It’s the business! This is the easiest way to set up your own online store…

SAM | 25th March 2019

 

Starting an online store has never been easier. There are so many possibilities that it has opened up a lot of new opportunities for entrepreneurs.

 

Learning to start your online store is all about changing the way you think. Many people are held back because they have limited financial resources.

 

But today’s “on-demand” world enables starting up a business without the need for a huge investment. In fact, you can start an online store without any inventory. For example, using one of the many on-demand print companies is a good place to start.

 

Use Print-on-Demand to Start your Online Store

 

Print on demand models are becoming more and more popular with people looking to open an online shop. Technology has paved the way for great opportunities. You can design unique and fully customisable products and have them available as print-on-demand. Here’s how it works:

 

  • You design a product that you want to make available in your online shop.
  • Place the product on your website for your customers to order.
  • When the customer places an order, that order is sent directly to the print-on-demand service.
  • The provider will print and ship the product directly to your client.

Add additional Products or Services

 

Apart from your own designs, you might want to offer a broader range of products to improve the probabilities you will sell. A wider range also gives more cross sell opportunities, for example through fitting accessories.

 

Basically you can add any product that will suit your target group. For example, if you sell your own design t-shirts, you might want to add hats or socks in the same style. Additionally you might want to add top seller standard t-shirts. These could be basic colored shirts or shirts with popular prints or slogans.

 

The best way is to check the available products with your on-demand provider and of course it also helps to have a look at top sellers at competitor webs. Many web shops have a list of their top products, which might give inspiration to create your own version of it.

 

Of course you can also offer other product ranges that might suit with your target group. Some on-demand print companies even offer the possibility to store stock with them, so they can take care of picking, packing and sending your whole product range.

 

How to Get Started

 

Starting an online business always follows the same proven steps. Fortunately, the blueprint for success has already been laid out. It’s just a matter of filling in the blanks with your own unique ideas.

 

Start by finding a need and creating a solution for it. The most successful ideas all solve a very specific problem. What is a common problem that you see in the world that your skillset can solve?

 

Another way to look at it is thinking in target groups. Who will be your ideal buyer persona and what do you think he would like to buy? Or, which kind of products do you like? Create an original selection of it and surely there will be more people with the same taste.

 

After defining your target group and product range, you will need to bring your product to the market. The first step is finding a provider that can deliver your products on demand, like print on-demand or dropshipping. The next step is creating your website, which should be attractive, give confidence and contain all necessary information on products and order process.

 

Several on-demand providers will be offer you a web solution that integrates with their order preparation and delivery process.

 

Promote your products

 

Once your products and website are taken care of, you can start selling. Here creativity comes in! There are lots of online tutorials on how to promote products with limited budgets.

 

The best way is to start testing several marketing channels with small budgets. This will give you an idea of the costs involved in selling a product and which channels work best for your products. The goal is to find the golden formula that will enable you to grow sales in a profitable way.

 

It is also important to be able to connect with your target group, to build a relation, to generate trust, to test demand and to create a basis for sales. Social media are great channels with a large reach. Make sure you use the channel that fits most with your target group. There is no point being in all channels if you are just starting, as managing social media in a good manner requires an effort.

 

Other channels that work well for online shops are paid search, affiliate marketing and email marketing. On the long run it could be wise to invest in SEO, organic visibility, but to jump start your business paid search is a good way to begin.

 

Finally, make sure you follow up with your customers. Build an email list of previous customers and offer them for example new product information and follow up deals. It is usually cheaper to get orders from repeat customers, than finding new customers.