Establishing a successful e-commerce business: step-by-step guide

Building a successful e-commerce business is much more than just choosing a brand name, buying a domain, establishing product inventory, developing the website and starting selling your products or services via the online store. In order to succeed, the e-commerce entrepreneur needs to consider a variety of factors that must be addressed prior to the launch. We will discuss each step, which should be carefully assessed whenever establishing an online store; more precisely we will focus on the following matters:

1.       Considerations about e-commerce;
2.       Choice of products and creation of a brand;
3.       Development of online store;
4.       Payment acceptance;
5.       Marketing.

Considerations about e-commerce

Prior to starting an e-commerce business, it is of crucial importance to be familiar with its core aspects. Don’t start acting before you established a clear plan on how you will proceed to the last step, then your endeavours should become profitable.

There is no single e-commerce business model that works for everyone. So, you will need to understand the different business models, which will vary for services, physical goods, intangible products and each and every of their respective niches. Further, you may find outlined key aspects which must be considered.

What is e-commerce?

Prior to establishing what kind of business models can be used for the sale over the Internet, we need to assess what is e-commerce itself and how it can be defined. E-commerce stands for electronic commerce and is defining all purchasing transactions that occur remotely over the Internet. Traditionally e-commerce sales are conducted as B2C, B2B or P2P through the Internet via individual webstores or marketplaces. Many businesses have virtual storefronts, which facilitate such sales. Buyers are browsing and purchasing the products with simple mouse clicks from their computers.

M-commerce

On the other side, e-commerce has smaller subcategories differentiated by the delivery channel. One of such is m-commerce, which stands for mobile commerce. Thanks to the mobile devices penetration, low cost and ease of Internet access, it is the most fast-growing sales channel in the sense that more and more transactions are conducted via mobile phones or tablets. Now it is crucial not only to have a well-designed traditional desktop store but as well a mobile version allowing for seamless interaction. 

S-commerce

S-commerce stands for social commerce and is another trend in the development of the sales conducted via the Internet. It is crucial for e-commerce stores to have a substantial presence on social media platforms. The development of AdWords allowed routing traffic to the online store where people could purchase products. The breakthrough of s-commerce itself, occurred when social platforms started to offer a possibility of performing a direct purchase without even leaving the platform. Currently, there is a choice to perform a transaction directly through Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

Multichannel sales

Multichannel sales is another development of e-commerce and stands for the distribution of products through a variety of delivery channels such as m-commerce, s-commerce, marketplaces, and even brick and mortar stores. Such an approach coupled with remarketing allows targeting a much broader audience as it presents products in a variety of places within the reach of customers via their preferred channel. Remarketing is a clever way to connect with visitors to your online store who may not have made an immediate purchase. It allows online stores to position targeted ads in front of a defined audience that had previously visited their website - as they browse elsewhere around the Internet, for example, Facebook or YouTube. 

Types of transactions

Apart from differentiation by the sales channels, e-commerce has a variety of transaction types which are defined by the parties involved. Broadly speaking there are three major transaction types: 1. Business to customer (B2C), 2. Business to business (B2B), and 3. Peer to peer (P2P). It is important to know the differences in order to make a well-informed decision regarding the targeted audience.

Business to customer

The B2C transactions get more media coverage and are often in the limelight. In this instance, the purchase is conducted between the business which is selling to a private individual. It has the biggest number of transactions which are carried out when comparing to all other types. When speaking about traditional e-commerce most people are instantly thinking about an online retail store with most sales conducted to the private individual customers.

Business to business

The B2B is representing greater volume in terms of value as such transactions are conducted between the businesses selling to each other.Before e-commerce, an individual would need to estimate how many parts would be needed over a specific period of time and order those parts in bulk. Now, such purchasing can be automated. Inventories are tracked electronically, and when numbers drop below a certain point, an order is immediately submitted to a supplier. 

Peer to peer

The P2P became more popular in recent years and is mostly carried out with the help of marketplaces allowing to sell various products between individual people. In such instance operator of the marketplace is responsible for ensuring that all parties are adhering to the terms of the transaction and offers a platform for facilitation. There are numerous examples of such marketplaces- Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Joom, Steam, Pandao and alike.

Different business models

For some people, it will be more appealing to start selling physical products. Something that can be acquired from a wholesaler and further distributed to the customers. However, in most instances, it requires substantial investment and question arises- what could be done to start the operation of a successful business without investing heavily?

Dropshipping

One solution would be to start working under the dropshipping model which saves up the requirement to procure all the goods in advance and store them in the designated area. In such an instance, the merchant does not even handle the goods, rather the producer is packaging and sending them. Under this model, the merchant is a mere intermediary between the customer and producer.

Dropshipping allows selling a variety of goods without any substantial investment in warehousing and procurement of products (which won’t be necessarily sold). With all the advantages of dropshipping model merchants still should always remain cautious of its weaknesses. 

The main drawbacks are following - lack of control over the handling of the product; lack of information regarding current stock; low-profit margins (around 7% or even lower); provision of customer support while someone else is responsible for the shipping can lead to operational havoc. 

Warehousing model

Another solution for the distribution of physical products would be warehousing model. It is suitable for those who would like to have a warehouse full of products and make distribution themselves. Such a model will cost more but at the same time will bring more profit and benefits in servicing, and allow for better customer experience. The reasons for it lies in the fact that merchant itself will be responsible for the packaging and will have a possibility to add some promotional material. Another factor is that with such a model it is easier to have a track of the stock and make faster deliveries.

Intangible goods and services

Notably, the sale of physical goods is not a niche for each person who would wish to establish an internet store. Let’s not forget about a variety of freelancers and other people who wish to promote and sell their own creations or services. In this regard, we can speak about intangible products such as games, software applications, horoscopes, eBooks, audio lessons, graphics work, custom fonts and alike. As well there is a whole variety of services such as writing, marketing, design, and development work. All these types of products and services have similar requirements for the establishment of the store selling physical goods. The major difference is on the supplyside, as digital goods or content is delivered electronically. 

Choice of products and creation of brand

So now you performed research and learned basic differences between the e-commerce concepts, different distribution models and capabilities presented by each. You already have an idea of what you would like to sell and performed a careful assessment of the e-commerce market. So, is it all what you need to do prior to the store going live? Unfortunately, no. There is still a long road before establishing a successful and profitable business. 

A fool-proof way for the implementation of the idea

The idea is only the first steppingstone on this road to success. Now you must analyse the peculiarities of the chosen market segment. In this instance, the research should be concerned with the niche market where you want to operate. You must know all of the ins and outs of the particular segment in order to present something that will be of due importance.

Regardless of the chosen market segment, it is of the essence to analyse main competitors and most successful market participants. There is always a space for the improvement, therefore, do not try to copy the concepts which are implemented by others. Rather look at them from a critical point of view and try to advance and revolutionise. On the other side of the spectrum, making something completely different can have a negative impact and you should be cautious to balance these two. Some people prefer the comfort of what is already known and tested a thousand times, as well there are certain rules which must be adhered to. Therefore, have some basic cornerstones and rules in mind whenever binging your idea to life.

Create your brand

Creating your own brand will attract attention and elevate you above competitors. The recognisable and loved brand is one of the most valuable assets which business holds. When entering a specific market segment, you must bear in mind that you will have to compete against those who already gained recognition. Therefore, you must differentiate and offer something new to the customers. There is no single way for the successful creation of the brand. However, there are certain tips and tools which can help in this regard.

Trademark

First of all, you must choose your trademark. Trademark is a business name under which you will be selling your products. It is important to keep in mind that the trademark is registrable only if it is distinctive (i.e. distinguishing the goods or services of the company, from those of competitors), a non-distinctive trademark cannot be registered. Starting to trade under the name which won’t have any legal protection can be a big mistake, since as soon as your brand will start to become recognisable other people may start free-riding on your success. As well, a trademark can be a designated logo - a graphical representation of the brand and should be tailored in such a way as to be recognisable. Logos can be of whichever kind, but they must be distinguishable from those which are already used by other businesses. Before deciding on which trademark to choose, it is of the essence to assess the core aspects of each trademark category and choose wisely from the beginning. In total there are five officially recognised categories of trademarks.

Generic trademark

Generic trademark - it is a first category, which we will discuss, and is most valuable of all of them. For instance, such word as a “clock” cannot be registered as a trademark since this word is often used for timepieces. As well, you cannot instantly establish a generic mark, rather a trademark becomes generic with time after some product becomes recognisable by the distinctive name which was given to it. This happens whenever the product or service with assigned trademark acquires substantial market dominance, such that the primary meaning of the trademark becomes the product or service itself. The example of such a trademark would be Q-Tips which is a registered trademark of Unilever for cotton swabs.

Descriptive trademark 

Descriptive trademark - is a category of trademarks which serves to describe the characteristics of the product or service. Descriptive trademarks which only include words based on aspects, highlights, end results, or product uses (e.g. “best”, “easiest”, “fastest”) will not qualify as a trademark and therefore cannot be used. Such words can be trademarks only when there has been established secondary meaning. A good example of a descriptive word that has acquired secondary meaning and became protectable as a trademark is SHARP for televisions.

Suggestive trademark

Suggestive trademark- is a category of trademarks, which hints at or suggests the characteristic or quality of the product or service, or its attributes without actually describing it. With a suggestive mark, the people need to use the imagination in order to understand what product or service is advertised. Example of such trademark would be Microsoft (microcomputer software), which hints at the kind of products which are sold by the company.

Fanciful trademark

Fanciful trademark - is a category of trademarks, which is inherently distinctive, as such it may seem to be the strongest out of them all as it establishes the distinctness of the brand. Such trademarks are composed out of a combination of letters which do not have any meaning and is an invented word. However, since there is no inherent meaning in this kind of trademark the advertisement on the first stages of establishing business will be more demanding. The example of such a trademark would be Rolex, which after becoming so widely known doesn’t need any additional explanation.

Arbitrary trademark

Arbitrary trademark- is a category of trademarks, which relate to the words, which have a common meaning in particular language, but do not relate to the specific product or service. The example of such a trademark would be Apple, which is a real thing but does not have any connection to the products which are sold.

Familiarising yourself with all of the distinct aspects of trademarks allows to make a well-informed choice and establish a direction in which you would like to start developing your brand. There is no “one size fits all” approach when deciding how you should name your brand. It is a personal decision and before making such it is always advisable to decide what will be your approach towards your business.

Creation of brand is far from over at this stage. However, such matters as, design, creation of online store, marketing and promotion will be discussed further in order to lead through the whole of this process step by step.

Design

Design is of the essence for whichever business aiming to become recognisable. Design consists of many different components, you may have a distinct logo (graphic instead of a word), you may purchase a fancy font for the website, use custom made graphic images or custom photographs, use distinct colours, etc. Most businesses, which are starting from a scratch, need to balance a variety of expenses and decide which of those are of paramount importance. As a bare minimum, you should spend a certain amount of money on your trademark and logo. In the beginning, the most efficient way is to use a specialised online store development templates available from shopping kart developers and website builders. We will discuss it further in more details under the section dedicated to the establishment of the online store.

If you decided from the beginning to invest in the creation of the design, a couple of points should be kept in mind. First and foremost, make sure your designs are up to the latest trends. Having eye-catching branding and graphic design is vital. You will need a memorable, simple to read and versatile logo. The most successful logos are the simplest which use bold lines and dynamic shapes. They should appear discreetly as not to overwhelm the customer.

Another point is that design is more than a mere visual attraction. The design should not only promote your unique brand. It should be tailored in such a way as to provide a seamless interaction which customers cannot forget. One of the most critical aspects is the adaptability of the website with the mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, which may have over 10 various screen sizes and your store needs to be displayed correctly in all and any of them. 

There is a special subcategory of design called user experience design (UX design) aiming at the tailoring of the interactive content in a manner creating a pleasant experience for the user. UX design should always be considered prior to the creation of the user interface and specific points of interaction. Such an approach increases conversion rates as customers can easily perform purchases. Therefore, for a successful design of your online store, it is always important to consider that you will need a designer or a team, which will bring together a knowledge necessary for the development of consistent user interface, pleasant user experience, and appealing visual appearance. 

Development of online store

Now you don’t need to be specialised in the programming nor hire a programmer in order to have the possibility of creating an online store. Of course, the designation of monetary and human resources will allow to have everything tailor-made. However, it will require substantial investment and therefore won’t be a correct solution for everyone.

Website and online store builders 

There are ample of e-commerce website builders which will allow you to create a website from a scratch. The top choice would be Shopify,Wix,BigCommerce,Squarespace, and Weebly. These website builders allow you to create the store without any substantial investment. Furthermore, they offer you some advantages which must be accounted for whenever creating a store from a scratch. 

One of the main online store builders’ benefits is that they allow you to host your store on their servers and they are responsible for the matters of security. It eases the burden which is placed on you while designing the store as it allows to save the money which otherwise should be paid in order to have designated hosting.

The second benefit worth noting is that these builders will allow you to connect the store the built for you to your domain name. Even if you have bought a domain name with a different provider, for example, Go Daddy, they will still allow you to connect it. It offers the flexibility in regard of choice and ease in the establishment of the store. 

Another aspect is that online store builders are responsible for making sure that your store is up and running. Whenever any malfunctions occur, it is their responsibility to fix them and provide you with the support for the smooth operation of the store.

The fourth benefit is that together with the payment processor they are taking care of the security of payment’s data. While working with the e-commerce website builder you do not need to take the burden of ensuring compliance with the security standards for the sake of accepting payments. They arrange it for you and are responsible for ensuring that it functions in a proper manner. Many store builders will even allow you to connect your own merchant account instead of the one they can provide as a package deal. 

The fifth benefit is that website and online store builders have already integrated tools for marketing with which you may promote your business. Most online store builders are offering you an integrated solution which will foster recognisability of your business with the employment of marketing solutions. They have in one place the possibility of making campaigns, sending out letters and similar.

Last but not least, some of them will provide you with tailored sales features like shipping discounts or automated inventory tracking. It eases the administrative headache and allows you to have consolidated operations in one place. You may simply take the data out of the platform and perform tracking and assessment.

Overall webstore builders are a perfect solution to sell over the internet whenever you wish to establish a store from a scratch. Most of them are allowing you to do it without even substantial knowledge of programming. They allow to cut costs on the maintenance and lower your liability in regard of the supervision as they take upon some extra obligations upon themselves. 

Now let’s look at the e-commerce website builders one by one and review at least some of their advantages. This review will focus on the main strengths of each of the discussed platforms as against others present in the market.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the best-known website builders allowing you to create an online store with the ease and at the same time offering scalable interface which allows for the management of your website. The interface is relatively easy to use and offers a great deal of functionality. It has perfect user interaction and guidance on each step of the creation of the webstore. 

Another significant factor playing in favour of Shopify is a high level of customisation on the design side. So, with this website builder, there is no need to be concerned that it will look like thousands of other stores.

Furthermore, there are key sales tools and features without which it would be difficult to operate e-commerce store. First and foremost, it offers multi-channel integration. It means that you may have integration with various sales channels and sell through such applications as Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay and etc while establishing your store with Shopify. The second feature which is of core concern is abandoned shopping cart recovery. Whenever customer left your site but did not complete the checkout process he/she will be receiving an email promptly notifying of that. 

Shopify is partnering with USPS, DHL Express, UPS and Canada Post. This allows you to avoid the requirement of entering into separate agreements with the courier companies. Shopify also allows you to amend shipping rates based on weight, order value or location, print shipping labels for deliveries and returns and supports dropshipping too.

All these capabilities are only a tip of the iceberg and you should try yourself Shopify to see their full functionality. The best part is that you do not need to take these words for granted and can check their website builder free of charge. Shopify offers a free trial allowing to dive into their system and review offered capabilities.

Wix

Wix is a platform that has earned its name as an easy to use website builder. Differently, from already discussed platforms, it is not solely an e-commerce website builder, rather it is a website builder which offers you a possibility of creating an online store. As such, it is not as much tailored to the e-commerce store creation, but still offers you ample selection of features and functions required for the successful operations.

The main advantage of Wix is that it offers ease of customisation with the drag-and-drop as a core of the creation of the website. It offers many templates on which you can base your online store and therefore saves the hustle for making design from scratch. The ease is strengthened even more by the fact that in order to create a store you don’t need to know even a single line of programming code. Everything is implemented there and now, with the view as it will appear in the live version. It is very easy to employ Wix in order to create a new product or category and group them.

Apart from the ease of use, Wix offers some really handy functionality. If you wish to sell your products or services to people located in different countries, you may make the page in different languages to attract people with their native tongue. There is a possibility of adding the products of different types, so whether you sell virtual goods, physical goods or offer bookings for people, its functionality allows to have all of it in one place. The presentation of the product itself on Wix allows for uploading of up to 15 pictures and interactive overview with zooming in from the side of the customer. It also offers inventory management and allows you to keep track of the quantity of goods which are in stock. Therefore, whether the products sold are reaching the amount available it will automatically prompt customers that there is no stock. With regard to shipping, Wix offers a possibility of tracking offers from its dashboard, as well as set shipping and tax rules for your products. Meaning that you may differentiate between the varying prices based on the location of your customers. Unfortunately, Wix does not offer you a possibility of multichannel selling in their interface.

Whenever speaking about marketing, Wix has its own solution called Wix Ascend, which allows you to manage interaction with customers and to promote your brand. Another important factor is that Wix has embedded SEO functionality and again you don’t need any coding skills. You may simply enter the words as you wish them to appear in the search engines and the metatags according to which your website should appear.

If all of the above aspects and functionality sounds tempting, you can have a look by yourself without any upfront payment. However, you may only design the page and prepare everything for going live, it does not offer you a possibility to roll out and start accepting payments without choosing one of the subscription plans.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a website builder which is tailored specifically at the establishment of the e-commerce store. It is an extensive platform which offers a variety of functions and features for the base subscription price. It has everything from product management to comprehensive reporting and marketing management. 

BigCommerce is not a platform for everyone, especially those who have no knowledge of coding. This powerful platform has a variety of functions and customisation with 10 readymade design templates. However, it requires a certain level of knowledge in order to have the possibility of using all of its potential. As such, user experience with BigCommerce won’t be as easy and pleasant as with already discussed platforms, but it will be more fulfilling for those who wish to have management of the store to a higher extent. It has embedded automated image optimisation which makes the webpages load faster and subsequently raises the level of customer interaction.

With it, you may sell a variety of physical and virtual products in the categories of your choosing, while simultaneously using customised shipping rates. The product option customisation is by far the best in the market as it offers the possibility of establishing up to 250. This is of paramount importance for those selling the goods in a variety of forms. There is also an embedded possibility to offer discount vouchers which can be used by the customers. The abandoned cart functionality is much stronger than with other similar website builders in the sense that it offers you up to 3 automated emails reminding customers that they did not complete the purchase. Creating customisable fields with BigCommerce is the next level game. It is especially important for those merchants selling products which must be customised (such as mugs with a certain name on it).

The management of the store for bigger companies than a sole proprietor is easier with BigCommerce as it offers an unlimited number of staff accounts for already a basic subscription plan. Such function is offered by other e-commerce store building platforms but for a certain additional payment.

Another aspect worth mentioning is that BigCommerce offers the possibility of using the website for dropshipping. However, it does not have its own embedded tool. If you wish to stick to this model you will have to install a third-party app for this purpose available in the section of Apps & Integrations. 

Differently, from already discussed solutions, it does not have its own marketing solution. Rather it has integrations with such services as Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp and Interspire. BigCommerce well designed SEO options allowing you to add appropriate keywords which should be appearing in the search engines. 

BigCommerce offers a 15-day free trial so you don’t need to take these words for granted and can yourself review what is offered by this e-commerce website building platform.

Squarespace

Out of all website builders, Squarespace is most known for visually-appealing templates and best design offered on the market. It is primarily aimed at designers, photographers, and artists. The Squarespace offers something for everyone in the sense that it allows to choose the design in a manner consistent with the visuals of products you’re offering.

With regard to the ease of use of the Squarespace, it ranks as one of the top of website builders as it allows for the drag-and-drop collation while creating your website. But unlike Wix, it does not allow you to drag whichever information in whichever field, it is more of the section based and has concrete differentiation between the parts of the website which can be dragged in particular fields. Another strong advantage of Squarespace is that you don’t need to have knowledge of coding skills, it is relatively easy to use and has a high level of functionality.

It has an abandoned cart recovery function allowing you to prompt your customers that they have not completed the purchases which were left in the cart. Another important feature is that it has tracking of the stock of the products. It also allows for a multichannel integration, which is limited only to the promotion of products through other platforms. As such, it does not offer you a possibility to have a multichannel selling. However, you should not forget that it is not a classical e-commerce store builder but rather is a place where you can market your goods in the most attractive way. Therefore, if you wish to sell your own goods and make them more appealing to the customers Squarespace is a platform which you should choose.

It has a number of SEO features which allow you to promote your website. Albeit, they require quite more of the extra work in order to be set to run correctly. It does not offer you its own marketing solution, rather Squarespace offers you to integrate MailChimp for your email list, Google AdWords, and share buttons, Amazon has limitations only to the affiliate tracking.

It also offers a 14 days free trial where you can learn how Squarespace works and try out all of the features which are available even for the premium subscribers. 

Weebly

Weebly is an online store builder which comes on top with the ease of use and its drag-and-drop solution. It is not as sophisticated as all of the e-commerce website builders which were previously discussed. However, it is much easier to use than any of them. Another factor which puts Weebly above competitors is its price, which is at least twice cheaper than other website builders. Therefore, this solution is perfect for the people who would like to establish a store without putting in the substantial effort and would like to save money. 

It has an App Center where you can purchase and implement into your store some additional functionality. You can find everything from the customisation of the website to the tools helping you to increase conversion and subsequently revenue.

This website builder offers flexible options for the sale of different kind of products. Whether you wish to sell physical goods, virtual goods or services, Weebly will allow tailoring your store to a specific goods type. It also has a shipping tool allowing for the procurement of real-time shipping rates offered by carrier, address, weight, and quantity. Inventory tracking tool allows for the consistent tracking of the stock of the products and has some of the advanced features such as bulk import and export features. Furthermore, you can sell gift cards, add customer accounts, deal with abandoned shopping carts and set in-store pickup as a shipping option. And like with all of the other features of Weebly they are all easy to use. Regrettably, Weebly does not have a multichannel integration and does not allow to sell over the various networks. 

It offers a search engine optimisation which itself creates the information routed to the search engines. As well, you may use fine-tuning of SEO, which is easy to use and does not require any programming skills. On top of that Weebly allows creating tailored email templates which will help to better interact with your customers. It also has integration with Facebook Ads prompting you to create them right on the platform and make campaigns.

You can start designing your store with Weebly without any pre-payment. However, in order to connect the payment solution and make website go live, you would need to purchased it.

Payment acceptance

Accepting payments may seem easy at first sight. You simply create an online store and do it with the help of pre-integrated payment solutions which are offered by the website builder. Indeed, it is one of the options and may suit at the beginning of your endeavour of developing internet sales. It saves the hustle of researching the field and allows for the smooth connection without any need for integration. 

Website builder’s built-in integration

If you decide to use the integration which is already built-in by the website building software it will allow you to have all of the payment acceptance tools to be consolidated at the same interface as you used to build your website. It may seem easier from the side of the management of the website. Albeit, such an approach won’t offer you a consolidated overview and management of your payments and finances. Therefore, you will have fragmentation of your financial matters and may need different financial service providers, one for card acceptance, another for payment via alternative methods, other for currency conversion, another for settlement of funds, other for fraud monitoring and etc. As well, you won’t have very extensive knowledge and full data regarding transactions conducted on your store. Full data such as ARN numbers are often required to investigate the technical issued, fraud or chargebacks. 

Payment acceptance is not as straightforward as it may seem from the first sight and involves a variety of parties and rules, which must be followed. Therefore, in order to come up on top of the game, you must carefully consider all the aspects of payment acceptance over the internet and make an informed decision.

Integration with the payment service provider

There is a possibility of contracting an external payment services provider that offers merchant accounts and e-commerce processing. In most instances such payment services provider will be able to offer you multicurrency payment acceptance and settlement, integration with local payment solutions, for example, e-wallets, better rates for payment acceptance, more concise tracking of sales, currency exchange, alternative payment methods, fraud and risk management tool, etc. the list of add-ons that can be offered by the independent payment service providers are endless and you should research what features you may need and make your decision accordingly. 

When choosing the payment service provider an obvious choice would be to connect with one of the world’s largest, such as Worldpay, Wirecard, and Stripe,  each handling transactions worth of €1 trillion annually. However, none of them offers tailored infrastructure and connection can take much longer because of the dissemination of decision making across various departments. Instead, e-commerce merchants are usually better off using solutions from smaller, more agile players that can offer first of all a better service, better rates and are more flexible. 

As well, differentlyfrom the large card acquirers, smaller institutions offer a wider variety of services and non-conventional solutions which may bring enormous benefit. For instance, PayAlly can offer you in one place a dynamic descriptor,payout to cards with,fraud prevention, recurring payments, settlement accounts for funds from payment acceptance, currency exchange, local and international payments at competitive rates, accounting module and comprehensive reporting, personal accounts with payment cards, employee salary payments and many more. None of the big players can provide you the all-in-one solution, thus contracting a smaller PSP may be a good payments acceptance solution for the online store. 

Card scheme rules

If you wish to accept payments via cards you should know that there are a variety of rules established by the card networks (e.g. Visa, Mastercard). First and foremost, you should know that the website of each merchant should adhere to certain minimum requirements. To sum it all up, the following minimum is applicable to all websites selling products or services over the Internet.

• The website domain name should be registered under the merchant’s name;
• General terms and conditions clearly placed on the website, including the rules related to customer’s right of cancellation of the order, delivery, and payment, as well as shipping costs;
• Refund policy and return policy clearly placed on the website;
• Privacy policy clearly placed on the website, adhering to the relevant laws and merchant’s type of business;
• Legal name and address listed in the terms and conditions, clearly placed on the website, which matches the legal name on the merchant account;
• Description of the products/services, with a clear indication of prices, currency, applicable taxes;
• Customer service phone number and email address must be easily found on the website, with clearly indicated availability time;
• It must be evident which payment methods are acceptable (i.e. if the merchant accepts payments via cards, logos of such card associations must appear on the website- especially at the checkout);
• Delivery method and days clearly stated on the website, e.g. DHL 2-3 days;
• The website must be SSL secured;
• Secure checkout allowing customers to enter their security code (i.e. 3-4 digit number printed on a card);
• Check out allowing to enter 3D Secure and 3D Secure 2.0 (i.e. Verified by Visa; Mastercard SecureCode).

These requirements are the minimum, which you should adhere to in order to be able to get merchant account and payment acceptance services from the payment service provider. In cases where you struggle to implement any of above requirements, it is possible to request your payment service provider to assign a personal account manager who can help you to bring your store into compliance with card association rules. You can’t get that service from the large e-commerce acquirers, as they simply don’t care. Smaller PSPs are fiercely competing for the businesses like yours, so you can benefit from professional advice absolutely free of charge. 

Marketing

The Internet made us interconnected and allowed to disseminate information much faster and to a wider public at the same time. Marketing is of paramount importance because, without it, customers won’t simply know that you are out there selling your products or services. The e-commerce market did not grow on its own, it has developed with the help of marketing. Further, you will find some overview of what should be considered whenever promoting your business.

Why is marketing important?

With expeditious growth of marketing channels such as social media, email, search engine optimisation, paid ads and banners, remarketing and other methods, it became easier to approach the large audience in less time and with fewer resources. A multichannel marketing strategy can be used to reach out to the target audience at the right time and place. Marketing is also useful for customer education. Your audience needs to have a solid understanding of what the product does and how it works in order to buy it. 

Customer engagement is crucial for any business. Marketing solves the question of how to keep a conversation ongoing. Marketing tools help to launch many campaigns within seconds, that helps you to encourage your customers to complete their purchases. Probably one of the main goals of any company is to make money and marketing is a vital component achieving that goal. Marketing is ultimately what drives sales.

What should be done prior to starting a marketing campaign?

Before even starting to consider marketing and tricks which will help to attract new clients you must determine your budget for the marketing campaign. This will narrow down types of marketing channels you will use and sometimes your strategy. There is a variety of different ways you can market your product or different strategies that can bring widely different customers. 

Concentrated marketing strategy

Consider a concentrated marketing strategy. This is when your marketing is targeted at only your target market. This strategy is commonly used with unique items, which get marketed to a very specific audience.

Undifferentiated marketing strategy

An undifferentiated marketing strategy is when your marketing is targeted at a very broad audience. This strategy works well when you have a product which is broadly useful or appealing. Usually, traditional marketing mediums are used: internet ads, television ads, print ads, and billboards.

Differentiated marketing strategy

A differentiated marketing strategy is when your marketing uses different interpretations of your product and markets it to different demographics. For example, the lower price can be used to market to customers with a limited budget who may be looking for something less costly than your competitor’s products. Convenience might be used to make your product appeal to a local market by revealing its importance in the times of need.

Choose wisely your approach and budget for marketing and it will help you to make it the most effective. There is no need to spend time on those approaches which will result in a waste of money. 

How to properly market your product?

In order for the marketing campaign to be efficient, you must assess what is your target audience. It means that you need to perform preliminary research which will outline who are primarily customers of your product or service. 

Defining the target audience

In the beginning, you may look up information online. Check researches which were conducted in your market and review the key indicators. Definitely, there will be some quality studies which will require some fee, don’t hesitate to invest in them as such knowledge will bring substantial revenue. Assess and analyse gathered information and clearly define your typical customer and start tailoring your marketing accordingly.

After that, you should start conducting your own assessments or surveys by pooling participants from your target audience and always asking clients to give you feedback. Once you have some feedback about your product and more information about your target market it’s time to make any necessary corrections for the way in which you conduct business or adjustments to the products which you sell. You must always remember that mere information without subsequently undertaken actions won’t lead to a drastic rise in the number of clients. Quality product and service leads to loyal clients and stable business. But for now, let’s stick to the ways which may improve your store recognition at the start and discuss some tips for marketing.

Your own website

One of the most essential steps of marketing nowadays is having your own website. It is astonishing how many businesses don’t think of their website as a marketing channel. It provides substance to your business and helps to reach out to a wider audience. People will come when they are interested in learning more about the business and that’s why it’s important to offer a good first impression and clearly show your brand, products, and services. A website will also be required for the implementation of more effective marketing methods since it will be the best place to obtain some leads. 

Quality content

Another aspect which is closely linked to a website is quality content. It can be everything relevant for the audience from the discussion of your own business to the promotion of products which are sold. It is of high importance for those who are selling their own creations, products or services. As well, for such people creating a press release or blog is a good idea. This should be mostly used to attract an audience which would be excited to hear about new developments, unique products or services, and most recent developments of business.

Email marketing

If you already have a website and collected consents for marketing, consider opting for an email campaign. This type of campaign is best used for direct response marketing. People have opted into hearing from you, so a significant part of them will open those messages to learn about the latest developments, products, and promotions. Send a carefully planned and well-designed email telling why they should purchase your product. Don’t forget to give them a hook to draw them into making a choice. It can be anything such as telling a story and being emotional or offering a discount for first-time buyers or for those who came back. The approach which you will choose strongly depends on the segment which you are servicing and therefore you should consider who is your main audience whenever developing such campaigns.

Social media

These days social media became one of the most powerful marketing tools. Most products and services can benefit from Facebook or Instagram page. It is a very versatile marketing tool providing a simple way to have promotions and show your presence. Twitter, the same as the previous two, is also a very functional marketing tool. Use it to notify customers of sales and business updates. You can mix it up by posting some news or stories related to your business. Another advice would be to research specific websites and platforms dedicated to discussions about your type of products, services, or business and actively engage in them. You may even answer some of the relevant questions on Quora and make references to your business. As well, let's not forget that social media is also one of the sales channels.

Pay-per-click

Pay-per-click is still an unbeatable choice as far as marketing channels go. With different brands available in the world, there are still two dominating platforms: Google Ads and Facebook/Instagram Ads. Google Ads will help you link up with consumers who are searching for products or service similar to yours. While Facebook/Instagram Ads is known to be a user-friendly platform with the ability to choose the target market and audience.

Word of mouth

Word of mouth is another marketing channel worth considering. It has always been and still is one of the most effective channels. There are four primary methods to strengthen word of mouth marketing. Run a referral program or affiliate program and offer incentives. For example, you can offer discounts every time one of the referrals makes a purchase. Motivate online reviews on different platforms, including Google, LinkedIn, and Yelp. Showcase these reviews on your website for additional credibility. As well, don’t forget about the cornerstone of marketing- feedback from your audience. It allows you to improve your product and subsequently convince your target audience that it is their best choice. If clients will speak about your business on their own, without any incentivisation, a word about your business will spread robustly.

How to make your brand recognisable?

Your brand identity often makes the difference between having a long-lasting relationship with customers and never being recognised at all. Building a recognisable brand takes time and effort but by following these simple steps you will develop a better understanding of what your customers want and how to exceed their expectations.

Your product should have a brand story, without a story it holds no emotional value for customers. If a brand makes a deep impression on customers, it impacts their buying behaviour. Consumers use emotions, personal experience, and feelings rather than raw facts, information, and features. Humans are naturally attached to responding to stories, although a good story must be validated by an excellent product. 

Your brand message needs to correspond to who you are as a business. Don’t focus on recent trends, instead, concentrate on solving a real prevailing problem for your clients. You should focus on establishing relationships and helping clients make enlightened and rational decisions. Therefore, when they choose your product or service, it’s because you are the best fit, which will lead to a stronger longer lasting relationship.

How marketing automation allows you to save time and resources?

Small businesses generally work with limited resources and staff, which makes it challenging to stay on top of everything. It is crucial to save time and resources anywhere possible and that’s where marketing automation pays off. It enables you to be discovered and engage with your target audience without dealing with other unnecessary tasks. Marketing automation provides an efficient, time-saving platform for the administration of general marketing functions through both offline and online channels.

By implementing marketing automation, businesses can send behaviourally triggered emails to its customers which significantly improve overall customer experience. Behaviourally triggered emails help to create a personalised interaction between the customer and the business. Fundamentally, marketing is meant to maintain the company’s presence. Marketing is important because it allows preserving long-lasting relationships with your audience and such an approach may help bring it to reality. 

Automation programs provide a centralized marketing database with such data as client behaviours and preferences, this allows to segment products and services and send ready-made emails based on gathered information. It can also act as an analytics tool for measuring, testing and optimizing the effects on revenue. Marketing automation can also be used for optimizing time-consuming repetitive marketing tasks. With the right automation system, you will get a lot more out of the time that you spend on promotion. You will be able to free up time and focus on the creative job by replacing manual and repetitive tasks with automated marketing campaigns.