Strategy for starting an online store from scratch

Now I will share the steps that, in my opinion, allow you to launch an online store with minimal costs and risks.

Online store as a business

Is online shopping a business? Many people think so, but not me.

My opinion is: to consider an online store as one of the types of business is a big conceptual mistake that can ruin all your initiatives in the bud.

After all, what is a business?

Business is, first and foremost, creating a product, shaping why customers will come to you at all and what they will pay money for: assortment, prices, service, and so on.

And the online store is just a virtual showcase that allows, with a certain degree of relative convenience, to study the goods, their photos, descriptions, specifications, collect the goods in the basket and place an order.

Many people think that an online store is a way to start a business with minimal investment. I do not agree with this. An online store is not such a small amount of work related to laying out the assortment, its description on the site, preparing photos, studying a niche, which is necessary for remote customer consultation.

The total cost of the average online store is commensurate with the opening of the outlet, and given the fact that the former requires a number of specific skills, it is possible to open the outlet will be much easier.

However, there are a few buts:

1. An online store can be opened without long lease agreements, without repair of premises and equipment. An online store can be done “on the knee”, if a niche is really in demand, then there will be sales, and then you can refine the business. This can significantly reduce the risks and costs at the start. That is, an online store can still be launched with less investment.
2. You can delegate almost all the work of opening an online store to someone else, for example, to me. And no matter where you are physically. But you will need to open the outlet, most likely, yourself.
3. I believe that even physical points should have an online store. And why not start your business with the Internet?

To summarize: an online store is just a showcase, just one of many ways to demonstrate your product range to customers, a method that has its advantages, for example, the ability to significantly reduce costs and risks at the start of a business, as well as objective disadvantages, including related with limited coverage (most sales are still made offline).