11 Things to Know before Starting An eCommerce Site In 2022

October 14th, 2022

As the internet becomes more accessible around the globe, the eCommerce sector is rapidly evolving, with traditional retail businesses swiftly migrating to the online platform to target customers. According to the reports, there are almost 10-25 million eCommerce websites globally, and the count is ever-rising.

Businesses are developing new trends to keep customers hooked to the online shopping experience. While starting new business online sounds exciting, it takes a lot of consistency, effort, motivation, and the right technical know-how to thrive in the vast eCommerce world.

Launching a successful eCommerce website like a physical retail store requires rigorous planning before and after the launch. And one must be aware of the secrets to a successful journey.

Here at Netqueue, we want to see businesses succeed and have compiled a list of all the essential factors you must remember before starting an eCommerce business.

11 Most Important Factors to Consider When Opening an Ecommerce Store

1. Understand Your Product & Services

Many new eCommerce ventures start by imitating other successful business ideas and models. This isn’t right and leads to a steady downfall. There are two very specific reasons for this:

• You do not have the same knowledge or market research about the target population & location
• You do not know or understand your niche

To have a sustainable eCommerce journey, start with a product or service you think you can provide the best. This will give you an understanding of the market and the operational process. It is also important to ensure that your product is unique. All these factors will eventually help you firm your roots in the online world.

2. Proper Audience & Market Research

Now that you’ve figured out what to sell, it’s time to determine your target audience. Recognizing your potential customers involves thorough research, and you must browse the demographics of your target audience. To target precisely, find their hobbies, preferences, cultures, age group, etc.

Apart from this, competitor analysis is also important to understand the real facts of the market. Find out what and who your competitors are targeting, and set your strategies accordingly.

3. Shipping Management

eCommerce businesses partner with multiple shipping services to make their products reach regional and international customers on time. The kind of shipping invariably depends on the target audience. However, you must include shipping calculators in your application to allow customers easily calculate the product’s final price when it reaches their doorstep.

You can also seek the help of third-party shipping services, who’ll integrate the API they provided into your application. This will serve as a shipping calculator. On the other hand, if you have your shipping facility, ask your eCommerce web developers to integrate the shipping rates into your application. This will save you and your customer’s shipping costs in the long term.

4. Inventory & Stock Management

If the products you sell are digital, you do not have to worry about this. However, if not, it’s time you consider inventory storage, warehouse costs, and management to keep track of your stocks. The leading eCommerce platforms offer inbuilt tools to track your inventory and stocks. Alternatively, there are third-party services as well that offer you to integrate the tools into your application.

The motive is to reflect the available stocks on the product pages in real-time so that customers can find out whether or not the product is available before the checkout process.

5. Return Management

Managing return is an essential aspect of eCommerce shopping. As customers cannot physically touch the product before shopping for them, your eCommerce website must always offer the option to return, refund or replace the item. Additionally, you must emphasize a certain level of flexibility and precaution.

Arrange proper logistics for the pickup facility and have the refund details figured out. Remember that you must quickly refund the amount within a short span to maintain trust amongst the shoppers.

6. The Best Development Team

Now that you know most of the concepts and marketing process, you need to design and build a nice eCommerce platform for your customers to shop effortlessly. Of course, there are several eCommerce web development services online and worldwide; choose a company with the necessary experience and expertise to build your eCommerce application.

Netqueue Technologies is a trusted name in the niche industry, with over 10 years of experience building eCommerce applications. We have the knowledge and expertise it takes to create bespoke eCommerce sites that boost your brand growth.

7. Figure Out The Cost

The cost you tag to your services and products depends on a range of factors, like:

• Expenditures
• Investments
• Application development
• Worker expense
• Maintenance cost
• Minimum profit margin

You need to figure out a price that will help you promote further business growth. Take some time to conduct thorough market research before finalizing the cost. Also, avoid changing your prices frequently, as it creates a negative impression on the shoppers and questions the credibility of your business. Chalk out your costs to stand out in the competition.

8. App or Website

Study your customer’s browsing habits and decide if you want to create a website application or mobile application, or both. This will further impact the overall cost of your development process. Reports have it that mobile apps are most prevalent these days. But as mobile app development costs are higher, you can opt for a website also.

9. Security

This is a great deal as you will manage your customer’s personal and financial details. You cannot show negligence and must implement strict cyber security on your eCommerce website. Hackers usually target small and new eCommerce ventures. Therefore, ensure to invest in proper cyber security measures to avoid such malicious forces. It is advisable to constantly update your core files, passwords, databases, and backups to keep all data fully secure.

10. Selection of Technology

Selecting your eCommerce technology plays a big role, and it is best if you do it under the guidance of a website development company. If you want a mobile app:

• Talk to your chosen company about whether or not it will be a native or hybrid.
• Ask if you need BigCommerce, Shopify, WordPress or Magento for a website.

Also, don’t forget to enquire about the prices. This is because aside from the application development cost, you will have regular expenses in the form of subscription-model plugins, hosting costs, maintenance, and more.

11. A Solid Marketing Plan

Simply building your eCommerce store with amazing products won’t get you, customers. It is only when your application is visible to more and more customers that your brand will gain awareness. This is only possible with a solid social media marketing plan. A nice marketing plan will make your eCommerce venture visible to maximum customers across the various platforms and drive traffic to your application.

FINAL WORDS

Let’s share an inside talk. Apart from considering the above factors, another thing that you will need to create a great first impression is your brand name. You need a great name by which customers can remember you.

Additionally, you need expert eCommerce website developers to execute your plan smoothly and successfully. Our team at Netqueue Technologies offers top-notch eCommerce website development services to help you stand out from competitors. As a reputed eCommerce web development company, we know how to build an online brand and will create bespoke strategies while addressing your needs to create a successful eCommerce web store.

Get in touch today by calling us on 8100225044 or email us at sales@netqueuetech.com.