Are you interested in starting an online eCommerce business?
Crowdfunding can help you do it!
In this article, we’re walking you through the steps it will take to set up an online business from idea generation all the way to nail down logistics.
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For now, let’s take a deeper dive into what it takes to start an online eCommerce business, and how you can get there to bring your dream project into reality.
Step 1: Build Your Prototype
The first step towards any successful business venture is actually making it tangible. And when it comes to product creation, it’s all about building your prototype.
You’ll have to think about things such as:
- The size and materials of your product
- The engineering that will actually make it work
- Who can bring it altogether through manufacturing
Keep in mind that the prototyping phase is a lot of trial and error, so don’t get discouraged or over-excited. Try it out on your friends, your family, and potential customers, making alterations to your product where needed.
Step 2: Do Your Research
Here’s the biggest fear of every entrepreneur: you spend copious amounts of time and money in ideation and prototyping for your product, only to release it on your eCommerce store with no buyers showing up.
Don’t let this happen to you!
You should consider some of the following:
- Problem Solving: What specific problem does your product solve? Why is it better than existing solutions out there? Can you prove why it’s better with marketing?
- Consumer Concern: How much do people care about this problem? Are they willing to actually spend money on a solution to this problem?
- Audience Size: Is there a large enough population of people out there suffering from this problem? Can you target them?
Your product must solve a problem in a unique way for a dedicated consumer base that is large enough to sell to. If you can’t tick those boxes, it might be time to go back to the drawing board to discover how your product can differentiate itself.
Step 3: Manufacturing, Shipping, and Fulfillment
So: how do you actually get thousands of your products in the hands of people across the world?
In most cases, you’ll pair up with third-party logistics partners that specialize in areas such as manufacturing, shipping, and fulfillment.
You’ll have to find a manufacturer that is capable of making your product, identify supply chain logistics, then get that final product into the hands of a fulfillment company that can track and manage all of your orders for you.
This is the step that is really exciting for entrepreneurs, as it gives them a taste of what it takes to actually set up a real business. You’re getting the processes in place to get raw materials all the way to a product that solves problems for customers, which is why you got started in the first place!
Step 4: Marketing
While the first three steps are absolutely indispensable for the creation of an online eCommerce business, there is one element that will be king in actually selling your product: marketing.
We can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen entrepreneurs make the mistake of saying:
My product is 10x better than any solution on the market. The consumer will see that, then they will buy it.
Don’t fall into this trap.
Consumers make buying decisions based on emotions — not logic. You’ll need high-quality creatives such as videos, images, and gifs, outstanding copywriting that is conversion-focused, and a proven strategy for targeting your audience properly.
Once you’ve induced that emotional response, you can get to work on giving the consumer the logic to justify their buying decision. This is how the sales funnel works!
If you’re not familiar with eCommerce marketing strategy, you should either do extensive research or consider hiring a digital marketing agency to take care of this side of the business for you. It’s an up-front investment that can lead to big pay-offs down the road!
Step 5: Crowdfunding, Perhaps
As you begin to set up Step 3 and Step 4, you might run into a problem that many entrepreneurs face: in order for this business to be profitable, you’re going to need to hit a specific minimum order quantity to drive production costs down.
Enter: crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding on platforms such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo empowers entrepreneurs like you to gather seed funding from a crowd of investors in exchange for your product.
This means that you not only get the funding you need to scale your business into an eCommerce store, but you also get:
- A core group of consumers who are passionate about your product (social proof)
- Audience and market testing
- Refinement of your product and sales strategy
- Media attention and connections with other partners
If you have a couple hundred thousand in the bank, you can probably self-fund your own business. But for those of us that need some seed money, crowdfunding is a great place to launch this project and get the masses excited!
And one last great perk of crowdfunding for you: you don’t have to take the risk of camping on inventory. You can gauge the success of your campaign, identify how many units you need, then order that amount for distribution.
That’s a lot less headache for you!
For more on the crowdfunding to eCommerce journey, check out this insightful article:
Kickstarter First, Shopify Later? The Benefits of Crowdfunding Before eCommerce
Conclusions: Launching Your eCommerce Biz
We hope that this article is helpful for you!
If you want to learn more about crowdfunding and how it can help to catapult your eCommerce business dreams into reality, make sure to check out these great resources we’ve put together for you:
- The Crowd Crux blog, podcast, and Youtube channel where we’re always working to deliver the best insider tips, tricks, and secrets from experts who have a wide range of experience in the industry.
- The Crowd Crux weekly newsletter that delivers awesome, valuable insights to your inbox every Thursday.
- Books and courses designed our founder Salvador Briggman, such as The Kickstarter Launch Formula and it’s sister UDEMY course
Want more personalized support?
Here at CrowdCrux, we’re passionate about working with entrepreneurs to achieve their online selling dreams, whether that be through crowdfunding or straight to eCommerce. Book a coaching call with founder Salvador Briggman today, we’d love to put our expert team to work for you!
