Online shop

Amara

Has anyone here got an online shop? I'm thinking about setting up one. How long did it take to make it work? I mean, to start bringing an income? I'm thinking about herbical products.
Any tips?

wayne1983

Well if you want a free site take a look at mine, im having a go at t shirt printing site.
How good are you with designing stuff like that?, im not that good so its took a lot of sinking in with me!, good luck!:beer:

Amara

Clever idea. I'm intrested in herbals and alternative therapies, so maybe is good for me.

nhoneymonster

I've got an online shop but the difficulty is getting traffic to your site. I've had the odd sale but not enough for an income. I've been using Google Ads but that works out quite expensive.

There are lots of places where you can get free or very cheap webspace with shop design features so it can be quite easy to set a shop up, the hard work is the marketing part.

Amber_Sunshine

I second the above post. BTW, sorry to be pedantic, but you mean herbal, not herbical. Not being critical, but if you set up a shop it'll be important to get the text accurate, so that you stand a better chance of appearing in searches (people will search for herbal, not herbical, so your site wouldn't show).

Adamb_3

You could also try promoting your products by getting some reviews for them submitted to your website. Opinion of consumers do matter especially for first-time buyers.

Amara

Yes, herbal : ) Thanks for all answers : )

keys_2

Ive not got an online shop , but have in the past toyed with setting a website up for a service offered in my local area . I would say traffic to it would be hardest part to make an income after al lyour fees , so I would write a huge list down and a bussiness plan that covers all aspects , for example I would advertise everywhere you possibly can ...i.e Facebook , Loot , Gumtree, Ebay , Amazon , Local shops , schools , bussinesses etc with leaflets { you could make them at home on a good printer }
I would also get reviews on your products and sell on othe rsites with a link t oyour website and also include bussiness leaflets and cards in teh products you sell
Good luck

glowgirl_2

Running a competition is a great way to get traffic to your site, sites of all sizes do it regularly.

billypre

I have a few online shops now and it certainly helps boost your income. I use Prestashop which is free shopping cart, but hace also used zencart, creloaded,oscommerce to name a few others. Whichever you choose you need to read up on all the workings of it. Its not as simple as just "Load Your Products".

Secondly, are you going to stock these products yourself in your own home or do you have an office etc ?

Thirdly you will have to register with HMRC within 3 months of setting up your shop publicly.

To answer your questions, i have had a site set up and making sales within a week easily. Of course, this is after lots and lots of learning !!

You should have a knowledge of SEO before you start too, as this is vital in getting ranked on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.

Lastly, you should read up on your rights and the rights of your customers who will be ordering from you. Distance Selling Regulations are a good start but you also need to decide how you are going to take payments, how you are going to handle Data Protection and user privacy. You also need to place contact details visibly on your site with address and contact number should customers need to contact you.

Sorry if it sounds like i'm putting you off, i really am not, but i think you need to be aware that it's not easy to just "open an online shop and get an extra income". It takes time, understanding and if you don't know what you are doing then you will need a bit of cash to hire someone to build your site or to SEO it etc etc It's a learning curve, but if you are prepared to put in the hours then you will get rewards. If you need any help or advice then post in here or PM me and i'll be happy to help.

@wayne1983 - PM me your shop, i may be able to put business your way, not a lot, but you never know

Martin_Wann

Hi,:)
I think, if you are new in e-commerce it is better to get a shopping cart software. It will help you manage your online store. I'm not a big professional in this kind of stuff but I'm running my t-shirt store without any problems with a special shopping cart software. It allows me to import/export products,manage orders, customers in a couple minutes. I'm using a Store Manager for CRE Loaded, and I am pretty happy with it. You can try it to. It is really much easier to work with such a tool.