How to launch your online store fast in Nigeria- The 2023 Guide

Today, many business owners take their store online because they want everything they sell or produce visible to everyone who doesn’t know about their store.

The truth is that it isn’t just about putting your stores online but making great sales, and for that to happen, there are strategies you need to plan and put into action.
Firstly I would be highlighting the advantages of putting your store online.

Advantages of putting your store online.

1. Increase in Sales.

If your store is online, your sales will increase rapidly because your store would be open to more people, and it would be more compelling to them to see how your products are displayed.
Some companies that deal in the production and sales of goods and services now operate both online and offline, which has helped increase their sales.

Let’s assume your website is optimized for a particular keyword like “dogs for sale.” We know the number of people looking for means to purchase a dog, and when they check on Google, your website shows first, then they click and navigate through your site finding the type of dog they want, then they place an order for it.
That’s indeed a bonus for your website because you would be making thousands of sales daily.

2. Brand Popularity

If you are chanced, or you booked an appointment with a brand influencer, most of them ask first how many people know about your business because they want to get every detailed information about your business so that they can learn how to guide you through the steps.

When your store has a professional and beautiful shopping website to showcase all the goods and services you provide, it makes your brand popular.
This has a significant advantage because when people know about your brand, they will always recommend it to other people.

3. Fast Payment.

Having an online store makes it very easy for your customers to order a particular product on your website and instantly make payment via different payment gateways.
Cashless transaction is safer than accepting cash because it avoids any kind of fraudulent or theft activities.
Once a customer orders goods and makes a payment, it goes directly to your bank account; this saves the stress of depositing money in the bank.

4. Easy accessibility.

Your customers can easily have access to all your products, which makes them happier because they can easily choose anything products they desire.
Another thing is that instead of navigating through your online store, they can easily make use of the search page to locate whatever they are looking for on the website.

5. Advertisement opportunities.

This makes it easier for you to run advertisements on any platform because anyone who clicks your advertisement would be redirected to your website, making it easier for the visitors to check for more products on your website.
You wouldn’t think of hiring a web designer to design a landing page to redirect visitors whenever you advertise.

Affiliate Program Implementation.

It is straightforward to implement an affiliate program on your online store such that your customers could be given opportunities to promote your products while they earn commissions from it.

Mistakes you should avoid when launching an online store.

a. Use a Custom CMS for your store.

Nowadays, people now use simpler content management systems like WordPress and Joomla to launch their online stores.
Although this Content management system is okay to use, they aren’t like 100 percent secure as we think. Even though some security plugins can be used, this doesn’t guarantee 100 percent safety.
Instead, hire a web developer to code your online store from scratch with a more secured programming language that would be free from any vulnerability or attack.

b. Speed optimization and beautiful store layouts.

Your online store should load very fast because this would make it easier for your customers to view displayed products on your website with ease.
A slow online store discourages visitors from visiting the website and might increase the website bounce rate, which is unsafe.
Your website layouts should be gorgeous with good navigations; this would make your visitors happy with your online store’s UI/UX designs.

c. Do not ignore SEO.

Some website owners today ignore the search engine optimization of their websites because they don’t know much about it, and they don’t realize its importance.
There are hundreds of online stores on the internet, and you can’t expect all to show on the first page of search engines because the search engines display websites that are more optimized on the first page of search results.
Hire an SEO expert to work on both the On-page SEO and Off-page SEO of your website.
This would help increase your store visibility on different search engines.

d. Hire some reliable online store managers.

Running an online store is not an easy task because some work needs to be done to keep the store running.
It’s essential to employ some reliable staff who will upload products, confirm orders, etc.
When each staff member is performing their different tasks, the online store would be running smoothly.

e. Partner with a reliable logistic company.

This is very important, especially when your online store is still new because most challenges have always been delivered.
You should partner with a logistic company who will deliver products to different Customers.

Conclusion.

Launching an online store requires effort and planning, but by following these steps , you can grow your business and reach new customers.

Within 1 to 2 years of running an online store, you should be happy and enjoy the store’s profits.