Do you like gadgets? Do you often spend your free time with electronics-related DIY activities in and around your house? Do you like trying trending electronics? If any of your answers are yes, then a winning idea for you must be to open an electronics store online if you are considering starting an ecommerce business.
More and more people are buying electronics products online nowadays. In the previous years, even if ecommerce has had a significant part in people’s lives, it was still very common that customers rather went to physical stores to buy electronics products. Why was it? Because they were afraid of spending much money online, they didn’t have trust in online payments. Furthermore, they wanted to try the products before paying for them and comparing them to different, similar ones.
It has two main reasons why there has been a change in people’s buying habit. On the one hand, the change has started to occur 1-3 years ago as people realized they can have trust in online stores especially that they started to offer more payment and delivery options, for example. Nice refund policies were also beneficial for both the retailer and the buyer. On the other hand, people started to buy electronics goods online because of the world’s health situation. Restrictions about not being able to leave home, just in certain cases, made people purchase online more often.
When you are opening an electronics store you must make sure people can realize immediately that you are reliable and you sell high-quality products. Electronics are not the kind of products that has impulse buyers. Most customers compare one item to another in different online stores, and they like reading blog articles too and watching videos about how the products work and what is good to know about them. Provide the best service to your customers, and be unique!
With our guide below which we created for those who wish to launch an electronics store, we would like to make sure you don’t miss any important steps to take while planning and building your online business.
CONTENT
- What is Needed to Start an Online Electronics Store?
- The Definition of ‘Electronics Store’
- Checklist of 10 Steps to Succeed
- Research The Electronics Market
- Decide on What to Sell
- Where to Get Your Electronics Products From?
- Stocking Products or Dropshipping?
- Build Your Brand
- Make a Business Plan, Obtain Required Permits
- Choose an Ecommerce Platform to Work on
- Start Building Your Online Store
- Choose the Right Services
- Promote & Sell
- What Kind of Costs Occur When Starting an Online Electronics Store?
What is Needed to Start an Online Electronics Store?
What steps you must take prior? What qualities do you need for a headstart? What do you need to know before you would start planning and building your electronics store? Well, it is important to know that you need to be patient. You need time to learn about online stores, you need to do researches, and you need to gain experience about how everything works in real. You need to work hard for your orders especially in the beginning. Moreover, you have to realize, you can’t open any kind of store without capital investment, and the whole process is complex.
Skills and Traits You and Your Team Needs
- Patience and persistence
- Hard work
- Passion
- Creativity
- Strategy skills
- At least basic technical skills
- Marketing skills (e.g.: written and visual content creation, SEO, paid advertisements)
- Sales skills
- Financial skills
- Connections
- Empathy for an outstanding customer service
- Time management
- Interest in gadgets and electronics products
- Competence in electronics
What to Provide for Your Customers?
When you are considering opening an online electronics store, these are some of the main details you must provide for your customers if you want them to be satisfied with your service.
- High-quality products
- Quick delivery
- Outstanding customer support
- Blog articles about product reviews
- Video help of product reviews
- Nice, details product descriptions
- Good product imagery
- More payment and shipping options
- Good refund policy
The Definition of ‘Electronics Store’
There isn’t a definition of what an electronics store is, of course. What we try to do here is to help you what an electronics store is about, what are the options regarding what to sell. Make sure you are an expert of the product category you are planning to sell in your online electronics store and if a customer asks for help, you will be able to answer their tech questions properly. You need to be passionate about the topic you are planning to open a whole business about.
What Can You Sell?
There are so many kinds of products you can sell in your electronics store. Actually, the most common thing that we can see is that if an online shop sells these items, they sell every other kind of products as well like pet products, home decoration, items for the garden, etc. So, if you want to be unique, you can consider focusing on only electronics, but make sure you sell high-quality items from reliable local suppliers and items that are lacking from your local market. If it is possible to find reliable services you can consider cooperating with local manufacturers, startups too.
Examples of what kind of products you can sell in your online electronics store:
- Home Electronics
- Smart Electronics
- Outdoor, Garden Electronics
- Mobile Phones, Mobile Phone Parts & Accessories
- Office Electronics
- Sports Electronics
- Beauty Electronics
- Hobby Electronics
- Vehicle Products
- Batteries & Chargers
- Earphones & Headphones
- Gadgets
- Home Audio & Video
- Televisions
- Photography & Camera
- Media Players
- Modules
- Plug & Adaptors
- Massagers
- Computer Cables & Connectors, Components, Peripherals, Accessories, Parts
- Computer Drives & Storages
- Laptops, Laptop Parts, Accessories
- Tablet
- Networking
Checklist of 10 Steps to Succeed
The guide below is for those who are new to running an online electronics store. However, if you are on the market for a while and you are still not sure that you are doing everything well, and you feel like learning more about how you could be better with your business, our help below can be useful for you too.
1. Research The Electronics Market
Before taking any kind of steps the very first thing you have to do is to research your market. What do you need to do? Examine other electronics brands and stores. You need to understand their business models, what they are selling, which brands they are cooperating with, what is the average price margin they are using. Moreover, you need to find out the strategies they have. Why do you need all this information? So you can compete with them, so you can offer a different service than them, so you can be better for your target audience. Find a way to be able to be unique on the market.
2. Decide on What to Sell
There are many kinds of online stores that sell electronics products. Electronics brands and manufacturers have their own shops, and there are many big and well-known stores that offer electronics, this is why it is a bit challenging to succeed with a new business selling these items. If your dream is still to open an electronics store, you need to specify who you want to sell your products to, and what is an area that you think is missing on the market where your target customers are. You can decide if you want to sell high-ticket or low-ticket items. Make sure there is a potential that you can find buyers for your products. How to define what to sell?
- Look around yourself. Pay attention to everything. Ideas can come anytime during the day. While sitting on the train, when walking on the street, when shopping, when being in a group of people talking. You need to pay attention to every small detail around you. What people use, how, what kind of everyday problems they have to deal with.
- Check your personal interests. Do you have any interests, hobbies regarding electronics? Do you consider yourself a geek? Then examine what kind of products could be sold in that area and check if it is possible that there is a demand on the market for these items.
- Browse on social media. Here is where you can get to know the quickest what is trending currently. Well, electronics are not the most common products shown on social media (not like clothing pieces), but by using hashtags, you can get some winner ideas.
- Research the market. It is something you must do frequently, not only in the beginning so you can always evolve with your business. Ask the most relevant questions from yourself to check the market based on that, and also ask relevant questions from hundreds of people to get a comprehensive overview.
- What is missing in your local market? Look back in time, for the last few years from now. Has it ever happened to you that you wanted to get a product from your area but you couldn’t? Well, then maybe this is what you should sell.
- Check your competitor-to-be stores. Until you did something that is as significant on the market as certain stores’ activities you cannot call those shops your competitors. The brand Samsung for example will not be your competitor unless you are a big and worldwide known manufacturer. What you need to do is to check your local market and the stores there which sells almost those kind of products you thought about. They will be your competitors. Check their selection and offer something else for your audience!
- Feel free to ask for advice. However, do not steal someone else’s idea. If you already have some ideas, this is when you should ask for more friends’ and relatives’ help. When you are running a business you always have to listen to your clients’ words and needs. This is how you can evolve. So why wouldn’t you do it before even starting the business? Everyone’s opinion is important, you just need to be careful about the final decisions you make.
- Check marketplaces. You can get inspiration while browsing these product selections. Moreover, you can already find supplier partners as well here for the items you wish to sell.
3. Where to Get Your Electronics Products From?
There are three main ways of how a retailer can get electronics products from.
- Manufacture them: If you are an engineer, or you have friends who are having a startup company selling electronics products, or you know any local manufacturers selling these items, you can consider reselling their selection to your customers which can be a win-win situation for all of you.
- Directly from suppliers, manufacturers: You can pick any suppliers to work with whose products you like. A criterion they have to meet is to be able to provide a product data feed file so you can fill your online electronics store with their products. Ask these suppliers, manufacturers, factories, distributors about what kind of requirements it has to establish a relationship with them.
- Marketplaces: You need to check online marketplaces and directories such as Syncee Marketplace where you can not only find products and suppliers but you can also fill your online electronics store with the chosen products and let the service update the product data daily, automatically.
4. Stocking Products or Dropshipping?
You need to decide if you want to run a retail business using dropshipping service, or you want to invest money into physical stock in advance. Both business models have their advantages. If you have physical stock, the shipping time depends on only you, and you can put the products in any kind of packaging. Moreover, you can put little gifts and a greeting card as well into it.
However, when you use dropshipping you do not have to invest money in physical stock in advance, and you do not have to afraid of not be able to sell all of the products you bought in advance. Furthermore, you can start your new online business with less capital investment. So the delivery time you can offer with your electronics store can be short you need to cooperate with local suppliers and not with companies from overseas.
5. Build Your Brand
Now you are finally at the step that you were waiting for for a while. You probably have a list that is full of ideas that you were collecting over the last few months. However, you need to know what a brand is before you would be able to create one. You can’t have experience if you are new to commerce, but reading useful articles online is a great help. What is a brand build of? Name, logo, symbol, design, colors, unique identity, a message. All of these make your electronics store be easily marketed. Distinguish yourself from other electronics stores on the market. Check your competitors, define, and research your target audience.
6. Make a Business Plan, Obtain Required Permits
Outline your goals and strategies in your business plan. There are many samples on the internet about what a plan is like. We would just like to highlight some main parts of what it has to contain. You need to make a list of your one-time and outgoing costs, you need to set a goal of profit (it will be the difference between your total expenses and total income). By being aware of these details you can avoid overspendings.
After your market and industry researches, define what goal you would like to accomplish. Furthermore, you need to define what you will sell, who your target audience is, what strategies you will follow. You can also try to make a SWOT analysis to find out what your strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats might be to be able to evolve.
You also need to obtain the required permits. Check locally, where you live, what kind of special requirements needed to open an online your. Feel free to ask for help from an expert from an accountant, or a lawyer if you feel puzzled. Check on the business licenses and other documents that might be needed. Do not forget about also outlining the legal structure of your business, to write down who runs the company, how you will manage the logistics.
7. Choose an Ecommerce Platform to Work on
You have more options regarding how to build a new online store. If you are good at IT, or you know some experts, you can build your own store from scratch with all the technical parts. However, ecommerce platforms can make your job easier. They are the backbone of millions of online stores worldwide. They allow retailers and suppliers to manage their online sales operations. Each ecommerce platforms have different features, you need to pick which is the one that best meets your needs.
The platforms can help you regarding payment gateways, security, structuring, design, and by providing applications as well to mention just a few options.
What are some good platforms we recommend? Shopify, BigCommerce, Jumpseller, Ecwid by Lightspeed, Squarespace, Wix, WooCommerce.
8. Start Building Your Online Store
Your online electronics store has to be user-friendly and has to provide all information that is useful for customers to know. Do not forget, people judge by the book’s cover, so make sure your website and the visuals you use on your social media pages look really nice and professional. As for your electronics store’s look, you can pick from themes that give the structure and design you pick for your website. Themeforest/Envato Market is one of the most popular sources of themes. If you are on Shopify, you can check the Shopify Theme Store as well. Also, make sure the product filtering options are user-friendly.
Make sure you have all the necessary menus in your electronics store. These are the product category pages, About us, Contact us, Shipping details, Return & Refund, Warranty, FAQ, Privacy policy, Payment information menus, and a Blog. You need little technical skills to be able to open an online store and to set everything properly, but do not be afraid of it, you will be able to manage everything. After you built your electronics store, you can fill it with your products.
9. Choose the Right Services
You need to pick the services you would like to start working with. These are applications, software you need to decide on so you can make your job easier.
- Product uploading, updating service
- Courier service
- Warehouse if needed
- Payment gateway, payment provider
- Customer support, chat service
- Newsletter software
- Cart abandonment software
10. Promote & Sell
Here we are, at the last step. You are close to your first milestone: to have your first sale. First, you need to promote your electronics store, this is how people will be able to find you. Marketing is key for beginners. How you can do it?
- Be present on Facebook and Instagram and post quality images and even short videos frequently.
- Start using SEO on your online electronics store and in your blog articles. It generates free traffic.
- Run paid ads on social media and create Google Ads.
- Use remarketing.
- Write great, reader-friendly, and informative content.
- Use great visuals everywhere.
- Manage email marketing, newsletters.
- Include a blog in your online electronics store.
- Create videos of the products.
- Encourage word-of-mouth marketing.
- Start a loyalty program.
You do not need to use all the above marketing tools. Pick the ones that best fit your activity.
Now you are ready to receive your first sale! Provide the best service to your customers and visitors. Please note: you can’t rest, you need to learn continuously to be able to evolve and have a winning business all the time.
What Kind of Costs Occur When Starting an Online Electronics Store?
As you probably already know, you cannot start any kind of online store without any initial capital investments. Indeed, when you are running an online store using dropshippig service, you do not need to stock physical inventory, however, there are other fees you must pay. These are one-time and ongoing costs as well. When you start your online business, all of your costs will be around $1,500-3,300 on average depending on what you specifically want to and need to invest money in.
What are some of the fees you possibly have to pay? These, again, depending on what services you are working with. Probably not all bullet points from below will be relevant to you, and it is possible that there are fees you will have to deal with but the list below doesn’t contain it. However, these examples might be still helpful for you if you are new to ecommerce. Make sure to always have spare money for unexpected happenings.
- Hosting, domain name registration
- Design, theme
- Marketing costs (agents, designers, content writers, social media managers)
- Ecommerce platform’s subscription fee
- Continous website maintenance
- Other subscription fees for applications, plugins, software, and for the supplier if needed
- Legal, official costs
- Costs of an accountant, lawyer
- Warehouse
- Shipping
Final Thoughts
Starting an electronics store online has its hardships but as you can see, if you learn a lot before actually launching the business and the shop, you have a great chance to be able to have sales. There are so many online stores, this is why you have to make sure you are not like all the others. Do not be just one in a million, even if it is quite hard for those who sell electronics. Make your business be unique, have a unique message, work with reliable real suppliers who have high-quality products with short delivery. Automate your product uploads and updates, build a user-friendly online electronics store, and make sure your business stands on solid feet.
What kind of products you should sell in your electronics store? Items that are useful, desirable, accessible, high-quality, and are at a reasonable price. Make sure the market is not oversaturated by these items already, and your target audience really needs what you sell.
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