Have you been wondering for years how to step into e-commerce and finally found the product you want to sell? That’s truly fantastic news! With the ever-expanding market, the importance of e-commerce is increasing day by day. However, it’s important to note that e-commerce involves a highly comprehensive operation. We’ve summarized the steps of e-commerce and highlighted key details for your attention.
First Step: Are You Ready to Establish Your Own Business?
If you’re going into e-commerce, everything must be legally registered. This means you’ll need to establish a company. The type of company you need depends on your resources and goals. If you have partners and a high business volume, you might consider establishing a joint-stock or limited liability company.
If you want to quickly and easily bring your business idea to life with minimal setup costs, setting up a sole proprietorship could be a great start. You can establish your sole proprietorship in just 1-2 days, and if things don’t work out, closing your business is just as easy.
Before establishing your company, don’t forget to research KOSGEB (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization) supports. Depending on your age, gender, and the sector you’ll operate in, government incentives may prove very helpful.
Should You Sell on Your Own E-commerce Website or Marketplaces?
Once you’ve established your business, you need to determine the platforms where you want to sell your products. You can reach customers through your own website or via online marketplaces like Trendyol, Amazon, Hepsiburada, n11, Aliexpress, and eBay. Each option has its unique advantages and disadvantages. Let’s briefly summarize:
Advantages of Creating Your Own E-commerce Website:
- You can offer a customized design and user experience reflecting your brand identity.
- Your digital marketing efforts will yield higher efficiency.
- You have the opportunity to develop stronger customer relationships.
- You are free to promote your brand however you like. Videos, blog content, or product guides that benefit your users—your website can be enriched with any content you prefer.
Advantages of Marketplaces:
- You create an additional sales channel outside your e-commerce site or physical store, allowing you to reach a broader audience.
- Opening a store on marketplaces is easy, and you can start selling without worrying about technical infrastructure.
Which Infrastructure Should You Use for Your E-commerce Website?
To present your products flawlessly and ensure a smooth user experience for your customers, you need to choose the right infrastructure for your e-commerce site.
- If you have sufficient software knowledge, open-source platforms like WooCommerce, OpenCart, PrestaShop, or Magento could be suitable choices for you. Their high flexibility helps meet your expectations.
- If you’re looking for a quick, practical, yet professional solution, you should consider platforms like Shopify and Wix Stores, which bring together various needs such as design, content management, and payment under one roof.
Legal Obligations Are a Must!
To avoid penalties, you must not overlook several legal obligations for your e-commerce site:
- You must obtain “Distance Sales Agreement” approval from customers before each sale.
- Create a “Preliminary Information Form” and add it to your site.
- If you’re collecting data, ensure you obtain consent under the Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK) and transfer approved data to the Communication Management System (İYS).
Driving Traffic to Your E-commerce Site: That’s the Key!
Once you’ve completed the legal processes, and the infrastructure and design of your site are ready, you’re all set to showcase your products to customers! It’s time to start marketing efforts to attract customers to your online store without delay. Here’s a summary of key digital marketing methods for e-commerce:
Use SEO strategies to secure top rankings in search engines.
- Follow search trends and create product and category texts featuring relevant keywords.
- Optimize your website’s loading speed—60% of users leave a site if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds.
- Ensure your site is mobile-friendly. As of 2020, there are 77 million mobile users in Turkey, accounting for 92% of the population.
- Obtain an SSL certificate to demonstrate your website’s credibility
Reach potential customers through content marketing.
Create brand awareness with blog posts, infographics, videos, or podcasts that appeal to your target audience. For instance, if your e-commerce site sells flowers, an article titled “7 Indoor Plants That Thrive in Low Light” could capture the attention of customers selecting plants for their homes.
Express Yourself on Social Media, Understand Your Customers.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, or TikTok… Wherever your target audience is, you should be there too. Promote your products on social media, offer valuable content, use the power of humor, and engage with your audience.
Expand Your Target Audience with Paid Promotions.
Through digital marketing efforts on key platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram, you can quickly make your business known to a large number of visitors in the short term.
Products in Stock, Products in Transit, Products with Customers!
You’ve invited customers to visit your store with your digital marketing efforts, and sales have begun! At this stage, to provide a seamless process and maximize customer satisfaction:
- Pay close attention to stock management, which involves sensitive stages such as stocking a sufficient number of products, managing stock inflows and outflows, and accurately maintaining stock records.
- Ensure your shipments are delivered to customers on time and at affordable rates, and oversee the logistics operations.
Build Strong Connections with Strong Communication
Improving relationships with your customers starts with enhancing your customer service. Effective customer service that strengthens your e-commerce company continues to provide support after sales and listens to your customers’ needs and demands to offer solutions. To improve your customer service skills, consider leveraging all touchpoints suitable for your brand, such as call centers, social media, or chatbots. Approach your customers with empathy, provide them with a personalized experience, and value their feedback.
Five Key Reasons to Invest in Customer Service
- Strong communication helps turn buyers into loyal customers, which is a significant advantage. Retaining existing customers is much more cost-effective than acquiring new ones.
- While negative experiences are shared with more people, positive ones still hold great value. According to Zendesk, 95% of customers share bad experiences with others, while 87% share good ones with their circle.
- According to RightNow Customer Service, a part of the globally renowned software company Oracle, 86% of customers are willing to pay up to 25% more for a quality customer experience.
- Preventing negative situations can be challenging, but when customers know you’ll approach their complaints constructively to resolve them, they feel secure.
- Strong customer service sets you apart and creates a competitive edge.
End-to-End E-commerce Solutions Provider: Fi-Commerce is Here for You!
Don’t let the comprehensive operations of e-commerce intimidate you. When an expert company handles your operations at every stage of e-commerce, your burden is lifted, leaving you to focus solely on your products and strategies. At Fi-Commerce, we provide end-to-end e-commerce solutions for brands, manufacturers, and SMEs. We design e-commerce sites on the world’s most preferred platforms, customize and manage systems with integrations like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento to meet your needs.
To help you reach customers and drive traffic to your site with a strong brand image, we define your digital marketing strategy. From branding efforts such as logo, slogan, and corporate identity to creating platform-specific content, search engine optimization, social media management, and ad management, we offer comprehensive digital marketing solutions. Our extensive services aim to optimize your e-commerce store and marketplace stores. Our e-commerce solutions include product listing, content and campaign management, KPI tracking, and taking necessary actions.
When you send your products to our warehouses, we meticulously manage storage, picking, packaging, and shipping processes. We also support you after sales. By managing customer experience and responding to customer requests quickly through channels like call centers, social media, email, and web chat, our expert team ensures a seamless process. With our specialized teams, knowledge, and experience in the e-commerce industry, we give you a competitive edge.