Do you have a good hand for making boater hats and other accessories like Halo Fascinators, Gold Crown Headpiece, Turban For the Races, etc. ? Are you looking for a way to monetize your skills? With eCommerce becoming increasingly popular with fashionistas, launching an online store should be a no-brainer.
Selling online will expose your creations to people all around the world for less money than it’d cost you to open a brick-and-mortar store. Needless to say, you will need to set up your shop in order to leverage this potential. So why not take a look at the most important elements of the startup process?
Register Your Business
Most jurisdictions require business entities operating within to register themselves. Even so, requirements tend to vary among them — a simple online search will help you see what you need to do in order to operate legally. On the taxation side, it’s recommended to consult a professional for advice on structures and registration.
Set Up the Infrastructure
The rule of thumb when starting off in eCommerce is to sell through mainstream marketplaces (think Etsy, Amazon etc). Just keep in mind that you still have the option to put up your own infrastructure. While this’ll be more expensive than an off-the-shelf shop template, it will give you more freedom and control over your marketing activities.
Other crucial elements to work on include:
-Payment options: You want to offer as many of them as you can. That doesn’t mean that you should sign up to every option; what’s important is to provide some degree of flexibility.
-Delivery: Your strategy here needs to cover everything from rates to the means of shipping.
Build Exposure
A little cliche perhaps, but you can give yourself a great head start by marketing your store prior to launch. This is one area where you want to bring your A game — today’s online shoppers can be pretty choosy. Your success will come down to your ability to win their trust.
With that in mind, your marketing initiatives should be more about charming potential customers than attracting attention. Your best bet here is to capitalize on your strengths (i.e. areas where your creations outshine products from other brands). Just make sure to maintain a note of sincerity in your voice.
It is worth mentioning that you will never get done with building your business; there’ll always be areas that need improving or overhauling. The more time and effort you can dedicate towards that end, the better your growth trajectory will be. Of course, you will want to lay out a framework for the ongoing optimization process.
