Lately, in the world of online stores it is increasingly difficult to stand out. Years ago, not many, setting up an online store cost thousands of euros, although, if it was well done, the return on investment was relatively fast.
Nowadays there are platforms of increasingly simple implementation, thanks to which even your cousin the computer scientist can make you a website easily result with a CMS such as Prestashop and Woocommerce, simply by installing a few modules and purchasing an all-inclusive template, which requires very little customization. In short, in a few days you will have a fully functional online store … Congratulations, you can already be the new king of e-commerce and dethrone Amazon!
If you need a corporate website, WordPress or Joomla will allow you to create in a very short time some sites of an aesthetic quality unimaginable until not long ago… It’s all good news for online entrepreneurs, right?
Finally people have realized the need to be on the internet to survive in the current environment, and many have taken the initiative to undertake on the network with exciting projects of all kinds.
The problem is that they and many more have had that same idea, and not hundreds, but thousands of people have launched to create online stores indiscriminately, and they have done it themselves, their cousins, or excellent professionals in website creation (which there are, and very good). Sometimes it is surprising to even find that the small neighborhood store near your home has a better online store than some multinationals.
But having a nice and spotless shop is just the first step. What would be the use of having a physical store with a spectacular showcase in a ghost neighborhood, on a street where no one passes? And what would happen, if in addition, in that same deserted neighborhood, three or four more stores open, with a quality as spectacular as yours?
We are in an increasingly competitive environment, in which the barriers to entry have disappeared and anyone can set up an online store very similar to another, where only the most competitive will survive, and few, very few will succeed.
Table of Contents
In situations like this, where there is great competitiveness, it is necessary to carry out a strategic analysis, and carry out actions very focused on optimization.
1. Tips to undertake successfully with an online store
1.1. Make numbers before
Setting up an online store is not paying to be made a website: that’s like believing yourself the CEO of a multinational when all you have done is order the business cards (very cool, yes). You will need a clear strategy of logistics, financial, communication, personnel…
Do a previous market study, since you may be preparing your landing in a niche where a pin no longer fits or with unattainable competitors, and develop a business plan before investing your money and time in it.
1.2. Capture qualified traffic
Your store is spectacular, but you need to sell. You will need to attract qualified traffic and it will cost you time and resources to get customers to start going through the checkout:
- You will need to do SEO, so that, in a few months, quality traffic begins to arrive from search engines such as Google or Bing… and that takes a lot, but a lot of work and time, and there, believe me, no one who does SEO at 100 Euros will serve you.
- You will need to do Adwords campaigns, because SEO is slow, and difficult, do you think that a newcomer will easily displace those who with sweat and work have earned the top 10 positions in search engines? You need to generate income from day one, and that is achieved by paying.
- You will need to make yourself known on social networks… of course, be clear that with social networks you are going to create a brand, and that will help you sell… but neither Facebook nor Twitter are sales channels. Still, anything you invest in social media (including ads on Facebook and Twitter) will benefit your brand and, in the long run, your sales.
1.3. Build customer loyalty
A customer who buys you only once is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. If you can’t get him to buy again, or to recommend you, you will have failed. In this aspect, Email Marketing is your great ally… don’t leave it aside.
1.4. Measures
Your website is a siose, people arrive (not all that you would like) and, after all that it has cost you to bring them, they go to the first change and very few get to finalize the purchase. Web Analytics is what will allow you to place yourself, at least, on par with those who are doing things well and improving their processes day by day. With Web Analytics you can improve both user acquisition and conversion. Only by knowing what is happening on your website can you improve it.
And as a clarification, Web Analytics is not to install the Google Analytics code and get into the tool to “see how we are going”, it is much more than that: it is to define some objectives, decide what interactions are going to be measured to meet those objectives, configure the measurements (which do not come by default in Google Analytics), establish a monthly reporting system, analyze in detail everything that happens and draw up a list of improvements that must be implemented, propose A/B tests or multivariate,do qualitative analytics… Web Analytics is not something that is done punctually, it is something that must be done constantly to improve, at least, at the same pace as the competition.
2. Conclusion
No business is easy, and on the internet even less. Facebook and Amazon are already invented, and, you know what all those leading companies have in common? Their voracious appetite to know their users to improve and continue to be leaders.
Measure and you will survive.
