Guide for setting an Online Electronics Store
When it comes to electronics, it is always better to buy products offline. This makes the selection process faster, easier, and reliable, as you can always test the products before making the decision to buy them. However, because of the ongoing pandemic, physically testing the products before buying them is not ideal at all. It is safer to watch or read some online reviews and then buy the product from a virtual market.
The shift from offline to online shopping has not only affected the shoppers but the sellers as well. And moving to a different platform suddenly can be challenging for some business owners out there. Hence, this guide, which will help you with setting up your virtual store.
The first question which pops in mind when you hear, “selling electronic goods online” is; how?
Well, with the right platforms like “Shopify” at your disposal, the process becomes simple and rather straightforward. Online electronics shopping usually takes place in the following steps:
-Customers looking for electronic goods, navigate to your website and find the right product for themselves.
-Then comes the research phase, where due to lack of physical testing, the potential customer surveys and browses the internet for reviews and specifications of the desired product.
-After selecting the ideal product through extensive research, the customer proceeds to buy that product from your store with a preferred payment and delivery option.
-Once the order is placed, the selling process has to start from your end. Review the order details and start preparing the product for delivery with all the safety measures in mind.
-If the customer has opted for a no-contact delivery, you will have to ring up your delivery partner with the order details. So that a safe delivery procedure can be carried out.
-In the case of a store pickup, you should prepare the order for the preferred date and time chosen by the customer.
The entire process is pretty simple. But, that’s not it, there is more to the online marketplace. Let us uncover everything you need to know about setting up an ideal virtual electronics store.
BUILDING THE STORE
The first step in building a virtual marketplace is making a proper profile for it. Profile, in this case, is the online presence of your store. The platform, where customers can browse your products and purchase them eventually. This can be done on certain platforms like “Shopify”, which can help you with setting up a proper online storefront on their website itself.
SIGNING UP
The first step is to sign up to a desired platform with the required information. This is followed up by setting up a proper domain name which should go hand in hand with your brand name.
PERSONALIZATION
Once you have a domain name and a platform to work on. You should focus on designing a proper theme for your virtual store. Doing this ensures that your online footprint looks good which will help in drawing the attention of more customers to the store. Once the theme is finalized, you can freely customize the basic details of the storefront, including the domain name, theme, menu navigation, etc.
ADDING PRODUCTS
Products are undoubtedly the most important aspect of your online store. You could add them right on the home page or on the dashboard depending upon your preferences. This process works hand in hand with proper digital marketing, working on SEO and using visualization to your advantage is key here.
MAKING SHOPPING EASIER FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS
As your customers are buying products without any physical testing, you should make sure that they don’t have any second thoughts about their purchase. Hence, adding proper and detailed product descriptions and reviews is the right way to make the buyers feel more confident about their purchase. Some features like “chat with support” or “QnA” are a great option as well. This keeps your customers involved which ensures brand loyalty.
CART CUSTOMIZATION
This is the step where scams and frauds happen on fishy websites. It is necessary to display the proper amount and quantity of the products being purchased. Make sure that your store offers complete transparency on this step. The payment methods and shipping charges should be displayed properly in the cart section along with the delivery preferences if any. The customers should be kept well informed about their delivery process.
Once the initial setup of your virtual store is completed, its’s time for business. The publicity phase is very important as it determines how many customers will visit your store. You should start by sending out emails and notifications to your existing clientele. This is the part where digital marketing helps a ton. Make sure that you have proper SEO so that more and more people can find your store through web searches. Publicize using online advertisements to reach a larger customer base.
Set a budget for expansion and use social media platforms for publicity. People will not visit your perfectly set up online electronics store without having any clue about it. Hence, it is very important to spread the news about the store. The right way to do it is email marketing as it is the fastest and widest means of reaching people for the price.
Making sure that your customers stay after initially visiting your virtual marketplace is as essential as bringing them in. Hence, it is advised that you set up a forum or platform where customers can interact with each other regarding the products. It can be a review section or a different idea altogether where like-minded people can discuss the latest technologies and products available on your website. This will not only make your website an ideal medium for buying products but a perfect place for reviews and discussions as well.
Getting professional help is never a bad thing if you are completely in the blue about digitalizing. Many professionals claim guaranteed results and If your budget allows it, avail their services to assist you with digital marketing and webstore development. Making the ideal marketplace in today’s world is not an easy task by any means. However, in times like these, it is essential to make sure that you don’t go out of business. The transition from offline to online is for the overall development of your brand in this media-dominated world.
It helps with your reach and publicity. Although the initial stages are time-consuming, the result is always fruitful. Setting up online will help you in the long run, as more people will know about your services. It will be even better if you decide to continue both online and offline services at the same time after the COVID phase. Moreover, having too many customers is never a bad thing.
