Summary
Designing an **e-commerce website** is a complex task that requires adherence to essential steps to create a harmonious whole.
But **creating an online store** is not just about the shop itself; you need to master a set of skills and be able to address many issues before and after launching your *e-commerce business*. Our complete guide to e-commerce on Shopify can also help you.
**Before creating an online store, make sure you can answer two questions**
E-commerce is an exciting adventure. However, like any online activity, it's important to understand your environment to succeed in making a living from your online business.
Understand, for example, that creating a sales site is built little by little and that success rarely comes in the first 6 months. To create a profitable e-commerce store, it's better to be patient, at least in the beginning. Like any e-merchant starting out, mistakes will be numerous. These are what will help you gain valuable experience for the next steps.
What are you selling?
While you can sell anything and everything, the goal is to find a product that meets a need. The emergence of online commerce has given rise to e-commerce giants. As generalists, they have managed to develop their brand and stand out in a game where competition has steadily increased.
As an e-merchant launching their first **online store**, it is highly recommended not to try to copy sites like Amazon or eBay, but rather to specialize.
If you have a well-identified product that you want to offer for sale, then your mission will be to find a market segment to differentiate yourself. If, on the contrary, you are just starting out and have not yet determined the range of products you will offer, it is better to choose a niche that is little or not exploited by the competition.
We tend to say that in 2022 all niches are already taken, but that's not true. Markets open every day; you just need to develop a real product research strategy to maximize your chances of success.
How to sell it?
That's it! You now have the ideal product! Now you need to ask yourself how to make it known. There are different customer acquisition channels for an e-commerce site:
> Google Ads (SEA)
> Meta Ads (formerly Facebook Ads)
> SEO (natural referencing)
> Content creation
> Affiliation
> Instagram Ads
> TV or radio commercials
You need to find the marketing strategy that matches your audience. This is determined during the niche research phase. It's very possible that you'll have to test several and keep only one. It's also possible to go for a multichannel approach, which involves offering your product on different acquisition channels at the same time.
**Hiring a Shopify agency: good idea or bad idea?**
Two figures to illustrate the e-commerce environment:
- 77% of e-commerce sites do not reach €8,000 in monthly revenue.
- 35% of "small" e-commerce sites are loss-making
A lack of knowledge and support can quickly cut an adventure short if you constantly repeat the same mistakes or apply the same strategies over and over again...
**Online commerce** has become more complex over time. While it was still very easy to launch an online store and become profitable in a few weeks a few years ago, the rules of the game and competition have stiffened, making it not always easy to generate hundreds or thousands of euros with your site.
Because having a **turnkey e-commerce site** or possessing the technical expertise to create an attractive store is not enough to attract traffic and sell products.
Today, customer acquisition is the key to sustaining your business, as is brand awareness. But when you're starting out in this sometimes unfamiliar world, the path can seem much more difficult alone than it would be with the support of a team of **e-commerce experts**.
While a **Shopify agency** can represent a significant cost, it is an essential link for creating a profitable business. Having the time to test and learn from mistakes is not a luxury possessed by all e-merchants who need resources quickly to make a living from their activity.
Perfectly optimizing an online store is a profession. Implementing the right product strategy and lead generation is also a profession.
Delegating strategic areas of your site while retaining vision and authority over final decision-making allows you to create an online store that works and tends towards an exponential growth curve month after month.
**What about beyond website design?**
Creating an online store is the foundation. Once this step is complete, you will need to ensure that all functions can be handled by the e-merchant, who is usually a solopreneur.
Managing inventory, ensuring package shipments, handling customer service, building an audience, implementing marketing strategies, regularly adding products, optimizing site SEO, creating advertisements, etc. the list is long.
A Shopify agency brings together specialists in the world's most popular **e-commerce CMS**. You can decide to delegate everything from site construction to brand creation. But you can also choose to entrust only a part of the store's development and handle the rest yourself. An à la carte service where business success is the common goal of every project.