Here is how to start your own e-commerce store at home and what are some of the basic steps you need to take in order to get it up and running quickly.
Get Registered
Starting a business in the state of Texas will require some sort of license for you to operate as a sole proprietorship or full-fledged LLC. Keep in mind that you can be doing your paperwork and setting up your store’s website at the same time. Just make sure that your first sale happens after you’ve gotten all of your registration and license requirements completed to avoid any complications.
Choose Your Store Type
What niche do you want your store to be in? There are a ton of e-commerce stores on the market today, so you need to decide what niche interests you while at the same time can make you money. There are even smaller e-commerce outlets that allow people to sell their own products through their site, and the company takes care of hosting the site entirely. It’s important that you do your research and decide on what type of e-commerce store you want to run. I would suggest that you choose something you’re already skilled at (jewelry making, blankets, personalized pillows, essential oil mixes, etc), do your research on pricing and costs, and then decide on your site’s specialization.
Setup Your Mailbox
Because of the nature of your store, it is a good idea to keep your mailing address separate from your physical address for at least the first year. If you are in the area, you can use the Cornerstone Post Office to set up your mailbox and receive mail at that location, as well as get packing supplies and ship products from there directly. Having a dedicated place that can receive and ship mail for you will be imperative to the success of your e-commerce store. When you allow an outside vendor like the United States Post Office to handle the shipping and receiving for you, it will keep your costs down and also increase good ratings for your e-commerce store because your items will be mailed on time and any items that may have needed to be sent back for a replacement or refund will be processed quickly, instead of sitting in your mailbox waiting for you to get to them.
Put Your Store Online
Now that you’ve set yourself up for a business correctly, it’s time to put your e-commerce store online and publish it to the world! There are many options that you can choose when it comes to hosting your e-commerce store and the software that you use to set it up. For domain registration, some of the most common are GoDaddy and HostGator. For hosting your e-commerce store, two of the more reliable web hosting companies are SiteGround and HostGator. If you use either of these hosting services, you can easily setup your e-commerce store by using the well-known WordPress framework and the WooCommerce theme and plugins, which are free. These pre-designed options allow you to simply list your products on the site, connect your PayPal to your website, and allow people to make orders accordingly. All you have to do is ship the products. These are the basic steps to getting your e-commerce store online and up and ready within the next two weeks. What are you waiting for? Start your future business right away!
