How To Open An Online Store

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HOW TO OPEN AN ONLINE STORE
9 STEPS FOR OPENING AN ONLINE
STORE FOR YOUR SHOP
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Change is good. Isnt that how the saying goes?
And if you own a small business, you are well
aware of the fact that your business needs to
change with the times. And, now is the time that
small businesses enter the world of e-commerce.
The truth is, businesses with online stores
experience as much as 30 increased
sales. Thats because when you create an online
store for your local shop, it allows people from
all over the world to find and shop with your
company, which means youre no longer exclusively
restricted to the foot traffic and consumers in
your immediate area. Some local businesses
resist the allure of creating an online store
because they fear that it will harm their image
as a small, neighborly business. In reality,
many local customers wish more of their favorite
shops and small businesses had online shops.Why?
Customers know that if they love these products,
then their friends in other areas likely will
too. The online store makes it easy for them to
introduce their out-of-town friends to their
favorite in-town shop. When a small business
online store is done right, it can yield
significant returns and create a new extension to
your already-great shop. The benefits are a
two-way street. Shopping online offers
convenience for customers (both new and old) and
fresh market opportunities for you and your
products. This discussion will look at the
necessary steps for opening an online store for
your shop. Most of these steps are easy to
complete, while others may require you to enlist
the help of a web development or small business
eCommerce solution.
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Step 1 Register Your Domain
If you have an existing website, you may have
already done this step, for the most part.
Registering an easy-to-remember domain is an
essential step for your online store because it
makes it simple for customers to find. If youre
attaching an online store onto an existing small
business website, you want to make sure that your
store has a convenient URL tag. In an example,
www.yourstore.com/store.
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Step 2 Set Up Business Email Address
Depending on how your small business website is
set up, you may already have a business email
address connected to your site. Alternatively,
you may have the option and not be aware or just
choosing to keep an existing email
address. While migrating your emails can be a
time-consuming task and short- term annoyance,
your business indeed appears more professional
when you have a business email address. Simply
put, customers are going to trust
John_at_yourbusiness.com more than they will
John_at_Yahoo.com. Not to mention, once you get
used to using a business email address, youll
realize how organizationally beneficial it is to
keep your private and business emails separated.
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Step 3 Draft Privacy, Terms Of Use and Return
Policy
You have to govern your online store with rules
and policies, just as your physical shop is run.
It is essential to have your return policy and
other relevant information available to customers
on your online store. Unlike your physical shop,
where a customer can ask you or an employee a
question, online stores have to leave nothing up
to question and include all of the info that any
customer could want or need to have a successful
online shopping experience. Online stores also
have to include details in their privacy policies
about how they handle customer information and
data. This is increasingly becoming a mandatory
practice for online stores, as data breaches and
stolen customer info becomes a more prevalent
issue. If your site has an existing privacy
policy, make sure it includes details on your
consumer data privacy practices and that your
online store is compliant with the latest federal
regulations regarding Internet businesses and
data collection.
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Step 4 SSL Certification
On the topic of security and customer data, its
also crucial that you update your site with the
latest Internet security protocol. Secure Sockets
Layer, Or SSL (the S in HTTPS), is becoming a
must-have for any small business website,
especially those with an eCommerce platform built
in. In fact, 84 of users stated that they would
abandon a purchase from an online store if the
connection or transaction were insecure. This
security layer helps to ensure that every
transaction or exchange of customer information
is done so on a secure and encrypted channel.
With all of these data breaches and security
concerns, consumers are learning to keep an eye
out for sites with SSL certifications. You may
have even noticed this yourself, as a lot of the
popular browsers display a locked padlock symbol
for secure, SSL sites, with an unlocked padlock
signaling an unsecured location. If you are
converting an existing small business website
into an online store, youve likely never
considered how secure your site is because
theres no exchange of sensitive information
taking place. But, now that youll be generating
sales and accepting payments, its essential to
upgrade the site with this added layer of
security. Google has also routinely stated that
secure websites receive a boost in SEO rankings.
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Step 5 Select Your eCommerce Solution And
Website
At the start of developing your online store, you
have a huge decision to make, which is whether
youre going to handle your eCommerce business
yourself (self-service) or use an outside hosting
service for your online shop (hosted service).
Theres advantages and disadvantages of
each. Self-Service If you choose to handle your
eCommerce in-house, you have a lot more control
over the ordering process and the experience that
guests or shoppers experience. If youre worried
about disenchanting your local customer base by
beginning to generate sales online, taking the
self-service route may be a better option because
you can cater your online experience to mirror
how guests are treated in-store, whereas
outsourcing your eCommerce solution to a
third-party may create an experience that is
disjointed from how your shop customers
feel. The drawback to self-service is that it is
a lot more work you have to complete orders,
handle payments and solve customer complaints on
your own. Hosting Service A lot of small
business online stores opt to use a paid
eCommerce solution because of the convenience
they provide. Business owners can permanently set
up their online store and then put the rest of
the responsibilities and worries into the hands
of their service provider. This is an excellent
avenue for business owners that already feel they
have enough on their plate handling the physical
store.
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Once a hosted eCommerce store is created, theres
no real work to be done except to look at the
sales numbers and occasionally update your
product offerings with new items or
information. The biggest drawback to a hosting
service is the loss of control, as discussed
earlier, and the fees that many of these services
assess. Hosting services will generally charge a
cut of your sales as compensation for the use of
their platform and resources.
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Step 6 Upload Your Products And Details
Similar to including information about your
return policy and other pertinent business
information, you should also go into great detail
about each product. Every item you sell should
consist of a picture of that product, a thorough
description, a price and, if possible, videos of
the product too. The more details youre able to
share, the easier it is for consumers to answer
all of their questions, conduct research, compare
your offerings to competitors and so on. This is
a critical step, with as many as 81 of consumers
performing in-depth analysis into products before
buying. Your product descriptions also play an
essential role in your online stores SEO. You
want your products and small business website to
have a lot of visibility in searches, as this
will help you generate sales from people that are
not already aware of your companys
existence. By optimizing your descriptions with
a mix of high- and low-volume keywords, you can
drastically enhance your sites visibility in
search ranking to generate more traffic, thereby
creating more opportunities to convert that
traffic into sales.
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Step 7 Decide On A Payment Solution
This step is an important one for small
businesses that are going the self-service route.
Most hosted eCommerce solutions have the payment
method that theyll use. For self-service online
stores, theres a lot of different ways to accept
online payments. Some of the big companies are
PayPal, Authorize.net, Stripe, and USAePay. Each
payment solution has their pros and cons.
Business owners should do the necessary homework
in measuring what these advantages and
disadvantages are and determine which solution
works the best for the types of customers/sales
that the business commonly handles.
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For example, some payment solutions are better
geared towards frequent, small purchases. Others
may offer better rates on significant
investments. You also have to consider any
service charges and how often payments are
deposited into the business account. Some
services will collect each transaction as they
come in, while another solution may have a dollar
threshold, which means money will only be
transferred after that threshold is met, like
every 100 in sales or 500.
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Step 8 Integrate Your Shops POS System With
The Online Store
When you supplement your brick-and-mortar shop
with an eCommerce store, inventory management can
become a nightmare, unless you integrate your
shops POS system with your small business online
store. Otherwise, you could find yourself
entangled in issues where your site thought there
was stock of an item left, when a customer
in-store purchased those items at the same time,
or vice versa. Customers will quickly become
unhappy with your business service if they have
to wait weeks for their online order to be
completed and arrive at their doorstep because
you had to wait for the items to come from your
distributor.
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This step is dependant on your stores POS system
and its provider. If you use dated POS software,
it may be time to update, as it may not be
incapable of blending your online and physical
store sales. Luckily, the cost of a modern POS
system is not as expensive as it once was. Many
of todays mobile POS systems, like eHopper, are
relatively inexpensive and use cheaper hardware
and software (often with better features) for an
all-around better experience, both customer and
business alike.
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Step 9 Market Your Online Store
Once youve completed all of the prior steps,
your online store is finished. Your products have
rich descriptions, your site is secure and ready
to accept payments, inventory is integrated with
your physical store, and you have a convenient
web address to point customers towards. Now, it
is time to begin marketing your online store and
notifying new and old customers of its existence.
Theres a lot of marketing tactics and channels
that you can use to get the word out about your
small business online store to generate buzz
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SEO If youve taken the time to write up
detailed, keyword-optimized product descriptions
and secured your site with an SSL certificate,
then youve already created a good foundation for
your SEO efforts. You can also develop meta
tags/descriptions, create blog content, generate
internal and external link structures and other
SEO-focused tactics to give your site more
authority and visibility in searches. Social
Media If your store is active on social media
channels, this is an excellent jumping off point
for getting the word out about your online store.
It helps alert your local customers that they can
now browse your selection online. Its also great
for customers that visited your business on
vacation or have since moved away because it
signals that they can now make another purchase
from out of town. PPC Through a service like
Google Ads or Facebook Ads, you can pay to put an
advertisement for your online store in front of
targeted audiences that will find your products
useful. This can be an excellent strategy for a
new online store looking to begin generating
customers and buzz instantly. Email Marketing
In the same vein as social media, if your store
has an email newsletter, this can also be an
excellent platform to leverage to notify
customers that you now sell your products
online. Advertise At Your Physical Store When
customers visit your store in person, you should
make an effort to notify them that you also have
an online store. You can use business cards with
your new online stores address, and email
address listed, as well as create signage and
other notifications to display in the store.
While you dont want to detract from the business
that your physical store does, your online store
can become a valuable resource to help your
in-store customers.
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Conclusions
Developing an online store is a daunting task,
and many small business owners are hesitant to
bring their business to the Internet. However,
when done correctly, a small business eCommerce
store can not only be a new channel and source of
sales, but it can also be a valuable resource for
your local customers too, which may encourage
them to make better-informed purchases at your
shop. If youre interested in creating an online
store that elevates your business and customer
experience to the next level, we encourage you to
contact us at support_at_eHopper.com for a free
consultation.
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For more information visit
ehopper.com/open-online-store