Daneswood
Exeter Web Design and Digital Marketing Agency - we've built over 900 websites for businesses, charities and public bodies. We specialise in Web development, eCommerce, Digital marketing, Branding, Positioning, Design and Print. Based in Exeter, in Devon, we have clients across the UK. Contact us for help making your marketing more effective.
Step by Step guide
Starting an online retail store is daunting for most, this is usually due to unfamiliarity of the process as to how it all works. We’ve put together a step by step guide to make this process easier for you to understand.
Step 1 – Business plan
You wouldn’t just start a business without having any background knowledge, so you need to ensure that you have an understanding of your wants and needs and what you ultimately wish to achieve from your business. You need to create the framework of what you want to happen and the goals you want to achieve.
Step 2 – Business Structure
You’ll need to choose a business structure that gives you the right balance and benefits of legal protection.
Step 3 – Products
Now onto the fun stuff! Once you’ve got the initial steps sorted, the next stage is to choose the products you want to sell, you need to work out how these products will get manufactured, the costs, sizes, colours, quantity and how you’ll distribute the products. You need to take everything to do with the product into consideration and plan accordingly.
Step 4- Bar Codes
Once you’ve figured out how you’re going to get your product manufactured, you have a contract with a supplier and a distribution company then you’re ready for this step! To legally sell products online you need to have UPC bar codes for each and every item. With regards to purchasing your bar codes, you can simply do this by ordering them online.
Step 5 – Product Storage
The question is where are you going to keep all these products? You will need to establish a decent sized warehouse, but this can be very expensive. Luckily many companies will store and ship your products as the orders come in which is a great alternative to renting a warehouse and thus making it more cost effective.
Step 6 – Choosing your Domain Name and Building a Site
Before getting your site up and running you’ll need to purchase a domain name. Once you have done this you can get in contact with us to come up with a tailor made e-commerce website.
Step 7 – Launching Your Site
WOOHOO, your site is finished and ready to launch. The question is how are you going to let people know about your site? We 100% suggest digital marketing – SEO, AdWords, email marketing and social media to help push your online presence. After your site has launched it’s a good idea to keep investing in digital marketing as in the long run it should be very profitable.