Ecommerce: A Euforia Quick Start Guide

What is Euforia Wholesale? We are your go-to source for wholesale goods. With more than 30 years of experience in the wholesale business and over $2 billion of product sold, we established Euforia Wholesale to help business owners create, grow, and elevate their businesses. Euforia Wholesale partners with sellers to provide products to you at discounted prices so that you can stock your shelves – either physical or virtual – with quality products from trusted names. As a wholesale supplier for online store owners, we offer personalized guidance, flexible ordering, and curated product lines. Whether you’re establishing a one-person sales operation or enhancing your small retail business with additional products, Euforia can provide customized product selections and educational materials that fit your needs, no matter if you’re selling from a decade-strong brick-and-mortar or a newly minted online store. In this Ecommerce business startup guide, you’ll learn how to start an Ecommerce business from scratch – backed by the expertise of Euforia Wholesale. Table of Contents What is Ecommerce? Finding the Best Ecommerce Platforms to Launch Your Online Store How to Build a Brand That Stands Out in a Crowded Market Learn More About Starting an Ecommerce With Euforia Wholesale What is Ecommerce? Ecommerce is simply the practice of selling online. Online stores have become a common part of everyday life, selling everything from books to electronics, to pet food, and sex toys. Since the year 2000, ecommerce sales in the U.S. have steadily grown, making up a larger and larger percentage of total sales. And they’re forecasted to continue taking an even bigger slice of the pie, reaching nearly a quarter of all sales before 2030. Build a 24/7 Digital Storefront That Grows With You When you start selling online, your business is always open. You can: List as many products as you’d like Avoid worrying about empty or overstocked shelves Choose a niche market or create a hub for anything and everything If you’re ready to start selling online, it allows you to adapt on the fly, responding to new trends in a snap, all through online platforms ready-built to help you set up and handle your business. Selling online is great as a standalone business, but it also works as a fantastic and natural complement to a retail or On-the-Go Sales business. It allows your customers to buy on their schedules instead of having to make their way to your store or schedule a time to meet with you about a product they already know they need. Finding the Best Ecommerce Platforms to Launch Your Online Store Choosing the right sales platform is important when learning how to start an ecommerce business. This is one of the biggest decisions in setting up your ecommerce website is figuring out where you’re going to host your store and sell your products. There are lots of online platforms that can give you a leg up when building, growing, and selling, and this e-commerce business startup guide is a great launch point, but make sure to do your research before going all in. When choosing the best ecommerce platform, focus on: Cost Ease of Use Customization Sales Data You can always make a change if your chosen platform isn’t working for you, but that means more research, more downtime, and taking two steps back in order to take three steps forward. Consider reading articles, consulting others in your life and online, and – most importantly – taking advantage of free platform trials to test features and customizability. Pairing your store with a trusted wholesale supplier for online store inventory like Euforia Wholesale can dramatically increase sales efficiency and revenue. With that said, let’s talk about what you should keep top-of-mind when searching for an ecomm platform. There are many things to consider when choosing an ecommerce platform, but we’re going to focus on four main ones: cost, ease of use, customization, and data. E-commerce Platform Costs: What to Expect Of course, one of the most important considerations is the cost. Most platforms will have a monthly subscription fee with the offer of a discounted annual plan. For a small business, most of these costs sit within the range of $20–50 a month, but there are options above and below that average as well. As with so many things, be careful when choosing a e-commerce platform purely based on price. There may be costs behind the curtain – transaction fees, processing fees, non-bundled features – that will make that cheap provider more and more expensive. Dig into what that monthly fee gets you to make sure you won’t have to pay extra for features that you (or your shoppers) expect. User-Friendly Website Builders for Entrepreneurs If you’re not computer savvy or have never built a website before, ease of use is going to be a major factor for you. Don’t let your lack technical skills scare you away from building your site. Plenty of platforms like Shopify or Wix, offer simple, easy-to-understand interfaces, pre-built templates, and drag-and-drop functionality that can make putting together your shop easy and intuitive. How to Customize Your Store for Maximum Results Most ecomm platforms offer free website templates with limited customization – change colors, upload your logo, change the default fonts, etc. These free templates are great when you’re starting to build your business. And if you can make your site look and feel exactly how you want while gaining traffic and building your customer base, sticking with a default template isn’t a dealbreaker. But if you want to stand out from the crowd, you can grab a template that offers more customization. Most platforms offer more interesting and/or customizable templates for purchase. You also have the option of completely building the site yourself (or paying someone to build it for you) while still utilizing the platform’s services. Just keep these costs in mind (both monetary and time) when you start planning your launch. Ensuring your site is attractive and user-friendly is an important part of crafting your store, and your chosen platform should give you plenty of options to customize your look. If you’re looking for expert help building an e-commerce website, learn more about our marketing support services. Use Business Data to Make Smarter Sales Decisions What kind of information does your platform provide you about your customers? Does it just collect information from sales, or are you able to track unfinished orders? Or when someone puts items in their cart but doesn’t check out? Is there a way to see what your customers are searching for or are clicking on? When choosing the best ecommerce platform, look for data on: Completed sales Abandoned carts Product searches Click-through behavior This kind of data is vital to your store. It will help you contact those who may have gotten distracted while shopping, or discover what your customers are coming to your site to find that you may not have in stock. How to Build a Brand That Stands Out in a Crowded Market When most people think of branding, they likely just think of things like logos or color palettes. But there’s so much more that encapsulates a brand. Your brand is what defines your business. It’s the impression you give your customers every time they interact with your store. Your brand isn’t just your logo or your favorite color – your brand is you. So before you start selling online, think about what story you want your brand to tell. How to Name Your Store for Flexibility and Growth First up, your business has to have a name. When thinking about what to call your store, try to make sure it allows room for growth. If you name your store “Kyra’s Shoes” but your sock business suddenly catches fire, you might find yourself in a tough spot. But a name like “Kyra’s Corner” will give you the room to expand (or narrow) your product selection without limiting yourself by a name. You also need to make sure you can secure your name as a website address (URL). Once you have a shortlist of potential names, do a domain name search to ensure you can buy it – preferably one with “.com” at the end. If you’ve already chosen an ecomm platform, many of them offer the ability to both search for and purchase domain names. Keep your name simple, and eliminate from your list any URLs that are already registered. Most domain search sites offer alternate suggestions if a name has already been taken. Ask yourself if you would feel comfortable typing your credit card information into a website before you select an address. (“Euforia.com” feels much more legitimate than “Euforia-products-2.net.”) Once you know which of your names have available URLs, you can sit with them for a day or two or run them past friends and family and decide which name is right for you and your business. Tips to Craft a Brand Look and Feel That Speaks to Customers Once you’ve decided on the name of your business, it’s time to unleash your creative side. This is where all those traditional ideas of branding come in: your logo, colors, fonts – all those things that stick out in your mind about your favorite brands. The easiest way to begin to figure out the look and feel of your new brand is to create a moodboard – a collage of images, colors, and words that feel the way you want your brand to. For example, Dunkin’s moodboard would likely be predominantly organge, feature bright pictures of smiling people with colorful drinks, donuts, and images of bubbles. Lululemon on the other hand, would probably have neutral colors: fitness photography, athletes perfectly frozen mid-stride, soft materials, and the iconic Lululemon logo in the middle. Websites like Pinterest are great for building moodboards and can help you gather imagery you can start to pull together into a cohesive feel. When building your moodboard, keep in mind: Limit it to 5–8 cohesive images Use colors, photos, fonts, and visuals that reflect your desired brand tone Reference other brands you admire for inspiration This moodboard can help guide your color choices as you start customizing your website and figuring out things like photography or type style. Design a Logo That Reflects Your Brand’s Identity The next step is your logo. Starting out, a simple text logo will likely work great. If you want to invest, you can reach out to designers and artists you know or find one online you can hire to help you design your logo and bring your vision to life. Craft a Brand That Connects Next, it’s time to figure out the personality and story of your brand. The good news is, for so many businesses, this is easy – it’s you. What personality traits do you (and your business) want to share with the world? Confident? Knowledgeable? Maybe you’re a little weird? A little “quirky?” These are the kind of words that can define your brand! To use our previous examples, the personality Dunkin puts out into the world could be defined as: Fun, Friendly, and Refreshing. Lululemon? Exciting, Empowering, Active, and Cool. How do you want the world to see your business? Consider writing your list of adjectives and use them as a guide for how to communicate in your marketing and with your customers. Find a Reliable Wholesale Partner The good news about this one is that you’ve already done that – you’ve signed up with Euforia. However, we don’t have to be your only partner. Seek out a wholesale partner who offers quality products and informational services. Cheaper is not always better – especially when it comes to selling sex toys and other adult intimate products! We’ve built Euforia around business education, reliable support, and high-quality products sold at margins that can help you succeed. This is a standard we set for ourselves, so we can best serve you. You should hold all your suppliers to a high standard. After all, what you sell to your customers reflects on your business and reputation, not theirs. Helpful Ecommerce Tips for Success Here’s some helpful ecommerce tips for beginners to help you avoid common pitfalls and build with confidence. Prevent Inventory Issues With Smart Stock Tracking One of the most overlooked ecommerce tips for beginners is to plan inventory around trends and sales cycles. Make sure to track your most popular, trending, and seasonal products so you don’t run out of stock. How to Add a Personal Touch That Customers Remember It isn’t just the products that have to go inside your shipments. Thank you notes, product samples, and fun packing materials can set you apart and create a customer connection. Drive Revenue With Product Bundles and Promotions Create your own product sets, special offers, and seasonal bundles to capitalize on overstock, complementary products, and holidays. Collect and Use Customer Reviews to Build Trust Follow up with customers through email to ask for reviews for your store and products.You can automate this through your e-commerce platform or email marketing platform. Learn More About Starting an Ecommerce With Euforia Wholesale This article was just to get you started – but there’s even more to learn and explore. Check out our Learning Lab for more articles to help you succeed or explore our products to find just what your ecommerce business is looking for. Happy selling!

Ecommerce: A Euforia Quick Start Guide

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