Enaa Mari
When was the last time you bought anything online and got it delivered to your home or office?
Was it yesterday, the past week, or last month?
I am going to take a guess and say that it was quite recent.
To be honest, we are now living in an age where we cannot imagine our lives with E-commerce or online shopping experiences.
They are convenient, simple, affordable, and practical.
- You no longer have to dress up
- Take your car/book an Uber to a physical location
- Browse through numerous shelves at supermarkets/showrooms
- Get irritated out of your skin by pesky salesmen
- Wait in a long queue to pay your bills
- Lift heavy bags, and
- Come back home!
If that sounds like a lot of pain, it is because it is.
Our present reality is dominated by online stores and shopping. All the data points to the same. Digital retail is the future, and if you are not a part of this growth, then you are missing out on massive financial opportunities.
If you are the owner of a brick-and-mortar store looking to go online, or a professional toying with the idea of setting up your own E-commerce website, Zyro can help you.
What is an Online Store?
To put it very simply, an online store is a website that aids and assists shoppers by selling products and services on the internet. These are real products that can be checked out online, paid for by a payment method of convenience, and get delivered to your home, office or any other address you want them to.
To highlight the growth and importance of digital retail, Statista reported that in 2021 alone, 20% of all sales that happened in the world took place online (through E-commerce websites and mobile applications)!
An online store can be started by both B2C as well as B2B brands. Some of the different types of online stores are-
- Direct Local Store– In this format, you have a business that is selling. Here the business does not have any franchises or branches. They are selling the goods that they make or create in-house.
- Bigger Retailers– You have fashion brands and supermarkets that operate in multiple locations. When you order from them, you get the products or goods that you ordered delivered from their nearest branch/franchise.
- Aggregator Retail– In this type of online store, you have an aggregator (operating in a specific niche) listing manufacturers that create and sell in that niche. Think of something like an Uber Eats. It lists restaurants, and you can order from them.
- Individual Retail– This is mostly concerned with individual-centric businesses like photography or someone offering music lessons online. There is no physical location, and everything is carried out online.
List of 10 Tips to Help you Start an Online Store from scratch
In this section, we are going to list down the top 10 tips that help you start an online store from scratch-
- Select the best online store website builder-
A website builder is a professional platform that allows you to create your very own online store in the easiest, fastest, and most affordable manner. You need to look for great support, competitive pricing, plenty of template options, integrated hosting, and payment gateways.
- Pick a catchy and attractive domain name-
Once you have decided on which website builder you want to go for, the next step involves you picking a domain name that is attractive. Try to avoid too complex domain names. Stick to something that can be called ‘branded’ and has a nice ring and recall to it.
- Choose a theme/template that goes with your overall branding-
If you are working on a credible website builder like Zyro, you will be spoiled for choice as far as template options are concerned. You want something that is appealing to your target audience without it being too cluttered. Clean and minimal designs work best for online stores.
- Invest in product photography for the online store-
This is one area where most online retailers make big mistakes. When it comes to looking for high-investment areas for your business, you should know that product photography is right up there at the top. The better your images in terms of resolution, the better will be the response.
- Work with a payment gateway that is reliable-
You will be storing the financial details of your customers on your online store. This is why you need a fintech partner that can help you with a payment gateway that has multiple payment models and options. You want great support and state-of-the-art security features in the store.
- Get a logistics/shipping partner on board-
Your online store will only be good when your shipping partner is able to deliver the products in a fast and efficient manner. This is an area where you should not compromise one bit. The better the delivery process, the more will the satisfaction levels be from your customers.
- Start blogging and set up a nifty resource section-
If you are not able to establish the credibility of what you are selling, why should anyone buy from you? This is why blogging for your online store is crucial. This not only helps with credibility but allows you to rank your store on the SERPs better. Not to mention web traffic.
- Have a visible and active customer support structure in place-
While people love the convenience that an online store brings, whenever there are problems, they want human assistance. This is where leading E-commerce platforms ensure that all the issues and problems of customers are taken care of by a well-trained 24×7 support team.
- Build a community on social media for your online store-
Having a successful online store means having a steady flow of traffic. One way of doing that is by diverting traffic from your social profiles to your E-commerce website. Building a community on social media can help you get traction, leads, and queries for your online store.
- Test, test, and re-test your online store as much as you can-
You want potential customers on your website to have the best experiences at all times. This means that checking out every link (whether it is working or not), opening pages, looking for spelling errors, and addressing bugs should be a constant and consistent process on your part.
The Bottom Line
No two businesses or individuals will have the same experiences, challenges, or results when it comes to E-commerce. By following all the tips mentioned in the article, you will be able to gain a good starting point on your online journey. If you want us to help you in any other way, please reach out to us in the comments section below.
