Your Key to Success: How to Launch an E-commerce Business - Mike Gingerich
Your Key to Success: How to Launch an E-commerce Business
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It is the dream of many people to start their own E-commerce business. Yet many felt the conditions were always against them, or so they used to believe but not anymore. With cutting edge technology at one’s disposal and the internet making everyday life more comfortable, it is easier than ever to launch an E-commerce business of your own and start selling globally right away.
What is considered an E-commerce business?
E-commerce is buying and selling products through online channels while having access to all the global products made available by other sellers and buyers. It is the simplest manifestation of what an E-commerce business is. Following are some of the major market segments that E-commerce comprises of:
- Business to Business
- Business to Consumer
- Consumer to Consumer
- Consumer to Business
These are some of the active E-commerce models that are available for you to start selling globally. On a more critical note, to discourage people from entering into E-commerce, different myths have been cooked. These are not going to help you move forward if you will keep on listening.
You need to flop all the misconceptions built around E-commerce, such as; you require a hefty investment, shipping means, and most importantly, the right time to start your E-commerce career. These are only myths that need to be debunked. If you are seriously interested, then the following are some tips and a failsafe process that can help you launch your E-commerce business and start selling globally online soon.
1. Identify a high potential product
The first thing you need to do is search for a viable product with some credibility in the market and sell like hotcakes. You can pick something that you feel interested in or think has the potential of selling itself as soon as it gets introduced into the market. But just to be sure, it is advised that you search the internet and, most importantly, the top trends on various E-commerce sites such as Amazon and eBay to come around the most refined product to sell.
2. Look for a supplier or manufacturer
When you have decided to sell a particular product, you will need a suppler or manufacturer who can produce and ship it to you in bulk quantities. Again the internet can be of great help here to search a few compatible manufacturing sites.
Alibaba is the most credible manufacturer to find who serves the B2B (business to business) segment of the market. You can place your order, and it will get shipped to you as soon as it is ready.
3. Securing your online presence
After making sure that you have a product to sell, the next thing is to secure your online presence. You need to come up with an eye-catching brand name. After that, you will have to buy the domain and develop your website. You should also go with the social media presence, to begin with, which will change the way your audience can interact with not only your brain but the products that you have to sell.
All of this needs to be done before your launch an e-commerce business. You can get some of the cheapest and highly performing domain names from a domain flipper and can make your social media accounts or use those which you already have; it is up to you.
4. Developing your website
When you have thought about the brand name and have bought a domain for your website, it is now time to build your website. You can develop your logo or can find your website layout for a start. Then you can go on with choosing a particular hosting body for your website; both WordPress and WooCommerce are great options.
All of it comes down to your liking, site speed and functionality, and feasibility. On the other hand, if you don’t have the technical knowledge or the budget to develop your website, you can always go with setting up a shop on sites like Shopify or an Amazon store.
5. Fulfillment and shipping
When all is said and done, and you have a functional e-commerce shop, you need to determine the products’ fulfillment and shipping to your customers. You can choose the vendor’s fulfillment, which would be the e-commerce giant you went with to set up your business or use local mail to deliver your goods.
Final Words
E-commerce business is booming right now, and there is no reason why you should be left behind. Take control of the situation, develop a sound plan, and then go for it by all means. You will come to realize that it was a successful and worthy endeavor.