How To Start An Ecommerce Business From Scratch

Don't get pulled into the idea that you have to launch with everything. Having a small range, or even one item, can be a great way to get started and help you learn as you go along. That's the beauty of e-commerce, there is no shop floor to fill, so don't be afraid to keep it highly edited.



For an in-depth look at how to effectively identify influencers, use paid shoutouts, and more, check out our deep dive guide into Instagram marketing. Be certain that all of your customer support mechanisms are in place. Nothing can more quickly derail a launch, and betray your audience’s trust, than poor support from the very start.

Shopping online used to be a convenience and a luxury, now – it’s a necessity. The ecommerce businesses that I work with can’t keep enough products stocked. Ecommerce has been growing for a while, and the numbers below don’t account for the recent events leading to an increase in ecommerce sales.

Or, you could sell the product, collect the money, and have the product dropshipped by the manufacturer or a third-party service. With that in mind, you will find plenty of opportunities to delve into online sales. And low barriers to entry have made starting an e-commerce business an appealing prospect for aspiring entrepreneurs.

If you run a solo operation, build a small website for free on an option like WordPress, and either provide services or use drop-shipping for products, your costs may be extremely low. However, if you build a ground-up site, pay vendors for services like marketing and payment processing, and hire any employees, your startup costs can increase rapidly. Providing goods and services isn't as easy as it may seem. It requires a lot of research about the products and services you wish to sell, the market, audience, competition, as well as expected business costs.

It’s trash, not because it’s wrong, but because it doesn’t tell you exactly what to do and why you are doing it. This guide is our effort to condense those lessons into one easily navigable, step-by-step workbook, for anyone to fire up, at any time. Every single other cost in the business has to be paid for by the profit generated from each sale, so maintaining that at a reasonable level has got to be a priority. Don't forget to include all the costs that are involved, from the cost of the item itself, to the cost of packaging and even the cost of getting the items shipped to you. If you are making the item yourself, don't forget to cost in your time. Make sure that your packaging is sturdy and fit for purpose - nothing puts customers off quicker than a damaged item.

That’s why you should choose best eCommerce platform for your business. Darren has an MBA in Internet Marketing and 10+ years of experience marketing retail, manufacturing and Internet marketing corporations, 7-figure brands and startups online. Make sure your ecommerce platform can scale with you and integrate with popular ecommerce marketplaces to increase your exposure.

Tons of preparation goes into starting an ecommerce business. Pouring work in before you ever actually launch can feel frustrating. Customers prefer the convenience and selection provided by online shopping, and the pandemic has pushed even more people to shop online. According to data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly five years. E-commerce grew over 27% in 2020 and is expected to grow by about 14% in 2021, according to data from eMarketer. Up to 50% of online stores never receive a single sale.

The best way to identify your competition, if you don’t know them already, is to go back to keyword research . Competition validates the market and ensures that there’s money to be made in the niche. The key to all this is understanding your customers, their needs ecommerce business fun and desires.

You don’t need to be (and probably don’t want to be) a one-person-show forever, since the whole point of starting an ecommerce store is to build your own life and do what you want to do. Another perk of email is that it lets you have a different kind of conversation with potential customers. People signed up to your email list form up a dedicated audience that gets your brand more than the average social media follower.