As reported by Statista, worldwide retail e-commerce sales are estimated to surpass 6.3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, with projections indicating further growth in subsequent years.
It is not surprising that a large number of new entrepreneurs gravitate towards e-commerce.
Opening an online store can offer the freedom and flexibility of being self-employed. It is perceived to be a considerably lower investment compared to brick-and-mortar stores. Creating a website, after all, costs much less than procuring a physical space in a prime location.
However, industry stats paint a starkly different picture. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 10% of all startups fail in the first year. While it can take as little as $100 to start an online store, sustaining and growing it is the real challenge. Without the experience, expertise, or right business tools, running a successful online store is a dream that’s bound to fail.
Even if you have the resources to buy tools that support your online store, the sheer number of available options presents a different challenge. An ideal solution would be an industry expert who can curate a set of cost-effective tools that suit your business’s specific needs and goals. Elevate.store does that for you by giving you access to discounts on business tools and curating them for you depending on where you are in your business journey.
The real cost of running an online store
Setting up, launching, and growing an online store involves various costs that can vary significantly based on your business scale and investment level. Let’s break down the typical expenses associated with different stages of your e-commerce business.
Setup
Setting up your online store involves various components, the most important of which is your brand. Deciding on your brand name will likely be your first step.
Once you’ve decided on a brand name, you then need a logo that your brand can be identified by. While a name for your brand may be easier to think up, logos can be tricky unless you have the skills required. You can always hire someone to design a memorable logo for you or use logo design tools that require no design or technical expertise. You can also invest in an e-commerce design tool that will be useful when you launch your online store. An e-commerce design tool can help you create branding assets, marketing assets, and product mockups for your online store.
With the basics for your brand set up, you need to get yourself some prime real estate on the internet. Just like a physical store on a busy street gets a lot of traffic and visibility, so does an online store with a memorable domain name. As an online store owner, you need to find the perfect domain name for your store. One that is intended for e-commerce, offers an exact match for your brand name, and clearly communicates that you are running an online store.
Finally, you need to incorporate your business and get a business banking account. Both steps will separate your business liabilities and finances from your personal assets. Incorporating your business can be an overwhelming and expensive task without the right help, so consider approaching a business formation service that can help you fill out all incorporation paperwork and manage the process for you end-to-end.
Consider a productivity suite that includes professional email and essential productivity tools. It’ll help you keep all communication about incorporation and banking in the same place. It will also come in handy when building budget spreadsheets or maintaining a daily to-do list.
Launch
Launching your online store comes with the most important expense for an online store, your digital storefront or website. You can build your website from scratch by hiring freelance web developers and website design experts or use a website builder for the job. A website builder is the most cost-effective way to build a website for your online store.
You can also set up shop on an e-commerce marketplace instead of building a website.
Once your website’s in place, you can employ a product photography service to help you get some professional and aesthetically appealing photos and videos of your products. You can also do your product photography at home but without the eye for good photography, you may not be able to capture a very sellable image of your products. Product photos and videos help your customers experience your products before purchase so it is best to get them done professionally if you aren’t confident in your skills as a photographer.
With your products on display and the website up and running, you’ll need a payment gateway to complete the purchasing funnel. And you’re ready to sell!
All you need at this stage is first, an accounting software to help you keep track of incoming and outgoing expenses and make invoicing a breeze. Second, a packaging service to create memorable packaging for your online store, and third, a shipping partner who can guarantee your products are shipped safely, efficiently, and at an affordable price.
Email marketing is a great way to approach a cold customer base in the early stages of your online store, so you can also consider an email marketing tool to automate a crucial marketing channel.
Growth
You’ve launched your online store! But to keep it from becoming yet another statistic, you have to invest a considerable amount of time in marketing, customer relationship management, and optimizing your store and sales tactics as you move forward.
Let’s start with optimizing your store and sales tactics. To keep track of your store’s performance, you will need to invest in an analytics tool that tracks the traffic coming to your online store. You can also get a heat mapping tool to track buyer behavior. By observing where your buyers click or drop off, you can optimize the purchase funnel on your website.
Organic search is a crucial channel for bringing traffic into your store. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a good way to drive organic search traffic to your pages. An SEO tool would be of great help in researching keyword trends and optimizing content on your website.
As your online store grows, you will have to invest money in turning existing customers into brand evangelists. You can do that by setting up a referral program that rewards returning customers for recommending your store to others.
Setting up, launching, and growing an online store is a complex undertaking that demands careful planning and strategic investment. From creating a unique brand identity and securing the right domain to launching your digital storefront and implementing effective marketing strategies, each phase carries its own set of costs and challenges.
However, the potential rewards are substantial. By investing in the right tools, services, and strategies at each stage, you can not only enhance your store’s performance but also build a robust platform that resonates with customers and stands out in the competitive e-commerce landscape. The right business tools, however, can be a significant investment. With the help of platforms like Elevate.store, you can get deals on essential business tools and save money in the long run.
Remember, the success of your online store isn’t solely dependent on the products you offer, but also on how well you manage and grow your online presence. With diligence, creativity, and a focus on continuous improvement, your online store can thrive and achieve long-term success.
Find the right business tools with Elevate.store
Running an online store is all about keeping overhead costs low and maximizing profits through high-quality products, competitive prices, smooth shopping and delivery experience, exceptional customer service, and smart marketing. With all the innovative business tools available for e-commerce now, running an online store can very well be a one-person show.
If you are looking for the right business tools for your online store but find the options overwhelming, or their subscription costs too high, look no further than Elevate.store.
Elevate.store has curated some of the most sought-after business tools at great discounts to make it easier for you to build your online store and run it efficiently.
Here are some of the tools every online store owner needs, and the deal Elevate.store offers on them.
Setup stage
To build your online store: Shopify or Wix
The most popular online store-building application, Shopify, is user-friendly, offers easy integration with almost all other essential tools, and includes inventory management, product cataloging, payment processing, and shipping.
A monthly subscription to website builders like Shopify can cost nearly $37.50. But with Elevate.store, you can find deals like a full month for free or 10% off subscription costs for some of the best website builders around, like Shopify and Wix.
To register your store’s domain name: .store domains
.store is a new top-level domain (nTLD) designed for e-commerce. If the selling is primary goal of your website, there is no other domain that can say it better than a .store domain. Whether on SERP or other communication for marketing, users know that a website on a .store domain is a place to buy from. With Elevate.store, you can register your .store domain for as little as $0.99 a year.
For your business productivity: Google Workspace
Google Workspace brings all of Google’s business tools including customized business email, cloud storage, Google Docs, meeting rooms, and more under one umbrella.
While a regular annual Business Starter Google Workspace subscription costs $72/user/year, with Elevate.store, you can subscribe with 10% off for $65/user/year, and 15% off if you use a .store domain.
For your freelancer needs: Upwork
Upwork helps you find talented individuals in content, design, website or app development, finance and accounting, and more. With Elevate.store, you get 8% off every individual task for which you hire someone on Upwork.
Launch stage
For your packaging needs: Vistaprint
Vistaprint is the most popular app for creating custom products, signage, branded packaging materials such as boxes and labels, and much more. By using Elevate.store’s Vistaprint coupon code, you get $15 off your Vistaprint cart.
For your business finances: Mercury
Mercury is an online-first banking tool for businesses with useful features like virtual and physical debit and credit cards, domestic and international wires, and payment automation. You can open an account on Mercury without any monthly fee and with Elevate.store’s deal, you also get $150 cashback when you open a Mercury business banking account.
For your accounting needs: Quickbooks
Quickbooks is an accounting tool that helps manage your business’ accounting by tracking sales, expenses, and orders from different channels, and providing insights on your business’ profitability. With Elevate.store’s deal, you get 35% off the Simple Start Plan, bringing your annual subscription cost down from $360 to $267.
For shipping management: Easyship
Shipping services like Easyship you to pick from a large network of global couriers, automate shipping rules & customs documentation for international shipping, and more. Get 20% off on the monthly Easyship Plus Plan with Elevate.store’s deal and bring your monthly cost down from $29 to $23.2, and earn $30 in shipping credits.
For email marketing: Mailchimp
Mailchimp is an all-inclusive email marketing automation tool for creating personalized emails and ad campaigns with 100 templates. The Mailchimp Essentials Plan costs $13/month but with Elevate.store you get 30% off and pay only $9/month for the first 3 months.
For customer service management: Livechat
With LiveChat, you can add a live chatbot to your online store and invite people for a chat as they browse to provide the support they need on their user journey. Use Elevate.store’s deal to get a free trial for 30 days and 10% off your first payment.
Growth stage
For marketing and SEO: Semrush
Semrush takes care of all your SEO needs, including keyword research, content marketing, pay-per-click ads, competitor analysis, and website audit. Get a 10-day free Semrush Plus Plan trial and pay $119.95 per month instead of the regular price of $129.95 when you sign up with Elevate.store.
For content creation: Soona, Glorify, and Billo
Graphic designing and photography tools like Soona and Glorify help you showcase your products in a professional and appealing way, while Billo connects you to verified video creators to collaborate on user-generated content for your store’s marketing.
With Elevate.store’s deals, you get $39 off your Soona plan, 50% off on your Glorify Pro Plan which has a regular price of $129/year, and $60 off your Billo plan.
For online payment processing: Stripe
Manage and secure all your online payment needs, such as subscriptions and billing, and automate billing processes using Stripe. With Elevate.store’s deal, you get $20,000 in fee-free card processing credits.
For dropshipping: Spocket
If you are using the dropshipping model to run your online store, use Spocket to find reliable dropshipping suppliers in the U.S. and Europe. Use Elevate.store to get a free 14-day Spocket trial.
For product research: Minea
Improve your product offerings and boost your sales with Minea’s insights into product trends, market dynamics, and competitor activity tracking. Use Elevate.store’s coupon code to get the $49 monthly starter plan for just $39.
What is Elevate.store?
Elevate.store is a platform that helps online sellers get access to the most essential business tools for their online store.
Every tool featured on Elevate.store is selected through thorough research to ensure its suitability for online stores. You can be confident that these tools are available to you at the best possible deals.
Built by the team behind .store domains, Elevate.store is driven by the sole purpose of helping sellers succeed without worrying about the cost and overwhelm of running an online store.
Elevate.store is completely free to use. You don’t need to give your credit card details to access all the deals on Elevate.store. Once you are ready to redeem a deal, you can complete the transaction with your preferred form of payment on the respective tool’s website.
Elevate.store is a zero-profit entity that reinvests all its commissions into improving its offerings and deals. Sign up today and start saving on some of the most sought-after business tools.
Conclusion
In conclusion, finding the right business tools for setting up, launching, and growing an online store is crucial to ensuring success in the competitive world of e-commerce.
Platforms like Elevate.store play an indispensable role in this journey by offering curated, cost-effective tools tailored to meet the specific needs of online entrepreneurs at every stage of their business development. From securing the perfect domain name to optimizing marketing strategies and managing finances, Elevate.store provides access to a wide array of tools that can streamline operations, enhance productivity, and ultimately, drive growth.
By leveraging such resources, entrepreneurs can not only mitigate the inherent risks associated with e-commerce but also position their online stores for sustained success. Elevate.store not only simplifies the process of tool selection but also ensures affordability, making it an essential partner for any aspiring e-commerce business owner.
Start exploring Elevate.store today and take the first step towards building a thriving online store with confidence.
