New business owners and entrepreneurs have never had it so good!
Starting a new online business is easier than ever, thanks to great e commerce packages and platforms available now.
The secret to success is to choose the right level of e commerce platform for your needs. This will be covered for you here, but before that how do you decide what to sell?
Identify Products and Suppliers To Sell With E Commerce
One of the first important decisions is choosing what products to sell. Not just what products to sell, but what products to sell profitably.
It’s worthwhile doing a Google search for your planned product keywords to see likely competitors and find out their pricing. Also worth checking selling prices on EBay and Amazon for competitor products.
Identifying a product to sell goes hand in hand with identifying a suitable, reliable supplier. One that can provide bona fidi, quality products that don’t break any copyright patents anywhere.
Best to have a supplier in UK or one overseas? Good question as it may look cheaper to buy overseas, but import taxes need taken into account, which may make it more expensive to import goods, so do you research beforehand.
Also, it is worth remembering that reputable overseas suppliers will probably be happy to supply a product sample usually free initially, then expect you to purchase in bulk rather than in volumes of one or two’s.
Best to consult the Gold supplier list on the Alibaba website or a similar quality supplier directory website for reputable suppliers. Read up on the supplier reviews and make contact on Skype is always recommended before parting with payments upfront. Alibaba’s highest and most premium level of membership helps find a reliable, trusted supplier overseas.
There are some very good suppliers out there and the joy of e commerce is to find them and build a relationship that will get you good service and discounts.
Which E Commerce Platform?
Ready now for choosing an e commerce platform and a local partner developer to get you ready to sell as quickly as possible with a professional looking e commerce store that you can upload your product images, descriptions, buy now buttons ready to take orders.
You know what you want to sell, but how do you create an ecommerce site that’s both affordable and effective?
A tried and trusted e commerce platform I really like is Shopify.
With a custom Shopify theme design and set-up you’ll be launched and on your way to success very quickly.
Why I Use Shopify For E Commerce
Quick, simple, cost effective. I’ve been working with Shopify ever since I discovered their awesome design and ease of use. I’m impressed that they are constantly growing and adding new features to the platform, while maintaining what I consider the most user friendly shopping cart system available.
Ease of use is key to my clients, as most would prefer to spend their time selling rather than figuring out a complicated cart system. This shopping cart is easy enough for anyone to use and its simplicity makes it convenient to update things if needed.
Ready To Start With Your E Commerce Website?
The hardest part of launching an ecommerce site is developing your content, gathering photos, determining your shipping etc. I can certainly help you with all of that as well – I’ve operated many ecommerce stores and have plenty of tips to share.
Shopify Website Benefits
Basic design using current logo (or typeface company name)
Shopify theme setup, navigation, layout and coding (I use my own Shopify themes as a base)
Home page slideshow and featured products
Layout and styling of product and content pages (adding products and copy on your behalf is additional)
Custom checkout pages to match your site
Integration with current email marketing service
Social media integration
Customization of hosting account to accommodate Shopify
Customization of shipping, taxes, payment and account admin
Set-up of blog/news feature
Responsive layout (looks great on desktop + mobile)
Cross browser testing
SEO Included:
Assistance with copy editing
Best practices for search engines (Shopify’s built-in SEO rocks)
Custom HTML customer emails (Shopify comes with standard emails ready to use)
Photo Galleries
Integration with third-party apps
Colour swatches – great for clothing shops
MailChimp set-up
Customized forms to collect unique information
Even better news – you don’t need to know how to code to use Shopify.
No Extra Hosting Required With Shopify
Shopify is a hosted cart – they keep everything on their super-fast servers for you (instead of one that you rent space on and install the software yourself). This means they keep a close eye on any service disruptions or other problems for you. And anytime they improve or upgrade the software it gets added automatically to your shop without anyone having to upgrade it.
You need to be able to quickly add and adjust products, process orders, keep track of stock and promote your items. Shopify has the basics beautifully covered and then some. Plus there are some very handy apps that we can add on if you extend its capabilities (like showing hand-picked related products).
Sure there are carts out there that have a plenty of features, one-time fee, or are open-source (free to use). But the compromise is the need for complex customisation, expensive developer fees for any updates or changes, and a complex admin section that confuses a new shop owner.
Monthly Costs For Shopify
Shopify has a monthly hosting fee that starts at $29 (US) and of course I believe it’s worth every penny for the peace of mind knowing your site is in good hands. Check out the different levels to see what is included – and feel free to ask me which I think might suit your needs. PS What you’ll spend on fees you will more than save on initial development and set-up costs (a more complicated cart will cost much more to have someone customize it for you).
Have a retail store? Go to tradeshows? All you need now is the Shopify POS which will tie your online and offline sales together seamlessly.
Contact me with any questions you have – I’d be happy to help you decide if Shopify is right for your project.