A business idea, or what to sell in 2021 at home and online
Online shopping is becoming more and more popular. Therefore, starting your own online store is a great business idea. Here are some examples of how you can drive in 2021 without even leaving your home.
In fact, you can sell anything on the Internet . However, this does not mean that the first better idea for a business has to mean huge profits. So does it all depend on luck? How come! The best business idea is a hit mix of the ability to predict trends, accurately define brand goals, and identify customer needs. Any good idea will help you sell your own online store . See how to turn a business idea into your own brand and online store.
Business idea – how to start?
It has been known for a long time that the most profitable business … is your own business. However, many people equate their own business with additional costs. So he tries to look for alternative opportunities to develop his business – spending even more at the same time. Beginning sellers are very eager to take their first steps, e.g. on Allegro . However, they are not fully aware that selling through a popular marketplace primarily builds the recognition of a given marketplace, not the brand of a specific seller. Therefore, having an idea for a business and for sale on the Internet, it is worth investing in building your own online store that works to its popularity from the very beginning. And then it allows you to sell it in many channels, including Amazon or Allegro.
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Home business idea – what to open?
How much does it cost to start your own online store? Opinions are divided here. You can choose from many solutions available on the market, commonly known as paid and “free”. The quotation marks here are not by accident – while open source software is popularly called free, unfortunately, it is a big simplification. The very access to such software does not actually require fees, but using it – especially at the level of a professional, growing store – does. It requires appropriate technical knowledge and support, for which the store owner, if he is not an IT specialist himself, will have to pay.
The second popular solution is rental software – such as Shoper – which, under one subscription fee, gives you access to a number of tools that allow you to conduct and develop sales. In this cooperation model, the store owner also has access to constant technical support and software updates. In a word – he can focus on expanding his e-business offer, and not on technical matters.
Open source or SaaS for an online store? Check what to choose
The online store in the SaaS model allows you to conduct various types of sales. Thanks to numerous integrations and additional tools, both the producer of a specific product and a person who does not produce anything, but uses the resources of other suppliers and wholesalers, can sell via the Internet. In this case, therefore, it does not need warehouses and a large space to run a business – all you need is a computer and an Internet connection. Having one store, you can also sell in several other channels at the same time – depending only on where your customers are.
Sale of own goods
If you are a craftsman, an artist, you want to have your own clothing line – what you produce you make available in your own online store. You need to take photos of your products, write descriptions to them and put them on your store’s website.
Sale without own goods
This sales model is called dropshipping . It means that as the owner of the company and the store, you sign a contract with a selected wholesaler that sells a specific assortment. On your store’s website, you display products from this warehouse, but you do not ship them yourself – you only collect orders, and the wholesalers take over their implementation.
Sale outside of your own store
A modern online store gives you many sales opportunities today. You can connect it with Facebook, Instagram, Allegro, Amazon , price comparison websites and display your products in the Google search engine. There can be more such connections – it all depends on what you want and who to sell to.
Here you can read how Shopper online stores invest in omnichannel sales and through social media
From a business idea to your own brand
The success of any new business is largely based on activities related to building its visibility. It is not without reason that building brand awareness is at the heart of the sales funnel. Creating a coherent brand image is the key to gaining regular and loyal customers who will not only come back for your products and services but also conduct free word-of-mouth marketing among their friends. Therefore, your own online store has such an advantage at the start.
If you want to create a coherent image of your brand, convey the mission and values of the company to your customers, you will have a difficult task when selling on a popular marketplace. You are there only an anonymous seller among many other sellers – and in such a situation, the one with the lowest price wins the fight for the customer. If you want to get a group of customers returning not to the auction site, but specifically to the address of your company, develop your business idea through dialogue with recipients in your own online store and corporate social media channels.