The internet offers a phenomenal opportunity for you to open up your own online store. You can cater to an astounding amount of potential customers, as 70% of shoppers said they prefer to shop online. Whether you already have a brick-and-mortar store or plan to sell exclusively online, setting up an e-commerce store can be an overwhelming, yet rewarding, task. Once you’ve established your industry, what products you’ll sell, as well as a brand and domain name, keep the following tips in mind while developing your store.

1. Research What Delivery Service is Right for Your Business

The most prominent shipping options are USPS, FedEx, and UPS. You should evaluate the pros, cons, prices, and features of them all before deciding on which one is best for sending out your products. In addition, you need to consider if you’ll be selling your products solely in the U.S. or branching out into an international market. You can also offer multiple delivery options to your customers and let them decide on which one they’d like for their order. Whatever you choose, shipping should be both affordable and reliable.

Be prepared to resend out packages in the worst case scenario too. No matter how good a delivery service can be, lost and damaged packages still happen. Your business will occasionally need to send out another order and absorb that cost so your customer isn’t inconvenienced.

2. Accurately Advertise Your Products

Customers who are shopping online aren’t able to see, touch, or try on the product for themselves without ordering it first. You need your product listings to have accurate dimensions, descriptions, and most importantly, photos. All of your photos should be taken with high quality cameras, then color corrected in post-production. It’s necessary to take multiple photos from all different angles to correctly represent your product as well. By performing all of these steps, your online store will be able to minimize returns from unsatisfied customers.

3. Implement Email Marketing

When customers pay for their orders, they’ll be providing your company with their email address. This contact information can be used to reach out to your customers later on after they’ve made their purchase. You’ll be able to send out emails that contain sale information, advertise new products, share industry news, and many more possibilities. These campaigns invite customers to come back to your website, see what you have to offer, and make another purchase.

4. Begin a Loyalty Program

Instead of spending more time and money trying to always bring in new clients, you should be focusing on keeping your current ones. Consistently recruiting new customers can get expensive for many businesses. With points and eventual rewards, customers will be motivated to continue coming back to your site and purchasing more products. They like feeling rewarded for buying from your company; a loyalty program gives them greater incentive to choose your company and helps enhance your reputation. There are all kinds of ways to set up a point system and reward your customers, so be creative!

5. Leave the Work to a Digital Marketing Agency

You’re going to be busy overseeing your business, responding to customer inquiries, and shipping their orders out to them. Having a digital marketing agency design your website and online store will save you time, which you can then spend focusing on your business’s operations instead. An agency will be able to create the best layout, upload all of your products, write descriptions, and more for you. You’ll have a professional e-commerce store that perfectly reflects your brand.

A company like BizLocal can help you with all these guidelines, along with personal recommendations, to help your e-commerce store become profitable. Incorporating other services to enhance your website, such as search engine optimization, will likewise draw in new customers and bring awareness to your brand. Experts in the industry will personally see to it that your online business will be on the road to success.