It may seem difficult for those who have always worked in offline commerce to start an online sales operation. After all, the dynamics adopted for each business model is different and this may seem a little scary for those who are thinking of taking their business to digital.
However, taking some care and following a well-designed plan, taking your business from Off to On can be a smooth transition that will yield revenue growth and success to your company.
If you have already decided for the digital transformation of your business, but are still in doubt how to start, here are some important steps to begin your online operation in record time.
Business Plan
Like any good business, establishing guidelines to follow is extremely important to get your online operation off the ground.
You need to define your online goals and how your business will function in this new sales channel or how your inventory will be managed. Thinking about how your sales process will sustain itself and the risks your business will take will give you an idea of how you can deal with eventualities and have a plan of action for each of them.
In this phase, besides organizing your ideas, it is important to conduct competitor research, understand how the market you operate in online, and then outline your sales and advertising strategies.
Remember, planning is fundamental to guarantee good results for your business.
Online strategies
An important basis for your online business to be successful is to know how to make your brand and what it offers reach the right people through the right channel. It is a little different from the offline market since in an online strategy you do not work with geographical barriers, but with different profiles and tastes.
It is necessary that you understand where your audience is, whether you find potential customers on social networks, on google sales tools or through search engines.
Understanding where your customer is is essential for your business to be effective and reach the right people.
Implementation
Now that you have planned your online operation and sales strategies, it is time to start thinking about the technical part, which is how your business will be online and start selling. This is an important part and the one that generates most doubt when you are starting in online commerce, after all choosing the best platform, knowing the best conversion practices or even the choice of design, can be issues that will influence (and a lot) in the success of your operation.
How to choose an E-commerce platform?
Before you go to Google and search for "e-commerce platform" and see a multitude of platforms available in the market, I suggest you start with a more specific research that will direct you to the platform that best fits your needs. Start by researching your competitors, visiting their stores and identifying which platform each one uses (you can get this information in the footer of the competitors' stores).
Once this is done, visit the platforms' websites and do some research on the internet looking for customer reviews, the most common complaints, and make a list of the platform's pros and cons.
In addition to research, it is necessary to keep in mind the needs of your business and the investment you can make. In the market there are platforms that offer great features but may not be useful or cheap for those who are starting in the online market and others that are excellent to start your e-commerce for the cost benefit.
Know the e-commerce best practices
Mistakes are common in online stores, especially for those who are just starting out, so knowing the best practices of e-commerce is essential for your initial investment and the digital transformation of your business not to be frustrated. Some points to pay attention to are:
- Use high quality images: Images will be the first contact the customer will have with the product. Providing high quality images not only makes your store more professional but also shows important details of the product and directly influences the purchase intention of your customer.
- Focus on the user experience: Make the purchase easy, facilitate the search for products within your site, offer advantageous payment methods, and don't forget to guarantee your customer's security.
- Create an optimized logistics process: Take into account your store's inventory, delivery times, tracking, and reverse logistics to create a satisfactory process. Logistics is a key factor for your customer to make a purchase and choose your brand for future transactions.
- Take design into consideration: Your website is where your customer's first contact with your company occurs. It is therefore important to make a good impression. When a customer walks into a store and is confronted with a cluttered and confusing layout, he or she will probably not feel comfortable making purchases.
Creating a site that demonstrates your entire visual identity, that allows your customer to navigate easily, to find the products of interest in a few customers is just as important as tidying up your physical store before opening every day.
How to open your store in record time?
If you are in a hurry and want to open your online business in a short time, there are ways to shorten the implementation time of the technical part for example.
By purchasing a custom template, you can ensure that your store follows the best practices of e-commerce, offering a correct purchase journey and still have the ideal structure to the segment that your brand operates.
Another positive point of acquiring a ready-made template is the reduced implementation time and the attractive cost-benefit for beginners.
In just 5 days it is possible to have a complete store and start your online operation in record time.
I hope this article will help you transform your business into a digital one. And if you are interested in purchasing templates, click here and contact our team.
