5 Tips for Creating Your Online Store

E-commerce has enjoyed incredible, ever-growing success over the years. Today, the internet gives you the tools to build your own store and go into business for yourself. Here are 5 tips to get off to a good start and give yourself the best chance of running a thriving business.

1. The offer: sell specific, quality products to stand out

The choice of products you sell is critical. Here we share all the tips for selecting items that will interest online shoppers. It’s important to stand out from other stores, but you shouldn’t chase the most original or innovative product either, if it only appeals to a very small customer base. It’s generally better to choose items that have already proven themselves on the market. Specific niches remain very appealing, provided they reach a large enough number of potential customers. When you’re targeting enthusiasts, you can quickly build your reputation and rely on word of mouth, which remains the best advertising (and it’s free!).

Also, look into items that require repeat purchases. These can be consumable products or ones for which certain accessories need to be regularly replaced.

Finally, it’s better if your items are essential. With many people’s purchasing power reduced, buying non-essential items is very often put off until later.

Ask Amazon

Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform in the world, making it a top-quality indicator. Amazon can help you whether you already have an idea in mind or you don’t yet know which niche to enter.

Search through all the categories and use the filters to discover each one’s best sellers. Amazon doesn’t share the number of sales it makes. However, it’s estimated that on average one in fifty customers leaves a review. So, to get a rough sales range, multiply the number of reviews by fifty.

Beware of trends that can fade as quickly as they appeared.

Confirm your ideas on AliExpress

AliExpress is THE Chinese supplier flooding the world. E-commerce sellers in every country use it often. As with Amazon, dig around for the best-selling and highest-rated products.

Watch influencers

Head to YouTube and Instagram, and possibly TikTok too, to check out videos from influencers promoting trending products. Search for the keywords “product unboxing” or “unboxing” for English-language videos.

Scrutinize Facebook advertising

Facebook continues to dominate e-commerce advertising. Browse the platform searching for pages and groups related to a sector you’re interested in. You’ll then start receiving related ads. Follow the links to visit the stores, to discover each one’s best sellers as well as the sellers’ unique touches.

Rate the products you’ve selected

Now that you’ve compiled a list of items likely to appeal to the public, you need to rate them against the following criteria to judge whether they’re worth keeping in your selection.

• The size of the packaged product: it’s preferable that it fits in a mailbox, both for your storage and for delivery to the customer.
• Weight and sturdiness: shipping costs can be a deterrent, so it’s better to choose lightweight products. Additionally, fragile products require specific packaging and risk being returned more often due to breakage during delivery.
• Shelf life needs to be long enough that you can build up stock and that the expiration date allows time for shipping to the customer.
• The initial investment required should remain reasonable to limit risk.
• Public interest: check Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends to gauge keyword popularity.
• Look into the competition. It’s a good indicator of trends. It should exist without being overwhelming. On top of that, you need to be able to differentiate yourself from your competitors to add value.

2. Know your ideal customer

Your ideal customer profile should correlate with your product. Online, this is called a “persona,” for which you draw up a composite sketch. Defining your persona lets you design a coherent marketing strategy. There can be a primary persona and one or more secondary personas. If your items are often bought as gifts, you should also build a persona for the person who will receive that gift.

Here’s the list of information you should gather about your potential customers:

• gender;
• age;
• purchase motivation;
• family situation;
• education level;
• professional situation;
• income level;
• geographic location;
• language;
• interests;
• online behavior: occasional or very active, social media enthusiast, etc.;
• purchase barriers.

This list isn’t exhaustive—adapt it to your product. Also, take into account how your store evolves over time. The persona you defined when you launched may no longer be accurate after a while.

3. A solid communication strategy

Your communication strategy should be tailored to your persona. However, here are a few tips to put in place in (almost) every case.

Look to improve average order value

Encourage your customer to buy complementary products or choose options that represent an upgrade. Upselling helps grow the average order value.

Communicate on social media

Social media is invaluable for communicating directly with your persona, and it’s free. Try to make your accounts appealing and keep them active. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are the most relevant. Depending on your products and your persona, you can select others as well.

It’s better to limit the number of social networks you use, but stay very active on the ones you choose.

Build relationships with your customers through your social media.

Analyze all of your store’s data

You have the ability to observe your prospects’ behavior. Collect all the data and analyze it. It’s the best way to improve the user experience, reduce cart abandonment, and increase your average order value.

Also work on the design and the user journey, so it’s as simple and intuitive as possible.

Work on your newsletter

You need to collect visitors’ emails through your store, your blog, your social media, etc. Offer a gift in exchange for their address and work on a high-performing newsletter that encourages your prospects to visit your store.

Add to that follow-up emails for abandoned carts.

Encourage your customers to leave reviews

Reviews are powerful purchase drivers for new visitors. It’s therefore important that your customers share their experience in their comments.

Design a relevant advertising strategy

It’s hard to avoid paid advertising, but you need to weigh every euro you invest. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are among the must-haves. You should test visuals and check that these ads are properly displayed on sites visited by your persona.

Also use sponsored articles, which prove very effective.

4. Provide quality customer service

Customer service is a powerful sales asset. It lets you build a good relationship with the customer both when everything goes smoothly and when there’s a problem.

Thank all your customers for their order and set aside a small gift for your best ones. Put incentives in place to build their loyalty.

In the event of a complaint, respond lightning fast, always resolve every issue, and offer a small gift to thank your customer for their trust and patience.

5. Invoicing software to manage your company’s accounting

Managing your store’s accounting must go through software compatible with e-commerce. Bizyness, for example, is designed to sync with the leading platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wizishop. Everything is automated, sparing you from spending time on tedious tasks. You’ll use your days far more effectively by focusing on product research and improving your online store.

Bizyness syncs with several stores in just a few clicks, making your management even easier. When you connect your store for the first time, your accounting updates automatically and imports your history if you had already started your business.

From there, processes are automated so that every sale is logged and the invoice is issued. You can create quotes as well as easily manage refunds and credit notes.

At reporting time, you simply export your accounting to send it to the tax authorities, your accountant, your banker, or potential investors.

Bizyness also handles foreign currencies and languages. The e-commerce accounting software is synced with the European Central Bank to apply the exchange rate in real time.