New year, new progress; not only for you but also for your business! It is not an easy task for you because it has many demands for a website owner. However, e-commerce is a potentially successful business, as long as you will execute the website thoroughly.

Building a website for your e-commerce business is not just thinking of a name, creating a visual branding, introducing your products, and more. So, sit back and continue reading this article because we will show you nine different steps on how to start your own profitable and useful e-commerce website this upcoming 2019.

Step 1: Pick your product

If you want to start an e-commerce business, most likely you have a product or service in mind. It may be a handcrafted product you made, a service you are passionate about, or a product that you bought at wholesale prices.

Before picking the final product or service you will offer, you need to research if the goods will be useful. Also, you need to know if there's an existing market for your product.

If there's a significant potential for your product, then you need to obtain the product or ready your services. For products, you should be prepared for knowing the acquisition of your products and ensure that it will not negatively affect your business.

Step 2: Put a Price on It

After knowing the goods that you will sell, you should start working on their pricing. It can be difficult to understand the right pricing where you would not be losing money in the process. There are different things to consider in identifying your pricing. All of these are seen in your overall business finances. You need to look at the cost of your goods, your website technicalities, taxes and shipping fees, marketing costs, and other fees when it comes to cashless payments by the customers.

Also, consider when setting your prices to look at your competition's prices on the same product. With this, you can have a basis on how to become competitive with your expenses.

Step 3: Find the Best Commercial Model for you

You are now done choosing the right product and price. Next, you need to know your overall business model. Sales from online stores are expected to rise in 2020 by 78%, according to eCommerceCEO. There are four different e-commerce business models you can choose from:

Business-to-Business (B2B) – focuses on supplying products from one business to another. Some examples are software companies, furniture suppliers, and even web hosting companies.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) – focuses on the supplying of product from a business to a consumer. This is what many people think of e-commerce business. It is also regarded as a traditional retail framework.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) – this kind of business model is seen in different online shopping platforms, such as eBay, where customers sell products and services to other customers.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B) – in this model, individuals can sell products and services to companies and businesses who need it.

Step 4: Spy on your competition

After you decide the right overall business model for your e-commerce. Next, you need to research on your different potential and established competition. You need to observe their site and analyze every move they are doing with their business.

After researching your competition, you can now integrate the effective techniques they are doing to your business plan. Another idea is to include some of their practices and incorporate your branding into it.

Step 5: Start Setting up your Site

Now, you will set up your site. The first thing to do should be having a clear picture of your e-commerce business. You should also have complete details about your goods. Next is you can start registering your domain. The domain is the web address for your e-commerce store. You should include your store's name in the domain to make it relevant and easy to remember for your audience.

Next is setting up your web host. Web hosting is needed to make your store accessible on the internet. There are many available web hosting services you can choose from different ranges of prices. Lastly, you should start installing WordPress to completely layout your site. You can include various themes on your website. Here's a Divi theme guide you can use in your WordPress site.

Step 6: Dropshipping or Holding Own Stocks

You are now done setting up the site, You can now choose what suits more in your e-commerce in either dropshipping or holding your inventory. First, dropshipping means you do not keep the stock. Dropshipping is where the products are shipped directly from the supplier to the consumer. This means that you would not need any capital in purchasing your products. There would also be no warehousing costs, and you can put more items in your online store.

On the other hand, holding your stocks will give you the overall control in your e-commerce business. You can ensure the best experience to the customer. There will be shorter ETAs of products, and you can personalize the packaging of the delivery, which goes to another benefit of holding your products, establishing your branding. An excellent visual branding through deliveries can increase the chances of your customers marketing your product in their social media accounts.

There is no better choice between the two, but you need to know what will fit more in your e-commerce business.

Step 7: Send Out Surveys

Even if you know, there is a market for your goods or services. You still need to know more about your target market. You may do this by sending out surveys to know more about them. Ask about their demographics and psychographic details. Demographics will give you statistical information about your audience. On the other hand, psychographics is the behaviors and attitudes that your target audience possess on buying and purchasing a particular product. From here, you can use all of the data in your marketing strategy and different features of your e-commerce site.

Step 8: Use Chatbots for Assistance

Chatbots are useful because they can help the business in serving their customers while on the website. Chatbots are not only giving out help or assistance to potential customers but also gives out deals and help in finding products to maximize the experience that the customer is having. It can help boost sales with chatbots in your site. It is seen being used by businesses in Facebook Messenger and Skype.

 Step 9: Trying Out AR

Another trend to consider incorporating in your site is using Augmented Reality. It can be seen in different games for mobile, but now you can include it on your website. It can enhance the overall shopping experience of the customer. One way that can improve the experience is how Ikea uses AR in their business. You would see the item you are buying through your phone in your home in real time. It can help in knowing if the piece of furniture would be a good match in your home. AR can remove the uncertainty for customers, which will give you a massive boost in sales.

You could now start your own e-commerce business and website next year with these nine steps we gave you. Just carefully plan and execute all of those steps, and you’re good to go for having a successful e-commerce business.