8 Profitable Ways to Start Online Retail Business Today

The most common obstacle that business owners face is unfamiliarity with the process. They are attempting to figure out how to start an online retail business. So, here are 8 simple steps to learning how to start an online retail business.

What Is Online Retailing?

What is online retailing? Online retailing is a method for customers to search for, select, and purchase products, services, and information remotely via the Internet. Online retailer meaning is the retailers sell items online. Some online retail business examples like Tentree, William Abraham, and SoYoung.

Read also: 12 Facts How to Make Your Online Business Successful 100%

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Retailing

Before deciding whether or not to trade online, you should carefully consider all of the benefits and disadvantages, supported by thorough market research.

Advantages

The advantages of online retailing and services include:

1. Easy market access – In many ways, entrepreneurs’ market access has never been easier. Online marketplaces enable anyone to create a simple online shop and sell products in minutes. Consider making a business shop online on marketplaces.
2. Reduced overheads – selling online eliminates the need for costly retail premises and customer-facing personnel, allowing you to invest in better marketing and customer experience on your e-commerce site.
3. Selling on the internet means that traditional constraints to retail growth, such as finding and paying for larger items, are no longer major factors. You can respond and boost growing sales with a good digital marketing strategy and a plan to scale up order fulfillment systems.
4. Expand your market / export – One significant advantage over traditional retailers is the ability to quickly expand your market beyond local customers. You may discover that there is a high demand for your products in other countries, which you can meet through targeted marketing, offering your website in a different language, or possibly partnering with an overseas company. 
5. Customer intelligence is the ability to use online marketing tools to target new customers and website analysis tools to gain insight into the needs of your customers. 

Disadvantages

Some disadvantages of online retail include:

1. Website costs – creating, hosting, securing, and maintaining a professional e-commerce website isn’t cheap, especially if you expect high and growing sales volumes.
2. Infrastructure costs – even if you are not paying for customer-facing premises, you must consider the costs of physical space for order fulfillment, warehousing goods, dealing with returns, and staffing for these tasks. 
3. Security and fraud – if you do not invest in cutting-edge security systems to protect your website and transaction processes, your company’s reputation could suffer fatally. 
4. Legal issues – Understanding e-commerce and the law can be difficult, and you’ll need to be aware of, and plan for, the additional customer rights that come with online sales.
5. Customer trust – establishing a trusted brand name can be difficult, especially without a physical business with a track record and face-to-face interaction between customers and sales staff.

How to Start Online Retail Business

Starting online retail business is not enough by only choosing an online retail business model. Here is how to start online retail business.

Find a Market Need to Fill

You have a lot of options when it comes to starting an online retail business. Before you get started, make sure there is a market demand for the products you want to sell. This research may appear time-consuming at first, but it is an essential part of discovering good online retail business ideas.

There are numerous places where you can conduct market research to validate market demand for your ideas and get ideas for new ones. Here are a few suggestions:

• Trends on Google.
• Google Keyword Planner.
• Keyword Surfer is a Google Chrome extension.

Get to Know Your Target Audience

What is more difficult is determining how to locate potential customers, entice them to visit your online store, and convert them into paying customers. It all begins with a thorough understanding of who your ideal customer is.

The most important thing to comprehend is your customers’ pain points and needs. Once you’ve identified these, you’ll be able to ensure that your online retail business truly relieves those pains and meets those needs.

Facebook’s Audience Insights tool is an incredible resource, with a wealth of user data and targeting capabilities to help you quickly find your ideal customers – even down to the Facebook pages they like.

Research Business Logistics and Requirements

While it’s wonderful to fantasize about your online retail business opportunities, you must also ground those fantasies in reality.

Before you can be certain that your idea will work, you must consider several factors. Conduct some research to ensure that you understand all of the laws, regulations, resources, and logistics surrounding your store concept.

Write a Business Plan

A business plan for an online retail store is required. Making an online retail business plan will ensure that you are considering all of the important factors and planning for them appropriately.

It’s also a great way to hold yourself accountable and set goals for yourself. When you lay everything out, you’ll be able to tell if you’re on the right track or if you need to make some adjustments along the way.

Read also: What Is Business Model Canvas? Complete Guide Is Here!

Find a Manufacturer or Supplier

If you want to make online retail stores clothing and create your own products, you’ll need to find a trustworthy and reliable manufacturer. Keep the following factors in mind as you consider your options:

1. Domestic vs. overseas manufacturers: Many online retailers choose overseas manufacturers to save money. However, keep in mind that shipping times will lengthen and quality may suffer as a result.
2. Ask the following questions: When you find a manufacturer for your online retail business, ask them any questions you have. You should also read their reviews and see if you can speak with any other customers who left positive or negative.

Develop a Brand

Your customer relationships are held together by design and branding. It’s easy to think of branding as the final step – but it isn’t. It should be something you consider while writing your business plan and before you start building your company. Use this checklist to help you with your branding:

• Create a killer logo that distinguishes your brand while remaining simple and clean.
• Captivate your visitors’ attention with eye-catching visuals such as product photography and illustrations.
• Copywriting that speaks to your audience’s likes, needs, and wants can help you connect and build relationships.

Build Your Online Retail Store

Here’s a list of things you should include in your online store to make successful online retail business:

• For each item you sell, create unique and engaging product descriptions.
• Lovely product images for each item you sell.
• Killer landing pages, such as your website’s homepage and the pages visitors are directed to when they click on your advertisements and other marketing materials
• Terms and conditions, privacy policy, shipping policy, and return policy are all legal requirements.
• Establish shipping considerations such as rates and zones.
• Make online retail business code for every item you sell.
• Set up the payment gateways and checkout page.

Create a Marketing Plan

The next step is to attract customers to your store. Your marketing budget can range from nearly nothing to thousands of dollars. There are plenty of low-cost and free ways to get exposure for your brand if you’re bootstrapping your business and hoping to start an online store with no money. You can try email marketing, influencer marketing, or social media marketing.

Conclusion

The most important thing to remember as you take the leap is that it will take time and effort to achieve your goals. To be honest, you’re likely to fail in some way, or in several ways. However, as long as you maintain a growth, learning, and resilience mindset, you will be well on your way to success.

Join Ginee Philippines!

If you just started retail online business, you can use Ginee Philippines to help you manage your online stores registered in marketplaces or ecommerces. Ginee can help to manage products, stocks, orders, promotions, chats, and more. Join Ginee Omnichannel for free now!