An online store is an analogue of a regular outlet, but it does not require such high costs, risks, labor and investments. Online trading attracts many precisely because of these properties. However, this does not mean that success in this field is guaranteed to everyone.
Online store business plan: example with calculations
The reasons for the attractiveness of online trading are many, including the relative simplicity for starting up and the low cost level. But this does not mean that this type of business is available to everyone. Certain basic knowledge will be required. The question of how to open an online store is of interest to many novice entrepreneurs for a reason. Information required. They can be obtained from this material.
If there is no experience, and there is only a desire to work and earn money, then this is also not an obstacle. To rationally evaluate their own capabilities, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a potential business, you should study the main points of the organization. They are based on the experience of other people who regularly share their experience and knowledge on the Web.
Settlements and Costs
The main condition for drawing up a business plan for an online store with calculations is related to financial investments. It is a mistake to believe that an online business does not require investments. But the fact that the size of investments is much smaller than for starting a regular business is a fact. Various offers on the Web that offer huge earnings without investing are nothing more than a primitive advertisement designed for those who are wondering how to open an online store without any investments.
The entrepreneur must take care of the following costs:
- Website development - from 300 dollars and more.
- Store promotion - monthly from 5000 rubles and above.
- Website support - monthly from 10 000 rubles and above.
- Buying a domain and registering a site is about $ 300 a year.
- Registration of ownership as an IP or LLC - from 200 to 500 dollars.
- If LLC, then the services of an accountant every month - from 10 000 rubles and above.
- Payment for internet services.
- Other marketing activities.
- Delivery services - individually, depending on the region of delivery.
These are basic expenses. Depending on the specifics of the business, additional funds may be required. At the stage of planning a business plan for an online store from scratch, you should also determine the sources of financing: will there be enough own funds or will you have to take a loan from a bank.
A few arguments for
To see the prospects, the entrepreneur must first clearly present the algorithm of actions. If we talk about the advantages or prospects, then the following facts are obvious:
- The share of online shopping in the country is growing steadily year after year. For example, Russians made purchases in 2016 by 106% more than in 2015. The total volume of online trading for 2016 amounted to about 850 billion rubles.
- The number of Internet users in all countries is only growing.
- The cost of the Internet, in particular mobile Internet, is reduced.
- If in Russia the share of online commerce is 4% of the economy, then in the UK these figures are 12% (it would seem, what does the UK have to do with this? We will consider this question further).
- According to experts, the Russian online market is almost empty.
These are general arguments that need to be mastered at the stage of relevance of the question of how to draw up a business plan for an online store. In online trading there are advantages that greatly facilitate the conduct of business at all stages. For instance:
- To conduct an online business, there is no need to have a physical product: you can not produce, do not pre-purchase, or even check the quality of the product itself. All these issues are resolved from a distance.
- No need to rent a trading floor. The entire territory for business is a convenient website.
- No need for logistics and transportation. This item does not apply to all types of online trading. It's about dropshipping, when an entrepreneur buys in bulk and sells in bulk at a distance.
- The presence of ways to promote with minimal cost.
- A small amount of work.
- Low cost.
- Great prospects.
- Infinity of the region of action.
- Availability from all over the world.
Where to begin?
Thinking on paper is the habit of successful people. You should start by defining a product for sale: will it be something original or consumer goods? A business plan for an online store should clearly answer this question. There are several key questions on which an entrepreneur must know the answer before embarking on his plan.
This is the following:
- What will be sold?
- Where to get the goods?
- What is the advantage over competitors?
- To whom will it be sold? In which country?
- Store Interface
- Ways of promotion.
- Payment Acceptance Methods.
- Delivery order.
Despite its apparent simplicity, some points may be difficult to implement. Unlike real business, outsourcing comes to the rescue here. About which parts should be outsourced and which can be done independently, should also be determined when drawing up a business plan for an online store with calculations.
Find a niche
According to international experience, the basis of online trading is mobile phones, accessories for them and other gadgets. Following are the gifts. But home appliances and clothes depend on each region. The project will be successfully implemented if the price of these goods in the country of the entrepreneur is high. Food and other perishable products have their own specifics. They are well sold within the same city. The main focus in this case should be on the speed of procurement and delivery. A business plan for an online store should also consider these aspects.
Products in general can be divided into two types: exclusive and for wide consumption. What is valued on the Internet? First of all, people buy something that is not in their region or is too expensive.
Successful are stores offering exclusive products at an affordable price. For example, there are many English-speaking resources specializing in the wholesale sale of stock clothing from global brands. Other local online stores buy from them in bulk for retail sale.
The largest source of consumer goods is China. Almost all of their products are sold through the global platform of Aliexpress. You can also find wholesalers there. This type of business is called drop shipping. The system is suitable when it comes to the business plan of an online store of clothes or equipment from China, which is able to win at low prices. But in this area the competition is too much.
It is possible to open your online store based on Aliexpress products. To do this, you must register in the affiliate network of the brand and buy Aliexpress VPN.
Another option is to sell goods produced in your region. This is much easier than getting to know, checking and collaborating with Chinese or other overseas manufacturers. Such stores are called aggregators. They collect the best deals from different brands and offer in one place.
This item should also be worked out before drawing up a business plan for an online store.
Organize website
Having your own website today is a simple task. There are three ways:
- Based on a free template.
- The development of a unique design.
- Using constructors.
However, all options require some knowledge. If a ready-made template is selected, then you need to install a large number of additional extensions and options to it to simplify the process of promoting and using the site as a whole. It will also be necessary to independently install the CMS, fill out all the product items, write a description for them and constantly monitor the availability of the page.
The stage of developing a unique design as part of the online store business plan requires cash investment. The unique design implies the dissimilarity of the design, interface and overall order of the technical organization with no other resource. It should be borne in mind that this is not a whim, but a technical necessity. The bottom line is that search robots pay attention to website design. For them, it is the sites with a unique design and exclusive professional software code that are the priority ones for showing. Its cost starts from $ 300 and above.
But this does not mean that template sites are not deprived of the attention of search engines. Just unique sites are preferable to display. If you decide to use a ready-made template, you need to think carefully about its structure. For search engines, the preferred tree structure of the site, where the menu contains subsections for product groups.
The second important parameter for template sites is the description of the product, where key phrases should be used for the search. This section of the promotion is called SEO. Specialist services in this area start at 5,000 rubles or more.
Design sites are more suitable for a personal blog or online diary. In practice, it is impossible to imagine an online store based on the designer - the functionality is too limited.
Promotion
Promotion is a must for online businesses. The process is complex. This point should be taken into account at the stage of filling the site. But the good news is that there are many ways to promote, and among them you can choose options with minimal costs. Here is what should be entered in the template of the business plan of the online store under the item "promotion":
- SEO optimization. Must be organized before the store is filled with commodity items. It is a mistake to believe that descriptions for all products are written exclusively for customers. This is partly true, but the description should be made taking into account the requirements of search robots. The features of this work are well known to specialists who can be hired remotely or do the work yourself. In the second case, a huge amount of work remains to be done.
- Registration on aggregation sites. Aggregators collect relevant offers from all stores. The principle of operation is very simple: an aggregator is usually an already well-developed online trading platform. Thanks to constant SEO-works, many users visit it daily. A new online store passes registration and fills out a form. The owner of the aggregator receives a set fee for providing the site, and the new online store will get a chance to get into the field of view of customers as quickly as possible.
- A sample online store business plan should consider using banner ads on other sites. Banners of various sizes should be prepared in advance. There are various sites where site owners gather for advertising. An entrepreneur can pay for a certain number of impressions on a third-party site or for a specific action on the part of users.
- Contextual advertising. It is hosted on large search engines Yandex or Google. There are many subtleties in this process, since filling out a form by default can spend money and not give the expected effectiveness. Therefore, you should entrust this matter to a specialist. The essence of advertising is that short ads are generated that are displayed on targeted user requests. Ads are in the form of links that lead to the entrepreneur’s website.
- Promotion on social networks. Social networks are a great source of traffic for sites. First you need to create a group or a public page where the target audience will gradually grow. Offers are placed in the form of posts or in the form of direct advertising. Many social networks have special advertising tools that allow you to collect traffic based on various parameters: location, age, gender and other features.
Payment systems
Another important step in organizing a business plan for an online store is the establishment of a payment system. The choice depends on the coverage area of the online site. If you plan to sell to foreign countries, then you should take a closer look at international systems. It is also important to consider the possibility of withdrawing funds in your own country. If we are talking about the nearest countries, in particular the CIS, then we can stop the choice on such systems as:
- "Yandex money". It gives great opportunities for both individual entrepreneurs and legal entities. It is necessary to pass identification in the system. For this, the Yandex office provides basic documents for the company and the entrepreneur. After identification, you can take the Yandex.Money API and install it on your website. The system is convenient in that there is a special form for raising funds.
- Web Money. The system in recent years has often failed users. The reason is frequent checks and related periods when it is impossible to withdraw money. For use in business, you must pass a special certification.
- RBK Money. Easy to operate. Connection takes place in less than a day with a minimum of documents. There is no limit on the turnover of funds.
- Qiwi. A similar system. Funds can be withdrawn at any time.
- Pay U is a relatively bureaucratic system. It takes 5-7 days to connect. It can only be used by business entities that are residents of the Russian Federation. Money is withdrawn once a month. It is not necessary to provide a sample business plan for an online store here, you just need to take into account the connection time in it.
- Pay Online. It differs in minimum commissions, but the connection process takes an average of 2-3 weeks. The withdrawal of money is carried out within 6 days.
- Pay2Pay. The commission is 4%, and the connection period is about a month. Withdrawal of money occurs twice a month.
Keep in mind that the more payment methods, the better. Widgets of payment systems are installed on the site last, after connecting.
Testing
Uninterrupted operation is an important criterion for online stores. The testing phase should be provided for all types of online businesses, whether it is a business plan for an online toy store or wholesale of machinery. At the testing stage, you should check all interface options, the ordering system, the processing system and the operation of payment systems. If defects are found, then they must be eliminated, since errors can be very expensive. A dissatisfied customer can write a negative review on third-party resources, and the reputation will be damaged.
Marketing campaigns
Marketing campaigns should be continuous, as they provide a steady flow of customers. Marketing channels vary depending on the type of product sold. For example, through Instagram it’s good to sell clothes, cosmetics, household goods and for children. Digital products sell well through VK or Facebook. To find the optimal channel, you should study the experience of specialists or comprehend the basics through trial and error.
When the optimal channel is found, funds should be allocated monthly and an effective campaign should be supported.
Conclusion
Regardless of whether the business plan of an online store of products or special equipment is being implemented, several factors are important for the development of an increase in profits - consistency in promotion and the search for optimal solutions to problems. It is this approach that separates successful companies from those 95% of companies that cannot stand 2 years from the moment of opening.