The best way to run a retail space nowadays is online. Rent is too high, footfall is too low: more and more retailers, therefore, are moving to exclusively online spaces. Even if they aren’t, there isn’t a retailer with a brand name that doesn’t supplement sales with an online eCommerce equivalent. It has become the most lucrative way to make money. If you’re ready to join the eCommerce market, take a look at our suggestions on how to do it right.

Investment

Investment comes from many different places nowadays. The old-fashioned idea of selling company shares and pitching to investors is still a very valid means of gaining funding for your eCommerce business, but there are newer options to consider. Although you need to know what you’re doing, there is cryptocurrency, where you ask people to buy coins to back your business, much like company shares. But there is also the idea of crowdfunding, which is ideal for start-ups and inventors with a vision. Put together a white paper to outline what you are doing with your business and you can float them along all these different avenues and see what’s best for you.

The appropriate licensing

There are a lot of eCommerce avenues you can go down that, let’s say aren’t family-friendly. Alcohol is a common one, for example. So, you might need to look into licenses depending on what you intend to sell. If your online business operates in multiple jurisdictions, you will need to be mindful that selling items comes with some challenges. To add insult to injury, regulations and restrictions will be different in different locations for eCommerce businesses. For example, if you are offering online games or age-restricted console games in exchange for the money you will need to do your research to ensure you have the appropriate licensing in place. 

The right tech team behind you

It’s important that you have the correct tech team behind you. Not only to create or develop products that your buyers will want to come back to – but also for quality assurance to work on any bugs or issues that may arise within your business website. A business website is a reflection of your business, so if it’s shoddy, empty or otherwise unprofessional looking, it will tell users that your business is also unprofessional. It is a heavy job that requires a lot of resources, so if you don’t have the budget to recruit for this internally you may want to look at outsourcing this to a web development company for a fee for someone else to take care of this for you.

A marketing guru

Once you have your brand ready, you need to make sure it’s marketed effectively. That starts with knowing who your demographic is. And that is more than going for a woman or man of a certain age. What are they into? What does their life look like? What is their budget? Etc. All of these are questions that your marketing team can dig into, answer, and then market to.

An affiliate network

When growing an entertainment business, you need to make sure you have a network of partners in place to help you do this. These are called affiliates. Affiliate marketing is far more effective and cost-effective than traditional means of marketing. They will promote your brand in return for a commission on the users they will bring you. You can either hire an affiliate manager, or else you can outsource this to an affiliate marketing agency that has those skills and expertise. You can really target your audience by marketing with micro-influencers that are the heads of relevant niches to your product.

A PR team

Yes, even a small start-up needs reputation management. A PR team isn’t just about fixing a problem once it arises but making sure that the problem doesn’t present itself in the first place. That takes a lot of preventative measures, including cultivating a reputation for your company, partway with social media content. However, they will also look at your business operations and advise you on any flaws they see, like compliance issues that could lead to you having a bad reputation.

But it’s not just about a bad reputation. It’s also about having no reputation. That can look just as bad, as users will fill in the blanks and consider you untrustworthy. A PR team will help you to cultivate and maintain a reputation you can be proud of.

The right reporting tools for growth

Just like with any business, you need to know what’s working and what’s not. That’s why you need to have the right reporting tools in place. Find out what your user journey through your eCommerce site is, and their behaviours and look for steps to improve. It could be that you need to make changes to the UX of your site, it could be that you uncover products/services that aren’t worth being on there, and it could give you vital information about your customer persona. The same goes for affiliate marketing reporting tools. You need to know which affiliates are working for you and which aren’t. Only then can you improve their results.

If opening an eCommerce business is on your agenda, then make sure you have these essentials in place. 

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