If you’re thinking of starting a business, you’ve certainly realized how much trouble it can take. Now, if your idea is to have an online business, that can be even more difficult. It all depends on your planning before you create an e-commerce.

The online world has opened up countless market possibilities for all sectors. You can sell whatever you want from inside your home. Create, advertise, offer and sell. Be it a product or service. The success of your business may not be linked to what you will sell, but in how you will sell. Having a plan is a guarantee that you will have a better chance of working.

To not have surprises during the first months of your e-commerce, you need to develop a strategic planning over your business objective. The strategic planning is totally linked to the main goal that you have with your e-commerce: where do you want your e-commerce to be?

It is from this answer that your strategic planning must be developed. It will be small points that will lead you to your final goal. All these points need to be aligned with your long-term goal.

Planning steps for ecommerce

The stages of planning an ecommerce are divided between: objectives, target audience, company organization and schedules. To start with, you should study your product, do a general search of your potential competitors and how they are being seen by the public.

Do a supplier survey

It is recommended to make a list of possible suppliers, production time and how this product will reach you. This question is indispensable in strategic planning for e-commerce. You need to be aware of how long it takes for the product to reach you and still, to be delivered to your customer. These are important settings for inventory control, delivery time, and shipping.

Study your target audience

Then you must study your audience and how it behaves on the Internet. In marketing, your audience becomes a persona. You need to define the type of persona that would use your product or service: man and/or woman, age, lifestyle, what you usually see, what you usually buy, among other definitions.

This type of information is useful for you to carry out campaigns and promotions. Understanding the characteristics of your persona will help you in all activities of your business.

Organize the structure of your business

You also need to plan the organizational structure of your company, even if you are working alone. Design a simple planning for each sector (production, inventory, control and finance). See what you will need for each area.

Need a spreadsheet to control production? Do it. Need an initial value to start? Study the possibilities. You don’t think you can handle the financial side? Find a friend who can help you with that. There are little details that need to be worked out so things don’t get out of hand.

Marketing planning for ecommerce

Now, develop a planning focused on the digital marketing of ecommerce. This planning is nothing more than the path you should follow, based on the studies you have done previously about your persona. This document should establish strategies to be adopted in social networks, such as attracting visitors, generating relationship and value for customers.

Have a schedule of activities

Finally, you need to create a schedule of actions for your company: when and how the launch, campaigns and strategies will be. In addition, you must set goals for the first days, first month, six months, a year and so on. Having goals is what makes you not give up and keep going with all the strategic planning.

With all the stages of this planning in hand: it’s time to start! Remember, along with you there are so many other people starting an e-commerce, but few of them will make a planning that makes the journey easier.