Let’s face it, running a business is tough at the best of times, but running a brick-and-mortar business in the midst of rising inflation and interest rates, record-breaking energy prices, record-breaking fuel prices, and the fact that we’re slowly returning to everyday life after being in a pandemic for more than two years, and running a brick and mortar business is really tough. How E-commerce merchants thrive during supply chain interruptions
Whereas physical brick-and-mortar stores will always have their place in the economy, as a result of modern technology and the advancements in online shopping, the number of people now doing the majority of their shopping online is higher than ever before.
For those of you who operate brick-and-mortar stores in physical locations and have been considering the possibility of making the jump online to become e-commerce merchants, now is the perfect time to make the transition to online shopping and become an e-commerce merchant.
Getting Started
What exactly is an e-commerce merchant?
Merchants offering goods and/or services for sale online are known as e-commerce merchants. Amazon is a prime (pardon the pun) example.
Some e-commerce merchants sell exclusively online, while others continue to operate brick-and-mortar stores while also offering online versions, thus being able to offer the best of both worlds.
Statistics
51% of e-commerce merchants are male, compared with 49% being female. the most commonly spoken foreign language amongst all e-commerce merchants is Spanish, coming in at 50%.
What are the benefits of Selling Online?
you can expand your target demographic nationally, or even internationally
you get to keep your store open and running 24/7, 365 days per year
Low Cost
How to become an e-commerce merchant
If you are serious about jumping online and offering goods and/or services online, here are several tips to consider before you get started.
1. Decide on a business model
Before you even think about setting up your online store, the first thing you need to do is decide on your business model.
What are you selling? Who are you planning on selling to? How much will you charge? Before you can address these questions however, you need to look at how you’re going to operate your e-commerce store, and decide what business model you want.
Typically, you can decide between B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), C2C (Consumer to Consumer), or C2B (Consumer to Business).
The most common form of e-commerce is B2C as you will be a business selling to the consumer.
2. Consider Dropshipping to cut costs
One of the downsides to running an online store is the fact that you need somewhere to store your inventory. Typically, e-commerce merchants will store their goods for sale in a warehouse, but warehouse fees aren’t all that cheap.
A great option for e-commerce merchants just starting out and looking to keep their overheads low however, is Dropshipping.
Dropshipping is widely utilized in the e-commerce world as it is a strategy which allows merchants to sell products online without actually having to store any of their own inventory.
Basically, when a customer places an order, the seller will go directly to the supplier of the product, will purchase it via the shipping info of the customer, and have the product shipped directly to the customer.
Because the e-commerce merchants don’t have to store any inventory, they don’t need to pay expensive warehouse storage fees so they can keep their expenses low. The only downside is that shipping times are longer than usual. Providing the customer is aware of this and is happy to wait slightly longer however, Dropshipping is a great way to reduce your overheads.
Find an e-commerce platform
Of course, if you do decide to set up an online store you will need to find yourself an e-commerce platform.
When setting up an online store, ideally you want an all-in-one solution with virtually everything already done for you, which is why solutions such as Shopify, and Woocommerce, are so beneficial.
Woocommerce for example, is a free plugin which enables WordPress users to turn any WordPress website into an e-commerce store.
As this plugin is fully compatible with all functions on a WordPress site, this means that users can build themselves their very own online store complete with products, a shopping cart, and safe and secure payment and checkout options.
When using Shopify, e-commerce merchants are able to customize and build their very own online stores. As Shopify is a specialized e-commerce platform, it means that setting up your own online store is easier and more secure than ever, which in today’s world, is a huge plus. Webworkz offers search engine optimization services for writing product titles and descriptions for each product or service in your Ecommerce store catelog
Ultimate Guide to Becoming an E-Commerce Merchant
Let’s face it, running a business is tough at the best of times, but running a brick-and-mortar business in the midst of rising inflation and interest rates, record-breaking energy prices, record-breaking fuel prices, and the fact that we’re slowly returning to everyday life after being in a pandemic for more than two years, and running a brick and mortar business is really tough. How E-commerce merchants thrive during supply chain interruptions
Whereas physical brick-and-mortar stores will always have their place in the economy, as a result of modern technology and the advancements in online shopping, the number of people now doing the majority of their shopping online is higher than ever before.
For those of you who operate brick-and-mortar stores in physical locations and have been considering the possibility of making the jump online to become e-commerce merchants, now is the perfect time to make the transition to online shopping and become an e-commerce merchant.
Getting Started
What exactly is an e-commerce merchant?
Merchants offering goods and/or services for sale online are known as e-commerce merchants. Amazon is a prime (pardon the pun) example.
Some e-commerce merchants sell exclusively online, while others continue to operate brick-and-mortar stores while also offering online versions, thus being able to offer the best of both worlds.
Statistics
51% of e-commerce merchants are male, compared with 49% being female. the most commonly spoken foreign language amongst all e-commerce merchants is Spanish, coming in at 50%.
What are the benefits of Selling Online?
How to become an e-commerce merchant
If you are serious about jumping online and offering goods and/or services online, here are several tips to consider before you get started.
1. Decide on a business model
Before you even think about setting up your online store, the first thing you need to do is decide on your business model.
What are you selling? Who are you planning on selling to? How much will you charge? Before you can address these questions however, you need to look at how you’re going to operate your e-commerce store, and decide what business model you want.
Typically, you can decide between B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), C2C (Consumer to Consumer), or C2B (Consumer to Business).
The most common form of e-commerce is B2C as you will be a business selling to the consumer.
2. Consider Dropshipping to cut costs
One of the downsides to running an online store is the fact that you need somewhere to store your inventory. Typically, e-commerce merchants will store their goods for sale in a warehouse, but warehouse fees aren’t all that cheap.
A great option for e-commerce merchants just starting out and looking to keep their overheads low however, is Dropshipping.
Dropshipping is widely utilized in the e-commerce world as it is a strategy which allows merchants to sell products online without actually having to store any of their own inventory.
Basically, when a customer places an order, the seller will go directly to the supplier of the product, will purchase it via the shipping info of the customer, and have the product shipped directly to the customer.
Because the e-commerce merchants don’t have to store any inventory, they don’t need to pay expensive warehouse storage fees so they can keep their expenses low. The only downside is that shipping times are longer than usual. Providing the customer is aware of this and is happy to wait slightly longer however, Dropshipping is a great way to reduce your overheads.
Find an e-commerce platform
Of course, if you do decide to set up an online store you will need to find yourself an e-commerce platform.
When setting up an online store, ideally you want an all-in-one solution with virtually everything already done for you, which is why solutions such as Shopify, and Woocommerce, are so beneficial.
Woocommerce for example, is a free plugin which enables WordPress users to turn any WordPress website into an e-commerce store.
As this plugin is fully compatible with all functions on a WordPress site, this means that users can build themselves their very own online store complete with products, a shopping cart, and safe and secure payment and checkout options.
When using Shopify, e-commerce merchants are able to customize and build their very own online stores. As Shopify is a specialized e-commerce platform, it means that setting up your own online store is easier and more secure than ever, which in today’s world, is a huge plus. Webworkz offers search engine optimization services for writing product titles and descriptions for each product or service in your Ecommerce store catelog