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A Guide to Setting Up An Ecommerce Business and Starting Selling Online

Ecommerce has changed the way we do business. A decade ago, the idea that we, as a society, would prefer buying goods online rather than in a store was laughable. However, this is the reality today, particularly in the UK where we’ve embraced ecommerce more than any other nation in the world.

In the past, setting up an ecommerce store was difficult and expensive. Today, tools are available that automate most of the hard work, making it easy to set up a store in 24 hours or less.

Frontier Outfitters (online store) redesign by Brig Atwood

This article will provide a 5 step guide to setting up an ecommerce business and start selling online.

Step 1 – Choose a product

The first step, before setting up your store, is to choose a product (or range of products) to sell on it. Ideally, this product should be in demand, easily sourced, and it should provide a good return on investment.

Grab a piece of paper and start brainstorming. Try to write down as many product ideas as possible.

Once you’ve got a list of 10-15 different ideas, start searching for them on Google. Count how many ecommerce stores are selling the product and search for the product on Amazon/eBay to find its popularity ranking. Finally, visit the Google Ad Planner to check how many people are searching online for the product every day.

Generally, the more popular a product, the more successful the store is likely to be.

Step 2 – Choose a name for your ecommerce business

It’s important to choose a simple, memorable name for your ecommerce business.

If you’re struggling for ideas, visit Lean domain search. Simply input a keyword and the lean domain search will provide you with hundreds of ideas.

Step 3 – Choose an ecommerce store solution to host your store

There are dozens of ecommerce solutions available, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Self hosted platforms like BigCommerce, Volusion, Storenvy, and Shopify are generally inexpensive and easy to use with great support. These self hosted platforms should be good enough for most users.

However, if you have more specific needs, you might need to build your own ecommerce platform or hire someone to build one for you.

Step 4 – Choose a payment provider and delivery service

Once you’ve chosen an ecommerce store solution to host your store, you’ll need to choose a payment provider to accept payments and a delivery service to deliver goods.

Paypal is the most commonly used payment provider on the internet, and for good reason. Their service is easy to use, reliable, and has great support. Paypal do, however, charge a modest fee for their services. Paypal is a great option for novice ecommerce sellers. More experienced sellers may want to look elsewhere, however.

When choosing a delivery service, it’s important to choose a service that is both affordable and reliable. myParcelDelivery.com has partnered up with some of the biggest courier services in the UK, including Hermes, City-Link, and DHL, to provide an affordable and reliable delivery service for ecommerce businesses. My Parcel Delivery is a great choice for any small ecommerce store.

Step 5 – Start promoting your store

Once you’ve set up your store, chosen a payment provider, and organised a delivery service, the last step is to start promoting your store. Start telling your friends about it. Create a twitter and a facebook group for your store. Start a blog for your store and start posting content. Perhaps start advertising through Google’s Adwords service or in your local newspaper. The possibilities here are endless.

Summing Up

Setting up an ecommerce store is probably easier than you think. Simply follow the five steps above to create your own ecommerce store and start selling online.

 

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