If you’re looking to set up and run an online shop, there are a few key things you need to know. From the technical side of things, to getting your store online and dealing with infrastructure issues, you need to understand all the facets of running an online shop to ensure success. So whether you’re just starting out, or have been running your online shop for a while but could use some extra tips, here’s some helpful advice.
There are more than nine million online retail businesses in the world, and almost a third of them are in the United States. These figures have been accelerating since the Covid-19 pandemic too, as the online world becomes more important and engrained in daily life. This means online retail and e-commerce is a smart place to set up a business. But what is the reality of setting up and running an online shop?
Here are some crucial things you need to know, with a focus on the digital and technical infrastructure you need to have in place.
A Website
The most obvious first step towards running an online shop is setting up a website. This is your shopfront and will be the first port of call for customers. It needs to be well designed, functional and easy to use. If you’re not a web designer or developer, you’ll need to hire someone who is. You’ll also need to get to grips with a content management system (CMS) to upload and manage all the content on your website. Many people opt for an established and easy-to-use CMS such as WordPress, working with a WordPress development expert to get their website created and up and running.
Online Shop Functionality
While the website is the wider home for your online store and brand, you will also need to integrate functionality that specifically handles the shop itself. This functionality is provided by an eCommerce platform. A good eCommerce platform will offer a range of features and plugins to help you manage your store, from product listings and inventory management, to payments and shipping. It’s important to choose a platform that integrates well with your website and is easy for you or your team to use.
Some of the most popular eCommerce platforms used by online stores include Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. All of these have been designed to integrate well with WordPress websites.
Shopify is a comprehensive eCommerce platform that takes care of all the technical aspects of setting up and running your online shop. WooCommerce is a popular plugin for WordPress that turns your website into an online store. Magento is another comprehensive eCommerce platform, with a focus on larger businesses.
A Payment Mechanism
This is the most important aspect of your online shop if you want to get paid and balance the books effectively. You need to ensure you have a secure and reliable payment gateway set up.
There are many options available when it comes to setting up payments for your online store. The most popular method is to use a third-party provider such as PayPal or Stripe. These companies offer secure payment gateways that can be easily integrated into your website.
You will need to decide which currency you want to accept payments in, and what payment methods you want to offer customers. The most popular payment methods are credit and debit cards, but you may also want to offer alternatives such as bank transfer or even cryptocurrency.
Another important aspect of payments is fraud prevention. You need to make sure you have systems in place to prevent fraudulent orders and protect your customers’ data.
A Shipping Solution
The final piece of the puzzle in terms of the customer purchase journey is shipping. You need to ensure you have a reliable and cost-effective shipping solution set up, to get your products to customers quickly and securely.
There are many different shipping options available, from using a third-party service such as DHL or UPS, to setting up your own in-house shipping solution. The best option for you will depend on the size and scale of your business, as well as your budget.
It is important to decide where you will ship to, and whether you will offer international shipping. Make sure you look into the prices of shipping to certain parts of the world, and set your prices based on actual quotes you get from a shipping provider. Crucially, you should check these prices regularly and adjust your shipping prices as necessary. The cost of shipping can fluctuate according to demand and global factors, and you don’t want to be stung with exorbitant shipping prices that you can’t change once a customer has made a purchase.
Getting Your Store Online
Once you have your website set up and your shopfront ready to go, you’ll need to ensure you have a good and reliable hosting package and a customer service process in place. When your online shop is launched, you’ll need to start promoting your web shop and getting visitors onto your site.
There are a number of ways to do this, from paid advertising such as Google AdWords, to social media marketing and email marketing. The best approach for you will depend on your budget, as well as the products and services you are selling.
Making sure your website is optimized for search engines is also crucial in terms of getting visitors to your site. This means ensuring your website is designed and structured in a way that makes it easy for search engines to find and index your content.
And finally, it is also important to create high-quality, keyword-rich content that will help your website rank higher in search engine results pages.