Starting an e-commerce store is one of the best ways to make money from home. The barrier to entry is very low because it is much more economical to start than a physical brick-and-mortar store. The costs are not nearly as high since the overhead is not nearly as high. This isn’t to say that it can’t get expensive, however.
You can definitely spend more money than you should if you aren’t careful. This is why it pays to have a few tricks up your sleeve to keep your startup costs to a minimum. In this article, we will go over several money-saving tips so you don’t overspend when starting an e-commerce store.
Do your own photography
One of the most important aspects of e-commerce is having good product images. Since people can’t pick up and touch the product before buying, you must have great photographs. This can get very expensive since many people will pay a professional product photographer to do the work.
With a decent camera and some editing software, you can do this yourself. The key is to make sure that you are taking many pictures from a lot of different angles to make sure that it is clear what the product is like.
You should also use an online background remover so that you can put a white background in its place. This will help people focus on just the product and not get distracted. However, you should have at least one or two photos with the product being used so a background in those cases is fine.
Do your own fulfillment
One of your biggest ongoing expenses is going to be fulfillment if you are going to hire somebody to do it for you. At a certain point, it’s unavoidable since you won’t be able to do it yourself. However, in the beginning, you should be doing your own packing and shipping.
Many people will start out in a garage or use a storage facility somewhere to use as a warehouse. When orders come in you or a team can then pack the product and send it out with a courier. You may be able to handle a few orders per day doing this. Once you hit a certain volume you will need to outsource it so make sure to research the costs and have a plan for who to use for fulfillment before you hit that point.
Use social media marketing strategies
Marketing is essential to get the word out about your product. There is a lot of competition so you have to make sure you are driving lots of targeted traffic to your site. The most economical way to go about this is to use social media. It is free to use and can be very effective.
Find the platform where your ideal customer is hanging out and make engaging content that resonates with the audience. Then, make sure that you link to your site and send them there to make purchases.
