The £100 online shop
Written by Nick Kington
Thursday, 19 January 2012 00:00
The beauty of ecommerce is that it’s suited to just about anyone and achieving success is not just about how much money you throw at it.
The costs of starting an online shop are much lower than most alternatives, particularly if you are prepared to invest your own time and effort in getting things up and running. Here are ten practical tips to help you get going for less than £100:
1. Start small. Start off small; work on it part-time or even view it as a hobby and give yourself the opportunity to test your idea before deciding whether to commit further time and expense to it.
2. Don’t worry about premises. The great thing about selling online is that you can start your operation from anywhere, as long as you’ve got access to an internet connection. So there’s no need to commit expense to business premises, at least not initially.
3. Buy a domain name. Research and purchase a domain name for your website through a reliable domain name company like 123-reg, Easily or Heart Internet for around £10.
4. Choose good ecommerce software. This is the system that lets you create an online shop. If you’re on a limited budget, look for a server-based package. These packages include web hosting, so you get everything you need to get started and can access it all through your web browser. Packages are available from Actinic (the company I work for) and ekmPowershop for up to £20 per month, with no set-up fee. Read more on choosing ecommerce software.
5. Sell on a marketplace. An alternative option is to start selling on marketplaces such as eBay or Amazon. You do have to adhere to their policies but you will benefit from the delivery of visitors. Costs will depend on how many products you are listing. For example a basic eBay shop costs £14.99 per month with additional insertion and final value fees, per product.
6. Develop the site yourself. If you’re using good ecommerce software, you don’t necessarily need any technical knowledge or design flair to get your site up and running. You should be able to get a good looking, fully functional site together without requiring a professional web designer.
7. Accept payment. The best way to accept credit and debit card payments is by using a payment service such as PayPal. It is reasonably priced, easy to set up and ideal for start-up and small online businesses. There is no minimum monthly payment; you just pay a fixed fee per transaction plus a % of the transaction value.
8. Use a drop shipper. You may be fortunate to find a supplier who can drop ship (deliver direct) to your customers. This means you don’t need to hold any stock and can simply integrate the shipping service costs into your pricing.
9. Experiment with pay-per-click advertising. You should still have something left in your budget to run some small-scale marketing activity. A popular way of starting is to use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising with Google Adwords. Costs will depend on the keywords relating to your site and products but you should be able to test a campaign for a low outlay. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter also provide a low cost way to get your site promoted.
Communicate with your customers. And don’t forget email marketing once your database grows. It’s easier and cheaper to get more sales from previous customers. Services like Mailchimp are free for low volumes.
Written by Nick Kington, Managing Director of ecommerce specialist, Actinic. Originally published on ITDonut.
