Your online selling checklist: 10 things to consider before starting a website for your business

Bringing your business to the online world has now become a necessity with the increase of digitalization globally. During the pandemic, most businesses resorted to online media to boost sales and bring their business back on track. Small business owners who started shifting online began to drive more sales and gain a loyal target audience.

If you are new to the world of online selling, we've curated a checklist for all the basics you must know about before starting to sell products online.

Without proper planning, it is impossible to know if you’re chasing the wrong audience, are too early or too late to a given market, or targeting a market that is already saturated with similar products. And that’s why, you need to craft a thoughtful, actionable, and effective go-to-market (GTM) strategy framework that identifies your target audience, outlines a marketing roadmap, and includes a pricing plan.

Additionally, this strategy plan will help you to measure the viability of your products’ success and predict its performance based on market research, prior examples, and competitive data.

People need something to remember your business by, and this is where your business logo comes in. It will help your customers identify your business and set you apart from your competitors. Use a unique design that stands as a testament to your brand and products. You can do this on your own using online tools. However, if you want to give it a professional look, ensure to hire a freelancer or a digital services/ creative agency that can help you with logo creation, and development of brand visual and personality guidelines. Remember, your logo is your one-time-investment, and if done right, it can tell your audience your brand story in a single glance.

You don’t want to go out of stock when you launch your business online. And that’s why, ensuring there is enough stock available for sale is absolutely necessary. You need to be able to manage your inventory accurately and effectively. While you could do this using offline spreadsheets, there are inventory management softwares available that you could also consider using for easily managing your inventory.

Good inventory management practices will help you have the right products in the right quantity on hand and avoid products being out of stock and funds being tied up in excess stock. You can also track which products are in high demand and need constant replenishing and which can wait in the rotation. Furthermore, you can ensure your products are sold in time to avoid spoilage or obsolescence, or spending too much money on stock that’s taking up space in your warehouse or stockroom.

In this age of digital transactions, you need to allow common online payment options like credit/debit cards, netbanking, and UPI. Hence, you need to have a payment gateway integrated with your store to avoid unnecessary issues. Choosing those with proper security measures and regulations is essential to keep your payments safe. With a reliable payment gateway, both you and your customers can send and receive transactions without any hurdles.

Read your payment providers terms and conditions beforehand to avoid any misunderstandings.

SmartBiz by Amazon helps you integrate a payment gateway on your webstore. With this, you can offer customers online payment options and enjoy a two-day payment settlement period. Click here to know how to set this up.

Customers expect deliveries as fast as one-day, two-day, or in some cases and categories, even in a couple of hours. You need to offer a swift, secure, and hassle-free delivery experience for your customers. If you're not delivering products yourself, there are a number of logistics service providers who can do this on your behalf.

Another important aspect of shipping is packaging. Shipping your products across the country can result in damages, losses, and subsequently, returns if you don’t package properly. Ensure you provide enough protective padding, especially for fragile products, to avoid such situations. Lastly, allow your customers to track their orders at all times through tracking IDs. This will also help in reducing communication aimed at your customer support team.

SmartBiz by Amazon has partnered with Shiprocket to help you deliver your products hassle-free. If you create a store using SmartBiz by Amazon, here is how you can set up and integrate your Shiprocket account with your store.

Customers might be unsatisfied with their orders for a number of reasons — it arrived damaged, they ordered the wrong size, or it simply didn't meet their expectations. So they ask for a replacement or their money back. With a clearly communicated returns and exchange policy and the right system in place, you can save a lot of time, energy, and money spent on customer service emails and shipping expenses for replacement and exchanged products.

Your policy will vary depending on the logistics of your business and the products you sell, but every policy should cover the following basics, including:

Online shopping is as much of a transaction as it is an experience. By providing excellent customer service experiences, your customers will associate that good feeling with the transaction. They will be more likely to come back and transact with your business again. So before you take your business online, you need to find the best way for your customers to reach out in case of queries, feedback, or complaints.

Adopt omnichannel support, as customers nowadays want the option to reach out on their most preferred channel. You can use phone, email, live chat, social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any other social platform), knowledge base and FAQs, customer-led communities, and ticketing softwares.

Some businesses require licenses and other documentation. Licenses depend on the type of product you are selling online. For example, food businesses may require FSSAI licenses before they can be sold online. Research appropriately and ensure you have completed and implemented all legal formalities specific to your business and category before you start selling online.

You're now up-to-date with a checklist of things to do before starting an online store. Our team at Amazon understands the challenges most small business owners face, and we're here to help simplify these for you with SmartBiz by Amazon. Start creating your own e-commerce website within minutes with integrated payment options, delivery options, and more, directly from your phone. Try for free today by downloading the app.