Starting your own E-commerce store can be an exciting time, but it can also be very daunting. There are many decisions to make and questions to answer before you even begin work on your website.

You must have a plan for success before using any time or money in the process! Unfortunately, most e-commerce projects fail because of underestimation of the work involved.

In this article, we will go over five tips for starting your first e-commerce brand.

1. Know Your Audience

You need to answer some questions before starting: Who is the target demographic for my product?

What problem does it solve, or what pain point will it alleviate? Why should someone buy from me instead of another company that sells this same type of product? Knowing your audience and their needs well can help determine how much time and money you spend on marketing.

To find an appropriate audience for you, you need to consider how you will market your website. If you have a physical storefront, for example, then the audience is probably people around that area or looking to buy products like yours online.

On the other hand, if you are an e-commerce site that sells internationally, it might make sense to target audiences in different countries with ads tailored to their language and culture.

2. Find a Product

After discovering the audience that you want to provide a service/product to, you need to find or create a product that you can provide.

To find a product, start by brainstorming a list of ideas. After you have your list, do some research on the top-performing products in that niche and see if any of yours are original enough to stand out.

If you plan to sell similar items to another company, you need to know their strengths and weaknesses to tailor your product or service better to meet the needs of customers.

This means doing some competitive analysis which will help give insight into how they market themselves, who their target audience is, what marketing methods they use (social media ads? retargeting campaigns?), etc... It would help if you also researched whether they offer free shipping.

3. Create a Marketing Plan

Knowing your budget and target demographic is crucial for determining what type of marketing strategies to use. But, it would be best if you created an actual plan outlining how these will be executed to track each campaign's success or failure. It might take some time before seeing sales increase, but if you don't have any long-term goals, why start?

Create a timeline and stick to it! If allocating certain hours per day is too much, commit to accomplishing one task during those hours instead (ex: blogging every Monday)

Make sure you have the right tools. The last thing you want is to have an idea for a new marketing plan but cannot execute it because of not owning any necessary software or hardware.

Please do some research before buying anything so that you can allocate your budget accordingly. For example, if most of your social media content will come from video clips, purchasing a decent camera with HD capabilities might make more sense than investing in expensive editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018.

4. Hire Help

It might seem easier to do everything on your own, and certainly, it can be, but when you're starting, you're going to burn out. It's always best to hire specialists in areas that you think should be outsourced or automated.

To find help for your project, you can find it:

  • In local newspapers
  • On sites like Upwork.com and Craigslist
  • In the comments of a relevant Reddit post or YouTube video
  • On social media
  • By asking friends if they know anyone who might want to help with social media posts, customer service emails, SEO management

Take advantage of freelancer sites like Upwork or Fiverr. There are plenty of talented people out there who will be eager for the opportunity to build their portfolio while making some extra money!

They don't need to have extensive experience in marketing or design as long as they're reliable with what they do best.

You'll want a good mix of skills on your team so plan accordingly.

Keep an updated list of all projects completed by each person/team member — this is really helpful if anyone ever leaves because it allows you to find someone else qualified without going through resumes easily.

5. Be Willing to Make Mistakes

Sure, you might have had some trial and error over the years before finally launching your brand, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy.

Keep in mind that every new venture usually takes time to get off of the ground. Mistakes are part of that; they'll help in the long term.

It's important not only for yourself but also for colleagues working with you, so don't feel embarrassed when something goes wrong- work together to solve it!

However, when making mistakes, ensure that you're not repeating them. Don't let fear keep you from moving forward with a new idea. 

Start Your E-Commerce Brand Today

Now that you know how to start your e-commerce brand in 5 simple steps, you are five steps away from being done. In any case, there's no rush and e-commerce involves a lot more than 5 steps.

Take your time, do your research and be proactive. If you're interested in an SEO-optimized, fully-serviced website, get in touch with us and we will accommodate your needs.