An online store is the need of the hour, no matter what you sell, and no matter your business size. If you are already running an offline business or planning to start one – an online setup is essential today. Customers of all demographics shop online, that's why your exclusive collection may miss out on the audience for whom they are meant for. If you are someone wondering how to setup an online store to get better results from your business, you are on the correct page! Setting up an online business is not a big deal today – let us guide you thoroughly.

How To Setup An Online Store?

Here are the step-by-step instructions to setup an online store:

Step 1: Understand What To Sell And Whom To Sell

In case, you are already running a business, this step is not required for you. But, if you are starting a fresh one, you need to spend sufficient time in deciding the niche, its profitability, and its target audience because the market is highly competitive. You either have to tap an untapped market or you can enter any popular market with a product that stands out from the rest.

To sell something online, consider the products or industries you feel familiar with. Now,

• Research the best companies in that industry and how profitable they are
• Check their business plan
• Analyse their best-selling product
• Identify the consumers of the products
• Check out other trending products of that industry

Once you get an idea of the buyers, check their demographics, analyse the buyers' journey, and create a buyer persona, to begin with.

Step 2: Work On Your Business Structure, Choose A Business Model, And Create A Business Plan

Based on the industry and complexity of the business, you need to form a legal business structure and create a business plan. Since it is your business you have to decide whether you want your business as a private limited company, sole proprietorship, partnership business, limited liability company (LLC), joint venture, or a one-person company (OPC).

All these are popular structures in India – you have to pick one and as per your selection you have to hire people. And then, decide their roles and stakes in the business and complete the paperwork accordingly. Now, select what kind of business you want to do: B2B, B2C, D2C, or any other.

After these, you along with your team have to develop a business plan by conducting:

• SWOT analysis
• Industry gap
• Competitor analysis
• Cost analysis
• Market analysis

Step 3: Source The Product

As the team is formed and the niche is already decided, it is time to determine the product line and source the products. Decide it with your team and source the product by connecting with local vendors, dropshipping partners, or wholesalers.

Otherwise, you may get in touch with the manufacturer directly to source the products at a lower cost.

Step 4: Decide The Brand Name, Complete Business Registration And Get The Domain

Now, move one step ahead by working on the brand and getting the registration. For this,

• Create or outsource designers for a brand logo
• Choose brand colours and fonts
• Complete business registration and get GSTIN and business PAN
• Get the licenses and permits (if any)
• Now purchase the domain name

In case, you already have a business, you can start by getting the domain.

Step 5: Choose The eCommerce Platform To Design Your Store And Upload Inventories

The next step is to select an eCommerce platform (where your online store will remain) and design it. You can select a platform based on your requirements – in some platforms, it is easy to setup an online store; however, some platforms require in-depth knowledge of coding.

Based on your capacity and requirements as well as the offerings and security of the platform, you have to pick a platform. Now, customize the store by choosing the templates, themes, and layouts of your choice. Once everything is ready, upload the inventories one by one. Make sure that your inventories have:

• 1. A descriptive title under the heading tag and a meta description
• 2. A description with bullet/number points
• 3. HD images from different angles with image alts
• 4. Price and discount (if any)
• 5. CTAs
• 6. Review section

At the time of designing, keep one thing in mind - the site must not be heavy – it should be responsive enough to load within a second because buyers hate slow pages. Design should be visually appealing, yet simple. Also, easy navigation is another must-have.

Step 6: Find A Shipment Solution

Now, collaborate with a shipping company, so that you can timely deliver the products as soon as you start getting orders. Check out their plans and mention the shipping charges for the products in your store.

Step 7: Integrate A Payment Solution For Smooth Checkouts And Make Your Store Live

Buyers prefer smooth checkouts after online shopping, so, integrating a payment gateway is essential because buyers who prefer to shop online would like to pay online too. So, select a payment solution that offers diverse payment options and ensures easy payments for your buyers. Once the payment gateway integration is complete, make the store live.

Step 8: Join The Popular Marketplaces

Some selling guides, you may find interesting

• How to sell on Flipkart?
• How to sell on Amazon?
• How to be a Meesho supplier?
• How to Sell On Myntra?
• How to sell on Instagram?
• Livestream selling
• Flipkart or Amazon - which is better for sellers?

Step 9: Optimize And Promote Your Store

It's now time to tell the world about the store. So, you can synchronize your online store with social media pages to promote it. Also, you will need to work on SEO and optimize your store with strong and relevant keywords. For promotions, you can:

1. Join the communities
2. Go live
3. Interact with customers
4. Share updates on new products
5. Share tutorials and backstories
6. Reshare customer reviews and unboxing videos
7. Announce special discounts and contests
8. Email marketing
9. Loyalty programs

Step 10: Go For Paid Promotions

Initially, you may skip the paid promotions as a decent investment is required here, but later on, you have to consider it. Go for influencer collaboration, ad campaigns, celebrity endorsements, etc. to boost your sales to a great extent.

Why Should You Setup An Online Store?

The simple reason is buyers want online stores - it is easy and accessible for them to shop from. Buyers are the heart and soul of a business – so, you have to provide what buyers want.

What Generally Goes Wrong When Merchants Try To Setup An Online Store?

Merchants often hurriedly create their online store, as a result, it may not perform the way it should. So, devote yourself in planning and research to pick the ideal product for the ideal market.

Store designing is a complex task – you may consider outsourcing it. Shipping and customer service are two important pillars of an online store – many merchants provide poor fulfillment and customer service – be sure you are not among them.

And customer requirements may change from time to time – so your store must evolve accordingly by adding and eliminating features.

Setup An Online Store and Embrace More Profits

Today, an online shop is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity even for entry-level businesses from small cities. From small towns and tier 2 cities, online businesses receive 60% of their orders. And we can expect further growth in this percentage in the coming days. Indeed, offline stores are there, and this will remain in the future, but for people who cannot access these offline stores, online ones are the only solutions – with these stores, you can tap a bigger market. So, you can start your journey and embrace a good amount of profit from your business just by setting up an online store.