You’re ready for a change.
After working a boring 9 to 5 job, you’ve had enough. Your boss doesn’t recognize your accomplishments and your coworkers’ bad attitudes rub off on you.
By the time you get home, you’re exhausted—drained of energy. You’re not there for your family because you’ve endured yet another stressful work day.
You’ve been dreaming of operating your own business since you were little. Now, you’re ready to dedicate yourself to whatever’s necessary to make that dream happen.
It doesn’t scare you that 90% of new businesses fail. You’re striving to be the 10% that survives.
Want to know how to start an ecommerce business right from your own home?
Keep reading to find out!
Pick an Ecommerce Model
Before we get deeper into detail, you need to figure out what type of business you want to have. Below, we’ve mapped out some of the most common (and popular) models.
B2B
Otherwise known as “business to business,” this is when your business has products or services suited for other businesses.
This could be software or tangible products. As for services, an example would be phone answering for busy CEOs.
B2C
B2C or “business to consumer” focuses on products or services for the everyday consumer. These are people, just like you, looking for the best products or services out there.
C2C
C2C stands for “consumer to consumer.” Think of sites like eBay and Poshmark. These kinds of sites allow the everyday consumer to sell items to other consumers.
Operating a C2C takes a lot of work but it’s doable. You just have to know which sites are geared towards reigning in other consumers. You don’t want to end up on a site where there are more sellers than buyers.
Find Your Niche
You can’t have a thriving business without focus. Selecting a niche allows you to hone in on a certain category such as beauty, fashion or technology.
Once you have an idea of the niche you want, do your research. You want to make sure it’s competitive. Without competition, it most likely means it’s not a profitable market.
Picking a niche is complicated because you need to find that balance. A niche that’s too crowded means you’ll be lost in a sea of competition. One that’s the opposite, you’ll have a hard time finding a customer base.
Do your best to pick a category that does well in social media. When people are posting about certain products, you’ll have to put in less effort when it comes to marketing.
If you’re unsure of what to sell after all of this information, try affiliate marketing first. Create content with affiliate products and see how well they perform. You don’t have to worry about carrying inventory.
But this will give you a better idea of what products are most appealing in different niches.
Pick Your Product
Since we over finding your niche, let’s go over how to pick products properly. For starters, pick one to three products. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself with lots of product in case your idea doesn’t work out.
Let’s say you’re starting a clothing business. For your products, think of staples that people will want in their closets like shirts, pants, and jackets. These will be the products you’ll want to focus on providing in your store.
With any tangible product, make sure it’s durable, of high-quality, and appeals the audience you’re selling to (more on that below).
Another aspect you need to think about is inventory. Are you going to hold inventory inside your house then ship it yourself when it sells? When starting out, that’s probably the best route to go.
Once you start gaining traction and productivity is more than you can handle, think about partnering with a fulfillment center to handle large orders. Click here for more information about that.
Know Your Customer Base
After finding your niche and products, now comes the most important part: understanding your customer base. Without customers to buy what you’re selling, you won’t survive.
Start by asking yourself this question: who’s interested in buying your product?
Let’s say you’re interested in selling baby products. Your customer base would consist of mothers with newborns.
You have to be a bit of a mind reader when it comes to knowing your customers. Knowing what’s missing in their lives currently plays a big role. You want to know how your product can enhance their lives and provide value.
Give Your Business a Name
After all this hard work, now it’s time to have a little fun! When picking your business name, make sure it aligns with your niche.
There’s no wrong or right way to name a business. It needs to be pronounceable and shouldn’t include any odd characters.
Write down which names come to mind. From there, look them up online. You want to make sure the domain and social media handles are available.
Get a Website
Speaking of domain, you’ll need a website. You can’t do business online without one.
That said, once you know your domain name is available, start creating your website. You can easily create your own with website builders like Wix or Weebly.
When it comes to an ecommerce website, you want to make sure you can gorgeously display your products. Your website should be crisp, clean, and not crowded with useless elements.
Speed also plays a big factor. You don’t want customers to abandon their carts because it’s taking too long to load.
Start Selling
Now that all the hard research is out of the way, it’s time to get down to business.
Make sure to market early on. The more awareness you can bring to your business right after you launch, the better of a position you’ll be in.
Maintaining a blog is a great way to attract potential customers and increase your visibility on search engine giants like Google. If possible, invest in taking out ads on social media. That way, you get yourself in front of potential customers quicker and easier.
How to Start an Ecommerce Business Answered
It’s been your dream to start your own business. With ecommerce, it’s even easier to start one from home.
As long as you stick to our guide on how to start an ecommerce business, you’ll be well on your way to success!
Looking for other ways to make some extra income? Check out our money articles today!
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