[E-commerce 100 Questions 25] What should I do when opening an online store for the first time? 6 steps to help you build a profitable online store

The 25th episode of E-commerce 100 Questions teaches you how to open your first online store, so that you can make money and make money every day. In recent years, because the cost of starting an online store is very cheap. Compared with the financial pressure of millions of dollars in a physical store, an online store can make a good start with about 500,000 yuan. idea. So let's talk about it, if you want to build a formal online store and expect to develop it step by step, just follow the six steps of this article and you will have no problem.

What is an online store

An online store is the abbreviation of an online store. More formally, it would be called "e-commerce ( e-commerce )". Broadly speaking, as long as you sell through the Internet , it is a type of e-commerce, so if you sell your second-hand goods through shrimp skin , it is also an e-commerce behavior. If you want to know the difference between self-supporting websites and using e-commerce platforms as sales channels, you can refer to [E-commerce 100 Questions 09] Who is suitable for e-commerce platform business? Help you compare the advantages and disadvantages of channel platforms and e-commerce platforms, And recommend three kinds of people who are suitable for e-commerce business. We have a very detailed analysis in this article. So what we're going to talk about now is what you can do to make your online store easier if you want to make a job or a source of income selling goods online. Basically I think it goes through six steps

1. Investigate competing products
2. selection
3. Calculate gross profit
4. Choose the online store platform that suits you
5. Online store design / product launch
6. Promote the online store

Step 1 of opening an online store: Investigate competing products

There are infinite possibilities for online store sales. Basically, as long as you don’t break the law, most things can be sold online. And when we do an online store, we have to give priority to what kind of products you want to sell. Let me give you an example here to make it easier for you to understand. If you love coffee and roast your own coffee, because every time you bake it, you can’t finish it, and your friends say it tastes good, so you start using the Internet The idea of selling your own roasted coffee beans.

The first step is not to go to Shopee to apply for a personal store or to find a designer to design a LOGO first, but to understand the current market situation of coffee sales , how many consumers buy coffee beans through the Internet, and those who buy coffee beans What type of people are there? Office workers? Petty bourgeois men and women? Housewives? Also, how many bags of coffee beans do they usually buy at a time, do they need a grinding service? Do your research, I suggest spending at least a month to investigate, it will give you a better understanding of the current state of the market .

Then what you must know is

1. How many competing products
2. How big is the market
3. Product Specifications and Price Range
4. What is the consumer profile
5. What are the means of competition promotion?

This research is very accurate, because it will affect the subsequent series of decisions.

Step 2 of opening an online store: selection

After we have researched the market, the next step is to think carefully about what product you want to sell. Taking the coffee market in front of us as an example, the most common ones in the market now are Yirgacheffe, Mandheling, Hua Shen, and Geisha. In addition, coffee beans from Alishan, Taiwan are currently popular, and it seems that it is not easy to obtain. look. This is the market overview I know so far. When we are going to operate the coffee market, you must list these long-selling products that have been verified by the market, but you cannot only sell these hot products. It is recommended that you reserve some test space to test whether your new product or your unique technology is liked by consumers. My suggestion is that the best-selling and long-selling products should account for 70 to 80%, and the test new products should only account for one or two of the total items . The reason for this suggestion is that when we first opened the store, consumers did not have a sense of trust in you, so if he wants to try your baking skills, he must first find the items that are usually seen. Just like when we want to know if a new beverage shop is good, we will try their black tea or precious milk first. If we can’t even do the safety signs, you will doubt that their other products are also OK. Therefore, when these consumers see familiar products, it will be easier to place an order.

In addition, in the initial selection of products, my suggestion is that you should try to find products with low prices and high repurchase rate , because consumers are not familiar with your online store, they are unlikely to buy several at the beginning. Thousands of products (unless this is a well-known brand in the market), and our most important task at this stage is to accumulate members and make the sales chain run, just like the products with high repurchase rate we mentioned earlier, you can Let consumers continue to come to your online store to buy products, and you will also have the opportunity to sell his other different products.

Step 3 of opening an online store: Calculate gross profit

This is the key to whether your online store can operate and make profits, so we will spend more time discussing this step.

Gross profit "Gross profit", explained in Wikipedia: "In business accounting, the part of sales revenue after deducting the direct costs of the main business. Gross profit margin refers to gross profit divided by sales revenue, which is the main measure of corporate profitability trends. Index. It is called gross profit because it has not yet deducted commodity circulation fees and taxes, and it is not a net profit.”

When many online stores are operating, because they do not know how to calculate gross profit, they will put a bunch of discount activities or activities directly with the platform. In the end, the performance is super high, but the company loses money. Just like a friend of mine's e-commerce company, the monthly turnover is more than 12 million, but the gross profit is negative 1.3 million. This has not been added to the employee's salary or rent, so you know that gross profit is a very important thing.

So where is he complicated? Let me give a simple case. "The cost of goods is 175 yuan, the price is 420 yuan, and the price is 329 yuan." It is easy to calculate how much the gross profit is. Then the common activities running in our online store are probably the following:

1. Marketing Activity 01: 5% off VIP price
2. Marketing Activity 02: 3 into 29% off area, no discount for one piece
3. Marketing Activity 03: The bonus points are discounted to 21 points and 21 yuan
4. Marketing Activity 04: FB Activity Discount Coupon 50 Yuan
5. Marketing Activity 05: 30 yuan off for over 1000
6. Marketing Activity 06: Free Shipping Over 1,000

Okay, if all these activities go on at the same time, will your order make money or lose money? How much can you make or lose? Are you starting to feel dizzy? That’s why you say that details determine success or failure, just like I said before Said friend company buys 50% off, sells 30% off. It seems to be earning 20%, but the bonus points can also be discounted by another 30%, which turns into a loss of 10% for each order. Then, after a fixed amount, the shipping will be free, and you will have to pay an extra shipping fee. In the end, it will result in a negative gross profit of more than one million.

How to capture the gross profit of e-commerce

Before you try to capture gross margins, I recommend calculating fixed costs first. Generally, there are at least the following:

• Shipping: 10-15% (depending on the unit price)
• Advertising and marketing costs: 20%
• Invoice: 5%
• Miscellaneous expenses: 10-15%

The cost of the above items can be calculated for the first three items, so I will not explain it separately. What we are going to talk about is the most commonly overlooked miscellaneous expenses.

Table of contents

1. What is an online store
2. Step 1 of opening an online store: Investigate competing products
3. Step 2 of opening an online store: selection
4. Step 3 of opening an online store: Calculate gross profit
5. How to capture the gross profit of e-commerce
6. What is included in miscellaneous expenses
7. Step 4 of opening an online store: Find the online store platform that suits you
8. Step 5 of opening an online store: online store design and product listing
9. Step 6 of opening an online store: Promote your online store
10. Conclusion: It is not difficult to operate an online store, the difficulty is that you have to implement it step by step

Click here to see more