The brick business has been a part of our society for decades. Brick business usually sells products or even services to people in person or remotely. You can build a brick business into an online business by following the steps on how to take your brick business into an online business successfully.
Many businesses exist online and they sell the same thing. In fact, you would message a friend on WhatsApp and receive an auto response like “Hi, thanks for contacting xyz store. Kindly wait, we’ll reply shortly.” You will be browsing online, scrolling through the timeline and out of ten posts, you’ll come across at least one business or marketing post.
This means many people sell online and there can be like a thousand people selling that same product. You do not want to go into such a market unprepared, especially if you intend to run your business online. You do not want to get lost in the multitudes and you’d want to see results of your business efforts.
If you want to be different from hundreds of online fashion stores, you should note the following points and take action based on them:
- Find a niche
- Conduct market research
- Conduct competitive analysis
- Analyze your target market
- Source your product
- Choose the right online platform
- Launch your store
- Drive online traffic
- Measure and value feedbacks
Find a niche
Before you venture into a business, you need to sit and think about what you want to sell and who you want to sell it to. Find the right product. Don’t sell too many different products to everyone at once. You can’t be selling ladies’ wear and babies’ products at the same time. People probably won’t take you seriously. You need to stick to one.
Imagine going to an Instagram page as a young 22 year old lady to look for a jean trouser and at the top of the page, you saw baby socks or napkins and you had to scroll down before you found a jean. It’s tiring. One moment you’re seeing babies’ clothes, another moment, you’re seeing lingeries. Not good. Although you can sell anything online, it doesn’t guarantee sales.
Conduct Your Market Research
Now that you have decided to find the right product and stick to it, move on to the next thing – conduct market research. What does the market comprise of? The product, the people and the place.
Research about the product. How available is the product? Is it a cogent human need? How often do people need it? Is it a seasonal product? Where can I get this product? How much is it being sold? Don’t depend on your intuition. The product is as important as your business.
Know about the people in the market. Those who are selling the product and those who are buying. Ask yourself questions like “how many people sell this product?” “How many people buy this product?” “What is their buying pattern?” Research about the people since you’d be dealing with them in the market anyway.
Also, you need to know their meeting place. Where are the sellers and buyers meeting points? It’s already a known fact that you’re running your business online, so you know that they are online. But you know online is a big place and you need to know where online they are most of the time and how they interact.
Conduct Competitive Analysis
Your competitors are part of the people you need to analyze. Check out your competitors page. Examine what they are selling and how they’re selling it. Watch out for how they interact with their online audience.
Check out how much they sell the product. Check if they have a ‘no return or no refund policy.” Read through their comment section and see how people react to their posts.
This will give you an idea on what you should do, what you shouldn’t and what you can do better. This will give you an edge over your competitors. It is important that you analyze your competitors if you want to survive online. Don’t just jump online and start selling, you might sink.
Analyze your target audience
Finding out who your audience are is very important. They are the ones you’re selling to. They are very important for the survival of your business.
You want to sell ladies’ fashion clothes, so you’re targeting ladies. Pick an age range. Let’s say you’ve decided to sell to ladies between the age of 22 and 35. Excellent!
Next, you find out where they are online. They’ll most likely be on Instagram or Twitter. So, you know where they are. What do they do online? They post pictures of themselves at home, office, outside. They tweet about their opinions. Watch what they’re wearing. Be familiar with the trends of clothes they wear.
What time are they usually online? That’s important, so you can know when to post your products and interact with their post. They will notice you and you’ll be their friend.
Source your product
If you’re going to sell, your product has to be available for purchase. Don’t go online and post what you don’t have.
It’s important to know where you can get your product and how easily you can access the product. Let it be a product you can easily access and have it in store.
Don’t always disappoint your customers with unavailability of your products.
Choose the right online platform
Yeah, your friends sell online. They sell on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. You must not do the same as them.
Find out the online platform your target audience is most of the time and launch your store there. Focus on the right platform, don’t follow the crowd.
Launch your store
After you have carried out all the steps mentioned above, the next step is to launch your store.
You already know the product you want to sell, the audience you want to sell it to, your competitors and the right platform to sell, go ahead and launch your store. Best of luck!
Drive online traffic
Launching your online store doesn’t guarantee immediate huge followers online, or sales even. It requires effort to draw people to your brand.
First, you reach out to your target audience. Reinforce your online activities with online promotional activities. Use the power of marketing to turn visitors to buyers.
Run promotional ads, reach out through email marketing, design and launch your website. Employ competent content marketing. Use SEO to drive targeted buyers to your page or website.
Study the online platform you use. Know if it’s your location or the hashtags you use that will enable your target audience to find you quickly and easily.
Measure and value online feedbacks
Feedback is important to keep your business running. One thing you should know is that people are more likely to buy a product recommended by another buyer than through an ad. Therefore, measure and value the feedback you get from your customers.
How can you gather feedback? Ask questions on your page, let your customers tell you their opinion. Don’t lock your comment section. You can also gather feedback by sending a survey via email.
Measure the feedback you get to maintain a better relationship with your customers and serve them better.
You’re on a smooth ride to running a successful online business if you take these actions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
What kind of business can I start online?
You can start any business online but make sure it’s a need and what people will actually buy. Make sure that it’s a business that will thrive online and it is one of the products people seek online. If you need help with that, you can search online, pay attention to people’s pain points online. If you realize people complain a lot about power supply in an area, you might consider selling a power bank to them.
How do I run a business of my own online?
Start by identifying the product you want to sell and the people you want to sell the product to. Then go ahead to conduct market research; examine the product, the people and the online platform you want to sell on.
How can I make my online business successful?
You can make your online business successful if you run things differently from the way other online business owners are. Do things that will make you stand out from the crowd. Examine your competitors, watch what they do, and do better than they are.
Your customers are important. Treat them like the soul of your business. One bad review concerning your product or brand can destroy your brand and rubbish all your online efforts. Your customers are sacred to your business.
For your business to survive online, you need to take these steps. Don’t go to the marketplace unprepared, your business might fail. To be among the new business who will survive and thrive for ten years to come, you have to prepare for it. Take these steps and you’ll run your business successfully.
