You don’t have to live under a rock or in a pineapple under the sea to know that shopping, and e-commerce especially, have shifted phenomenally in the wake of the pandemic. With consumer habits adapting to the at-home experience and brick-and-mortar retail stores closing, the e-commerce landscape has experienced exponential growth. Take a look at this for reference:
- Almost half of all global purchases are made online
- Consumers spent $861.12 billion online with U.S. merchants alone
- Last year, e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 4.28 trillion USD
Why not hop on this wave of growth? It’s something more folks are becoming intrigued by. So, whether you’re thinking of starting an e-commerce business or have an existing in-person retail store that you want to bring online, you might like some guidance before you begin the journey. We’ve got you:
1. Do yourself and your brand justice and find a niche you love
There are a lot of steps when it comes to creating a successful e-commerce brand, but sometimes it’s best to be a little less ambitious in the beginning and focus on the most pragmatic elements of your business. For example, what are you going to be selling?
Figuring that out can be an adventure in and of itself. Sometimes the question gets to people so much in the brainstorming process that they’re dissuaded from starting their business. Other times, people are so eager to get out there that they end up selling products in oversaturated markets with a lot of competitors already in the game. So, what can you do differently?
Well, just zero in on a niche that you love. It can be as simple as making a list of potential products that you’d enjoy selling. Think about what your friends, colleagues, and, most importantly, you’d be interested in buying. Then, focus on that. For even more creative input and firepower, consider checking out a few selling sites like Etsy, Pinterest, or even Instagram. Once you’ve chosen your niche, put in some research to make sure that there’s enough demand for what you want to sell. As a starter idea, you can perform a quick keyword search to see which brands or products are out there.
2. Bring quality and create value with your brand
Let’s say you’ve already pinpointed the niche you want to house your brand under and the products you want to sell. Now it’s time to get curious. Take a product similar to one of the ones you’ll be selling and ask yourself one question: What is one thing you can change about it that’s going to make it better? It can be the price, design, color, functionality, and so much more. But just focus on one at a time.
Become the brand that finds solutions to existing problems and makes improved products. To start, look over reviews of the products that you want to sell. Take note of frequently mentioned product pain points, use what you find as free market research, and implement it when creating your own brand.
3. Focus enough energy on SEO
Next to making your brand appealing to customers, making your website appealing to search engines is one of the most important things you can do. And the best way to do that? SEO.
Let me paint a picture real quick. Let’s say one random Thursday you get curious about a parachute made entirely from recycled water bottles. So, what do you do? Run a Google search to see if it exists, of course. After typing in the search terms, you start to explore the results that come up—and you’re not alone in that. For a lot of people, a quick search is where they begin their shopping journey.
Knowing that, here are a few pointers to assist you with optimizing your SEO so that your products and services come up towards the top of that list of search results:
- Do some keyword and competitor research for the simple reason that targeting the wrong keywords can ruin campaigns by generating few conversions and low-quality traffic. And who wants that? To assist with this stage of SEO optimization, try using tools like Ubersuggest.
- When you identify keywords that’ll rank well within Google or other search engines, include them throughout your product pages for visibility’s sake.
- Use and submit your website to Google Search Console to get assistance with measuring your site’s search traffic and performance.
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Building a blueprint for your eCommerce business is only the start, but having a solid idea of where you’re going before you start the journey is a great idea. When in doubt, Purply can assist with this navigation through tools like recruitment, commission recommendations, and more.
