Everything begins with an business plan. You decide to open an online shop, in view of a specific idea. However, to make this idea concrete, to transform it into a business plan which will eventually bring benefit, you should organize it properly. Even if you are completely new to the computerized world, it is essential that your get up to speed with the trends and practices that will enable you to maintain your business successfully.
If the assets are limited, and you are unlikely to manage the cost of an expert to help you with setting up, you should explore a DIY method, where you would examine and explore each aspect of running an eCommerce website.
Business Plan
Creating a business plan is a document which highlights business goals and strategies on the most proficient method to reach those goals. It also defines the key aspects of starting and creating a business plan. Essentially, it is a guide that will include where you want to go and how to get there. It is a way to describe where you see your business with details about the activities that are needed to reach that destination.
There is no need for a business plan to be long or exhaustive. With this DIY method, you will be creating this plan for yourself, and you need the essentials to keep everything organized. All things considered, nobody will analyze that plan, except for you and people you get involved in the project, so make it concrete and spot on. Focus just on those segments that will help you with defining your vision and determining a set of moves you will make.
Essentials
This part of a business plan should contain basic information about your business. These include:
Your Website
Ideally, your business name should match your website name. Use a tool, for example, this business name generator, and check if a specific website domain name is available. The tool will also demonstrate plenty of alternatives, so even if the name isn’t available, you will get suggestions on which modifications of that name are available.
The fundamental reasons why the website domain should coordinate your business name are the users and the search engines. Initially, users will expect to see your site once they type your company name into the search bar. In case a website with a different name comes up, as a result, they probably won’t consider it to be related.
You should be aware of this expectation when settling on a decision on choosing a business name and registering a website. And secondly, this will also be good for SEO because your business name will be a piece of each URL created on your website.
Logo
Depending on the scale of your business and the budget you have, you could hire a professional designer who might design a logo once you have a business name. Aside from a business name, it is helpful to share some keywords and topics that are associated with the brand, the story behind the name, etc. This helps with the process of creating a logo.
If you prefer DIY method, there are tools to help you out:
Tailor Brands– You will provide a logo name and a short description after which you will be offered a series of example sets where you will choose the one your prefer. This will enable the tool to create a logo tailored to you, after which you can purchase the logo.
Online LogoMaker– Add text, choose images or upload an image, and get started creating your logo. A free logo includes a low-resolution image, while payment is required to download a full resolution logo.
Logomakr– The tool offers low quality + CC license with free logo, while you should pay for high-resolution photo.
LogoShuffle– Provide your business name, trademark, and keywords, select the symbols, textual style categories and change colors to get logo mockups. Shuffle the ready-made designs, and once you locate the one, you can get it.
Business details can include:
- List of competitors
- Social media profiles
- Blogs you can cooperate
Business Name
The business name is the name you choose for your business. The name should eventually become recognizable, distinctive and associated with your business. It will become a piece of your brand. This is the reason determining a business name is a pivotal decision in the business plan. It requires a great deal of reasoning, heaping up the ideas and eventually choosing the correct one.
When it comes to settling on a decision on which business name to choose, it is helpful to know characteristics of a good business name. A good business name should:
- Contain keywords
- Be unique
- Be easy to spell
- Be clear and profession
- Trigger emotions
A good business name should not:
- Be offensive
- Overuse keywords
- Be difficult to spell
The last step is when you choose among the selected few. You might want to consider the supposition of the people who are directly related to your business. Alternatively, you could use A/B testing where you would create two identical landing pages. You could use a tool, for example, LeadPages or Unbounce for this purpose. You would then share the page, gain traffic and examine the performance of a few name varieties.
Product information
The next part of the business plan is focused on your products. Start with defining what you are selling and how you are going to sell.
Product to sell
When you start with developing this business plan, you already have in mind the exact product you are selling. However, what you need to define here are the following things:
Digital or physical products
As a rule, you will either sell digital or physical products. However, when it comes to books or music, you can choose which one to sell, a digital format which is downloadable and instantly available, or a physical product. You can always offer both formats.
Produced product
If you are creating products, you should provide information about the supplies needed, the way you will get supplies and the time required for making those products. Then again, if you are going to purchase products to sell them in your store, you should focus on choosing suppliers. The goal is to get the best product at the best possible cost. Planning these activities in advance helps you remain organized and prepare everything to quickly implement the plan.
Place to sell
Since eCommerce is focused on sales that are conducted online, the essential place to sell products is the internet. However, this does not prevent you from selling disconnected also. Choosing between a physical or a virtual store is simply a matter of how you want to maintain your business. The main difference is that virtual store generally requires less paperwork and organization. This is the reason it is easier to set up an online store.
The main convenience an online store offers is that it very well may be accessed anytime anywhere. There are no impediments regarding space which means that the customer base is a lot wider than when it comes to a physical store. For customers, this means an enormous measure of time saved they would otherwise need to spend searching for items and exploring different shops the whole way across town.
Searching for the desired product has never been easier, with the use of search option offered by every virtual store, enabling a speedy and easy way to search for an item based on the keywords, product name, etc.
Smaller investment
In terms of business owners, a virtual store fundamentally represents a smaller investment. It is a lot cheaper to run a virtual shop because there are no rent costs, no service bills, etc. The main expenses involve web hosting and technical help if you need it. With virtual stores, you can do the majority of the business related to management and handle the sales, which means that the expenses of contracting employees can also be avoided.
You can always decide on an option to run both virtual and physical store. Since there is a huge number of consumers who still prefer that old-school method and are in certainty willing to pay more if they are able to feel the real product before getting, you could open a physical store alongside a virtual one. Being aware of extra costs that a physical store can impose is a good begin to evaluate if you want to maintain this sort of business too.
Investment
Opening any business requires an investment. Even however running an eCommerce business does offer this advantage of being the one that needs a little investment, you will in any case need a certain measure of assets to open and begin running a virtual store. It is helpful to determine the assets you can invest, and after that compare those to the real costs you will have when opening up an eCommerce business.
To help you with calculating the investment needed, let us focus on the costs you will have when opening this sort of business.
Technical support
Albeit running an online store is a more convenient method of commerce in general, despite everything it requires a bit of expertise, especially when it comes to setting up a website, online payments, etc. The expenses here can range a great deal, depending on how simple or complex the system is, just as on what sort of help you will need.
You might be able to handle some bit of the tasks, for example, setting up and advancing a website, however you might want to hire a professional to handle sections with online payments. In case you are not able to set up a website yourself, the expenses here will be greater. Extra expenses can include:
- Photographer for product photos
- Website streamlining expert to improve performance of your website
- Marketing expert to take a shot at promoting your products
- Content writer for product description/blog content
- Executive for taking care of management and customer support
In case you opt for marketplace instead website, you will clearly maintain a strategic distance from a piece of these costs, for example, the domain and hosting. In any case, selling through marketplace for the most part requires a certain fee, that is often calculated as the percentage deducted from the sales.
Product related cost
This section of the investment can vary hugely from business to business. For starters, you might sell products by acquiring them directly from the manufacturer. In this case, you usually do not have to buy the actual products, but instead, you will simply purchase them once you receive an order.
On the other hand, if you make your own products, you will probably need some kind of materials to make them. These costs should all be included in the calculation of your business investment.
When it comes to offering services, you will think about the following:
- Costs related to providing the service
- Who will be handling the service
Create a business plan that features every one of these fields and afterward fill in the expenses you expect to have. Sometimes it isn’t possible to predict the exact expenses yet an approximate value. Then it is always better to calculate a higher value, to be safe. Once you have every one of the values, the aggregate of those is the investment you should begin your business.
These three elements make up a core of the business plan. These are the base from which you will shape a strategy later on. For example, having determined a business name, you would then be able to chip away at social media marketing strategy, by creating online profiles with this name. While a great deal of information is included in these three sections, there are still more aspects of eCommerce website you should have in mind.
Web Domain
The domain is the principal thing you should purchase when setting up a business. The genuine expenses may change depending on the provider, just as on the type of domain extension you choose. The domain is bought yearly, but you can choose between one year, two year or even five-year period. Domain name is sometimes free with a hosting plan, or it can begin from $1 for a yearly plan.
The regular price is for the most part between $10 and $15 per year. If a domain name isn’t available, sometimes it might be offered for a closeout, which means that the price can be a lot higher. This is typically what happens with popular domain names.
Hosting
Hosting is an online storage for your website, and it is the place where your website will be based on. There are many hosting providers on the market, offering hosting packages anywhere from $1 to $3 per month for first-time customers and essential plans. For eCommerce, you will need a hosting that is flexible and can grow as your business grows. When starting your business, you might be prone to choosing a simpler solution and a plan with some constraints.
These plans are typically cheaper, which is great if you are in the phase where you are as yet testing the market and exploring the potential of your business. However, the plan you choose must be easy to upgrade when you recognize that your business needs a more powerful solution, in terms of performance, transfer speed, storage, etc.
The average hosting package is between $10 and $20 per month, depending on the type of plan and hosting provider you choose. More advanced solutions, for example, a virtual private server, a dedicated server, etc. are more expensive and will require greater investment, but surely are something to consider if you are contemplating a major online business.
Benefits of having a business plan
Having a plan of action for any business is always recommended. Here is why:
Time management
We all realize that time is of urgent importance, especially when starting up a business as you will before long become overwhelmed with the number of tasks you will face with. However, if you have a business plan, you will be able to organize your time substantially more efficiently.
Asset distribution
Since a business plan has the information about the estimated costs, this is an excellent reference when pondering your available assets and how you will distribute those.
Unified approach
At long last, a noteworthy benefit you will see with the business plan is the way that you will recognize activities that will require different departments to cooperate. For example, working together with social media department on a special movement can yield great results for your business. Smaller companies might not have departments, but different persons being in charge of those tasks, or even perhaps one person in charge of different sectors.
This is simply a matter of arranging and distributing work, but the fact of the matter is that eCommerce is and should be seen as a part of worldwide business running. Consolidating the power of sectors, for example, online marketing brings more benefits for your business by joining the forces to take a shot at achieving the shared objective.
Asset Distribution
Since a business plan has the information about the estimated costs, this is an excellent reference when thinking about your available assets and how you are going to distribute those.
