Thanks to the numerous emerging platforms allowing anyone to engage in e-commerce, the dream of owning a business is more achievable than ever. The flexibility to determine your own hours, work from home and be your own boss is appealing to many. Once you’ve settled on a gap in the market for a product or service you have the skills to provide, it’s only a matter of setting up an optimised store to share what your company offers, and reach the right target audience.
If you decide this career path is right for you, but don’t know exactly what practical steps to take to get there, continue reading. We have several insights to help you start up and get operating.
Discover our tips and tricks for running an online store from home below.
Landing Page Layout
Your virtual storefront is your business’s digital headquarters. Design a homepage that reflects your brand identity and is visually appealing. Sure, this is an entirely subjective classification, but we recommend keeping things simple to facilitate easy navigation throughout the various parts of your site. Use leading storefronts that resonate with your style preferences as a guide when building your online assets.
User-friendly design principles include intuitive menus with clear category labelling. Confusing icons and workflows frustrate shoppers and can cause them to leave your online store, to browse at a competitor site. Make it easy for everyone to find your best products and learn more about your value propositions. Remember that a new user onto your site is much less familiar with your store and your company than you are, so try to picture their experience first.
If developing a store from scratch isn’t your forte, customisable themes are available for set templates, with most of the design work done for you. Personalise the configuration with your specific branding and content, including the images and sales copy.
Do Diligent Research
When selecting your business’ underlying foundation, you have many options; some are intended for enterprise-level sophistication, while others resonate with sole proprietorships managed from living rooms worldwide.
Factors to consider include pricing, transaction fees, scalability, and integration capabilities with your other preferred tools, such as banking and billing platforms. Begin the process by reviewing what other proprietors like yourself have to say about each commerce service provider.
Use ample time to define your specific goals and requirements for the long-term success of your business. Think about your target audience, the size and type of your catalogue, and your budget constraints. It’s wise to start small to avoid being overwhelmed at launch time.
Look for a platform with the flexibility and scaling options to accommodate future expansion when the time is right. Ideally, you’d like to avoid packing up and moving to a completely different service provider amid (hopefully) exponential growth. Instead, choose a site that allows you to build an online store which can quickly evolve with you.
Item Specifications
Use skilful photography to showcase your products in their best possible appearance. Include multiple high-resolution photos taken from different angles, providing a comprehensive view of each item. Use your platform’s zoom and gallery functions to allow users to inspect each nuance up close.
Adjacent to the photography, include compelling and descriptive copy for each product. Highlight the key features, benefits, options, and use cases while evoking emotions and a sense of desire in consumers’ minds. Remember to improve your search engine visibility by including appropriate keywords and phrases related to the item.
Inventory Considerations
Selling products online involves storing, managing, and shipment of your stock. Before launch, it’s imperative to decide where this activity takes place. Depending on the nature of your offerings, there are several options.
Dedicated space within your home is a viable starting point for homemade, small, quickly wrapped, and handled items. You could utilise a spare room, closet, basement, or garage. For sanity’s sake, you’ll need to implement a system using racks, bins, or shelf units to organise the items and maximise space efficiency as new inventory comes in. Get these processes underway as soon as possible to avoid quickly becoming underwhelmed.
Create a working area separate from your living and storage spaces for packing and shipping activities. Remember that you’ll also need room to store shipping boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, a printer with plenty of replacement ink cartridges, and address labels for transport companies.
Devise a tracking method for your inventory suited to your company’s size and complexity. As you get started, an inexpensive option would be to use spreadsheets and a robust smartphone barcode-scanning app.
Think Logistically
Once you begin to grow, a streamlined order fulfilment procedure is crucial to reduce your workload and avoid problems that negatively affect customer satisfaction.
Some options include standardising your shipping process according to product sizes, delivery service levels, and coverage areas. Consider leasing a facility to spread out your inventory and related activities as demand rises, reducing stress and clutter within your home living space.
Instil confidence and goodwill among your customers by ensuring your commerce website clearly lists and explains the terms for product repairs, exchanges, and returns or refunds. Reduce headaches by furnishing easy-to-follow instructions and pre-printed shipping labels for customers.
Stay Grounded
Finally, remember that it’s easy to become overwhelmed when starting a new venture because there are many tedious details to address. Reduce anxiety by pursuing assistance from those close to you. Seek out local entrepreneurs for networking and bonding activities. They’ve likely begun their journeys in similar ways to you, and undoubtedly will have valuable advice and guidance to get you through the tough times.
Running an online store from home will always have an element of trial and error, as you feel things out and adjust to the inevitably unpredictable growth and challenges of starting your own business. By following these tips, you should feel more confident about setting up on a solid foundation.