Opening an online store: where to start?

We wrote this article for those who want to open an online store (E-poe tegemine) to sell goods or services, but do not know how to do it and where to start, as well as what pitfalls await a novice entrepreneur along the way.

Online shopping is not a business yet

If you want to open an online store, first of all, you need to resolve legal issues, select products for sale, find suppliers, and also think about how the goods will be delivered to customers. The solution of these and other issues to the greatest extent determines the success of the business.

As for the online store, you can imagine it in the form of an electronic catalog of goods, the main purpose of which is to provide information about goods to potential buyers, as well as to place orders. However, let's talk about everything in order.

Solving legal issues

In order for the online store to start functioning and make a profit on a legal basis, you will need the help of narrow specialists. Indeed, in addition to developing a commercial platform, a trading company should be registered as a legal entity, or registered as an entrepreneur without forming a legal entity.

For your business to be legal, you need to register a trading company as a legal entity, or register as an entrepreneur without forming a legal entity

Although you can draw up all the documents yourself, it is better to turn to specialists to register a legal entity or an entrepreneur without forming a legal entity. With Internet search engines, you can find many companies that specialize in business registration.

As a rule, registration of an enterprise does not cause any particular difficulties and is inexpensive. You inform the lawyers in any form what you are going to sell, and how, how you want to resolve issues with the office, how you will accept money (cash, non-cash payments). Lawyers will prepare the Charter of the company and other documents, taking into account the proposed activities, will advise you on all the main issues of registration of the company.

When registering, you will be asked to choose a bank for opening an enterprise account and a tax office. The tax office is selected on a territorial basis, you can choose any bank.

Please note that some banks provide convenient means of making payments via the Internet, which do not require the installation of specialized software on the chief accountant's computer. It will be easier for you to work with such banks.

Accounting support

One of the most important moments when creating an enterprise is the organization of accounting. The head of an enterprise can perform the functions of a chief accountant part-time, if he has the necessary knowledge, or hire a chief accountant

However, there is another possibility - to attract a company that provides professional accounting support to other companies for the preparation of accounting documents.

This solution can be attractive to a start-up company for a number of reasons.

First of all, the accounting support from the company is reliable, since Your business will be handled by a team of specialists, not just one person. In addition, the costs of such support will be lower than the costs of the salary of the chief accountant.

Receiving money from buyers

Another very important point is accepting money from customers. To accept cash from customers, you must have a certified cash register registered with the tax office. This cash register must be in the office for which you have a lease. You can learn more about this from lawyers.

In addition, at the end of the day, cash must remain in cash in an amount less than a certain limit set by the bank. This means that with intensive work, the proceeds will have to be taken to the bank very often, perhaps every day.

The easiest way is to accept money from customers by bank transfer, using plastic cards or electronic money. In this case, money from buyers will go directly to the current account of the trading company, there is no need to purchase a cash register and take cash to the bank. However, it should be noted that it is more convenient for some buyers to pay in cash.

As for the salaries of their employees, it is more convenient to transfer them through the bank to employees' plastic cards.

Where to get a product for sale through an online store?

You will need to resolve this issue yourself. You can search for suppliers of goods via the Internet (for example, on forums and websites) or using your connections and acquaintances.

When choosing a product, consider its seasonality. For example, warm clothes will not be bought in summer, and summer clothes will not be in great demand in winter.

The most successful online stores are those that offer a unique product at a good price, or contain extensive product catalogs, while offering low prices. The catalog of an online store can contain thousands and tens of thousands of product names, and the broader the catalog, the better the trade will be.

Using the Yandex.Direct service, you can find out how many Internet visitors are interested in a particular product, as well as how many sites contain information about this or that product. These statistics will help you choose a product to sell online.

Delivery of goods to buyers

It will not be an exaggeration to say that the success of the entire enterprise depends on how clearly the delivery service in the online store will work. If the goods are not delivered on time, your trading company's reputation will suffer

I want to create an online store Depending on the type of product and the region of delivery, you can choose different delivery methods.

If the weight and dimensions of the goods are small, and the delivery region is limited to one city, you can use courier delivery. In this case, you will have to pay the courier the cost of travel in public transport.

If the weight or dimensions of the goods do not allow using public transport, you can hire a courier with a car. Please note that on weekdays in a big city, it can take a lot of time (and gasoline) to deliver goods by road.

In the case when the goods must be delivered to various cities and regions of the country, you can use the services of various transport companies. The tariffs of transport companies take into account weight, dimensions and delivery region.

On the Internet, you can find information about transport companies that deliver goods outside your country.

Transport companies usually not only deliver the goods, but also transfer the money paid for the goods to the account of the trading company, and also provide all the necessary accompanying documents.