How to Build a Profitable Ecommerce Store

Here are ways to help you create a profitable online store. A store that has a good name will definitely help you bring your brand out to the masses. People associate value with a name.

I mean, look at the top brands out there Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. These are all names that have value and also pop. In the first few months to sometimes even a year, profitability is not necessarily a real time goal. However, coming up with that first name and getting it hosted and live, puts you ahead of the game. Your plan from the start should be how this domain name fits in with your overall goal. It gives your brand meaning and that helps you achieve your feats at a more manageable pace.

This is also important because a good name and a logo helps build an identity that really lets you show off your individuality. In anything business oriented, you always want to show what others lack. This is a solid first step to begin creating the store you want others to see. This is one of the keys to creating a profitable business. Do you have your own cookie recipe, do you have a special sauce or a set of information that you provide?

This is something you should think about greatly because you want a product that can help you really build longevity. In time, you could grow to become a global business with a small niche mindset.

Of course, it helps to have great value all over your site from the products and the content. People want to always associate with something valuable — tangible or intangible. A good store has a lot of value from the content presented. What do you add to give your potential customers more? It takes time to create a well-to-do blog, too. People enjoy this personal view into what makes your brand special. You cannot forget great images and videos. In your product descriptions and even your blog content, pictures speak a thousand words. New supporters will be more drawn to your images, the look and feel of the products you promote.

Most people want a preview of what you have to offer before they bite into the appetizer. Quality content provided in the right manner gives a sense of legitimacy. Otherwise, they will take their time and money elsewhere. One of the best ways to increase your profits is by helping others make money. An affiliate program helps your supporters get a piece of the profit by promoting and selling your product. This can be a very effective manner in exposing your brand to different demographics. You can have a sign up right on your store that makes it easy to help start things off and get them situated with a referral program.

Help them with the banners, the affiliate links, and get things started to build more interest in your program. You should know exactly how they could market your product. However, you should give them the creative freedom to take it to another level. At the end of the day, every person in your particular program has a different audience they cater to and will convince to support them. You can always keep things interesting with a contest.

Make sure you have a voting system in place to help decide what should be prize like a high ticketed item, discount on your products, a trip somewhere, or any other item you believe is worthy of competing. Competition puts out the best in each person, and it only helps to have an extra incentive. A great social media presence can lead to more profits. Outside of your product, are you interesting? Do you know the trends going on in your market?

Do you have a sense of humor? A lot of your supporters want to see whether or not you have human qualities. They want to make sure you relate to their needs or their idiosyncrasies.

8. eCommerce 101 wrapped up

Maybe you have a particular ad campaign you want to test out to gain more traffic to a particular product or just find a way to get more sales. A good social media page will help you test out the waters to see how effective an ad campaign works on a product. Also, you can constantly experiment on the look of different ads.

You can put your creativity to the test using videos. Marucci Sports is a great example of clean, focused design. Their unique product is front and center in every way. Start by by selecting a design template that really showcases your products or services. Your website should serve as a tool for effective online shopping. Overly styled sites run the risk of distracting customers rather than guiding them towards checkout. Secondly, while picking a design template, make sure that the navigation menu is clear and does not overwhelm your customers. By having clear navigation you will be able to present various product categories and ensure your customers know where to go within your store and also never get lost.

If you only have a handful of product categories, selecting a theme with menu navigation across the top will work great. Potential customers should be able to see nearly all of the relevant and compelling parts of your site upon arrival. Best yet, if you have a lot of categories, use your homepage to let customers self select their shopping journey. Last, but certainly not least, make sure whatever design template you choose has a rock solid mobile version as well.

How much distance is between you and your mobile device right now? Is it right beside you? Is it in your pocket or purse right beside you?

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Are you reading this blog post on your smartphone or tablet? There are a few key pieces you need to put in place to make sure your store is ready to accept orders. The following steps are essential in helping you launch your store and setting you up for long-term success. Payment gateways are how you collect money from your customers. Your ecommerce platform can tell you what gateways work with their system. Bigcommerce supports over 60 different payment gateways and features one-click, digital wallet options like Apple Pay and PayPal One-Touch. Once you have a list of options, you need to get the full picture of how it works and how it will affect your bottom line.

You also want to pick something that can grow with your business. So before you lock yourself in, ask the following questions about each payment solution:. Ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce can help you get the lowest possible rates. For instance, the rate offered to BigCommerce customer who use PayPal powered by Braintree is the lowest possible one out there. The Braintree rates alone can easily pay for what your store costs. Shipping options depend heavily on your product, your business model, your target audience and your ecommerce solution. The trick is making sure all of these factors are working together.

Fortunately we have some tried-and-true best practices to put your mind at ease and increase your sales. Shipping is an important value proposition for your store. It has the power to attract customers, but it can also push customers away. That means you may want to stick with domestic shipping and master that before you dive into international shipping. Now, if you can offer free shipping on your products, do it!

According to a BigCommerce and Square study, high shipping costs are the number one reason for cart abandonment. You can actually increase your average order value with free shipping or by offering free shipping at a minimum order amount. Getting something for free has a huge impact on the psychology of making a purchase.

Also, if you can provide local pick-up as an option, you should. On the back end, you need to plan and organize your order fulfillment process.

A lot of new merchants neglect this step, and that can be extremely detrimental to your business as you grow. If your products are sprawled across your coffee table right now, you have work to do. Even if you only carry a few items, you need to work drafting up a procedure for what happens when an order come in. So this step is pretty short and sweet — talk to a tax professional.

All of this can vary from location to location. Picking a domain name is critical. It is your web address as well as your brand and an important marketing tool. Your domain name will serve as a way for potential customers to find you and then come back to buy more. So keep it simple. Resist the urge to include difficult spellings or unknown acronyms.

Choosing a credible domain will instill confidence in customers and build customer loyalty, so take your time.

Reviews & Questions

Your domain name is important for a variety of reasons — but likely the most important reason is because it is the URL off which you will build your entire brand. And that means it is the bedrock of your SEO strategy. The SEO basics you need to know. We recently highlighted 55 ecommerce metrics you should be tracking. Download the spreadsheet to get started with that here.

Also take a peek at platform options like in-store site search that could provide you with valuable insights into what your customers are looking for. This will help you understand what the search giant sees happening both inside and outside your store. Google Analytics can give you the following insights to help you expand and improve your business:. That last one is my personal favorites. You can tag the important actions or events on your timeline, like adding new products or a sale, so you can see the impact they have on your store.

Ecommerce - The Ultimate Guide to Build a Profitable E-Shop [All-in-1]

Analytics in general are a key element in helping you act on facts rather than assumptions about your customers and business. Read the full free article here or click below to get the downloadable PDF to print out. Data-driven strategies to growth. Many open-source platforms are free, but can have steep learning curves and added fees for functionality.

To expedite online store setup, SaaS solutions are often a better option because they have all necessary functionality and a free trial to test the software , but do cost a monthly fee. Setting up an online store has become easier because it no longer requires advanced technical knowledge. For example, many platforms allow you to use well-designed themes, easily add products, set up payments, shipping and other necessary functionality to quickly launch your store.

Businesses that do not sell online have are at a huge disadvantage because online sales are rapidly increasing each year. A business should launch an online store ASAP to take advantage of this growing trend and add additional revenue to their company. Time is money when setting up an online store. It is much faster to utilize a SaaS ecommerce platform to launch your web store. There are many open-source ecommerce platforms you can download and install yourself but it will require technical knowledge.

Building an online store yourself can be expensive due to hosting, development work and security costs. These costs also increase as your traffic and sales do. The complexity of building an online store will vary.

Ecommerce 101 – The Ultimate Guide to Build a Profitable E-Commerce Store

If you are building a customized solution it will likely require technical expertise. If you are creating an online store with a SaaS solution it is possible to quickly build and launch a web store. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. She launched her career in ecommerce with Y-Combinator backed Shoptiques. Ecommerce Platform Functionality Checklist: Does their website builder have everything I need, including drop down menus or an editor?

How simple is the platform to use? Do I feel comfortable using it? Does it offer reliable hosting? Will my site stay up even when I get a flood of traffic? Who is going to be there to support me when I have questions? Do I need to pay for support? Will the platform support the type of products I want to sell? If the product has variations, how does the platform display all of these options? How simple is that to manage? Is there a limit to how many products I can sell? Are there any transaction fees? Can I sell directly to customers on Facebook, eBay, Amazon, and Pinterest without managing separate inventories?

How do I manage inventory? What options do I have to accept payments? Should I use PayPal or Stripe for credit cards?