By the year 2021, mobile ecommerce will account for nearly 55 percent of all online sales. If you are tired of working for someone else and want to take control of your financial destiny, starting an ecommerce store is a great idea.
While there is a lot of competition in this industry, you can still make money with the right plan. Adequate ecommerce business planning will allow you to avoid mistakes and cash in with ease.
If you are new to the world of ecommerce, working with professionals is a must. These professionals will be able to offer you guidance regarding what to sell online and can even help in the construction of a website.
Are you looking for advice on starting an ecommerce business? Check out the helpful tips below.
Ecommerce Business Planning Starts With Identifying Your Niche
Before you can have a website constructed for your new online business venture, you will need to answer a few questions. Knowing what gap in the market you will fill is vital. You will also need to hone in on the type of products you want to sell.
Whether you are going to run an online clothing boutique or a survival gear store, properly identifying your competition should be your top priority. Knowing who your competition is allows you to see how successful they are and what marketing strategies they are using to attract new consumers.
While you need to avoid directly stealing ideas from your competition, drawing inspiration from what they are doing is essential. Once you have this information, you will be able to move onto the next step of the ecommerce business planning process.
Selecting the Right Platform
One of the key factors in the overall success of an ecommerce store is selecting the right platform. Modern ecommerce business owners can set up shop on places like eBay, Etsy, and even Amazon.
Oftentimes, using existing online marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy may be the best option for a new business. However, there are a number of unique challenges that come with setting up shop on these platforms.
Finding a way to drown out the competition can be a lot harder than you may think. If you have the time and the money to develop your own ecommerce website, you may be better off. With your own website, you can focus solely on SEO and optimizing your content for success.
The Right Website Design
If you feel like building your own ecommerce website is the best course of action, you will need to work on ironing out a design. One of the first things a visitor to a website will notice is how appealing and functional it is.
Hiring an experienced web designer is probably your best course of action. While there are a number of DIY website building platforms on the market, they can be difficult to use. A web designer will be able to build you a site from scratch in no time at all.
Before choosing a web designer, be sure to take a look at the previous sites they have constructed. Looking at a web designer’s portfolio can help you decide whether or not they are the right fit for the project at hand. The money paid to these professionals will be worth it considering the results they can provide.
A Secure and Easy to Use Payment System
Once you have your website constructed, you will need to start thinking about how to make it secure. If you are taking payments directly from consumers, then choosing the right program to facilitate this is a must.
When looking for a payment system, be sure to find out things like whether or not they have an SSL certificate and if they are PCI compliant. Even if you have to pay more for a secure system, it will be worth it.
Skimping on the quality of your payment software to save money will backfire in spectacular fashion. The last thing you want is for your customer’s sensitive information to be compromised. This is why you need to view data and payment security as a top priority.
Read – What is PayPal? How to Send and Receive Money Through PayPal
Devising a Strategy to Deal with Abandoned Carts
One of the biggest problems you will face as an ecommerce business owner is abandoned carts. There are many reasons why consumers will abandon a cart and it is your job to figure out how to fix this issue.
The best thing you can do when trying to avoid this problem is to invest in automated software. There are various programs on the market that will send a consumer an email message when they have abandoned a cart.
In some cases, this simple reminder is all a consumer needs to seal the deal on a purchase. Instead of trying and failing to keep up with these abandoned cart reminders on your own, you need to use state of the art software.
Having a Mobile-Friendly Website Is Important
If your main goal is to attract buyers from all walks of life, then having a mobile-friendly ecommerce website is essential. The last thing any consumer wants is to resize the images on your website due to trying to access with their mobile device.
Often times, the frustration this causes will result in the mobile user leaving the site altogether. Avoiding this problem is easy when working with a web designer. They should be able to make your existing site responsive in no time at all.
Persistence Is the Key to Success
Some people think that they can have overnight ecommerce success. The reality is that adequate ecommerce business planning and persistence are the ingredients for success. In some cases, you may have to alter your original plan once you start to receive consumer feedback.
Are you looking for more information on how to have ecommerce success? If so, check out our article on the things your ecommerce business needs.