Tapping into a Niche: How to Start Your Own Online Store

There is no doubt that the ecommerce landscape here in Uganda is growing rapidly these past couple of years. Aside from big corporations entering the market with their own online stores, there are now more home and small businesses using online commerce as a way to reach customers.

Sites like EyeTrade and Kaymu may be leading the pack in today’s ecommerce landscape, but there is still a big opportunity and a vast market to tap into. You, too, can benefit from the rapid growth of ecommerce transactions in this country. Here are some of the steps to take when you want to set up your own online store.

Products and Platform

The two things you need to prepare first are products and the ecommerce platform itself. There are plenty of web applications, scripts and services to use, making the setup process a lot easier than it was a few years ago.

You can, for example, use WordPress and WooCommerce to set up an online store. Since WordPress is a platform you’re probably already familiar with, setting up and managing the online store will be very easy to do. Other ecommerce-centric CMS platforms are also available, including Drupal and Magento.

The next thing to set up is a payment gateway. Not many merchant services are available to businesses in this country. The ones that are available often have complicated requirements to meet before you can start accepting credit card payments online. Fortunately, companies like High Risk Pay are trying to change that by offering accessible merchant services to more small business owners.

With the platform set up, you need to start adding products to your catalogue. You can either sell something you produce, focus on reselling items bought from various sources, or create an entirely digital set of products for your customers.

Promote the Online Store

Setting up the online store is just the first step. Next, you need to attract visitors and convert them into customers. Promoting an online store is very similar to promoting a blog – we’ve covered the subject before on PC Tech Mag. However, you also need to think about conversion.

You can use the same internet marketing tools such as content marketing and social media to bring visitors to your store. Make sure your landing page is optimized for maximum conversion and you will start making sales before you know it.

The Actual Business

The online store is only your storefront. Once orders start coming in, you need to fulfill them. This means packing ordered items properly and shipping them in a timely manner. The business side of an online store is just as thrilling.

Happy customers will lead to more business. Customers love to share their experience through social media. You’ll start getting recommendations and positive reviews as you ship every order quickly and provide customers with high quality products. That’s it!

By this point, your online store is gaining traction and reaching more customers, which means you are well on your way to becoming a successful store owner.

Credit: Joao Pedro