Online shopping in foreign countries has long been widespread. As for Russia, their popularity is growing every year. Anything can be bought on the Internet: from clothes to shoes, from medicines to books, computers and phones, from food to animals, as well as tickets, travel packages. Such a business brings a good profit to its owner. But a logical question arises: how to organize it correctly, how to open an online store from scratch?
Benefits of an online store
Trading online has many benefits. Here you can save on renting premises for real stores, there is no need to hire a large number of employees, you can quickly respond to customer requests or quickly change the assortment.
In addition, the online store can be located anywhere: in Moscow, St. Petersburg or in any other city. Online stores are not georeferenced. The advantage is that a small amount of money is enough to open an online store. Exactly less than for opening a real store. Well, from a legal point of view, these types of entrepreneurship are equal before the law. Yes, and accounting reports, accounting documents do not differ. For the tax authorities, it also does not matter if the store is located on the Internet or in the premises: the taxes are the same, the taxation systems are the same.
What to sell in the online store
In order to start this kind of business, before you open an online store, you need to decide what to sell. There are several options:
The first option is to sell standard products: books, CDs, mobile phones, gifts, and so on.
The next option is to trade in products that you are well versed in. For example, if you are well versed in pharmaceuticals, you can easily maintain an online pharmacy: sell medicines, medical equipment.
And the last option is the sale of new and risky types of products. You can choose such products based on a variety of studies in different markets and on your own instinct. Many entrepreneurs in Russia and other countries have been able to realize their plans and have created a business that brings good income. But every day the undeveloped niche of entrepreneurship is decreasing in its volume.
Types of online stores
Like real stores, online stores come in many different types. Choosing the appropriate type will be the next step if you decide to open an online store.
The first type is a full-fledged online store. These stores have a physical office, warehouse, delivery service, staff, website, and so on.
There is also a type of lightweight online store. Usually, such stores do not have a physical address, they work through their own website and operators that accept and place orders. By the way, there may not be operators, in which case purchase orders are made through an electronic application. After receiving it, the manager purchases the specified product from other sellers and provides it to his buyer. This type of store does not imply rapid development, it is generally static and stable, does not require special customer service.
And finally, you can open an online store as an addition to the real one. Basically, the sale is carried out through the official website of a real store, although it is not uncommon for one seller to have several official websites.
How to create a website for an online store
So, you have already firmly decided to open an online store, then the next step is to create a website for it. There are also several options here. The first is to create a website on your own: the site is created either by the owner of the online store, or by his acquaintances, friends. If these persons are not professionals in the creation of sites, then it is worth monitoring both the timing of the creation of the site and its quality.
If this option is not suitable, then you can turn to professionals and buy a website. Today, thanks to the same Internet, you can find the appropriate contractor and order him to create a website, providing all the necessary data and design requirements. The second option is more expensive, but the owner will not have to regret it.
In addition to the costs of creating a website for an online store, you need to spend a little money on a domain name and hosting, which is about 400-600 rubles per month in total. It is inexpensive, so such costs will be covered by income, but the site will always be available to potential buyers.
Online store employees
To open an online store of a lightweight type, there will be enough staff of 25-30 people, they will not need a lot of experience. Employees can be call center operators, product managers, couriers, site IT support. In the initial stages, there is an urgent need only for operators and managers. Courier delivery can be entrusted to special shipping and transport companies, or you can use postal services. The latter option is generally acceptable when delivering goods to different points of the country, but if delivery is carried out within one or several cities, it will be faster and more convenient to use the first option. In the case of the transition of the online store to full service, the total number of employees will increase from 30 to 80-100 people.
Organization of payment for goods in the online store
And here there are various kinds of guarantees for the fulfillment of the obligations of the parties. To pay via the Internet, electronic wallets are used, created on the bases of WebMoney, Yandex. Money and so on. This type of payment is convenient for orders for large amounts of money, saves time and effort. But electronic payment systems charge commissions for transfers of funds, the percentages of the systems vary.
Sometimes banks are involved in the sale-purchase relationship, performing the "Purchase on credit" operations, but this requires the conclusion of a separate agreement with one or another bank. In general, this operation is very convenient, both for the one who opened the online store and for the buyer.
