connects you with 45+ distributors to get you real-time price and availability for over 7 million products. VARStreet is an ideal platform that facilitates you with all the features you need to start your online business.
eCommerce Plugins for WordPress
WordPress is one of the best platforms that runs half of the eCommerce websites in the world. It is because the platform is virtually limitless, and it is a very cost-effective option. You can add the functionality of an online store with the help of your eCommerce platform.
Website Builders with eCommerce Features
The prominent website builders like VARStreet provide eCommerce functionality. It offers an additional online sales feature to all its eCommerce plan users. Businesses can use any of the website builders to design an online store to showcase their products online.
Dedicated eCommerce Platforms
Dedicated eCommerce platforms like VARStreet are the easiest and quickest way to launch a full-fledged eCommerce website. These platforms are relatively sturdy and provide expandable built-in functionality like email marketing, secure payments, shipping labels, and multichannel sales support.
Step 3: Select Elements to Include in your Website
Before diving straight into how to sell your products online, consider the following functionalities:
- Organize your Online Shop According to the Preferences of the Consumer- Figure out what pages and categories you will include in your eCommerce website. It is also important to find out how you will organize each of these pages on your website.
- Include a Search Bar- A search bar is one of the best features as it allows the customers to find exactly what they are looking for.
- Include Testimonials- Including testimonials in your website helps to build trust among the customers. It is a substantial method to increase sales online.
- Have a Shopping Cart- A shopping cart is valuable for an eCommerce store as the customers can save the items in the cart and continue browsing. It allows them to make purchases all at once.
- Don’t Forget the Wishlist Functionality- Wishlist functionality accomplishes the people’s chance to point friends and family in the lead-up to a gift-giving event. It also allows the customers to prevent impulse buying and save the items for future purchases.
Step 4: Design your eCommerce Website and Add Products
Now, it’s time to design your eCommerce store to sell your products online and put your plan into action. Some of the elements and information you should include in your website are:
- An eye-catching logo and brand imagery
- A compelling product description, pictures, and the other required data.
- Your “About” page story.
- Customer service pages that include a privacy policy, returns and exchanges, and shipping information.
- Different types of blog content.
Step 5: Create a Great Checkout Experience
Cart abandonment is like an infestation in online sales.
According to the Baymard Institute, the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is over 69 percent.
You can limit cart abandonment on your website by considering the following points:
- Offer free delivery to your customers.
- Be clear about the shipping costs upfront, if you charge any.
- Enable multiple purchases to the customers at once.
- Ensure that the checkout functionality for mobile devices works efficiently.
- Send cart abandonment emails whenever someone leaves the cart without making a purchase.
Therefore, it is advisable to test the checkout process step by step so that it does not affect your sales conversion rates. It is good to take other people’s opinions to address the flaws that your eyes cannot otherwise have found.
Step 6: Launch Your Website and Sell Products
The next step in building your eCommerce website is to process a few test orders. Every eCommerce platform allows you to run some pre-launch test orders through their system.
These orders connect with the payment processors but do not charge you anything. After running test orders and rectifying all the bugs in your eCommerce store, you are set to launch your website and sell your products on your website.
Launching your store doesn’t mean automatic sales. The search engines take time to find your store and index it in the search results. You can instead use Google Search Console and upload an XML sitemap to speed up the process.
Step 7: Use Content Marketing to Promote your Business
The internet is a large pond where every person wants to sell similar products. So, the competition is relatively high. If you don’t make efforts to promote your website, your website will get lost in oblivion.
To become successful in selling your products in the online world, you must invest in marketing your eCommerce store. Some of the affordable options are content marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, SEO, email marketing, and PPC advertising.
Key Takeaways
Creating an eCommerce store involves putting in your time, work, ambition, and a little bit of startup cost. However, the most crucial step is to decide to sell your products on your website. You are not likely to set everything at once. Hence, it is recommended to be patient, experiment, and learn from your mistakes.
