Online store: Success in e-commerce with these tips

Do you want to get off to a flying start in e-commerce, but don't know exactly how? Or maybe you've already started but aren't making any progress? Then you've come to the right place. We have ten helpful tips for you to make your e-commerce project a complete success. We at EXWE are happy to support you as an e-commerce agency. The creation of individual online stores & e-commerce support including optimization and SEO - are part of our daily business and help you to increase the sales of your online store with maximum performance. In addition, our team has years of expertise in the development of Shopware stores and plugins.

Reading time 5 min

1. A sophisticated business plan
2. Analysis of potential competitors
3. Focus on uniqueness
4. Networking and learning from professionals
5. A high-quality online shop
6. Choose the right software for your online store
7. Get help
8. Become visible
9. Don't give up
10. Set yourself measurable goals

A sophisticated business plan

Before you start your e-commerce business, your first step should be to draw up a business plan. This will not only help you to formulate your goals, but also to identify any gaps in your plan. You will discover which areas still need work and how you can prepare even better. You may also realize at this point that your idea is not as good as you originally thought. But that's not a bad thing! After all, you are still at the beginning and can adapt your idea to make it better. However, small changes are often enough to give your idea the final polish.

If you have already entered the e-commerce industry, you shouldn't neglect this tip. Even in retrospect, you can uncover mistakes and notice the areas that still need further development. Perhaps these are precisely the points that have prevented you from getting off to a good start online.

Analyze potential competitors

Once you have thought about a business plan, you should check whether there are already competitors in this area. You will probably find that there are. As a rule, almost every product has already been sold online. However, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't give it a try anyway. It is important that you get to know your competitors so that you can simply do better than them.

Put yourself in the buyer's shoes and find out what you like and don't like in your competitors' online stores. If you find this difficult, you can also ask people you know. What features do they like and what do they think is missing? You should definitely take these points into account for your e-commerce business. This will help you stand out from the competition and be better. It's all about taking inspiration from your competitors. Of course, you shouldn't copy them.

Focus on uniqueness

This tip is closely related to the previous point. As we explained there, it is important not to copy the competition one-to-one. Apart from the fact that this is not even legally possible in some respects, it is also not the recipe for success for your business. You should rather take the good aspects of the competition, make them better and work out your own unique selling points. You can then use these features in your own marketing to show your customers why your product is the best choice and what makes it special. Show that your product is unique and why it is the best the way it is.

Network and learn from professionals

It is important for your success in e-commerce that you connect with like-minded people and learn from their mistakes. People who are or have already been successful in e-commerce usually have the best tips, advice and information for you. Be inquisitive and always ready to learn. Because in e-commerce, there will always be innovations and trends that affect your online business and can perhaps make it even better.

A high-quality online shop

Your success in e-commerce starts with a professional online store. After all, you want to sell your products to men and women. And this is only possible if your customers feel comfortable in your online store and find their way around. I'm sure you agree that people have less trust in retailers who sell on a website from 2002? A proper website is definitely the be-all and end-all.

If you don't know how to create an online store yourself, that's not a problem. There are now professionals who can take on tasks that are not in your own area of expertise. At EXWE, for example, we specialize in online store creation in e-commerce. So if you need help with your professional online store, simply get in touch with us and we will take your store to the next level.

Choosing the right software for your online store

It's not just the look of the online store that should be professional. You should also opt for a high-quality system for easy administration, maintenance and editing of the online store. For example, we work with the Shopware software system. It not only facilitates the creation and administration of the online store, but can also be easily supplemented with additional functionalities. These functionalities can be added with the help of plugins from the Shopware Store. The store already contains 3,500 plugins. If individual functions are still missing, we can also create your own plugin. This is then tailored exactly to your requirements!

In general, you should make sure that the software of your choice can still be managed in a few years' time. Even if your online store grows and you suddenly have to manage several hundred or even thousands of products. The e-commerce store should definitely be able to grow with you. With a system like Shopware, you shouldn't have any problems with this. As Shopware regularly releases new updates and new versions, your online store will always be up to date.

Get help

Just because you now own an e-commerce business doesn't mean you have to do everything on your own and can't get help. For some topics, it's simply smarter to bring experts on board. The experts know what they are doing, have years of experience and will get the job done much faster and probably better than you. It's much more worthwhile investing your time in topics that you're good at. Just keep an eye on how efficiently you are working and whether it would be worthwhile for someone else to take on the task.

Become visible

Visibility is essential for your success in e-commerce. You need to show yourself to your customers and get them excited about your product. You can do this with marketing measures on social networks or in Google search. You can place ads on social media to promote your products. This option is also available for Google search. Of course, you can also try to attract attention without advertising through a good content strategy. However, this is very time-consuming.

But once you are visible to your customers, you should also retain their loyalty. A satisfied customer may not just visit your store once, but several times. There are a number of tools to build up a customer base and make the customer journey as pleasant as possible. One of them is HubSpot. You can manage all of your customers' activities there if you connect the tool to your Shopware online store. All you need is the right HubSpot plugin and you can define your target groups and retain your customers.

Don't give up

Not giving up and having great stamina are tips that you have probably come across many times before. Maybe you can't even hear them anymore. However, most success stories are based on perseverance. Unfortunately, the well-known overnight success is simply the exception. In most other companies, the path to success is not giving up, taking new paths if the old path leads nowhere and not allowing yourself to become frustrated. Every single task you accomplish in your e-commerce business is a step in the right direction. It helps immensely not to measure your success on a single day, but to look at longer periods of time. What can you do today to achieve a measurable goal in a year?

Set yourself measurable goals

If you want to answer the question of what you can do today to achieve a specific goal, you need to know how to set measurable goals. And it's not that easy. You always have to be realistic when setting goals. What is actually possible in a year? How many hours a day can I work effectively and how long will it take me to complete a task? If you don't know what is realistic for your company at first, that's not a bad thing. Over time, you will realize which tasks require what effort and how you can best allocate your time.

Once you have figured this out, it is important that your goals remain measurable. What does that mean? For example, you don't set yourself the goal of selling your product often, but rather a specific sales figure. For example, this could be the sale of 1000 products within a year.

This will make it easier for you to determine whether the target has been achieved or not. Hopefully these tips have provided you with new approaches to making your e-commerce business more successful. If you have any questions about the individual points or would like personal advice and help with your e-commerce or Shopware store, we would be happy to help. Simply contact us using our form or give us a call - our team will be happy to help!