Pursuing Ecommerce: How to Start a Internet Business

Business Overview:

If you’re interested in learning how to start a internet business, consider focusing on a highly profitable ecommerce business. An ecommerce business is similar to a retail shop that sells goods and products. The difference is that with an ecommerce business instead of selling goods and products through a physical storefront, you sell them through a website in an online store. With this business idea, you select a niche and then create an online store to sell products in your niche. For example, you might decide to open an ecommerce store selling sports equipment, plus size women’s clothing or software . Of course, when learning how to start an internet based business, you’ll see you aren’t limited to selling certain types of products, nor are you limited to catering to only one niche market. Your ecommerce store can be small and narrowly targeted, or it can be bigger and more broad in focus. Smaller ecommerce stores will typically require smaller start-up and marketing costs and can generate around $2,000 USD or more monthly. Bigger stores will require a much larger start-up investment in terms of capital and time—but with a successful ecommerce business the financial rewards can be very high as successful ecommerce businesses can generate 6 to 7 figures or more annually. When starting an online store, in addition to the freedom you’ll have in deciding the size and focus of your ecommerce business, you’ll also have several options as to how to ship and deliver the products you sell. You can of course purchase your own inventory and ship your products yourself—though you will need a storage site and a delivery method for your stock. Alternatively, you could drop ship your products. With drop shipping, the products you sell through your ecommerce website would be processed and delivered by a supplier. Instead of attracting customers via a physical storefront, your customers will find your store via marketing through search engines, online and offline ads, and mailing lists—for example. Marketing your ecommerce store effectively will be key to its success and marketing costs will be your main expense when starting up this business. However you choose to focus and market your ecommerce business, if you have the desire and the commitment to succeed then learning how to start an ecommerce business could well lead you to success with this online business idea.

A Day in the Life of an Ecommerce Store Business Owner:

As an ecommerce store business owner, your day will begin by logging in to your website and reviewing your sales. If you decide to stock and deliver your products yourself, then you would process your orders and ensure that your orders are quickly and efficiently shipped to your customers. Obviously if you have a large ecommerce store your staff will be taking care of this piece of the business. If you drop ship your products, then you would ensure that the payments for your sales have been received and processed by your supplier and that the goods are being processed for delivery. Other typical tasks that you will likely fulfill during your work day will include looking for good marketing opportunities to increase the exposure of your ecommerce business and tracking your finances carefully.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be people looking to buy specific types of products online. Specifically which types of products your customers will be looking for (sports equipment, for example) will depend on the niche or niches you decide to focus your ecommerce store on.

What You Need to Start:

• An ecommerce web site (a web site selling products, with the ability to take payments and process orders)
• An inventory and a site to store your inventory at (or a drop shipping arrangement with a supplier)
• An ecommerce business plan
• Marketing (search engine placements, online and offline advertising, mailing lists, etc.)
• A business license
• Financial tracking software

The Good:

• You have the freedom to decide which types of products to sell on your ecommerce store.
• Your ecommerce store can be as small or as big as you want it to be.
• You can run this business from the comfort of your own home.
• If you decide to drop ship your products, your supplier will process and deliver your products for you—so you won’t even need to purchase your own inventory or storage space, nor will you need to worry about delivery.
• It can be very lucrative—successful ecommerce stores can generate six to seven figures annually.

The Bad:

• You will need to research and market your ecommerce store well and provide excellent customer service so that you stand out against bigger, well-established competitors.
• It can take time to build up consistent traffic to your ecommerce site—so it may take a while for you to see good profits.

Resources:

• American Ecommerce Association
• eCommerce Merchants Trade Association
• eCommerce Benchmarking Association
• Wikipedia on Electronic Commerce

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