How to Start an Online Store in 8 Steps: A Beginner’s Guide
Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.
Agatha Aviso is a writer of the Reviews Section at Fit Small Business, focusing on order fulfillment and eCommerce platforms. Agatha has a decade’s worth of experience writing online content for small businesses and marketing industries. She also served as a content strategist and digital marketing manager for many entrepreneurs.
This article is part of a larger series on Retail Management.
To start an online store, you’ll first need to iron out a business concept, choose products to sell, and decide on an order fulfillment strategy. Next, you’ll need to build your website. Because online stores are primarily visual platforms, you’ll also need to have strong product pages and a marketing plan. Overall, you can plan to spend around $250 to set up your online store (not including products).
With plug-and-play ecommerce platforms and web builders, this process has never been easier. Shopify leads the pack among the ecommerce platforms we have tested and reviewed and is our top pick for the best ecommerce platforms. It offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card required. Set up a free trial and follow our guide below.
Starting an Online Store Video Tutorial
Resources from the video:
- Learn how to import products from China
- See our top ecommerce website design tips
- Read our in-depth guide SEO for ecommerce
Step 1: Choose a Business Concept
Setting up an online retail business starts with honing the idea of the products you would like to sell. Begin with selecting an overall business concept by figuring out which niche or industry you would like to focus on. This idea can come from personal interests or market opportunities.
It’s easier to target customers with a specific interest and sell products that directly appeal to them rather than offering a wide array of general merchandise. Choosing a niche will also give you a specific direction and make it easier to develop a strong brand. For example, a dog enthusiast might want to open an online store with dog products. However, a better business concept is to fill a market void or need, such as organic dog food specifically for pit bulls.
Pop Your Pup is a niche ecommerce brand that creates custom products with customers’ pet photos.
Part of starting a business is knowing the costs, drafting a business plan, and registering it. Download our ebook on how to start a business for detailed insights on budgeting and planning a new business.
Once you have an idea of what you want to sell, you need to decide how you want to sell it. You might want to:
- Start a dropshipping business (instead of stocking inventory)
- Use a third-party fulfillment company to store inventory and fulfill orders
- Develop and manufacture your own custom products
- Start a private label brand
- Pack and ship orders yourself
Start by thinking about the amount of time you want to invest in your ecommerce venture. How much space do you have available or are you willing to obtain for storing inventory? If your online store is a side project, it may be realistic to sell and stock only a few products. Or, you can only sell products that are available for dropshipping, so you don’t have to fulfill orders or pay for a third-party service.
However, if you are looking to start an online retail business or grow your online store, you will likely want to develop custom or private label products and stock many of them yourself. This plan means having a dedicated garage, room, or storage space for managing inventory and packing orders—and, when your business takes off and you can no longer fulfill orders yourself, moving over to a fulfillment company (read our guide to the best fulfillment services).
Once you have an idea of what and how you want to sell, you’ll need to develop a brand. Branding is an important part of establishing an online store because a strong brand helps you attract and retain customers, stand out from the competition, and build trust and credibility with your audience. This process includes picking a company name, website, and logo.
Do branding early in the process of building an online store because you will need to purchase a domain name, which should either be your brand name or at least contain your brand name. For example, luggage brand Away’s website is awaytravel.com (away.com is already taken).
When choosing a domain name for your online store, be sure to:
- Choose an extension (e.g., .biz, .us, and .net) that best reflects your store; .com is most common
- Make it easy to spell
- Keep it as short as possible
Try our business name generator if you feel stuck on deciding a name for your business. We also came up with a list of domain name ideas to help you get started.
Apply for Licenses & Trademarks
While doing your brand development, it’s also a good time to take care of the legal stuff—outline what licenses and legal protections you will need to start your business. Anyone selling products will need to obtain a resale license, also known as a reseller’s permit or sales tax ID from your state’s tax department. You will need to apply for this in each state where you have a physical presence (such as a warehouse).
If you are manufacturing or designing products, you will also want to file for a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) if your products qualify. You will also want to trademark your business name to prevent others from selling under your brand name.
Learn more about trademark costs and how to get them.
Once you have nailed down a business concept, decided on a business model, and completed your branding, the next step is to estimate costs and look for financing. While building an online store generally costs around $250, starting a business and securing products will be another matter.
Business startup costs during the first year of operations vary significantly. It depends on the industry and ecommerce business model, whether the business has employees or if it is a full-time gig.
For example, full online businesses generally cost less than brick-and-mortar stores because they don’t require the same amount of licenses and permits. You also don’t need to consider overhead expenses such as rent for retail space.
However, Shopify research shows that new online store business owners can expect expenses to reach up to $40,000 in the first year, recoverable through profit margins (with a timeframe set up to 18 to 24 months).
Shopify found that general expense categories during the first year would look something like:
- Product sourcing and procurement (31.6%): Raw materials, manufacturing, patents, etc.
- Operating costs (11%): Legal and accounting fees, business insurance
- Online store costs (9%): Ecommerce platform subscription, web developer, etc.
- Shipping costs (8.7%): Packaging and labels
- Offline/Overhead costs (10.5%): Rent, equipment, etc.
- Employees/hiring costs (18.8%): Salaries, benefits, compensation
- Marketing costs (10.3%): Logo, branding, printed materials, business cards, etc.
Funding Your Business:
If you need help with business funding, consider applying for startup business loans or explore alternative funding options.
Step 2: Source Your Products Through Reliable Suppliers
Once your business plan is solid, the next step is sourcing your products. It will take some time to find the right suppliers and make sure you are satisfied with the final results. Plan to spend several months and a couple of thousand dollars requesting sample orders from different suppliers, especially if you are customizing your products in any way with a unique formula, design, and branding.
Arguably, the hardest part of starting an online store is finding a supplier you trust to deliver quality products on time and for the right price. There are a few different ways new businesses can go about finding one that is best for them.
For example, if you plan on selling on Amazon exclusively, there are popular Amazon products (and even strange products that shoppers love) that can help you get started. You can start by researching what manufacturers your competitors are using. Also, you can request samples from many suppliers at once through Alibaba or other US-based wholesale directories. The most traditional option is to visit industry trade shows to connect with suppliers in person (more on this later).
Did you know?
Most manufacturers prefer selling to wholesalers because they purchase large volumes of products. So, when first starting out, it may be easier to find a wholesaler to work with before going straight to a manufacturer. You’ll get a slightly higher price, but much more flexible ordering terms. Read our tips on how to find wholesale suppliers for your retail business.
To find a supplier, one of the first steps you can take is to research your competitors. Purchase a few of their products and research what is on the product label. Many of them will have the manufacturing location or other details, which you can use in a Google search. There are also smartphone apps you can download that will scan product barcodes and pull up details on the manufacturer. With your smartphone and these apps, you can gather a lot of manufacturing leads on a trip to the mall, box store, or boutique.
Alibaba has millions of products from thousands of manufacturers. Through Alibaba, you can find suppliers to manufacture products, build private labels, or purchase ready-made products to resell. The site is a top name in product sourcing and makes it easy to search for specific products and filter results by price, minimum order, or top-ranking suppliers. You can even search by image if you have a product you want to replicate. Learn how to import items from China using our ultimate guide.
Remember:
Manufacturing your own products can result in the most profits. The downsides of manufacturing custom products are that it requires a lot of upfront cash and large order quantities, which also means a bigger risk.
In addition to searching Alibaba, there are several other directory sites offering mostly ready-made products. Some directory sites link to outside suppliers, while others have a built-in interface for placing orders.
Popular wholesale sites include:
- Faire: Unique items from smaller apparel, gift, beauty, and home product makers
- The Grommet Wholesale: Unusual gift items from independent makers and manufacturers
- Worldwide Brands: A directory site with thousands of wholesale suppliers
- Wholesale Central: A free directory site with thousands of wholesale suppliers
Attending trade shows is the most efficient way to test a lot of products firsthand and a great way to find suppliers you might not otherwise encounter, especially if you are only searching online. There are some permanent showrooms that you can visit year-round to find suppliers and products. Other shows are temporary and bring in thousands of vendors at once.
We list the best retail trade shows for product sourcing; some of the most popular include:
- AmericasMart Atlanta: Gift and home items
- NY NOW: Gift, lifestyle, handmade, and home items
- Toy Fair: Toy, collectible, and children’s products
- Cosmoprof North America: Skincare and beauty products, including private label
- ASD Market Week: General merchandise, apparel, accessories, and suppliers offering custom and private label
- MAGIC: One of the largest apparel and accessory shows
Private label brands are goods manufactured by one company but then sold under the retailer’s brand name. Private label products help businesses build a strong identity and prevent customers from trying to find your products for lower prices on other online stores. To start a private label brand, design a logo and packaging to place on a standard or slightly customized product from a manufacturer or wholesaler.
Starting a private label brand such as cosmetics and beauty products is a good middle-ground option between manufacturing a custom product and buying traditional wholesale goods. Private label items provide unique branding, SKUs for product listings, and sometimes unique formulas or design elements. Still, the process is much easier than designing and manufacturing a completely new product.
Step 3: Decide How You’ll Fulfill Orders
Order fulfillment is the process of storing products, packing customer orders, and shipping products out. When starting, many small businesses handle this process themselves out of a garage or storage space. However, some companies handle order fulfillment for ecommerce sellers.
Part of efficient order fulfillment is having an effective inventory system. Inventory management is the process of ordering, tracking, and storing your products to meet demand efficiently. It’s a crucial part of any retail or ecommerce business.
Tracking inventory stock effectively helps businesses prevent stockouts (minimize carrying costs and shrinkage), manage multiple locations, and ensure accurate recordkeeping. An inventory solution makes these processes easier than trying to do them all manually.
There are paid inventory solutions and specialized systems such as POS inventory software for those managing a storefront or doing in-person sales. However, there are also free inventory management tools and inventory templates to help you get started.
If you need more help establishing a full process, read our guide to retail inventory management and stock-keeping unit (SKU) vs universal product codes (UPC) numbers, and SKU generation for products.
Processing, picking, and packing customer orders are part of the fulfillment process. There are four different ways to do this: in-house fulfillment, outsourced third-party fulfillment, dropshipping, or a hybrid approach.
In-house Order Fulfillment
In-house order fulfillment is literally in-house—all of your customer orders are processed, picked, packed, and shipped under your roof. Your business handles all phases of the order fulfillment process, including receiving and storing inventory. This type of order fulfillment works best for businesses with full-time store owners or those that process fewer than 10 orders daily (usually startups or young businesses).
If you are fulfilling customer orders yourself, you have full control over choosing retail packaging materials and packing them in custom boxes. We have a guide that features some eye-catching business packaging ideas that can help.
Third-party Order Fulfillment
If you want to outsource order fulfillment, order fulfillment companies and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) will store your products and then pack and send orders as they come in. With this fulfillment method, ecommerce businesses still purchase inventory upfront and send it to the order fulfillment company to store. This method is often ideal for ecommerce businesses that have outgrown their at-home fulfillment space and do not want to start their own warehouse and large-scale fulfillment operation.
Learn more about the costs involved in fulfillment and read our guides on the best order fulfillment companies and leading third-party logistics companies for small businesses.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping companies serve as the product supplier and fulfill customer orders, so ecommerce businesses don’t have to purchase upfront inventory. When working with dropshipping companies, ecommerce sellers are limited in that they can only sell products the dropshipper has available. However, there are fewer upfront costs and a lot less work involved for ecommerce businesses. You can read our guide to starting your own dropshipping business.
Shopify, our top-recommended ecommerce platform, connects with hundreds of dropshippers (such as DSers) through its Shopify App Marketplace. Learn how to open a Shopify dropshipping store.
Hybrid Fulfillment Solution
A hybrid fulfillment approach combines some (or all) of the above order fulfillment methods. This is a popular solution for growing businesses because it offers a lot of flexibility. It is also ideal for brick-and-mortar stores expanding into online sales by allowing shoppers to buy online and pick up purchases in-store.
Want to learn more?
Read our comprehensive guides on dropshipping vs fulfillment companies and in-house vs fulfillment centers to learn about their differences and decide which method is best for your online business.
If you are packing and shipping customer orders in-house, choose a shipping software or service, look for cheap shipping supplies, and shop around for the most efficient shipping rates among FedEx vs UPS vs USPS—the most popular shipping platforms. However, if you plan to ship internationally, there are different ways to do so, such as cross-border international shipping and localized fulfillment.
Check out our guide to ecommerce shipping and handling (with free SOP checklists) and learn how to offer free shipping on your products.
If you go with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Square Online, then you will be delighted to know that they have built-in shipping tools. They have discounted shipping rates, automatically calculate shipping costs for customers at checkout, and make it easy for ecommerce businesses to print shipping labels directly from the order management system.
However, if you built your own site or use a shopping cart plugin that does not have these features, you’ll need to find a third-party solution. For small operations, Stamps.com is a popular option. It syncs with many online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy, plus shopping carts like Magento. Simply import customer orders and print out the shipping labels at home.
Step 4: Choose an Ecommerce Platform
There are several popular ecommerce platforms that many small businesses use to learn how to build an online store. Shopify, BigCommerce, and Square Online are some of the most popular platforms for new businesses and retailers looking to expand online. All of these programs offer templates, varying levels of inventory management tools, reporting, and options for connected payment processing.
These tools also offer native or plug-in solutions for selling and advertising on social media, selling in person, connecting a blog, and selling on third-party marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. They also have different plans for businesses of different sizes and sales volumes.
Best Ecommerce Platforms & Online Store Builders Compared
Ecommerce Platform | Monthly Fee | Best For | Read More |
|---|---|---|---|
 | $39 |
| |
 | $29.95+ |
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 | $0+ |
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 | $0+ |
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 | $16+ ($23+ for online store) |
| |
Based on our evaluation of the best ecommerce platforms, the choice of an ecommerce solution for most small businesses usually comes down to BigCommerce vs Shopify. Shopify is our top-recommended ecommerce platform for small businesses, whereas BigCommerce is better suited for larger-revenue businesses, especially those that have complex inventories or want to save on processing fees.
When to use a WordPress site:
If your business is not a dedicated ecommerce site and rather a blog, coaching, or publishing site that also sells merchandise, you may want to create a WordPress site and add a WooCommerce or other WordPress shopping cart plugin. Businesses can turn any existing WordPress site into an ecommerce store by using these plugins, so it is a good option for those looking to sell merchandise or expand into retail sales.
Step 5. Build Your Ecommerce Website
After choosing a platform, build your online store’s website by selecting a theme, customizing your site, putting security measures in place, and getting any necessary add-ons. Use your brand design and custom products or packaging as a guide to choosing fonts, a color scheme, and an overall look.
Follow ecommerce website design best practices, including:
- Prioritize navigation features: Easy navigation is critical for a positive user experience, so make sure your site has great header, search, and related product navigation features. Don’t forget to add a sitemap to make your website easy for search engines to navigate.
- Display customer reviews: Have a way of collecting and displaying reviews and other user-generated content on your website from the get-go. This type of content helps build confidence and trust among potential customers.
- Make it easy for customers to contact you: Include a chat option like Facebook Messenger and a phone number with clear support hours. Add an FAQ section with store policies and common questions.
Shopify’s latest free theme, Dawn, is a mobile-first template and 35% faster than Shopify’s previous store builder’s theme. (Source: Shopify)
Should you build a custom store?
Larger businesses with developers may benefit from a custom store. However, most small businesses that don’t have a developer and want to manage the website themselves would have the flexibility to do so with a templated design from one of our recommended ecommerce platforms. Remember, even if you start with a template or theme, you can still customize your online store to suit your needs and your brand.
No matter what ecommerce platform you choose, all of them have many options for free and paid templates or themes, usually with multiple variations available. There are also many free and paid WordPress ecommerce themes available for different shopping cart plugins.
When choosing a theme for your online store, remember to
- Invest in quality: Don’t shy away from paid themes; spring for the one you think is best. It’s not impossible to change themes later, but it is easier to pick the right one from the start.
- Opt for a mobile-responsive or mobile-first theme: Mobile browsing makes up a large portion of online shopping, so make sure your theme is optimized for mobile.
- Evaluate product pages: Quality product pages help increase conversions. Choose themes with options for lots of high-quality photos and/or images, multiple types of product descriptions, and other dynamic content.
Store customization will depend on your chosen platform, but most ecommerce platforms have drag-and-drop builders that allow you to easily customize your online store.
When we reviewed some ecommerce platforms, we replicated the same store across each site builder for an apples-to-apples comparison. This is our demo store built on Ecwid’s Instant Site Builder.
To learn more about building your store’s website using different ecommerce platforms, select a guide below:
Step 6: Set Up Your Product Listings
When your online store infrastructure is in place, it’s time to add the actual products. There are multiple layers to this process. First, you’ll need to enter all the inventory data for each item—like wholesale price, retail markup, vendor information, SKUs and barcode information, categories, colors, sizes, quantities, and other data points relevant to your specific merchandise.
If you already have a list of inventory, you can upload this information in bulk via a CSV or Excel file. You can also use our free inventory templates to help you get started. Otherwise, you can manually enter each product.
On Shopify, sellers can add specific details to each product page and listing.
Create Descriptive Product Pages
After you enter the data, the next step is to create a detailed individual product page for each item. For ecommerce websites, product pages are arguably the most important element of the site. Shoppers can land on a product page after browsing your store, from a Google search, or via a targeted advertisement.
A product page should have:
- Clear pricing information: Pricing should be displayed prominently and clearly indicate whether or not the price displayed is before or after any promotions.
- Easy “Add to Cart” buttons: Add a large “Add to Cart” button next to product images and below pricing information; the goal is to get shoppers to buy, so make sure the button is a color that stands out.
- High-quality photos: Product photos can make or break sales. Use high-quality images that show products from all angles, in all variants, and in action where situationally relevant.
- Customer reviews or social proof: When buying online, shoppers can’t see or feel the product for themselves, so they rely on customer reviews to assess product quality. Incorporate user reviews in product pages and/or photos and testimonials from social media—most ecommerce platforms have these features built-in or available through a plugin.
- Detailed product descriptions: Product descriptions should be concise and include precise product information like size and material, but should not be salesy.
- Related products: At the bottom, display similar products or items people who bought the item also purchased—some ecommerce platforms have this built-in, while others have this feature available through plugins.
- Proactively addressed customer concerns: Indicate whether or not shipping is free or calculated at checkout, or if there is a minimum order for free shipping.
Write Well-crafted Product Descriptions
Product descriptions should be uniform across the site, following the same template and tone throughout. In general, there should be three elements to a product description: a short intro, bullet points outlining high-level features, and a longer description at the bottom for shoppers who want greater detail.
Download our free guide as an easy-to-follow work sheet with a product description template and helpful examples.
Thank you for downloading!
Upload High-quality Product Photos
Product photos are one of the most important elements of an online store. High-quality images can showcase the details and quality of an item, while low-quality or grainy photos leave shoppers with more questions than answers.
Some wholesale suppliers will provide high-quality photos of their products, which will save you a lot of time and money. Ask your suppliers if this is something they provide. If not, you can either take the photos yourself or hire a professional.
When taking the photos yourself, use a plain white background in a well-lit area. You can do product photography on a budget with a smartphone camera and natural light. Though, if you are not a professional or experienced photographer, for the best (and fastest) results, there are services that specialize in ecommerce photography.
Square Photo Studio offers very affordable product photography with a fast turnaround time. Square takes photos of the products, and then you can choose either three photos with different angles for $9.95 or a 360-degree photo for $29.95. Square will send you the images within 14 days.
Square Photo Studio delivers product photos with a white background and apparel displayed on a ghost mannequin. (Source: Square)
In addition to standalone product shots and 360-degree photos, consider photos of the product in use. This is especially important for apparel, accessories, and makeup. Shoppers will want an idea of what the product will look like when worn. For decor and house items, consider lifestyle photos of the products so that customers can picture the items in their homes.
Step 7: Integrate Payment Processing
Integrating payment processing is a mundane yet critical element of building an ecommerce website. As an online retailer, you’ll need to choose a Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant payment processor. Many ecommerce platforms have built-in payment processors or a few select payment partners that are compatible. Any built-in payment processors will be PCI-compliant, e.g., Square, Shopify Payments, Stripe, and PayPal.
Learn how to accept credit card payments online. Square, Stripe, and PayPal are three of the most popular online payment options. To find out which is right for you, read our Square vs Stripe vs PayPal comparison.
For most small businesses, opting for a built-in payment processor is the easiest option. Payment processing rates across ecommerce platforms are usually competitive. For example, Shopify has its built-in payment processor called Shopify Payments, while Square Online works with Square Payments.
However, once you start to grow larger (processing more than $15,000 per month), it may be worthwhile to actively shop for a payment processor that can offer lower rates or negotiate a lower rate with your existing processor as you could qualify for volume discounts. BigCommerce is a popular choice for large-volume sales-based businesses because it doesn’t charge transaction fees when you go with a different provider.
Credit card processing fees are a necessary cost of doing business. Learning about credit card processing and transaction fees will help you find the cheapest credit card processing companies that will work well for your business.
As an online seller, it’s critical to have an option for shoppers to enter their credit or debit card information. However, having more user-friendly options like one-click and e-wallet payments, PayPal, and installment options (buy now, pay later) are important for increasing conversions and sales. Most major ecommerce platforms have a direct integration for accepting PayPal payments, and many also accept Apple and Google e-wallet payments.
For example, Shopify provides stores a feature called Shop Pay (formerly Shopify Pay), a customer-facing checkout that saves a buyer’s details. This allows shoppers to purchase items quickly just by clicking the Buy Now button. It’s exclusive to Shopify stores, but it works across every Shopify store that uses Shop Pay. So, if a customer already made a purchase from a Shopify store, it means all their information is already loaded; thus, when they buy something from your store, they can check out with a click.
Installments are typically offered by a third-party processor that pays the retailer up front but collects monthly payments from customers, so shoppers are only paying a fraction of the total cost upfront. Many of these services don’t charge customers interest or require hard credit checks. These payment options are appealing to shoppers who don’t use traditional credit cards. Popular providers include AfterPay, Klarna, Splitit, and PayPal Credit.
Learn more in our guide on how to offer buy now, pay later.
One of the biggest reasons for cart abandonment is a complicated checkout process—shoppers said that when it is too hard to navigate, lacks security seals, or asks for too much information, they abandon their carts.
So, simplify your checkout process by asking for essential information, offering a guest or express checkout (or a one-click option, if available), extending a variety of payment methods, displaying areas for applying gift cards and discounts, and providing a clear link to your policies on shipping and returns.
A perfect example of a streamlined checkout page is Package Free’s that uses a Shopify store.
The image above is an excellent example of a distraction-free checkout page. It offers an express checkout option right from the start, different payment options, and a security seal of trusted payment channels. It only asks for basic information—a name and shipping address— and is transparent with taxes and shipping fees. All of these can be done with very minimal clicks.
Payment security is still a big concern for most online shoppers, with 59.5% of online shoppers still wary of using mobile apps to make purchases. Read our guide to learn how to implement ecommerce payment security.
Don’t Forget to Configure Sales Tax
Sales tax works differently for online businesses, as you’re operating in multiple states. Luckily, most ecommerce platforms, including Shopify and BigCommerce, automatically calculate sales tax at checkout.
See our guide to ecommerce sales tax for more information.
Step 8: Launch & Market Your Online Store
After setting up the product pages, your site is ready to launch. Once your online store is live, it will require a multipronged marketing approach with search engine optimization (SEO), listings on additional sales channels, and email marketing to bring in a steady flow of shoppers. Some ecommerce businesses also use in-person sales at pop-ups and events to grow their businesses.
Online stores need at least a basic SEO strategy to make sure that product pages appear in search results. To do this, ecommerce sellers need to target a keyword with each individual product page (such as “striped polyester T-shirt”). Ecommerce websites should also make sure to add product titles and descriptions that will appear in search engine results and alt text for images.
The ability to set up and implement SEO from the back end is one of BigCommerce’s strongest features.
Online store builders like Shopify and BigCommerce have built-in tools to set SEO up easily. In addition to optimizing individual pages, ecommerce sites should have a logical and user-friendly structure so that shoppers can easily navigate through them. For example, all BigCommerce websites include SEO features, such as an automated image optimizer, on-page SEO capabilities, sitemap generation, and site speed enhancers.
Many successful ecommerce businesses grow by selling their products in more than one place. Even with a standalone store, many online businesses also sell on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Etsy. These platforms likely won’t drive traffic to your main store, but they are a good way to bring in revenue and can help strengthen your brand credibility and recognition.
Read our step-by-step guides on the following:
For example, BigCommerce has a built-in integration to sell on Amazon, so your inventory and customer order information are synced and centralized in one place. This means you won’t have to check several platforms for customer orders or manually update available products across multiple sites.
For new online brands, advertising and selling on Instagram and Facebook are popular ways of gaining recognition. Both social platforms let businesses create advertisements that directly link to product pages or have options to buy without even leaving the social site. Plus, businesses can create ads targeting customers in a specific area, with particular interests, or of a certain age group.
Recently, TikTok opened its doors to online stores by providing built-in integrations with most ecommerce platforms.
If you are interested to explore selling on social media, read our guides below:
Email promotions are one of the best tools an online store has for driving repeat sales and connecting with customers. Ask customers to provide their email addresses with orders, but also have a sign-up option for people who visit your site but do not make a purchase. Most ecommerce platforms have either built-in tools for email marketing or integrations with email marketing solutions like Mailchimp.
Tip:
Learn how to leverage retail analytics to boost store sales. Our guide provides a wealth of information that can help with your marketing strategy.
Starting an Online Retail Business Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Square Online has a forever-free option that allows you to build a multipage online store. Once you gain traction, you can upgrade your plan for more advanced features. However, expect to put in a lot of work and time before your store becomes significantly profitable.
While there are no guarantees you’ll make any money, you may make a profit with the right resources. Whether you’re covering the costs of your monthly hosting or making a full-time income, any of it is possible given the time, talent, and resources. Your income depends on your niche, audience, and expenses. Try our price markup calculator to learn how to price your products and estimate profit.
You first need to decide on a business concept. Once that’s ironed out, you can decide where to source your products and how you will fulfill orders. Choosing an e-commerce platform and then building your online store comes next, together with making sure you can process online payments by choosing a payment gateway.
Finally, you’ll need to develop strong product pages and a marketing plan.
Our top pick for the best ecommerce platforms is Shopify. It is an easy-to-use platform that gives you all the essential features you need when starting an online retail business. You can build a full website, use its built-in payment provider (no need to apply on another platform), sell products online (and on social channels like Facebook), and have marketing tools at your disposal—all within the Shopify dashboard.
Whether you’re starting a brick-and-mortar store or an online store, most states will require a business license. This is so that you can collect taxes from your customers and the Internal Revenue Service can track tax revenue. Your state’s department of revenue should have the info you need.
There are many ways to grow your online store. If you’re creative and persistent, you can attract a following with blogging, social marketing, email, video, and offline engagement—and spend very little money doing it.
- Blogging: Gain fans by showcasing your expertise in your niche. Learn how to start a blog.
- Pinterest: You can create shoppable pins and even share blog posts on Pinterest.
- Email marketing: Market to an email list by collecting emails.
- Video marketing: Create videos to help your potential customers see your product in action.
- Coupon promotions: Send coupons through email marketing or social media ads.
- Free shipping offers: Offer free shipping to help increase sales.
- Influencer marketing: Hire an influencer in exchange for compensation, whether product or cash, to help drive sales.
- Paid social media ads: If you have the budget, you can focus efforts on paid marketing like Facebook ads and Google Ads. These let you drive targeted traffic to your site or certain products. When you make a sale, be sure to use other tactics, like promotional inserts in shipments, to keep customers coming back.
Starting an online store looks a little bit different for everyone depending on the type of business you have and whether you’re taking a brick-and-mortar business online or building a new company from scratch. Here are some of the most common questions around starting an online store.
Bottom Line
Statistics show that 54% of consumers prefer online shopping, and 73% of ecommerce sales are expected to come from mobile. It is clear that ecommerce is here to stay, and having an online store should be part of a retail business’ growth plan.
Thanks to plug-and-play software like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Square Online, learning how to start an online store is easy. Most people can even set up a basic store in under a day. However, building a successful and profitable ecommerce operation requires much more than simply building an ecommerce site. You’ll need a business plan, carefully selected or manufactured products, a marketing strategy, and an organized order fulfillment operation.
Shopify is one of the biggest names in ecommerce software because it makes it easy for individuals or businesses of any size to start an online store. Preset templates and built-in inventory and order management features make it simple to get an ecommerce business up and running in no time.
What’s more, Shopify’s app marketplace offers dropshipping companies and marketing tools and features to build product pages. With several plans, individuals can start a small online store and grow it to an ecommerce enterprise. Try Shopify’s free 14-day trial.
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- Explore our ultimate guide to starting a business
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