Interested in how you can start an online store and turn your hobby into a business? Do you have a passion for creating something? We’d like to offer some good tips on how you can start an online store or your very own boutique.
If you have a passion for fashion and love clothes then starting an online clothing boutique may be the perfect business for you. Maybe you’d like to take your craft hobby to the next level and start selling your handmade crafts.
Thanks to readymade e-commerce platforms like Shopify (aff link), anyone can launch their own boutique store in minutes.Whatever your passion is you can certainly start an online store pretty easy these days.
How To Start An Online Store Or Boutique
Step One
Before you even open your store, it’s important to study the market and identify your target audience. Will your customers be primarily women, geared more towards kids or a combination?
You’ll also want to check out your key competitors and think about different marketing opportunities that are available. Know your audience and keep up with the upcoming trends.
Step Two
Get a supplier for your online store.. you can do wholesale or choose a good drop shipper. If you choose to go with either of these always be sure to fully research the company, get samples to check the quality if you can and be sure they have a good reputation.
If you make your own products then be sure you have enough on hand to fill orders once they start coming in.
Step Three
Set up your website. Unlike traditional boutiques, the costs for starting up an online store are much lower. Since the business is ran mostly online, there is no need to find a location or rent or buy a building.
You will however need hosting and a website with the capabilities of running a store. A lot of people use services like Shopify because they provide you with everything you need.
Why We Love Shopify
Shopify merchants can sell online, in-store (POS) and even on Facebook or Pinterest and their plans start at just $29 per month making it an affordable way to go. You can check out Shopify for yourself if you’d like with a free 14-day trial (aff link).
Shopify also offers lots of great tips and resources on their blog so you can always learn something new to help grow your business. Shopify makes it easy to open an online store by providing all the tools and help you need. Click here to try it for free! They’ve had over 200,000 businesses get started with their free trial so it’s definitely worth a try.
Step Five
Get the word out. Once you have your online business up and running you’ll want to get the word out and advertise your new online store.
You can use social service like Facebook or Twitter to get followers and new customers. Advertise on sites that have a similar audience.
Create a blog to promote your business.
You may also want to invest a little in pay-per-click ads through sites like Google Adwords because they can be cost-effective since you only pay when someone actually clicks on an ad.
