Here is what you need to know

The number of digital buyers across the globe now totals up to 1.66 billion. It is expected to reach 2.14 billion by 2021, according to various industrial sources. Such a huge market is worth targeting, but do you know what it takes to sell your products online through your ecommerce website?

Have you decided on your web hosting service and domain name?

Do you have any idea how various payment gateways work?

Things can get quite confusing and even scary, especially if you are trying to start an ecommerce website for the first time. Seek the help of a professional online store builder that can make it seem like an absolute cake walk.

But before you hire a professional ecommerce website builder, you must understand what you are getting into, and this is what this article is about.

When it comes to setting up your business online, there are four main challenges – Technology, Marketing Support, Payment Processing, and Logistics.

Technological challenges pertain to the medium through which you would be reaching out to your target audience – your website, your dashboard and your back-end operations. With smartphones holding more than 57% of the share of retail website visits share across the world, you may want to focus on mobile users while designing your website. With Adaan as your ecommerce website builder, this challenge can be well-taken care of.

Next comes marketing support. You may have to figure out how to drive traffic to your website and convert your visitors into your customers. It is all about the kind of digital marketing strategy you adopt. At Adaan, we can help you come up with a perfect ecommerce solution after assessing your requirements and goals.

Third one is payment processing, which is all about figuring out the different payment modes and gateways that you have to establish at your business ecommerce website. This depends mainly on the preferences of your target audience. Ideally, you should be giving them all the options – net banking, mobile wallet, credit/debit card etc.

The last challenge is logistics. Once the purchases are made, the items would have to be delivered. You may therefore have to make arrangements for shipping your products. If ‘Cash on Delivery’ is one of your payment modes, you may have to figure out how you would receive your payment.

Here are a few tips that you would want to follow, to make sure things go smooth with the setting up of your ecommerce website:

Have a detailed business plan

Planning is one of the most important things when it comes to opening an online store. You may have to cover every aspect of your business, come up with a fool-proof strategy, and decide on the platform on which you would be developing and launching your ecommerce website.

Understand every aspect of your business

A thorough understanding of your business and your products / services is crucial for the success of your online store. You will have to gain complete knowledge about the requirements and preferences of your target audience. You will also have to do a thorough competition analysis before you step into the market. This includes comparing your ecommerce website with that of your competitors, figuring out their advertising and customer-service strategies, and getting details about their pricing.

Engage with your customers

Providing exceptional customer experience is the key to the success of any online business. This requires you to understand your customer expectations, which is best done by engaging with your customers through various social media platforms. Step into their shoes, figure out what they are looking for, and see how best you can serve them to increase their loyalty towards your business.

Promote your Ecommerce website

Unless you start promoting your ecommerce website you cannot expect to drive sales. Here are a few simple things you can do to promote your online store:

• Link up your website with your Facebook profile
• Enable social sharing for your products, so that your customers can share them on their social media profiles.
• Add your customers to your email marketing lists so that you can notify them about your new products or offers.

Surviving and becoming profitable in the online space is only getting tougher by the year. If you are waiting for the right time to launch your ecommerce website, the time is now. Get in touch with us to find out how to go about.