Starting an e-commerce business is not an easy task as it seems. It demands many processes that need to come together at the right time including researching, launching and growing profitable e-commerce business. Now you can build an e-commerce business by yourself by these helpful guidelines.
Choosing a Product
The first step in starting an e-commerce business is to choose what products you want to sell. This is the most important part of starting a new online business because you will have a bad experience selling bad products. You have to choose a product that has a market and people need it. Sell things people need.
But how to validate your product idea?
There are many tools out there, but for easiest and free, you can use Google Trends to see how many people search about product niche as an indicator how big is the market and demand for it.
Pricing Strategy
Your pricing and positioning must provide real value to your target audience. You might lose your potential e-commerce customers if the goods seem to be overpriced, especially when price comparing is so easy these days and it is very likely people will compare the price before they buy.
There will be opportunities for testing and improvement throughout your e-commerce product’s lifecycle, but by doing a little more work up front, you’ll be better if you focus on sustaining your business in the long run.
Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is the way to know the characteristics of your potential e-commerce customers. If you don’t have a definite knowledge of who you’re targeting, you’re bound to run ineffective campaigns that waste money targeting low-converting, unqualified individuals.
The characteristics you should identify are:
Demographics
- Age ranges
- Gender breakdown
- Geographic location
- Purchasing power
- Income
Psychographics
- Social Media
- Publications
- Membership
- Brands/Tools
- Gurus/Idols
- Interests
- Activities
Advertising channels
Your e-commerce site needs visitors before converting them to customers. It is nothing if there is no people enter despite your site is beautiful and has great products waiting to sell. To drive traffic to your site, you can check out these 6 channels of online marketing: A Beginner’s Guide to Successful E-Commerce Marketing.
Distribution & Fulfillment
When you start the marketing part, you will receive order and the goods need to be delivered. One of the important parts of the e-commerce business is delivering your ordered goods to customers in a timely and perfect way.
Customers are concern about the condition of the goods and delivery time. You need to know whether your fulfillment processes can meet the demand of your upcoming marketing push.
You can get more details in another article about fulfillment: How to Choose a Fulfillment Company that Perfect for your Business.
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