Anna Maria Richards
Running an online store requires entrepreneurial know-how and quite often you will need to become an all-rounder in several aspects of business.
The 4 Ps of marketing, PEST and SWOT analysis theories are useful and can help you to organise marketing promotions, pricing strategies, and remain competitive while discovering ways to reduce costs without affecting the efficiency of your online store. Cost reductions will help your online business create reasonable profit margins while offering competitive prices—you can look up the ‘value chain’ theory to understand how to cut costs in order to add value for your site visitors.
Below we discuss 5 ways you can save money while running an online store…
1. Use an eComm website builder
Using an eCommerce website builder is the most practical way to start an online store. You have zero coding to do and an all-in-one solution for your domain name, HTTPS SSL security certificate, and hosting. You also have access to built-in tools especially useful for eComm stores and new websites. Now the key advantages to using an eComm website builder is that you have a 24/7 support team behind you, which is the same as having a web designer on retainer, on call, or for maintenance. Plus, your website will stay mobile friendly and up to date with the latest tech changes.
2. Make use of online tools
One of the advantages of using website builders is that you should also have a flurry of business tools available to you. For example, if you look at Wix tools, you will see that there are options including a logo maker, video maker, business name generator, pay stub generator, QR code generators (created for marketing or sending people to your store), invoice generators, and more. You are only paying a small monthly fee for tech support, and you get a website that is continuously upgraded, plus all these online tools to use, and your business is already saving time and money—something that can then help you add value for your customers!
3. Use free web analytics
There are so many web analytic tools out there and while they make analytics simple, learning to use free analytic tools will help you save costs in the long run. Google Analytics is the king of free web analytics and it is perfect if you have a small online store with less than 10,000 visitors per month. To get acquainted with Google analytics, you can take the free Google course and certification which will help you master how to set up goals, acquisitions, spot product or content errors where bounce rates are high, and you will also see where your traffic and resulting sales are coming from, be it social media, organic searches, paid ads, or referrals.
4. Use dropshipping services where possible
Dropshipping is ingenious. We are not sure who exactly invented it or first introduced the concept, but the whole idea of not keeping stock yourself while still being able to sell a product at a price that you set is a brilliant one to say the least. In effect, you advertise a product for sale on your website and put a price on it. Next, a customer orders the product. From here, your dropshipping plugin or add-on tool will order the item from the warehouse where the product is stored and arrange delivery to the customer’s given delivery address. In short, you do nothing but place the item for sale on your website!
It is essentially free profit when someone makes an order, and it costs you nothing to have the item on your site except a small amount of time writing the product description, adding an image, and setting a fair price.
5. Try new marketing channels
This may sound expensive, but here is the thing. If you are spending on advertising, let’s say Facebook ads or Google Ads, and ROI is low, you can try reducing your ad spend to see if it makes a difference. With the savings you can try Pinterest or Instagram ads, for example. Now if you are not making any ROI but just persevering with any paid ad campaign, then stop! Move onto a new channel and test it. Why waste money on something that isn’t working when you haven’t tried all the options available?
Saving Money Helps Your Online Store Become More Competitive
In the end, the more costs you can cut, the more value you can add for your customers. That is the whole exercise here. If you can use those costs to offer free shipping, add a loyalty points program to your website, or pay for a professional writer to circulate a useful and industry specific weekly newsletter, then your investment could result in a higher number of sales which invariably gives you a higher profit and more opportunity to use a percentage of those profits to add further value.
The cycle then continues increasing sales and profits while adding more value, and eventually your online store becomes the go-to place for the niche it operates. If you found this interesting, then check out a few business growth hacks to further expand your online store’s potential.
