Many Americans make a very good living selling products on the Internet, yet one must understand that success in any business is never a given. Much like any other industry, a great deal of planning and preparation needs to take place if your e-store is going to have a chance of sustained success, and with that in mind, here is our beginner’s guide to creating a successful e-store.

Write a comprehensive business plan

Once you have a business idea, you need to create a realistic plan of action that covers every aspect of the enterprise.

A good business plan would include the following sections:

  • An overview of the business
  • An organization flowchart that shows who does what
  • Detailed list of startup costs
  • Detailed list of running costs
  • List of all business assets
  • Services you plan to outsource
  • Logistics plan – Order fulfilment
  • Product procurement
  • Sales & marketing plan – How you intend to reach your customer base
  • 3–5-year forecasts

Once you think your plan is complete, ask a business coach to take a look and if they can’t find any weaknesses, you can start to implement the plan according to a set timeline.

Digital marketing

Talk to a leading US digital marketing agency such as King Kong and ask them to create a winning plan that incorporates SEO, social media marketing and PPC advertising. This is not something you can afford to ignore; we live in a digital world and without an aggressive online marketing plan, your chances of success are greatly reduced. Your online marketing needs to be ongoing due to the ever-changing nature of the web, so set aside a monthly budget to drive traffic to your landing page.

Order fulfilment

Picking, packing and delivery are crucial processes for any e-store and most e-store owners outsource to a third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse where they have the resources and know-how to deliver at a fast pace. A good 3PL partner will take the stress out of order fulfilment and your customers will be happy.

Web design and management

A single company can design, build, host and manage your e-store, which really does help, they can also provide essential cyber-security that gives your customer confidence when giving their banking data. We hope this short article helps you to set up a winning e-store