Guest post by Peter Minkoff
This is an era of online shoppers. Following the TV-shopping craze of the 90s, when so called “armchair shoppers” ruled supreme, ordering every home improvement convenience with a remote in one hand and a phone in the other.
However, today’s online shopper evokes an image of a dynamic, sociable person who pursues his or her goals, with little time to stroll down the aisles with a shopping cart, or go bargain hunting, for that matter.
Understanding its advantages, more and more people are turning to online shopping. If you are in retail business or trying to develop a successful career in that field, you need an online shop as soon as possible.
Online store - reflection of your personality
In a nutshell, it needs to be perfect, even if you are not. More accurately, it needs to get perfect over time. When you open it will be far from perfect, but there is a much that you can do to make it look promising.The foundation needs to be sound, and everything else will change and evolve as the store grows. Shoppers’ feedback has a lot to do with it, as well.
Humble beginning
You live in a very lucky decade. Only ten years ago, you would probably have to hire a developer who would build the website on your preferences. And sometimes, that is a process that lasts almost infinitely.Nowadays, there are dozens of sites offering you to build your own ecommerce online store with templates and a range of settings. For a monthly fee, it is only a bit more complicated than creating a Facebook media account.
Choose a website builder
Basically, you are looking for a company that is flexible and capable of keeping pace with the growth of your business. Shopify, Bigcommerce, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix are among the most popular ones, each with their own set of benefits and shortcomings.The version 1.0 of your store needn’t be perfect. The most important thing is to start as soon as possible and start collecting feedback, testing your ideas to see what will do and what don’t. And of course, as you make changes towards better, your store will get more traffic as well.
Market-thing
One of the biggest advantages of an online store that you should exploit is that it gives you access to immeasurably larger customer pool than any brick & mortar store can provide.However, if you are not advertising aggressively, only visitors would be those who stumble upon it. Besides fully engaging the social media presence and creating an army of followers, you need to keep your store hot by offering giveaways, discounts and Paytm coupons.
Website is a tool, not business
You are the main driving force behind your store, and not the online presentation. Those store building websites should work for you, to paint your idea into reality.If one online store builder fails your expectations, it doesn’t mean that your business has failed. Simply try another one, till you find one that is on the same page as you.
Don’t let the details slow your decisions. The advantages of an online store vastly outnumber the shortcomings. When you establish a connection with your customers, you only need to listen to them and give them what they want, for an extra fee, of course.
Peter is a lifestyle writer located in Brisbane, Australia. After graduating from Australian Institute of Creative Design, he worked as a trend forecaster and as a freelance writer for few local newspapers in Brisbane. Beside writing, he loves shopping, cooking exotic meals and travelling around tropical destinations. He’s future plans are in creating his personal lifestyle blog about everyday life-saving tips.
