Technology Skills That are Useful for Creating eCommerce Stores

Introduction

The eCommerce industry has been growing for years, and the recent pandemic has only accelerated that trend. While many brick and mortar shops are shutting down, new online stores are popping up every day and many of them are succeeding.

If you’re an entrepreneur who’s thinking about starting an online business you’re probably wondering how you can create your own eCommerce site. While it’s not super difficult there are a few skills you’ll need to have in order to be successful.

Here a rundown of how to get started in eCommerce, along with some skills that will help you on your journey.

Ways to Start an eCommerce Business

There are a few different ways you can go about starting an online store. All of them have the potential to be profitable, so it really just depends what strategy works best for you.

Create Your Own Online Store

This is the most difficult way to create an eCommerce business, but it does come with some benefits. With this strategy, you’ll be creating everything yourself. This includes both the website and the technology necessary to check out customers and collect their money.

In order for this to work, you’ll need to have the necessary time, resources, and technical skills. You’ll also have to be prepared to encounter a few setbacks. Projects like this are rarely completed on schedule, so you should expect to have to wait a while before you actually start selling.

Then there’s the problem of actually getting customers to your site. Since your business is brand new you’ll need to invest heavily in advertising.

However, on the plus side, you’ll own all your own technology. You won’t be dependent on other companies and you won’t have to let anyone take a cut of your sales. So, if you can stomach the large upfront costs it might be worth it in the long run.

Use an eCommerce Platform

Most people who decide to sell on their own site utilize an eCommerce platform. These are systems that are installed on your site and help you display your products and process transactions.

Compared to building everything yourself this strategy has a number of benefits, including:

• It takes less time to set up.
• It’s less work since a lot of the technology has already been developed.
• The technology is already proven, so you’ll run into fewer issues.
• There are support teams to help you if you run into any problems.

However, when using an eCommerce platform you still have the issue of driving traffic to your site. And now that you’re using another company’s technology you’re going to have to pay them a fee or give them a percentage of your sales.

Sell on an Established Marketplace

If you want to start an eCommerce store but aren’t interested in building it yourself, then you should consider selling on an established marketplace, like Amazon. These sites already have an established customer base, so if you list a quality product on their marketplace it shouldn’t be long before you’re generating sales.

Here are some of the benefits of this business model:

• You don’t have to build anything.
• Once you have your products you can start selling right away.
• There are plenty of analytics tools available for selling on Amazon that help beginners find profitable products to sell.
• There are already customers there so you don’t need to do as much marketing.

Like using an eCommerce platform, you’ll have to pay the marketplace a percentage of your sales. But if you prefer the convenience then starting a business on Amazon or another marketplace might be for you.

The 6 Technical Skills That Will Help You Build an eCommerce Business

eCommerce is accessible to everyone, as long as you’re willing to put in the work and learn a few new skills. Here are six skills you should consider mastering before creating an eCommerce store:

Search Engine Optimization

No matter where you decide to sell the number one way people are going to find your products is through search. This means search engine optimization (SEO for short) will be extremely important. SEO involves performing keyword research, integrating those keywords into your site and listings, building links, and other SEO campaign or industry best practices that give you a better chance of being found.

Online Advertising

SEO is great, but the problem is it can take a while to work. In the meantime, you still want to be making sales. This is where online advertising is useful. For a small fee you can target the right audiences and keywords to drive traffic to your site. Even if you get good organic traffic an effective advertising campaign can boost your sales and earnings.

Learn Digital Marketing. Free Demo Class Available! 

Web Design

If you’re building your own eCommerce store then you’ll need an attractive website design in order to appeal to customers. Web design is the process of creating the look and feel of your site. It involves skills in graphic design, as well as knowledge of UI and web best practices.

Front End Development

Once your eCommerce store design has been created you need to actually implement it. This is where front-end development comes in. It’s the process of using code to actually take your design and turn it into a functioning website.

Backend Development

Backend development encompasses all the behind-the-scenes stuff that actually makes your website work. For an eCommerce store, this would involve your checkout out system, payment processing, and privacy protection.

Data Analysis

In order to optimize your store, you’re going to need to learn how to understand the data that it generates. This includes things like click-through rate, conversion rate, bounce rate, and traffic sources. Once you master data analysis you’ll be able to use this information to make changes to your store that increase your earnings.

Invest in Learning the Skills You Need

Before launching your eCommerce store you should take the time to study some of the skills above. This will provide you with a solid foundation to start your business with and will give you a better chance at success. 

Luckily, there are plenty of online courses, like those offered by JanBask Training, that will help you gain the knowledge you need. Do your research and find some courses you feel will help you establish a successful store.

Conclusion

Starting an eCommerce business might seem intimidating at first, but with the right skillset anything is possible. Once you have the knowledge you need operating an online store can be a very profitable venture.

FaceBook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest Email