A 12-Month Guide to Opening Your Own E-commerce Store

Featured article by Calvin Paige, Independent Technology Author

It’s true: some people are able to create an e-commerce store and have it online within a day. While this approach isn’t necessarily wrong, it does increase the chances of failure – or at the very least various unnecessary roadblocks you’ll have to overcome along the way.

The best tactic is one that incorporates patience into the procedure. By doing this, you ensure you can cover every aspect, both big and small, of your e-commerce store plans. The result: a greater chance of succeeding and building a foundation for long-term success.

For help with preparing for your launch and beyond, below is a 12-month guide to opening your own e-commerce store.

Do your research

There are many aspects that require an ample amount of research. What type of products and services will you sell? Is there a market for these products/services? What type of competition are you up against locally, nationally, and even globally?

Another important point is deciding on the best platform for your e-commerce store. You might be tempted to go with something like WordPress, but this isn’t built for online retailers. This is why it’s wise to go with Magento.

Due to its features and community support, Magento is often the platform of choice for online retailers. There’s just one issue: Magento has a steep learning curve. This brings up another question: Should you bring in a design agency for this work?

Validate your ideas

Your research isn’t over just yet. You might believe that you have the best products and ideas in place, but the basis for this thinking is only your opinion. It’s essential you gain feedback from those that matter: your target audience.

By discussing your business and product ideas with your target market, you’ll understand if you’re on the right track to success. Plus if feedback’s not the best, you have plenty of time to make any necessary tweaks.

Create your online store

Registering a domain name, selecting a website host, picking the platform, design and functionality elements, SEO, and so on – yes, there’s a lot of work involved with setting up an e-commerce store.

Remember the previous point about outsourcing your website build? If you were to enlist Magento agency Los Angeles specialist MageCloud, for instance, you can rest easy knowing you’ll receive a professional and responsive site. You’ll just have to stretch your budget further for your business plan.

Put your marketing hat on

It’s important you have a marketing plan ready and operating before you launch your store. In fact, the period before launch is a prime time to promote your business. You can create anticipation by doing a countdown, sending out press releases, and posting regularly on social media.

If you build an email list and expectation, your launch will be much more successful.

Launch day

Even if your launch is a success, now it’s time to put in even more work. That initial hype will drop, so you have to prepare further marketing efforts, use analytics to learn about what’s working and what isn’t working, and plan future product ideas to continue the growth of your store.