In a world that’s becoming more technologically advanced each day, having an online store is perhaps preferable to setting up a traditional brick-and-mortar shop. In fact, many people opt out of starting an ecommerce business because the funds to do so can seem daunting. The reality is, however, that with the right tools and strategies for ecommerce, there are several cost-effective ways to get your business up and running online.
Here Are Four Inexpensive Strategies for Your Ecommerce Business
1. Corner Your Keywords
Using online marketing tools like search engine campaigns will attract traffic to your e-store while enabling you to measure the ROI. The goal is to corner various search terms that might help you capture interested customers. For instance, if you sell kitchen supplies, you’ll want to target queries like “cheap crock-pots” or “cute kitchen utensils”. This can be done through organic means (like blogging) or through paid advertising (which isn’t too expensive).
Having the advantage to see if you’re spending your efforts effectively can be very useful. With this strategy, you can decide how much money you should be putting into your business and how much more you can be making. After all, there’s no point in spending time and energy on tactics that are not helping attract business.
2. Adapt to the Mobile Market
There are dozens of ways to streamline ecommerce expenditures so that your return on investment (ROI) grows. One of the first and perhaps most crucial ways is adapting to the mobile market. With the world relying on mobile more each day, it’s imperative to make an ecommerce site capable of handling demands from smartphone and tablet users.
This is more important than you might think. While sales through mobile ecommerce are slow (but growing), shopping via mobile is extremely common. It’s entirely possible that a consumer views your mobile site for products and sales during the day, only to buy the goods they need once they get in front of a desktop computer. Thankfully, building a mobile-friendly ecommerce site is easy and cheap when leveraging a platform provider.
3. Run a Cheap Ecommerce Website Through a Reputable Platform
As mentioned above, finding a mobile-capable platform provider is easy thanks to companies like Yahoo Small Business. Even better is that you can build a cheap ecommerce website with all the tools and functionalities of a lavish e-store, including payment processing, customizable templates, and security features. Many providers even allow you to build blog pages to assist your marketing efforts.
4. Drop Shipping
Another method to save money on your online store is drop shipping rather than handling inventory yourself. In this approach, all you must do is partner with a wholesale supplier that stocks its own inventory.
How does this process work? A customer completes an order; the drop shipper receives it and sends back a confirmation; then the drop shipper sends the goods directly to the purchaser. In a sense, you’re just getting rid of the middle man. This provides a faster way of moving goods from the manufacturer directly to the retailer; thereby saving you time and money. Plus, customers won’t know you’re drop shipping since you can choose to use a private shipping label tailored specifically to your ecommerce business.
The biggest advantage of drop shipping is that you don’t have to worry about fulfillment or inventory issues. Additionally, you don’t have to invest heavily on inventory, although you can still offer a myriad of products.
The cost and risk of starting your online store can be daunting with the knowledge of what seems like a limitless amount of businesses in the online market. But with these cost-effective strategies, you can make sure your business is up and running online in a convenient and practical way.
