The idea of selling online with your own store is so appetizing. After all, you’re now opening up your business for an entire country or the entire world, depending on what you want.

But just like that dog in the window, there’s a lot more to running an online store than what meets the eye. And those deceptive challenges can be very difficult to deal with. And if you’re not prepared, it could severely damage or destroy you business.

So before you do any work on creating and building an ecommerce story, like hiring a developer, designing a site, etc., you need to actually sit down and think through whether or not an online store is good for you business.

Here are some questions to ask of yourself and your business before deciding whether or not to sell online.

Will the online store add to your business?

The first thing you need to ask yourself is if this online store will add to your business. That’s usually the top priority for any business. What value does it add?

And sometimes the answer to that question isn’t so clear. While it might seem obvious that adding an online store will only help , it might not be that way in practice.

After all, you have to fulfill orders and handle customers that are hundreds or thousands of miles away. And then, if you’re in the United States, there are taxes for each state that you have to worry about. Then you have to worry about the shipping and figuring out how to fix things if it all goes wrong.

All of that takes time away from you for your business. And if you’re trying to build a strong foundation for your business, maybe it’s best to focus on that foundation first before adding an online store. But do what’s right for your business.

Do you have a plan in place?

Next, you need to have a plan in place. Acting without a plan is planning to fail. And failure means catastrophic results for any business.

So, do you have a plan in place? Do you know who is going to monitor the website to make sure it’s working and that customers can find what ? Do you know who is going to get the notifications so that you can start the process of fulfilling the order? And just how is everything going to work together to make everything work?

All of these questions, and more, have to be answered before you start building out the online store. Trust me, you’ll feel a lot better about the whole thing if you have those questions answered before you start. You’ll know exactly what you and your team are doing, why your doing it and possibly even how it will help your business.

And that confidence will make everything work like you want it to.

Can you support all parts of the process?

Finally, are you able to support all of the parts of the process involved in selling online?

I’m not just talking about creating or maintaining the website side of things. I’m talking about the taxes that might be involved with selling over state lines. I’m talking about having a process to fulfill an order for a happy customer. And I’m talking about how are you going to ship products and what are you going to do if something goes wrong.

All of those items are things you might not be thinking about right now about your online site. But they are still oh so very important things. Arguably, they are more important than any other part of your online store. Because these involve things that keep customers happy. If a customer can’t access the store, that’s one thing; but creating an unhappy customer because you can’t help out with an order is a completely different thing.

You have to make sure that you and/or your team can do this and have procedures in place for just about every scenario that could happen. If you can’t support it, don’t do it.

Getting Started with an Online Store

If you’re ready to start building your online store for your business and want expert help along the way, I would love to help you out. You can check out the Online Store Starter Kit where you can get a brand new online store built using the power of WordPress and WooCommerce and all the add ons you want for a price that will easily fit in your budget. It’s the best way to give your business an online store today!

​Check Out the Online Store Starter Kit​

Related Resources to Checkout

• ​What is Ecommerce Playlist - Take a deeper dive into the world of ecommerce with this playlist of videos I've created that cover everything from creating a plan for your online store to building and managing it.
• ​What you need for a successful ecommerce website - So you want to create an online store. And that’s great! But first there are a few things you need to know about beforehand so that you can create the perfect ecommerce website.
• ​Making sure your ecommerce website is accessible - If your online store isn’t accessible (or if you don’t know if it is), you’re doing a disservice to your customers. Your website should be usable by everyone know matter what technology they use.
• ​What you need to know before creating an ecommerce website - It might seem easy to create an ecommerce store. After all, the ads you see say it is. But like an iceberg in the sea, there’s more to it than what initially meets the eye.

Things You Might Have Missed

• ​My Top Ecommerce Tools for 2024 (Practical Ecommerce) - There are a lot of tools out there for ecommerce and building and managing your online store. Practical Ecommerce takes a look at some of their recommended tools that might be able to help you out.
• ​New GA4 Shopper Journey Reports Are Powerful (Practical Ecommerce) - GA4 is still pretty polarizing with users. But Practical Ecommerce takes a look at the new shopper journey reports and how you can use them to see what's happening with your online store.
• ​12 Tips for Great Ecommerce Website Design (WooCommerce) - If you're creating your own online store through the WordPress site editor or other site building tools, you need to know that your web design is crucial. WooCommerce walks you through 12 steps to make sure your store has the perfect design.
• ​How Traffic Sources Impact Online Sales (Practical Ecommerce) - Did you know that where people come to your online store from has an impact on your sales? Practical Ecommerce shows you how this happens and what you can do about it.