You want to start a commodity business and open your own online store, but you don’t know where to start? Analyze the main steps that will help you understand how to create an online store and start working in the near future.

The popularity of online stores began to grow in 1994, when the entrepreneur Jeffrey Bezos created the online store Amazon.

Today, more and more entrepreneurs decide to open their own online store, because:

• Buyers choose convenience by ordering goods online in parallel with other business
• In the Internet shop you can find a wider range of things compared to retail stores, as well as exclusive and rare products
• Online shop works almost without breaks, payment for goods remotely can also be made at any time
• The price of the goods in the Internet shop is often much lower, as it includes less costs for the owner

What kind of online stores are there?

• Catalogue stores with a wide range of products. In such an online store the customer is provided with a wide range of products, each of which is usually represented by several models
• Stores with one product. Such an online store is most often a one-page site, created on the basis of a sales funnel, gradually prompting the user to pay.
• Wholesale stores. The purpose of this type of online store is to sell goods at a wholesale price in large batches to retail stores.

How do I open an online store from scratch?

If you decide to create your own online store, it is important to plan the main steps of work:

1. Choose a product for sale in your online store. Experts recommend to base the choice of goods on your hobby, because this is how you can explain to the future buyer the advantages of your product and encourage him to buy online. For example, if you sew – you can open a shop with sewing goods or sell ready-made clothes, if you are fond of fishing – fishing tackle.

It is also important to pay attention to the popularity of the product – the higher it is, the greater the income you get. For example, electronics and household appliances, clothing and footwear, mobile phones, and car accessories share the palm of victory in the commodity business today.

2. Choose the name of the online store. It is important that it is recognizable, and it can be easily found on the Internet. The name can be associated with the product or the place where you plan to operate the online store. It is also possible to create a unique name, which cannot be found in another online store. You can come up with a name yourself or contact a specialist or a company that deals with naming services.

3. Determine the resource on which you will create an online store. If you want to understand how to make an online store, you can use two ways: if you have programming skills, you can create it yourself, if not – you can connect to the work of the studio web-design or contact the programmer.

After creating an online store you will need to choose a domain name and hosting and pay for them.

Create an online store website yourself or connect specialists, it is important to consider the key points:

• The design of the online store must match the products you sell to the maximum extent possible
• In the structure of the site of the online store must be the home page and pages with a catalog of goods, price, shopping cart and the page for its design, information about payment, delivery and contacts. If you wish, you can also create additional pages with frequently asked questions, customer testimonials and connect other blocks
• The header of the online store must be designed in such a way that it contains the logo, information about the working hours and terms of payment and delivery, as well as contact information
• For each product card of the online store it is necessary to prepare a photo, description, price, and also there should be a button for buying or reserving, if possible – feedback from customers about this product
• Add your groups on social networks to the site so that users can see that the online store is “alive” and there are real people behind it
• Install widgets on the site of the online store, which will encourage the customer to dialog and subsequent purchase – for example, a widget for a return call or an online consultant

4. Before opening an online store, set up your payment methods. Try to make sure that your client has the opportunity to choose a payment method in the online store – through the site by bank transfer, payment in cash or by card to the courier upon receipt of the order, cash on delivery, these costs can be included in the price of the goods or they can be paid additionally.

5. Register the online shop documentary. Most entrepreneurs who have decided to create an online store, choose the design of IP. You can register an IP on your own, thus avoiding additional costs.

6. Determine the delivery of goods and the warehouse of the online store. If your commodity business has a relatively small range and turnover, the first time you can store the goods at home, but when sales go up the hill, you will need a warehouse for online store – most often rented premises 20-200 sq.m.

In addition, you can take advantage of dropshipping – now this system is very popular among businessmen and helps to reduce the cost of the online store. In this case, the product in its warehouse stores the supplier, he is also engaged in delivery to the recipient, and you, in turn, provide the work of the online store and its promotion.

You do not spend money on the purchase of goods, making a profit in excess of the value of the supplier. In this case, if, for example, to work competently with free methods of promotion of the online store can be significantly saved on its promotion.

7. Promotion of online store.Competent optimization of an online store (SEO) is necessary for all those who have decided to open an online store. This will help you to reach the top of Internet search queries and buy new customers. To determine the most frequently used keywords, you can use the Wordstat service. Competent SEO-specialist will help you to work through the structure of the pages of the online store and optimize the site so that it has moved into the top. 

You can also use the settings of contextual and targeted advertising online store. You can do it yourself in the advertising offices or connect to the work of the director and targetologist. Such advertising is good because you can allocate an audience by geography, age, gender, interests, set up advertising campaigns for those who use the services of competitors or have already visited your site.

What other specialists may you need, if you decide to open an online store?

• Programmer – to solve technical issues of the site online store
• Content manager – for writing texts, creating product cards and updating information on the site 
• Call center specialist – for processing incoming orders

You can hire employees or work remotely – it all depends on your abilities and preferences. As your online store grows, you’re likely to have a variety of questions about doing business.