Starting an online store can be daunting, especially if you are not a techy person. Online selling or also known as ‘E-commerce’ is currently hitting a good stride. More consumers are now openly embracing online shopping methods. Why? Because it’s easier and more convenient for them. And that is what we want to achieve with our business. We want people to know our brand and the easiest way to do it is to take advantage of the internet.
Getting started is not as difficult as you think it would be. You just need to know where to start. So here are six steps that can help you open a successful online business:
What To Sell?
Before anything else, know what to sell. You must decide if what type of goods are you going to promote and sell online. No matter what you choose, work with products that you are passionate about because chances are, you will be working with this every day that this doesn’t easily bore you even in the future.
Choose An E-Commerce Solution
This will depend on your budget as well as your level of expertise. You have to decide if which e-commerce solution would be best for your online store. Of course, there are companies like TLG Commerce in Hong Kong who can make it big for you, but here are three options for you to choose from:
- Hosted Solution. This solution will house your website using different servers. It will also provide you with web-based software to help build and power up your online store. This option is the best choice for beginners.
- Licensed Solution. This is considered as an ‘ouot-of-the-box’ platform where you just install into your computer. You need to find your own hosting site with this option as well as your security protections. This can be a bit tricky and not the best choice for beginners. Can be for those who have done site building in the past.
- Open Source Solution. These are often free to download that will just require you to build your site from scratch. This is a perfect choice if you want to customize your online store, but you also have to be knowledgeable about heavy programming. You might need to hire someone to do this job for you if you do not know how to do it on your own.
Build Your Store!
Once you have all that figured out, it is time for you to build your store. So whatever solution you chose, learn more about its functionality first before you start setting up your pages. You need to include your product as well as your category pages. You also need a home page, content pages, and you can add more if you like. Just keep in mind that you would want to consider branding and design because these are the most important elements of a successful e-commerce site.
Now that you have everything covered, you are just a few steps away in opening your first online store! But if you think all of these processes are too much for you, you can always ask help from TLG. They can provide you with a TLG Commerce platform and build the online store for you instead.
