Selling online removes barriers such as parking, traffic and weather that keep brick-and-mortar shoppers away. This opens the door for a wider client base, including fans of your products that live miles — or even continents — away.

Getting an idea of what consumers want before you start your online store can make or break your success. Gathering insights from friends and family, or a survey tool, can help you refine your product.

Identify Your Niche

Identifying your niche market is an essential part of building a successful online store. By doing so, you ensure that your customers will always buy from your store rather than competitors. This will lead to a loyal customer base and increased profits in the long run.

It’s important to research your target audience to understand their pain points. This can be done by browsing public forums, Reddit, or specific Facebook groups to see what problems people in your niche experience and how your unique product can help solve them.

You should also consider how your business will process orders. This can be through in-house production, outsourcing, dropshipping, or a hybrid model. For starters, it’s recommended to select a niche product that has a short sales cycle to get your business up and running quickly. This will reduce the risk of failing to make money from your business in the first few months. If you’re unsure about how to evaluate your niche or product, try this niche product evaluator tool.

Decide on a Platform

Ecommerce is an exciting industry to enter. The opportunity to sell products and services without the need for fancy face-to-face sales pitches, rent out a physical storefront, and make money while you sleep is an attractive proposition.

However, building a successful online store requires much more than just uploading in-demand products to your website. You need to create an experience that will connect with shoppers, communicate your brand message, and build a foundation for future growth.

The ecommerce platform you choose will play an essential role in all of these areas. Here are some things to look for in a great platform:

SEO capabilities – The vast majority of online experiences start with search engines, so your site needs to be optimized for search. The best ecommerce platforms will offer SEO features like custom meta descriptions, product titles, internal links, Google site maps, and more.

Multi-channel selling – The ability to sell on marketplaces, social media, and other channels will help you reach more customers and increase your revenue. The best ecommerce platforms will support this by offering integrations with these environments and allowing you to easily manage your inventory across all these channels.

Create a Website

Once you’ve identified your niche product and market, it’s time to get started with your online store. Luckily, there are easy-to-use solutions for setting up an ecommerce site that don’t require hiring an expensive developer.

It’s also important to scope out the competition and understand how your potential customers shop online. This can help you craft a unique selling proposition that resonates with your audience and encourages them to whip out their credit cards.

Finally, make sure that your ecommerce website offers multiple online payment methods. This can make or break a customer’s decision to purchase from you. Plus, it’s crucial to have reliable and secure hosting to ensure that your site doesn’t crash under the weight of a sudden traffic influx. This is another area that many new online sellers neglect until it’s too late. A good domain name registrar will give you a wide variety of options to choose from. Choose one that matches your business and brand name for maximum visibility.

Market Your Store

Now that you’ve figured out what your niche is, it’s time to start marketing your online store. The first step in this process is to determine who your ideal customers are and how to reach them. This can be done through market research like examining what your competitors are doing and looking at how their online stores function (what features do they have, how do they organize their products).

Creating an ad campaign on Google AdWords or social media platforms can help to put your products in front of the right people. Email marketing can also be a great way to keep customers engaged. By tying your email marketing platform with your point-of-sale and customer loyalty programs, you can send targeted campaigns based on customers’ shopping history.

Finally, don’t forget about your in-person sales channels. If you have a strong name recognition in your community, you can use this to drive traffic to your website. You can do this by offering flyers at your physical store that include promotion codes to be used at the website or in-person.