How to start your online store?

To start your own online store is much easier than you think. Here is your exclusive guide on how to start your own online store.

Online stores can be operated in two ways.

1. Traditional online store
2. Drop-Shipping online store

Traditional online store

The traditional online store is the usual trading method. You purchase the products at a lesser rate from a wholesaler and maintain your inventory. Later you sell the product at a higher price in your shop. Since in an online store scenario there is no physical store, you sell it on your own website. Your website will have a payment gateway so that your customer can make payments online. Once you receive an order, you pack the item and courier it to your customer.

This kind of store usually requires a team. Although a single person may also handle the entire operation. Generally, it has the following areas of operation:

1. Purchase and Inventory Management – Purchase the products at the best possible price and store them properly to avoid damage.
2. Technical/Website/Online Store Management – To keep the website updated with product images, description, pricing, offer coupons, and others.
3. Sales & Marketing – SEO, Digital Marketing of the website, Social Media updates, and related services.
4. Dispatch/Shipping Management – Packaging, labeling, and dealings with courier services.
5. Finance Management – Product Costing, Tax & Accounting related services.

Even if you are a non-technical person, you can still do all of these on your own. Many free e-commerce CMS is available, which can completely take care of your website needs. The most common of them are:

1. WordPress with WooCommerce.
2. OpenCart
3. PrestaShop

Once your website is up and running, you need to do basic SEO on your website. Although SEO itself is a vast topic to cover, to start with what you must do is, focus on your product titles and descriptions. Clearly define the product title and description. The description should be descriptive enough to encompass every detail of the product.

Dropshipping online store

Unlike a traditional online store, in dropshipping, the company takes care of everything. Including the product inventory, website, payment, shipping, and everything. The only thing you do is marketing.

Once you register with a dropshipping company, they will provide you with a website. You just need to configure the website, with your brand name and logo. You also select and put a sale price on the products you wish to sell. Rest everything is done by the dropshipping company. Mostly all dropshipping companies allow White Label branding, but you may need to check before you subscribe to their services.

Some famous dropshipping companies in India:

1. Shopify
2. Coorgle Dropshipping (CDS)
3. BaapStore
4. MyDukaan

As I just said, the only thing you do is marketing.

Summary

If you go for traditional marketing or dropshipping, you need to do online marketing for your website. Here are some effective ways for beginners, to do online marketing:

1. Define your targeted customer. The end-user of “Baby Diaper” is an infant but the fact is, the infant is not buying. It’s the parent who is making the purchase.
2. Share your product URL in the Facebook Group, where you expect your targeted customers to hang around.
3. Share the product URL on your social media.
4. Access Google Store and Facebook Marketplace and post your products. Share your product URL in there.
5. Share your products with friends & family. Request them to share with their friends.
6. Create brand awareness through Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and/or Instagram Ads. If your product has intellectual value, you should consider LinkedIn Ads.
7. You must have a crystal-clear marketing strategy. Note it down somewhere and follow them. Observe, what is working and what is not.
8. Keep a budget for your marketing. Include it in your product costing.

Like all websites, an online store website will also take some time to get traction. Be patient and consistent.

Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels

---