eCommerce Platforms and Stores: Here’s How to Get Yours Started!

You’ve got an amazing product. It’s time to bring it to the people. The best way to do that? Starting an online store.

In fact, the Small Business Administration notes that a massive 64% of all retail transactions happen online. Setting up your store on one of the many e-commerce platforms available to you is the first step in being a part of that statistic.

Take a look at our brief guide to getting started on one of these e-commerce platforms:

1. Set Your Price

Pricing is a complicated process that some people spend years in college studying. Most small business owners don’t have the time or the capital to dedicate learning everything there is to know about pricing models. Fortunately, it’s unnecessary with a little bit of research.

It’s all about finding the sweet spot between underpricing and overpricing. If you underprice, you’ll likely sell a lot of product, but you run the risk of barely breaking even. Overprice, and you’ll struggle to make sales. To get the price right, take into account:

• The cost of materials
• The cost of running your store
• Shipping
• The percentage that credit card companies take from each sale
• How much you’d like to make from your product (profit)

Spend some time checking out competing products, especially if they’d had success with sales. Pricing in a similar range, then making your product stand out with some creative marketing, is a great way to set your initial price point.

2. Create Your Brand

If you haven’t already, it’s time to get a little creative with your brand. Choose a domain name that’s fun and memorable. You’ll want it to be something that customers will have an easy time talking about, tweeting about, and posting about! Avoid domain names like superstar19492 or buythisstuff34930. Neither of those names are easy to remember (and they’re not very creative, either).

Be sure that the colors and slogans make customers want to buy your product. Use online resources like a color palette generator to ensure that everything looks aesthetically pleasing. You can even get some help with your slogan using a slogan generator!

3. Choose and Assemble Your eCommerce Platform

We’ve put together a list of some of the most popular eCommerce websites, along with their features. Check that out if you’re interested in learning more about choosing the right platform. Once you’ve made a decision, you can start designing.