The world of eCommerce is still relatively new, but the market has grown at such a rapid speed. In fact, studies have found that online stores are expected to reach 22% of global retail sales by 2023, a growth of over 8% since 2019. As people are continuing to turn to the internet to buy everything from pet food to post-it notes, the possibilities for eCommerce stores are almost endless.
While there is a huge market in the eCommerce industry, this huge demand does come with a lot of competition. This means that in order to ensure that you are able to get the highest value out of your new eCommerce store, it is vital that you are able to hit the ground running. No matter the exact market you are looking to operate in, this guide has been created to help new eCommerce store owners know exactly what it takes to set up a successful store.
1. Understand Your Market
One of the first steps that you will need to take when it comes to setting up a successful eCommerce store is to get to know your marketplace. You should conduct some thorough research into your market to get to know every aspect of it. As well as learning more about the existing supply and demand in this marketplace, you should also look into its history.
Once you understand how the demand has grown for this marketplace, you should also take notice of existing industry trends to try to gain a greater idea of where this market is going in the future. Taking the time to thoroughly research your marketplace before setting up your business can be hugely useful as it will enable you to better identify your place now and how your business could evolve in the future.
2. Identify Your Niche
After you have conducted research into your marketplace, it is useful to spend some time identifying what niche you are going to be operating in. Taking the time to outline where your niche is will help you to more effectively target the high audience and be more direct in your marketing plans.
When you are looking to identify the niche you are going to be working in, you should make sure to consider both demand and existing competition. It is also useful to choose a niche you resonate with to ensure you are able to make genuine and meaningful connections with your target audience.
3. Create Brand Guidelines
Once you have a clearer idea of which specific market niche you are going to be operating in, it is useful to spend some time creating a clear set of brand guidelines. When you are doing this, it is useful to first create a customer persona so that you are able to get to know your target market in a deeper and more meaningful way. This knowledge will then enable you to create a brand identity especially curated for your target market. Spending the time to outline a clear and comprehensive set of brand guidelines early on can be essential as it will help you to ensure that every aspect of your business is tailored to suit and reflect your brand identity.
4. Choose the Right URL
One of the first steps that you will need to take when it comes to setting up your business website is to choose the right URL. When you are choosing your URL, there are a number of different considerations you will need to bear in mind. A successful URL is short, concise and simple, which means using words that are easy to remember without any punctuation or special characters. Your URL should also accurately reflect who you are as a brand and what you sell.
5. Create an SEO Strategy
When it comes to hitting the ground running with your eCommerce store, SEO can be hugely important. Creating an SEO strategy can be highly beneficial for a range of different reasons. As Click Intelligence explains, an effective SEO strategy will enable you to increase your brand awareness and boost the quality and quantity of traffic to your site. Creating an SEO strategy early on will help you to ensure that it is embedded in your website so that you can get the highest possible returns in your future campaigns.
6. Design a Conversion Funnel
When you are designing a website for your eCommerce store, it is important that you consider not only the user experience on-site and how your site reflects your brand identity but also the journey that your visitors are taking through your site. A conversion funnel is a curated path that outlines the journey that your customers are taking through your website from the moment they enter the site to the point of conversion. Creating a clear conversion funnel that guides a customer through your site will help you ensure that you gain the most value from all of your visitors.
7. Offer a Range of Payment Methods
Any eCommerce business owner will tell you that having a visitor making their way through the site, putting items in the cart, only to abandon them at the point of purchase, can be one of the more frustrating metrics that you engage with. Offering your customers a range of different payment methods to use can be a very useful step for ensuring that you are able to get the highest value from all visitors to your site.
8. Test Before Launching
Once you have everything set up for your business website, it can be all too tempting to want to get everything published as soon as possible. Taking some additional time to test your website before you launch can be a very valuable step. You only have one opportunity to make a first impression, so it is essential you are able to hit the market right with a high-quality website and products. Taking the time to test your business website on a range of different devices will help you ensure that you are able to hit the market right.
