Remember how you shopped 10 years ago? Where did you shop your groceries? Where did you get your clothes?
Pioneering e-commerce companies such as Amazon, eBay and Asos have changed the way that we shop and made our lives considerably easier.
E-commerce. What is it really?
Let’s take a step back and start from the basics. E-commerce might sound like a fancy word but all it really means is buying and selling online.
E-Commerce has several types (link for another article):
- C2C (Customer to Customer): An example of this is Etsy; Etsy is an online marketplace where customers trade with each other, therefore, customers sell to customers.
- B2C (Business to Customer): An online supermarket or Asos is an example is a B2C business model since a business sells to customers.
- B2B (Business to Business): Say, Starbucks buys its coffee beans from another company, therefore, the transaction occurs between two businesses.
These are just a few of the several types of e-commerce that exist. The overall idea is that the kind of e-commerce depends on who sells and who buys.
Why shift to e-commerce?
It is undeniable that we live in a digital world. The recent pandemic has proved that anything and everything can be done remotely over the internet. E-Commerce is growing rapidly, and in the next five years, it is expected to grow by around 50% in Europe.
“At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years… if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.”
– John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco Systems
Digitization is indeed a vital step towards more a successful, or may I say up-to-date customer experience. Apart from that, an online shop allows you to grow your customer base since you will be attracting a wider range of audience from all around the world. Needless to say that the cost of e-commerce is much lower than that of a physical store.
You’ve decided that you want to sell online. Great! What’s next?
You’ve taken the step towards establishing an online platform. Wise decision, well done you! Here, I’ll walk you through the 3 steps of building an online store.
- Domain Name:
Online success starts with a catchy domain (link for another article). A domain name is simply the name that you give to your website. For example, take a look at the following link:
www.cybeem.com/home
The domain here is cybeem.com. The rest is just part of the URL called “path”.
Domain names are available in lots of different extensions including .org, .cy, .org, .net and it is up to you to decide which extension you’d like to use.
- Web Hosting Provider
You will then need a web hosting provider. Simply put, if the domain name is your web address of your website, then a hosting provider is the home in which your website lives. In other words, a web hosting provider allows you to make your website accessible via the world wide web.
- Professional Email Address
Customer Service is perhaps one of the most critical factors for success. I’m sure you’d like your email addresses to reflect professionalism and reliability. So, let me revert the question to you. Which email out of the two would you feel most comfortable contacting if you wanted to hire cybeem’s services?
Using your domain name to create a professional email address (link for another article) adds value to your brand image and probably contributes to your business success.
You’re all set up. How do you reach and engage with your customers?
First and foremost, you will need inventory management software that will help you track inventory levels, orders, sales and deliveries.
Secondly, once you are sorted out with your stock and inventories you will need to promote your website using various digital marketing tactics and strategies (link for another article). In short, these methods include SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, etc.
Did the above steps help you with creating an online store? Let us know if you have any questions.
