E-Commerce for Product Businesses

Your WSI Guide

You have a fantastic product. You know there are plenty of customers who will love it…if they buy it. How do you reach them and manage the sales process? Like starting any business, an e-commerce business requires setting it up, launching the company, and then maintaining the website or platform on an ongoing basis. That often means having a team of professionals to help you. Let’s break down some of the steps and processes involved.

What Goes into the Process of Establishing an E-Commerce Business?

To start an e-commerce business and sell online, consider the following necessary steps. These are just the basic first steps and things you need to keep in mind as you work to build your business. Our team can help you manage most of the process for you.

• Establish your business idea. Before you go further, be sure you have some basic business research completed, such as determining a viable, profitable product, completing market research to understand profit margins and pricing, and having a resource for purchasing the product or manufacturing it.
• Determine what steps you’ll handle. Do you want to just sell a product that someone else manufactures? If that is the case, you may need to plan on holding inventory or allowing a third-party company to do this for you. Some companies will store and ship product directly to your customers.
• Where do you wish to sell? Some businesses simply want to sell on virtual marketplaces such as Amazon, which is just one avenue. You could choose numerous other marketplaces, including eBay and Etsy. Another option is to establish your own website to sell product directly to the customer.
• Create your online storefront. No matter which platform you decide to use, you’ll need to create a storefront that lets customers browse products, read about them, and purchase them. You may wish to choose from several platforms, such as Wix, Shopify, Amazon, or another, that have pre-designed templates for you to get your store set up quickly.
• Add your products to your site. Just like stocking the shelves in a retail store, you need to load your products to your website, provide pricing, and set up shipping. Your website, depending on the selling platform you select, can handle the entire purchase process, including shipping. This includes providing a full e-commerce fulfillment strategy.
• Set up your marketing. This is also something your e-commerce platform could do. In all cases, you need to think about email marketing, newsletters, digital marketing strategies for SEO and pay-per-click ads, and social media. E-commerce marketing can be highly effective at drawing people to your site and selling to them once they get there.

Choose a Custom E-Commerce Model

There’s quite a bit to think about, and while it may seem overwhelming, it’s not something you have to do on your own. Let the team at WSI help you to establish your online sales and work to build out your site using effective digital marketing strategies. We can work with you to design just the right e-commerce marketing channel for your business based on your goals, brand, and customers. Learn more about why WSI is your best bet.

Call us at 713-338-3488 to learn more about e-commerce website design and digital marketing strategies, or contact us online to book a digital strategy consultation.

About the Author

James R Alexander, Digital Marketing Strategist, OMCP, PE, MBA at Expert WSI eMarketing, General Manager for Expert WSI eMarketing’. He and this office are an integral part of WSI’s global team.