Whether you do it as a side hustle or as a full-time enterprise, opening an online shop can be a great way to make money. Just ask 30-year-old Nicky Story, whose online candle store made more than £15 million in five years. If you’re feeling inspired right now, you might be wondering how you go about opening an online shop. Read on and find out!
Decide What You Want To Sell
The first step to opening an online shop is deciding what you want to sell. A shop online won’t be of much use to you or anyone else without products. According to SumUp, some of the most popular profitable products include clothing, shoes, and jewellery. It’s a good idea to consider stocking niche products, as the clothing and accessories markets are saturated.
Check Whether You Need A License
In most countries, the UK included, there are legal requirements for online shops. This means you may need a license. You also may need to meet various criteria if you want to export and import goods.
Check the UK Government website for updates regarding online and distance selling, Brexit implications, and other useful information. The gov.uk license finder can help you find out if you need to apply for a license for your online shop.
Decide Whether You Want To Build Your Own Shop Or Use An Existing eCommerce Platform
Next, you need to figure out how to create your online shop. According to Startups, you can build your own store (you’ll need to have HTML coding knowledge), build your own using a website builder, or hire a professional to build a unique platform for you. Building your own shop using a website builder is one of the easiest and cheapest options. With solutions such as Shopify, you can add various secure eCommerce functionalities.
You will need merchant and business accounts for your online shop. A sole trader merchant account is under the bank’s control – it’s a holding account between your customers’ bank accounts and your business account. Payments pending settlement are held there temporarily. This kind of account differs from your business account, which you have sole control over.
Give Your Online Shop A Customer-Friendly Design
The design and layout of your online shop needs to be customer friendly. When designing your store, remember to:
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Ensure the design is practical
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Use a consistent layout and colour themes throughout the site
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Keep your choice of colours, images, and shapes simple
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Keep your products in the spotlight
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Add detailed product descriptions
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Make products and pages easy to find
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Offer a simple checkout
Market Your Online Shop And Products
When your online shop is up and running, you’ll need to start marketing it and your products. There are various ways you can do this, such as SEO, content marketing, and social media. According to Search Engine Land , SEO is the use of keywords on your shop’s home, product, and other pages to ensure your site ranks higher in search engine search results.
To use content marketing, create a blog for your online shop and incorporate SEO principles when writing posts. Social media’s also a powerful marketing tool, as you can advertise your products on your shop’s Facebook and Instagram pages. This is super simple, and you’ll find plenty of tutorials online that tell you exactly what to do.
As you can see, opening an online shop is not just for the technologically gifted. Good luck!
