Launching a website is easy, but making it work right from the word go is a complicated task. Open source frameworks like Magento, Opencart or Big Commerce provide a platform that doesn't need technical expertise to develop and launch a webpage, but they don't inherently have the capacity to market according to your expectations. In the process of creating a brand for themselves, many new ecommerce entrepreneurs try to take giant leaps in launching their website and miss some of the crucial elements during the process.
1. Prepare yourself well
Every business starts with an idea and as such ecommerce owners have several of them to make their website unique and customer friendly. If you too are planning upon a business website, list down all the integral elements that define your idea of a perfect platform. This would include SEO friendly content, user friendly interface, mobile browsing responsiveness, shipping gateway integration, accounting software implementation, blogs and flexibility for customization among others. Plan how to go for maximum automation so as not to invite bad credits with programming errors. Also make sure that you understand the cost behind each of these integrations. This should give you a budget to work upon.
2. Development, design and hosting
In case you aren't that confident with the traffic that you would earn initially, it would be a better option to go for a development/design package that also includes hosting. Once you have started selling successfully and are looking for an increased product demand, you can always upgrade the design elements and go for a more capable hosting.
3. Free trials can help
Several shopping carts come with a range of packages - ranging from free to 30-day trials to highly expensive deals. It is a great idea to start off with the free trial but make sure you also have your logos, main page design/theme, customer fields and product categories ready to be uploaded. Initially, you may ask your close friends, colleagues and even family members to try the platform and give you a firsthand feedback.
4. Research what sells more and brings in the crowd
Every category or product line includes some products which are more popular than their competitors. Research the already existing platforms like eBay and factors which are helping them to rank better. The reason being, new ecommerce owners don't have enough resources to maintain a huge inventory or attend to a high traffic. Make sure you have the simplest products so that it is easy for the customers to understand.
5. Monitoring the order amount
It's a common human psychology not to trust the strangers or any service which they know little about. Initially, you would only be selling out the products in the lower price ranges. As such keep your inventory small and make sure you have the best chances of getting everything in the inventory sold out. If you are investing too much in expensive products, you have a high risk of making huge losses.
6. Security
Security is one of the most important aspects of a successful online store. Security brings in credibility and attracts more numbers of customers and brand value. Keep your backend strict and provide a healthy experience to the visitors.
Quality of customer service offered by an ecommerce store matters a lot. It is only by a personal touch that you can reach out to millions out there.
Hilary
