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THE COMPLETE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO E-COMMERCE

The Internet has truly changed the modern world.

It has changed the way we interact with each other, the way we use information, and even the way we conduct business.

Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, more and more people decide to create their own online store. And it's very easy to understand why.

With low barriers to entry, global transactions totaling over $1.2 trillion in 2013, and double-digit growth forecasts, the potential is truly terrifying.

In the past, if you wanted to open a store, your customer base was limited to those within a certain radius of your store. Nowadays, you can open your doors much wider, nationally and even internationally.

The goal of this ecommerce guide for beginners is to teach you all the essential elements for starting and running an ecommerce business.
WHAT IS AN E-COMMERCE STORE?

Let's start with the basics, shall we?

Electronic commerce – short for e-commerce – is simply a way for people to purchase products or services over the Internet through a website. Or, to put it simply, e-commerce is an online store.

Many large online retailers, including Amazon, ASOS, and Overstock, fall under the e-commerce umbrella, and many companies with an offline presence also have an e-commerce arm, such as Walmart, Ikea, and American Apparel.
If you've ever purchased anything online, you'll know how e-commerce works from a consumer perspective. The goal of today's guide is to introduce e-commerce from a business perspective.

WHO CAN OPEN AN E-COMMERCE STORE?
In a word: anyone.

GETTING STARTED WITH E-COMMERCE

At its core, e-commerce is a commercial activity.

The business principles necessary for running an offline business still apply to running an online business, although the challenges you'll face will be different.

With that in mind, the outline of an ecommerce business model is very similar: you need products to sell, a place to sell them, and a marketing strategy to attract customers. In e-commerce stores, you will also need a strategy for the actual delivery of the products you sell, since the customer cannot take them off the shelf.

Let's look at each of these concepts and compare how they differ from your approach to offline commerce.
A PRODUCT FOR SALE
First, your ecommerce store will need the product(s) you will sell. This can be done indoors or outdoors.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
If you're new to web development, building a website from scratch may seem like a daunting task.

The good news is that you don't need any programming knowledge to create a website: you can use something called a content management system (CMS).

It essentially provides a framework for your website and allows you to add and edit pages to your website with just one click – perfect if you want to add and organize a range of products.

There are a number of CMS available, but it can become overwhelming for beginners. For simplicity, I will limit myself to comparing two of the most commonly used CMS, WordPress and Shopify.

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