Starting an online shop - 15 steps to an online shop

Starting an online shop - how hard can it be? Sometimes you're glad you're a bit naive and didn't anticipate all the challenges that might arise, because then you might never have dared to try. On the other hand, it would have been good to know some things in advance. We share our experiences and best tips for starting an online shop!

Setting up an online shop was a journey ...

There is so much to think about when starting an online shop. This has really been a journey, and we have learnt a lot. lots along the way. This post is for those who 1) are thinking about starting an online shop? or 2) want to take a breath and think "God, I'm glad I haven't started a project like this".

This is what you need to consider (and deal with) when opening an online shop, step by step, based on our experience. Here you can find our online shop.

1. making a budget

It can be a good idea to start by making a budget. Did we make a budget? Well, not nearly as carefully as we board have done. There's quite a lot that costs actually, like for example:

• Purchase of products
• Purchase of cartons and packaging products
• Warehousing
• Charges for parcel deliveries
• Fees for payment solutions
• Cost of site redesign (web developer)
• Bookkeeping
• Marketing

2. Choosing an e-commerce platform

We already had a site, freedomtravel.se, but if you don't have it, the first step is to get a domain through a web host. Then you can (preferably) download WordPress and a theme suitable for e-commerce.

To run an online store, you also need an e-commerce platform. There are several, but we chose Woocommerce, which is popular. This platform is compatible with WordPress, which we were already using, so we thought it would be easy to get started. Was it that easy? Well, maybe not really. We were able to download Woocommerce, but it looked crazy. Texts ended up on top of each other, images were blurred and everything was chaos.

3. Rebuild and customise the site

If you want to fix and change the site (which you probably do), you need to either be knowledgeable yourself, or hire someone who is. For our part, it was both a lot of technical and layout issues that we wanted to change. Fortunately, we have contact with a very good web developer. He was able to help us with everything, but it ended up being many turns back and forth.

4. solve the technicalities of VAT and shipping costs

Different goods may have different VAT rates, and you have to understand how to enter the VAT correctly on your website. Needless to say, I got it wrong many times before getting it right?

When it comes to shipping, you can choose between offering free shipping, fixed shipping or variable shipping (which changes depending on how much or how heavy the customer buys). The latter becomes a rather complicated option, so after much discussion we settled on a fixed shipping rate of 45 SEK (this amount means that most customers pay less than the actual shipping cost, but customers who buy something very small pay a little more than the actual shipping cost).

5. Get a payment solution

That's right, the customer has to be able to pay too! There are different payment solutions and we chose one called Nets Easy. To make this work, we had to enter into an agreement with Nets, which of course should have its share of the cake with each payment. It wasn't easy to get it to work, but in the end it did! We have arranged that you can pay either by card or by Swish. Other payment options available include invoice or PayPal.

6. Organising the accounts

To start an online shop, you need to have a company, of course, and you need to keep track of the bookkeeping. We have an accounting firm that helps us with this, which is good, because there's a lot to think about anyway!

7. buy in products - or make agreements for dropshipping

What should you sell in your shop? You can choose between buying products yourself or 'dropshipping'. If you buy the products yourself, you will have to spend more money and take a greater risk, but your profits may be better.

Dropshipping involves selling goods that are owned and stocked by another shop. You don't have to take risks and you don't have to hold inventory, but you make less money. We do a mix of these two concepts (and some in between) and also develop new products with our partner Pufz.

8. posting products in the shop

It's finally time to add products to the online store! We had some problems with the images, so we had to call in the web developer again, but it worked out in the end. Posting "simple products" (one colour, one size) is pretty easy, but when it comes to variable products (different colours, different sizes) it's a bit more tricky. But it can be done. And you have to make sure you have item numbers as well, and maybe stock status.

9. Become a business customer of a parcel service provider

When you start an online shop, you have to be able to send parcels, and you have to become a customer of a parcel delivery service. We are now customers of PostNord, which delivers our parcels. It works well, but there was a lot to learn in the beginning. You have to log in to their business portal, where you enter the customer's details to buy shipping and get a shipping label. The post office is open twice a day to drop off parcels.

10. Ordering cardboard boxes and packaging products at home

And of course you need boxes and packaging materials to send the parcels! Again, there are various suppliers to choose from. We finally chose Packoplock, which offers a wide range of parcels and materials. But what sizes should you choose? You need to think about the maximum size of the so-called 'goods letter' and you may also need e-commerce bags, tape, plastic pockets for shipping labels, filling materials and various stickers.

11. Organising storage

If you only do dropshipping, you don't have to deal with warehousing. Fortunately, we have a fairly small need for warehousing. However, we have "a little bit of almost everything" at home in the houseboat (even the products that are actually dropshipping) so that we can quickly pack and dispatch on order. When something starts to run out, we go to our partner's warehouse and pick up more.

12. Connecting the online shop to social media

When we almost thought we were done, we realised that most online stores also link the store to the Facebook and Instagram. We used a plugin called "Facebook for Woocommerce" and it made the whole thing work. almost was resolved. There are still some glitches. Some products do not want to appear on Instagram and some, for some unknown reason, are not approved on Facebook. You just have to try to breathe easy.

13. Marketing the shop and products

Now that the webshop is finally ready, customers are welcome, but how will they find the shop? We happen to have a blog with many readers, so we could tell them about the shop there. Other ways to promote an online shop include working on search engine optimisation (so people can find the products when they google), advertising on Facebook and advertising on Google. If you're lucky, you might also be able to get your products in a magazine...!

14. creating newsletters

Another great thing about having an online shop is being able to send out newsletters (to customers who subscribe to the newsletter) to tell them about new products and give regular discounts. And for this purpose you need further a programme. There are different ones to choose from, but we chose perhaps the most popular "Mailchimp". To link it to the store, we also had to get a plugin called "Mailchimp for Woocommerce".

15. Find a solution for travel and holidays

One important thing to consider is what to do with the webshop when travelling. We promise to deliver products within 3-5 working days, and to keep that promise we can only be away from home for a few days at most.

One solution is to temporarily change the delivery time. If we are away for a week, we can say that we promise to deliver within 5-7 working days. The easiest way to do this, of course, is to sell products via "dropshipping" so that a partner can pack and ship the packages, or to hire help to pack and ship packages. Another solution could be to temporarily close the shop for holidays.

Have you thought about starting an online shop - or maybe you already have one?

Do you have any experience in setting up an online shop? Please tell us! It has been fun, exciting and educational, but also challenging. If you want to start an online shop, go for it - but be a bit more prepared than we were!