Hi all,
I am finally taking steps to get out of my 9-5 and looking to launch a product online. I have done a lot of research and found a unique product that is tailored to the industry where I am currently working in, so I believe i have an edge in that regard with minimal competition.
So far the steps I have taken / will take are below, what are your thoughts? I am looking for some advice since i have ZERO experience and will probably stuff up a lot, but more than happy to learn and see what things I have missed out on, thanks!
- Ordered samples, will analyze the quality/durability
- Setting up a modern website
- Needing to film/photograph high quality content for both my website and media channels
- A lot of marketing, whether its TikTok ads, influencer marketing (which I think i will put most of my time into, Instagram/Facebook ads etc… anything else I should consider for marketing)
- Once all of the above is good to go, pending my samples are up to par, I will to a medium size order (money I am willing to lose) to ensure inventory
- Continue marketing, see how I can optimize sales (any advice)
Let me know your thoughts, I know there is A LOT of work in the above but is there any key items I’ve missed / should consider? Thanks in advanced
First of all, I’m happy to see you’ve done your research and are not just looking to dropship a dog toy like 1000s of others. A few extra notes for ya:
Don’t just go for a modern website, go for a well designed, intuitive, well brander website. Think about what you want your brand to feel and look like, focus on color schemes and simple maneuverability.
More emphasis on branding - it’s everything. It’s what will make you stand out from all the endless Shopify base template dropshipping stores. Really think about your target audience and what they want to see. They should be able to look at your logo or your site for one second and feel right about it, since most people won’t give your site more than a second these days. You can run your finished site by subs like r/ecommerce to get more opinions on it, a lot of people do and if I see you there I’ll take a look as well.
Already mentioned by someone else, but another often overlooked aspect of eCommerce - the product photo. Your product photo is the first impression the customer will have of your product, and you really want to nail that first impression, if they see some random supplier provided image - high chance they will click off. You already ordered samples of your product, so you can take high quality images yourself. Since you’re starting out, you might not have an actual product photography set, there’s services out there that can make due without one these days, I use Claid.ai myself, even though I mostly use it for image quality automation the Photoshoot feature is alright as well last I tried it.
Last but not least, just have fun with it man. Too many people get into eCom just to get rich quick and let me tell ya, it ain’t happening. eCommerce is a full time job like any other and you most likely will fail many times before you succeed, so just learn to enjoy the failures and learn from them. You will be able to tell soon enough if this is for you or not.
If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them my way, otherwise, I wish you best of luck on your ventures.
Thanks for the tips man, I really do appreciate this long response.
Any websites that you can link to me that you believe are classic examples of a “great” website?
Also claid.ai looks amazing! I knew coming to this subreddit would help me find something awesome!
Do you mind if I dm you? I would love to connect