A growing number of female entrepreneurs are attracted to the idea of running an ecommerce business. If that’s you: it doesn’t cost a lot to get started, you can do it on your own, and you even can operate entirely from your own home. Not only that, but the future of ecommerce is looking incredibly bright.

There’s endless money to be made online! However, success is far from guaranteed. Many ecommerce business owners are forced to shut down within just a few months of their launch. To help you avoid this same fate and set your business up for success from day one, check out the resources below — courtesy of Business Innovation Management.

Validate Your Product Idea

Choosing a product idea based on market research will ensure there is interest for your product and people are willing to pay money for it.

• Learn where and how to find products to sell in your store.
• Before launching with your product, be sure to validate your product idea.
• Conduct product research to identify potential issues with your idea.

Set Up Your Business

After choosing a product or range of products, your next step is to establish the legal groundwork for your business and get a website up and running.

• Choose a simple and catchy brand name for your ecommerce business.
• Register your business and choose a business structure.
• Pick an ecommerce platform and build your online store.
• Look into grants — including the ones especially for female entrepreneurs in 2021.

Get Your First Customers

Driving traffic to your ecommerce website will be the hardest part of this entire process. Test out a few different strategies to market your business and land that first sale.

• Try driving traffic to your store with a solid social media strategy.
• Save money on promotions by using a free tool to remove background elements in existing pictures.
• Search “Social Media Agencies” for invaluable help with advertising.
• Use email marketing to grow your ecommerce brand.
• Optimize your website for higher conversions.

Grow Your Ecommerce Business

Your business has been generating cash flow for a couple of months and you’re ready to take things to the next level. Consider new sales channels, marketing to your existing customers, and making decisions based on your analytics.

• Use your analytics to learn about your customers so you can adjust your website to better meet their needs.
• Focus on increasing your customer lifetime value before sinking a lot of money into advertising.
• Explore new sales channels to expand your customer reach.

The ecommerce world is vast, ever-growing, and filled with challenges — but especially for female entrepreneurs, now is the time to succeed. If you want to get involved in this exciting industry, be prepared to work hard and learn a lot! Most importantly, don’t give up. Even if your first business is a flop, you can always get back out there and try again with another product!

Post authored by Gloria Martinez of womenled.org