Once you’ve chosen your e-business idea online, you’ll have to do your research to finally bring it to life. Here’s how to start, step by step.
Validate your idea by studying the market
It’s not because you think you have a great idea that the demand for your product or service will be there. It might sound daunting, but it’s totally true. Before you invest time and energy in setting up your business, you should study the feasibility of your idea and evaluate its profitability based on the purchase intent of potential customers.
You could hire an agency to do the market research for you. But if your budget is small, you could also do it alone:
- Do a niche market research: tips and resources
- “Product-Market Matching”: How to find profitable products and a profitable niche market
- How to do a market research and online feasibility study to evaluate your product idea
Develop your product or service
You have validated your idea, now is the time to give it life. You will have to create the product or service you intend to sell. Find a supplier to outsource the manufacturing of your physical product; organize your services into packages; or write your book and start printing it on demand through a self-publishing service.
If you take the path of dropshipping, the product has already been developed for you. Your job will be to choose the products you are passionate about or have a promising market.
Master your professional finances
“Do I need to open a corporate bank account? This is a common question among new entrepreneurs. After registering your activity, you will need to obtain all the professional documents that are needed to open a corporate bank account.
As your business grows, you may need to fund new projects – whether these are related to a new product launch, or an increase in your marketing budget. Opening a professional bank account makes it easier to manage the company’s cash flow and track income and expenses.
In addition, opening a corporate bank account makes it easy for you to manage your company’s accounting – since your business transactions will appear on one and the same statement. That said, as your business finances become more and more complicated, you should consider hiring an accountant or tax expert.
Find vendors and suppliers
E-merchants who sell physical products must establish professional partnerships to effectively manage their business. Before choosing any partner – a dropshipper or a third-party logistics management service, for example – make sure you do all the necessary research to find the option that best suits your needs.
Other types of e-commerce activities may require different relationships or partnerships. For example, if you plan to write a book, you should consider hiring a professional proofreader and an experienced graphic designer.
Create your online store
If you plan to start an online business, you must have a professional website. And to generate online sales, you need to integrate a shopping cart solution on your site. First, choose a domain name and check its availability. The purchase of a domain name is very inexpensive, around 10 € per year. From there, you can build your own shop on a platform like Shopify and immediately start accepting customer payments.