From product to platform, production to place, all you need to know about eCommerce

By Jenny S

So you have a shop, and you want to open an online store. What do you need to know about eCommerce for a successful business? The short answer is "everything" in there. For a long answer to the question, follow me on this journey of unveiling the essence, creation, and implementation of eCommerce for businesses.

In case you have not tried eCommerce, you are losing the game, and your business growth might be at risk. In the present era, online presence plays a vital role in expanding businesses in various industries. People are ever busy, and when they need anything, they tap on their social media feed or Google to locate a store close to them.

eCommerce (electronic commercial transactions) helps you to get your business in front of thousands or millions of customers - both local and international markets. Even if you have never sold anything online, the process is easy, and you can sell whatever products and ship them to their location. Several tools are available to help you set up your eCommerce store and start selling to customers interested in your products.

How to Set Up an eCommerce

An eCommerce store operates online. I want to guess that you already know that. Therefore, you will need a domain name, a host for the platform, and a website (eCommerce software). You can hire a developer to create the site for you. Open-source options like osCommerce, PrestaShop, and OpenCart can suffice your needs. All you need is to customize the design to meet your needs and desires.

After creating an eCommerce site, you need to populate it with your products. You create product categories, and each product falls under one category or more. For each posting, include a description and some images. Remember to set the price and any shipping terms.

You also need a payment gateway to process your sales. One thing you need to remember, you should never process customers' credit cards on your eCommerce website. Integrate third-party applications like PayPal or Stripe to handle that part.

Marketing Your Store

You have a great product, and your eCommerce store is ready. How do you reach your prospects? Marketing is fundamental for any business to see success. Since your business now has an eCommerce platform, you need to reach potential buyers online.

Digital marketing, like social media and PPC advertisements, is an ideal way to get customers for your products. Creating content for your audience can also bring in organic traffic from search engines. Various marketing strategies can help you to establish and grow your eCommerce business.

Selling Online

When you start receiving traffic and prospects, they may want to check out directly on your product page. But what will inspire them to pay? One of the ways customers decide whether they will buy or not is your pricing. Choosing the best price for your product can help you make more sales or get bounces on your online store.

Here are some of the standard methods of deciding product prices.

1. Basing on Production Cost

Are you the manufacturer of the product you are selling? Then this method might work for you. It all boils down to the expenses you incur to get the product ready for the market. Using this method, you add the production cost and your desired (but reasonable) profit to create the price.

The production cost includes resources, labor, taxes, and other expenses. The profit margin can be a plain number or a fraction (percentage) of the production cost. For instance, if you spend $3k to make the item ready, you can decide to add $200 and sell it at $3,200. When using a percentage, you can decide that you want to make a profit of 10%. So, the price becomes $3,300.

2. Get Prices from Competitors

Knowing your business means knowing your competition. When you enter the market, you research to find the optimal price of a product to ascertain if it is profitable to run on that. When using the competition pricing method, you have to understand that your final pricing should cater to all the business needs and generate an income.

This method aims at cutting the price of an item to attract competitors' customers. For instance, you produce a product for $3k, your competitor sells it at $6k, you can decide to sell yours at $4k, and still, make a sustainable profit. However, your margin should be realistic to avoid scaring your prospects.

3. Value-Based Pricing

The revolutionary method of pricing products ensures that you sell value to your customers. Instead of simple math, you should break everything down to create the price. You need to know what value your product offers your customers. Does it have any benefits when you compare it with your competitor's product?

This method also helps you to create products that meet your customers' needs. In the end, even if you value your product higher, the customer will choose to buy from you because of the benefit. That is why you need to discuss the product benefits instead of features. Creating trust among your prospects will compel them to open your eCommerce site and place an order whenever they need any supplies.

Shipping Products

Setting up a website is simple. Making a sale is not a hard task. Your trouble begins when you discover that you have sold an item to someone who is thousands of miles away, and you cannot send the product there because the fees are higher than what they paid for the sale. What do you do?

In case you are not ready for international shipping, ensure that you mention it in your terms. Let your buyers know what to buy and where they can receive it. But to make the whole process more straightforward, you should work with shipping companies, and add a shipping fee to the product for people who are far from your location. Work on it before or while you market your business.

One More Thing

You want to grow your business. To ensure that your eCommerce store has the best performance, you need to learn more and understand your customers and audience. For instance, know where they come from, what information they were looking for when they landed on your products, and much more.

Tools like Google Analytics can help. Social media reports also have valuable information. You can identify your customers by gender, age, device type, and interests. With these insights, you can create products that match your customers' needs and deliver the right content that can generate sales by building your customers' trust.

Summing Up

When you do it well, an eCommerce solution can help you to build your business and grow your brand. Prices alone cannot determine the success of your business but understanding your customers will. Remember not to include your personal needs in the business budget or product price. Let the business build itself, and you manage your needs privately. All the best as you set up an online store for your business.

About the Author

Jenny is a passionate writer & guest blogger. Writing helps her to improve her knowledge, skills & understanding about her industry. She loves to educate her audience about eCommerce business and SEO techniques such as white label link building. Apart from writing, she loves traveling & photography.

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