How to Start an eCommerce Business in 2022

Main eCommerce trends in 2022

Online video consultations and appointments have been a major trend of 2021, promising to continue in 2022. We can now rely on video chats and platforms to connect directly with a customer with questions. Some sources even claim that every 3^rd video consultation closes a deal. Healthcare and education also promise to rely heavily on technology for remote connectivity in the upcoming year, making these services easier to access for anyone.

We can also expect to see more voice chat bots in lieu of call centres. AI enabled chatbots are incredibly intuitive and sound increasingly natural, and can be relied on to handle basic technical support questions, telemarketing, cross-sales and even marketing questionnaires. Voice assistants are another trend taking hold in 2022, with research saying that 41% of Amazon Echo users use the voice function! Finally, eCommerce is trending heavily toward reliance on mobile devices, making it vital that you optimize your website for mobile use as well as voice search. Finally, customers

How to build a perfect eCommerce business?

• Choose a business concept – Choosing the right business concept for your eCommerce store is perhaps the most important step you take in your journey. You might already have a product, but how does your product fill a need in the market that hasn’t been filled yet? For example, if your company produces pet food or products, seek out a sect of the market (like organic pet food) that isn’t overly saturated with competition, and make it your own! Follow these easy steps to determine exactly where and how you will be the most successful:

1.  Analyze your strongest skills and industry experience and play to your strengths as you develop your plan.  
2. Evaluate your work/lifestyle strategy to fit the lifestyle and work life preferences of both your staff and your customers. 
3. Test your ideas by starting with a small test market, reaching out directly to your customers through social media or email marketing.

• Select a business model – Once you’ve nailed down what you will be selling, you must decide how you will sell it. Here, you must consider elements like how much warehouse space you have access to, how far your stock is stored from your primary customer bases, or if you even want to keep stock on hand, and instead choose to go with a drop-shipping business where goods are shipped directly from a third-party. Some examples of different business models could include your decision to develop and manufacture your products yourself, starting a private label-brand, or using a third-party company to store and ship orders.

• Find reliable suppliers – Just as the company you keep says a lot about you as a person, your suppliers and partners say a lot about you. A partnership with the wrong company means customers might avoid you due to a past bad experience with your supplier. On the other hand, partnerships with trusted businesses who offer value-added services, as with USPS flat rate boxes, means you can benefit from your suppliers’ experience, infrastructure and good name.

• Choose an eCommerce platform and build your website - Now that you’ve done the pre-planning, it’s time for the fun part. Getting your platform and website up and running. At this stage, you can’t underestimate the importance of making your site user-friendly and intuitive. You may love the aesthetic idea of a side mounted drop-down menu with music that plays while the page loads, but is this really what your customers want?

This is your chance to make a decidedly complex process vastly simpler for the customer, by integrating elements like digital payment trends, shipping processing, website design, navigation and features, all together in one easy, cohesive unit. Different platforms (i.e. Shoppify or Etsy) offer different functions that you can take advantage of, making it vital that you do your research and choose the right platform with the most important functions. Some examples of functions you might want to adopt include:

1. One-Click Ordering
2. Faster & More Intuitive Check-Out
3. Diversify Payment Methods
4. Save and Utilize User Data
5. Direct-Buy from the Product Page
6. Offer Payments in Installments
7. More Transparent Payment & Shipping Info

• Add detailed product pages – Start off by getting organized and getting all your prices, markups, categories, sizes, colors and any other identifying characteristics into your system. Doing this right the first time will save you time and headaches for both you and your customer later down the line. Product pages might be your first, last and only chance to impress the customer, so make sure you include elements like:

1. Clearly defined pricing with no surprises, clearly displaying any promotions or discounts
2. Easy and intuitive “buy” or “add to cart” buttons in a color and style that stands out
3. High-quality photos using HD and a simple or white background
4. Customer reviews, rating or product photos, as about 95% of customers read reviews before making a purchase.
5. Carefully considered product descriptions, SEO optimized and written succinctly, clearly and without sales or marketing terminology
6. FAQs page with easy contact options for customer concerns, services and questions
7. Show related or similar products for easy comparison

• Launch & market your online store – It’s time to launch, meaning it’s also time to go the extra mile by promoting yourself using digital marketing, SEO or even pop-ups. SEO writing is the process of getting your content on the all-important first Google search page, where most customers will find you. Taking some extra time to learn SEO is proven to provide more exposure, faster. Many businesses choose to supplement their website sales by selling on independent platforms like Amazon, Etsy or Walmart. Reputable eCommerce platform tools are already formatted for easy Amazon integration and data collection. Don’t forget to make use of social media for more exposure and profits, as Instagram and Facebook are set up for businesses to share content, advertising or even link directly to your product pages.

US consumers are on track to spend over $900 billion through eCommerce in 2021, with the global market expected to reach $4.89 trillion.  Take the time and make the steps to create a successful eCommerce business today, and capture the market share of tomorrow.