As a budding fashionista, fashion designer or stylist, setting up an online store might be the ideal way to make money in an industry you love. Ecommerce is big business nowadays, and as a lover of fashion and perhaps a creator, you may have thought about starting up your own online store to start peddling your own brand of sartorial merchandise to the wider world. With the current state of worldwide connectivity, reaching far flung customers that would otherwise have been incommunicable twenty years ago is child’s play. However, starting your ecommerce store isn’t so simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, especially when using one of the top eCommerce website builders. Below we’ll discuss a number of steps to follow when starting up your ecommerce store to help ensure that it takes off.
Have Clear Value Proposition
A strong value proposition means communicating the value of your store or brand to your customers as soon as they visit your site. It needs to immediately grab them and let them know why they should buy from you and not a competitor such as Amazon or eBay. People need to understand what they are purchasing and why they are purchasing it from you. Ways to showcase value proposition include:
- A headline that states clearly what you’re selling and articulates why it is worth buying. This differs from a slogan in that it is a promise of value and quality.
- Additional benefits that the customer will attain from purchasing your product – this could be free shipping or a discount.
- Strong images that invoke a lifestyle desire in the visitor or customer
Optimize for Mobile
This is a crucial standard for online selling. As of May this year almost half of all ecommerce transactions in the UK took place on mobile devices, and it has likely surpassed that mark by now. It’s also worth noting that nearly two-thirds of Americans are smartphone owners. In general, if a customer visits a site that isn’t optimized for a cell phone or tablet, they’re likely to leave it without a second glance. Google is also taking the profusion of mobile internet usage into account and now ranks for mobile websites. Luckily there are a number of guides, such as this one, which contain great guidelines for getting your website mobile-ready. Remember, it pays to be prepared on all fronts when you launch your online store. Not doing so is like having a shop that faces two busy streets, but choosing to only open the door to one of them.
Ensure You Always Use Quality Images
Because you lack the tactile sensation of a brick and mortar store, having clear and quality images is essential to marketing your product and showcasing the various wares you have for sale. This rule is especially true if you’re selling clothes or other fashion items. There’s a truth in the adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Only now it’s not words, but clicks. Having high quality images is essential to projecting the value of your products. Taking pictures on your iPhone might not cut it, so you may want to either invest in some photography equipment or a hire a product photographer. Considering that you’re selling clothes, creative or action shots might be the way forward. It’s not simply taking a photo of an item of clothing, but about projecting a lifestyle or image that will be imbibed by the wearer. If you’re looking for inspiration, sites such as Zara are an excellent example of how to use dramatic and artistic photography to convey a certain lifestyle in the clothing they sell.
