Personal Brand: Need These 10 Things to Ensure Online Retail Success!

Photo Credit: Unsplash

The business industry today is characterized by increasingly high levels of uncertainty and change. Different kinds of business engagements proliferate. This goes to show that many people are brave and confident enough to delve into the infinite pool of business industry.

One factor that adds up to the growing competency in the industry is the use of the internet and as you may notice, many online stores are gradually emerging. Hence, the competition among these online businesses becomes undeniably high. Online retail shops have a faster increase in sales and profit compared to real boutiques. And this is the primary reason why personal branding is intensively needed and crucial for every online retail business – your brand must be unique, catchy, and creative.

Branding strategy is the most difficult thing in the process of planning a marketing plan and it is the biggest problem for businesses because it has to be something big since it is a vital step in creating an effective company identity. And this article is here to give you the best way how to gather an audience in order to ensure your online retail business success.

1. Create your business plan

With billions of already operating online businesses, it will not be easy for someone who just started to immediately gather sales and generate growth. The shoppers have to dive into the pool of many other online shops which is why you must have to know how you will get the client’s attention by marketing or how you can utilize the potential of search engines. The vital role of creating a business plan starts here to help you find the way to the top using critical components like financials, marketing, and operations. This is also the most critical part since it will be the blueprint for your success. And the ultimate guide to a business plan starts by knowing who will be your target audience and what your target market is. And doing some research about this is important in planning.

So the ultimate guide to creating a business plan is: first, research about everything. Second, write down your plan, followed by an exquisite summarization, and then apply it to your business. After that, you have to monitor everything that is happening in order to make a judgment whether your plan is a success or not. Also, always keep your business plan open for revisions for improvement. Never get scared of trying things you never tried before because that is what people need right now – they need something new.

2. Select an appropriate business structure

After establishing your business plan, it is now the time to choose the appropriate business structure that would get you the best. There are different types of business structure; it can be a sole proprietorship where all the profit as well as income, losses are taxed to a single person; on the other hand, the partnership is when two or more parties share the responsibility and works with mutual efforts; other more complex structure of businesses includes a corporation for already well-established businesses and the hybrid kind of partnership called the LLC or the Limited Liability Companies.

The different business structures are all viable choices you can choose from but you have to know that all of them come with their respective benefits and risks. It is important to know this, especially for those who are just starting to build an online retail brand. To select an appropriate business structure for your online retail store, you have to consider essential factors like the financial requirements of your business, its level of flexibility, the tax options, liabilities, and lastly, you have to think long term. Always remember that every decision you make will largely influence your online business someday.

3. Choose your products to sell

It is important for a starting online retail brand to have that specific product they goal to market. In finding a product to sell online, build an interesting and catchy brand that will surely catch your client’s attention. You can also try looking for an opportunity gap by observing different Amazon ads to identify what the customers actually need since supplying demands from the other online store will surely turn everyone’s head towards you! You can also try the same thing on finding opportunities in keywords and try finding a product to sell online using search engines. You have to be opportunistic and identify every pain point of customers. Use your experience, it’s either you consider the customer’s passion or you go to market your own passion, or play safe and start capitalizing on trends early!

4. Consider getting barcodes for your products

UPC or universal product codes are consisting of 12 uniquely arranged numeric digits that place to a specific trade item for the purpose of scanning them at the point of purchase. If you have so many products or if you are selling on a wholesale basis, you must consider having these barcodes.

In getting barcodes for your online retail success, you have to set up or create an account at GS1US.org that will give you an opportunity to create as many barcodes as you need but if you are just a few items, you can simply skip that GS1US.com and head directly through their certified partner like the createbarcodes.com.

5. Implement your Inventory System

The inventory system is the set of policies and guidelines needed in order to monitor the inventory or level of products available and must be maintained in order to meet future demands. This is important in order to know when will the products need to be restocked to adequately respond to the customer’s needs. Having your own storage or warehouse will help you in familiarizing what you already have and what you are lacking  It will also help in stabilizing your products price due to avoidance in your supplier’s rising rental costs plus it can also give you an extra income by letting other people rent out of your stuff. But having a storage room or a warehouse can be expensive plus you have to deal with the struggle in transportation, maintenance works, and product loss or damage. Implementing your own inventory system will ensure your online retail success! It will keep your products regulated and you will never get short of it!

6. Purchase your domain name

A domain name acts as your permanent address online which is why it is important to immediately have one the moment you decided to open your own e-commerce website. A domain name will make you look more professional, trustworthy, and credible, plus it will help in promoting your brand awareness. Some of the most popular platforms you can find are Shopify, Bigcommerce, and Wix eCommerce. Shopify can give you a free domain name or you can also purchase your own domain name that is exclusively yours.

In purchasing your own domain name for the online retail success, choose a good domain name first and pick a domain registrar. If you are already decided, you will be filling up some important details necessary for your registration. If you are concerned about your own security and privacy, feel free to use a business name and contact information rather than your own personal identification. Once you are already finished with your domain name’s registration, the desired URL is now yours but that doesn’t mean you have a website because it still needs to be built and hosted which is done separately.

7. Create a website

The website is an important element in today’s business industry. Most people try to look up about everything on the internet first before they go and buy it. That is why your website has to be something that will leave a great permanent mark on the consumer’s first impression since it will last!

If you are problematic in looking for someone to create a website for you, here are the five trusted e-commerce website builders you can choose from: first is the Shopify which is one of the most popular and best website builders nowadays; second is the Wix eCommerce that is a pure drop and drag website builder because you can practically just put anything you want in any place you desire; third is the direct competitor of Shopify and is called BigCommerce; fourth is Weebly eCommerce which is said to be the easiest to use; and lastly is the Squarespace Commerce that offers a very classy, stylish, and simple templates.

8. Setting up your shopping cart

The e-commerce shopping cart is said to be the heartbeat of the entire existing online retail stores on the internet. It is your online store catalog and serves many roles in your website. It can even handle the customer’s order and back-end inventory infrastructure.

In setting up a shopping cart for your online retail success, the following tools might help you out:  the 3dCart which serves as the e-commerce existing storefronts; the AgoraCart that provides a series of template or support your own codebase; the visual shopping cart from Avactis; the CubeCart that provides many options to the business owners; and the ProductCart that features hundreds of different shopping carts.

9. Start your online retail and spread it.

Marketing strategy is important to ensure your business success. To start your business, launch your online store and offer varieties of discounts. This advertising strategy will be surely effective once you see its impact on your sales.

Launching your business starts with preparing your social networks and making sure that your email marketing is ready. It is also necessary that you already have a launching space that would greet your clients the moment they access your website. And make sure that you are already done your keyword research, you finish installing Google Analytics in order for you to receive any incites.

10. Maintain and continue to learn what trends today

After finishing all the things that were mention above, you are now ready to run your own online retail shop. The only thing you have to keep in mind is to maintain your business and keep it going! Always remember that you have to be open and continuously try to do something new. You can either follow the trend or become the trend. You just have to learn constantly for your business’s sake. It is a fast-changing world so you have to be flexible enough to catch up in order to ensure your retail growth and success.

About The  Author:

Alexe Chasanov is an e-commerce community manager in California. She also works as a consultant for a start-up company to help them in their marketing and growth hacking efforts. She loves writing about fashion trends here and there, and in her free time, she loves outdoor sports and martial arts.