How to start an online store and sell online

Starting an online store couldn’t be easier. You’ll need to choose an ecommerce platform to build your store, select your products, adopt certain shipping options and promote your store. Once you understand how the process works, it’s an exciting journey ahead.

No matter what you want to sell online, we’ve got you covered.

In this guide, we’ll talk you through it step-by-step, showing you how to start an online store that’s sure to be a success. 

Also, check out our business plan template to help you map out your online store’s success.

Step 1. Find your niche and audience 

The first step to starting an ecommerce business is choosing the niche market you want to sell to. 

Every store needs a target market or audience and it’s important to be clear on exactly who you think will be purchasing your items.

You need to think about four things:

• How profitable is your niche? That is, how much will it cost for you to source the projects? And how much can you sell them for?
• How popular is your niche? For instance, is your chosen market already overrun with stores offering the same products? You’ll need to find a gap in the market that you can fill
• Is your niche searchable? To check, undertake some keyword research to ensure people are searching for your items online first
• Are you passionate about your niche? If you’re passionate about what you sell you’re more likely to stick it out, especially at the start or during slower sales periods. Think about your hobbies and existing knowledge and how this can help you find the right niche for you.

Step 2. Find the right products to sell

Once you’ve decided what your niche is, it’s time to find the products that you want to sell on your online store.

How to choose your products

Choosing the right products is essential if you want your online store to be a success. The key to choosing the right products is to know your target audience. What do they want? What are they searching for online?

You should also keep a close eye on product trends to establish what is popular online and try to predict what the next craze will be so that you can be ahead of the competition.  

How to source your products

There are various ways you can source your products for your online store including:

• Purchase inventory from wholesalers
• Design and craft the products yourself
• Manufacture private-label products
• Source items from dropshipping suppliers
• Print items on demand.

Different ways to sell

When it comes to selling products online there are different ways you can do so, such as:

• Ecommerce: the traditional way of selling your products via your own website
• Dropshipping: where suppliers will ship items directly to the customer
• Wholesale: the best way to source large quantities of items
• Subscription models: customers receive your products on a regular basis for a weekly, monthly or annual fee.

Step 3. Choose your ecommerce platform

To start an online store, you’ll need to choose an ecommerce platform. 

And there are some platforms online that allow you to build and manage your online store. Popular options include Shopify, Wix and Squarespace.

Each platform comes with its own features, costs and pros and cons, so how do you determine which one is the right choice for you?

Ease of use

Most ecommerce platforms are user-friendly, and drag-and-drop options such as Squarespace allow you to build an ecommerce website without needing coding knowledge.

Depending on your skill level, you’ll need to look for a platform that you can easily get to grips with and with a dashboard and interface that suits your needs.

Integrations

Integrations and plugins can transform your online store. Depending on what you want, you’ll need to choose a platform that supports your integrations of choice. For example, if you want to use a certain payment processor, such as Stripe, make sure your ecommerce platform supports it. 

Security

Users will be sharing sensitive data with you so your online store must be safe and secure.

All the popular ecommerce platforms have great security features as standard, but it’s up to you what level of protection you want to offer users.

Many ecommerce platforms will offer more advanced security features on their more expensive plans, so be sure to take this into account.

Scalability

Chances are your online store will start small, but that doesn’t mean it will remain that way. 

Having the option to scale your online store, adding a larger product inventory and supporting a large number of transactions, is important if you want to grow your business and potentially make this your main source of income.

Shopify, for example, is one of the most popular platforms for those who are thinking big and expecting their online store to snowball. 

Price

Finally, you’ll need to consider how much you want to spend on your ecommerce website. 

Most ecommerce platforms offer different packages and pricing plans, with more features equalling more money. Look carefully at what features are included in each plan option and make an informed decision.

It’s worth noting that many platforms have at least one plan dedicated to ecommerce and often offer the option to either pay monthly or annually. 

Step 4. Build your online store

Now that you’ve sourced your products and chosen your ecommerce platform, it’s time to start building your online store.

Enter store information

The basics are important when it comes to building an online store. Although it may not be the most exciting part, you can’t afford to skip it.

You’ll be prompted by your ecommerce platform to provide some basic information including:

• Domain address: purchase a domain name that matches your online store name to make it easy for customers to find your store
• Navigation: create a menu that links to all of your essential pages. You can add a menu to the header and footer of your website and include a search bar too
• Logo: add your logo to your website and ensure your logo and branding align to create a cohesive brand personality.

Build key pages

Of course, every ecommerce website needs product pages – more on those later – but these are not the only pages you’ll need to build.

Below we’ve listed the key pages every ecommerce website should have and what should be included on each page.

• Homepage: your homepage should make it obvious to visitors what you sell and how they can navigate around your online store
• About page: build a connection with your customers on your about page by telling them more about your story, your team and your supply chain
• Contact page: make it easy for people to get in touch by displaying all of your contact details in one place. Consider adding a contact form or live chat function to the page for even better customer service
• FAQs: provide answers to common questions to help ensure the customer experience is seamless
• Policy pages: here you should provide all of the detailed and legal information surrounding your returns and shipping policies. 

Step 5. Design your online store

It may sound obvious but the way your online store looks is important.

Just like a physical store, you’ll need to grab attention, showcase what you’re selling and present your business as respected and trustworthy. 

Generally speaking, the key is simplicity. Potential customers don’t want to be overwhelmed with too much going on. Instead, opt for clean lines and don’t be afraid of white space!

The good news is that you don’t need to hire a web designer to design your online store if you don’t want to. Ecommerce platforms will guide you through the process via their selection of templates.

Choosing an ecommerce template

Ecommerce stores offer a wide choice of various templates, and choosing the right one is a big decision.

Of course, you can always change your template at a later stage, but it’s a big task and one that’s best avoided if possible. 

You’ll need to pick a template that best aligns with your brand vision but remember, you can customise it! 

Once you’ve chosen your template, you can make edits such as changing the colours, fonts and even layouts to make it just right for your online store.

Top tips for designing your online store

• The design of your online store should align with the branding of your business.
• Ensure you create a consistent visual identity across the whole company
• Experiment with different layouts and try our multiple ideas to see how they look
• Don’t forget about mobile! Most customers will access your online store using a mobile device so ensure your design is user-friendly and seamless
• Consider putting your design ideas to the test by running A/B testing or getting feedback from your target audience before you launch.

Step 6. Add products to your online shop

Product pages are the beating heart of your online store so you need to give them the respect they deserve.

To make sales and grow your business, you’ll need to nail your product listings, product descriptions, product images and product categories. 

Product listings

Product listings are the pages that a user is presented with when they search your online store.

A product listing should showcase your products to a customer and encourage them to click through for more information and to complete their purchase.

Keep product listings simple and don’t be tempted to add too much to the page that will overwhelm the user. Keep the focus on your products.

Product descriptions 

Product descriptions should provide users with all of the information they need about your product.

You should see product descriptions as a chance to speak directly to your target market about your products. 

Ensure your descriptions have all of the information a customer needs to know about a product and try to predict common customer questions. You can then make sure your product descriptions answer them before they’re even asked. 

Product images

Product images allow customers to see the item they are purchasing. Chances are, a user won’t purchase unless they have seen high-quality images of the item.

Consider taking multiple images to showcase the product from all angles and its different features. 3D visualisations and videos are great ways to make your product listings even more engaging and dynamic too.

Make sure you style your product images in a consistent way for each item you list on your website too.

Product categories 

Product categories are a fundamental part of the browsing experience for ecommerce sites. 

Unless they have a specific item in mind to search for, users will progress through your product categories until they find what they need.

Make sure you make your categories accurate, clear and engaging to keep users moving through your online store.

Adding filters to your product categories can help to make the browsing process as streamlined and user-friendly as possible.

Setting your price

Setting the right price for products in an ecommerce store is a critical part of maximising profits, staying competitive and attracting customers.

When it comes to setting your price there is plenty to think about:

• Take into account your costs and how much you spend on purchasing or making the products out of your desired profit margin. A profit margin is the amount over your costs that you want to earn
• Research the competition to see what they are charging. Decide if you want to offer the same or a competitive price
• Assess the market demand for your products. The greater demand the more you can charge. 

Step 7. Connect online payments

The next step in our online store guide is to connect with a payment provider.

There are various payment providers you can opt for, such as Stripe and PayPal, so be sure to research which one best suits your needs. Don’t forget to make sure that your ecommerce platform supports the payment provider too.

When you’re choosing a payment provider some things to consider are:

• What payment methods do they support? 
• Do you want your customers to have a choice between common methods? (e.g. debit card, credit card and Apple Pay)
• What are their transaction fees?
• What additional security features do they implement?
• Are you interested in staggered payments, like Klarna or Clearpay?
• Do they support sales in different currencies?

Step 8. Set up your shipping options 

Shipping your products to customers is an important step when running an online stop.

Firstly you’ll need to decide how your products are going to get there. There are various suppliers you can choose from such as Royal Mail, Evri and DPD, so take the time to read their reviews and policies to find the one that best suits your needs.

Once you’ve chosen the shipping supplier for your online store, you’ll need to determine your shipping policies. 

There are several online store shipping policies:

• Free shipping: this keeps things simple, and you can either absorb the cost of delivery yourself or add it to your product prices
• Flat-rate shipping: this is where you charge a set delivery fee on each purchase, and is a good fit for online stores that only sell one type of product
• Shipping rate by weight: this is pretty much what it sounds like, your delivery charges change according to the weight of the products being shipped, with heavier products costing more
• Shipping rate by price: again, this is pretty straightforward. Your delivery charges change according to the price of the products being shipped, so you could offer free delivery for orders over £25 for example
• Shipping rate by product: with this option, you arrange your products into groups and change different delivery rates accordingly. So, for example, you could charge higher rates on more fragile products as these require special care.

Step 9. Market your online store 

Once your online store is up and running, you’ll need to market it to drive users to your store and convert them into customers.

So, how can you market your online store?

SEO

For ecommerce websites, search engine optimisation (SEO) is incredibly important when it comes to promoting your store.

In the process of boosting your website in the ranking results for specific search terms, SEO can help drive organic traffic to your online store.

 You can optimise various aspects of your online store for SEO success including your product descriptions and product titles.

Social media

Maximising your social media presence is massively important for online stores.

Choose your social media platforms wisely by first establishing which platforms your target market is actively using. After all, there’s no point putting all of your effort into Facebook if your target customers are all using TikTok.

Different platforms require different approaches. Instagram is highly visual, while TikTok is all about short and engaging video content, for example.

If your budget allows, you could even set up an affiliate program, where influencers with large and engaged followings promote your products and earn a commission for every sale made.

Keeping on top of the latest digital marketing trends will ensure your online store doesn’t get left behind.

Final thoughts

As you can see, with the right tools and knowledge, setting up an online store doesn’t need to be daunting, it can be a fun and rewarding process!

Once you’ve honed your niche and chosen your ecommerce platform, you can get creative with sourcing your products, finding the right shipping supplier and setting up the systems you need.

Now you’ve reached the end of this article hopefully you know how to set up an online store and feel ready, and inspired, to get started!

Ready to take the next step? Download our business plan template to plan and launch your online store today.