Online shopping cart icon.
Being successful online involves finding the opportunity that most appeals to you and starting a business out of it. An online store business, or e-commerce business, entails selling either physical or digital goods through a website. Creating this type of business does not come easy as you'll be competing with big-box retailers who have already opened up online stores for business. One of the keys to success involves finding the "hottest" products so you'll attract more people to your business.
Instructions
1. Plan the basic elements of your online store business. Decide what products you want to sell in your online store. Think about whether you'll need storage space for your products or whether you will want to find a drop-shipper. Locate several suppliers or wholesalers to determine product cost. Make an estimate of your product markup to determine how much profit you'll make from each sale.
2. Create a name for your online store business. Register your business name with the proper authorities, such as your state's Department of Commerce, Secretary of State or other department that regulates businesses. Decide whether you need to complete other legal requirements such as obtaining a Federal Employer Identification Number from the IRS.
3. Form an agreement with product wholesalers or manufacturers to acquire inventory. Make sure that you are dealing with an authorized agent and not a "middleman" who may have increased the prices before selling them to you. Negotiate the details of your business agreement, such as payment terms, quantities required for bulk discounts, and drop-shipping services.
4. Buy a domain name and site hosting for your online store website. Choose an inexpensive, monthly hosting plan that includes plenty of online transfer and storage space. Most online store businesses require smaller, basic plans that cost around $10 to $15 per month. When website traffic increases, upgrade to a larger plan that allows for more bandwidth.
5. Select a shopping cart software program for your online store. Examples of these programs include free programs like Zen Cart or osCommerce and paid programs like Volusion or BigCommerce. Install the shopping cart program on your store website by uploading its files to your web hosting control panel. Create a user name and password for the administration side of your shopping cart.
6. Configure the products in your online store by first logging into the admin page of your shopping cart. Create product categories to organize your store. Add individual product details, such as price, image and description. Configure the shipping module for your online store if selling and shipping physical goods. Set up the appropriate payment gateways like PayPal and Google Checkout.
7. Edit the design of your online store to match your business' theme and slogan. Pay a freelancer or web designer to help if you lack the ability to create a store logo and edit your site's design and style.
8. Start marketing your online store business to get traffic to your website. Find the places where your target market "hangs out" online, such as forums, blogs, and other sites, and use these as a starting point for advertising your online store. Also advertise offline in your community by paying for advertisements in newspapers, classified ads and posting flyers on bulletin boards.
Tags: online store, your online, your online store, shopping cart, online store business