E-Commerce: How to make money with an online shopping store

E-commerce is one of the most popular industries today and online purchases are increasing dramatically worldwide.

What is electronic commerce?

E-commerce refers to any type of business conducted online. The most popular example of e-commerce is online shopping, which is defined as the buying and selling of products over the Internet on any device.

E-commerce is the fastest growing retail market and is estimated to reach more than $4 trillion in sales by 2020.
E-commerce is a fairly simple but profitable method of making money online.

Here we tell you how to create an online store using Shopify to sell products.
Before building your online store, you need to know what to sell and how to get the merchandise. First of all, you must find a niche, for example, fitness, technology, pet products, baby products, etc.

You can also go to Instagram and see what all the popular Instagrammers are promoting to get an idea of ​​what you should be selling. Healthy teas and products for detoxification and weight loss are an example of a fairly popular niche today.

Another site where you can do a little research is Amazon, just look at the best-selling products in a particular category and write them down. This trick is well known, but since you will be selling these products on your own site and not on Amazon, you don't need to worry about any direct competition.

Setting up your store

After doing your research, create a list of at least 20 products you want to purchase and then:
Create an online store with Shopify, it's free for 14 days and no credit card is required, however during the trial you should have made enough sales to get started and keep your store going.

You can choose from a variety of free and premium themes to help bring your store to life.
Once you have signed up you can use the powerful Oberlo plugin which is available through the store builder, this will take care of storage and shipping allowing you to automate the filling processes.

Setting up your store's payment methods

Next, you need to set up a payment processor on your Shopify store, you can use Shopify Payments or a third-party solution like PayPal and Stripe.

Create an account on AliExpress and use the Oberlo Chrome extension to import your chosen products in a few minutes.

Buying your products

To buy the products you want to sell, you can go to Alibaba, search for the products, find 2 or 3 suppliers, order a sample, and then once you are satisfied, you can order your first batch. It's best to start with smaller quantities for your first batch.

100–300 pieces for really cheap products (less than a dollar)
100 pieces for cheap products ($1 – $9)
20–50 pieces for big-ticket items ($10 and up)

Shipping doesn't take too long, so you can always refill your starter batch when sales pick up.

It's best to start your first batch simple, for example, if you are selling fitness trackers, start with one color and 50 pieces, if you sell dresses, start with 2–3 colors in 3 sizes (S, M, L).

Your store should look good by now. If you need product images, you can always ask suppliers to provide them, this is easier than taking the photos yourself.

Marketing: Take advantage of the power of social networks

Now that your store is up and running, next you need to tell people about your new business! Social media can be a powerful marketing tool once you know how to use it.

Effective marketing tools include Facebook ads and marketing through Instagram.
An effective strategy is to contact popular Instagram influencers and ask them if they are willing to promote your products.

Keep in mind that the larger the following the influencer has, the more they will expect you to pay them, smaller and lesser known influencers might even do some free promotions to start, so you should also compare paying smaller influencers.

Marketing: Customer orientation

When targeting your customers, it's best to be specific, this applies to Facebook ads and social media pages.
If you are selling fitness watches for example, target people who are active and go to the gym regularly. If you're selling diet products, target people who are trying to lose weight.

When running your ads, it is good to choose large cities.

By following the steps that we have just explained to you, you will surely be able to create a successful online store over time.

Finally, don't forget to reinvest your profits, as your business grows, as demand will grow, so you need to put your money back into your business to meet the influx of new customers and increase your profits.

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