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Guest Post: 3 Tips for Launching a Successful e-Commerce Store

Owning an eCommerce store can be one of the most fulfilling ventures into entrepreneurship there is. Not only is this a chance to own a business, but be a part of a community or industry that you’ve always wanted to contribute to. However, with how competitive eCommerce can be, it can be tough to know how to get started, which is why I’m giving you a few helpful tips on how to get started. Check them out below:

Figure Out Your Structure

Perhaps one of the first steps to launching an eCommerce store is defining your structure. Not only will this determine the inventory you receive, but how you’ll deliver that to your customers. And whether that be through epacket tracking or dropshipping, these steps are going to be crucial in figuring out your ROI; because as noted by Business Insider, 82 percent of businesses fail because of cash flow problems. Which, the best way to avoid that is by having a stable revenue structure in place.

To begin, look at what inventory you’re going to have, as well as where you plan to source from. For example, if you’re selling your own line of t-shirts, then your primary driver will be the quality and price point of your supplier. However, if you were to say be a shop for athletic apparel, then pulling in from multiple sources in a timely fashion would have higher precedence. All-in- all, your structure should be focused on producing the best quality product and experience at the best price for both you and the consumer, so take your time in getting this right.

Come Up With A Solid Brand

Once you’ve learned what you’re going to sell, it’s time to think about the identity of your company, as well as how that’s going to connect with its audience. And with competitive the world of eCommerce can actually be, coming up with a solid brand is a must. Not only is it going to give you a sense of the type of products that you sell, but will additionally give your company a personality and voice that can resonate with your customers. However, being successful with branding is going to take a fair amount of self-reflection beyond just how you’re going to attract customers, but build a community.

In analyzing what brand you’re going to have, you first need to decide on where this will fit, as well as what purpose it’s going to serve. Remember, your brand should be the identity that sets you apart from the crowd, showcasing the kind of problem you’re looking to solve with your eCommerce shop, as well as why you exist. This will go into having an overarching aesthetic, as well as what builds up to that.

An excellent example of this is how color and typefaces come into play. For example, as noted by Lucidpress, color increases brand recognition by 80 percent, which you can see in numerous brands. The vape company Juul, for example, uses tropical colors combined with thin typefaces to display their flavorful line of flavors. All-in- all, your branding assets should be something you invest a lot of time it at first, as this will be something that could potentially last you a lifetime.

Have A Consistent Plan For Marketing

If there’s one thing step that’s constantly going to be important for your success, it’s coming up with a plan that allows you to be consistent with your marketing efforts. As a lot of what you’re going to be pushing is online, there’s no excuse for why you can’t keep up with at least social media, email, and SEO on a regular, if not daily basis. The trick here, however, is to hedge your bets based on your skill level and capacity.

Let’s say for example that you enjoy working with social the most, but don’t always know how to keep producing posts every day. As noted by Shopify, this can be a great strategy to earn more, with Facebook alone producing a conversion rate of 1.85 percent. However, by studying what the strategy of others are doing, this process can be much simpler.

Start looking at case studies of other examples on how some campaigns do their social, highlighting the benefit of their call-to- action. For example, if you have a lookbook video that you want to showcase, then looking at something like how the trailer for the independent film People You May Know was able to capitalize on their social strategy might be helpful. Overall, marketing is about frequency as much as it is quality of posts, so make an effort to find your balance and stick with it.

What are some things you’re looking forward to with launching an eCommerce store? Comment with your answers below!