How to start your own online store

Starting an online store is the most prominent platform to sell goods to a large audience. But at the same time, it is also an extremely time-consuming and challenging process. You need to know many things before you can start receiving your first orders. Therefore, you must familiarize yourself thoroughly with how to create an online store before you start.

In this article, we will guide you through the necessary steps to be familiar with when starting an online store and describe the different solutions you can use to make the process as easy as possible.

1. Write a business plan

With a well-prepared business plan, the probability that you will achieve success with your online store increases because you describe and align your expectations, goals, and ambitions. A completed business plan, where most things have been considered, makes you a much more attractive business partner for possible suppliers and investors.

In other words, your business plan serves as the foundation for your online store, and it should include:

• Your idea for the online store – define what exactly you want to achieve with your online store.

• Who your target audience is – describe and concretize your target audience as much as possible. Here, it is obvious to create several different personas, where you go in-depth with what the typical buyer in your target group looks like concerning, for example, age, gender, children, geography, income, social group, hobbies, work, use of social media, consumer behavior, etc.

• Potential business partners – think about which partners would make sense to work with.

• Competitor analysis – list the competitors in the market who sell the same products as you. If you have many competitors, your online store must manage to stand out from the crowd.

• Market analysis – find out if there is demand for your products. In this way, you increase the chances of many visitors to your website.

• Budget – make a plan of expected income and expenses to show that it will work together.

2. Become VAT registered and create a CVR number

If you expect to have a turnover of more than DKK 50,000 per year, you must register for VAT. You do this by creating a CVR number on virk.dk.

In this connection, you must also choose the type of company you want to create. Should it be an ApS, an A/S, or a private sole proprietorship?

If you doubt this, our partner at navigator, Legal Desk, can help you easily and quickly set up your company and get a CVR number.

3. Name the online store

It would help if you found a name for your company that clearly connects with the products you sell on your online store. Your customers must be able to identify what you sell based on your name. In addition to the name having to be based on what you sell, it must also be possible to create an excellent brand based on it.

Remember that the online store name should preferably be the same as the domain name your customers need to enter to visit your online store. Therefore, you must check that the domain name is available before deciding on a name for your online store.

4. Choose a eCommerce platform

Once you've chosen the right name for your online store, it's time to consider which technical solution you want to use to build it. There are many different eCommerce providers to choose from – everything from solutions that do not require a lot of technical knowledge but are relatively locked in their structure (closed source/hosted solutions) to solutions that are complex and require excellent technical skills but which on the other hand, are very flexible (open source systems).

If you are responsible for setting up your online store yourself and need more experience in coding, we recommend that you choose a hosted platform where a large part of the basic structure is in place from the start.

On navigator, you can access Denmark's largest provider of hosted eCommerce building platforms, DanDomain. Here, you get an innovative, user-friendly, and feature-rich eCommerce system that makes it easy to start your online store.

5. Set up a payment solution

On your online store, your customers must be able to buy and pay for your products or services. Therefore, you must set up a payment solution on your online store that gives your customers different payment options – Visa/Dankort, Mastercard, and MobilePay.

There are many payment solutions, and finding your way around the many different providers may feel like a jungle. In addition, prices can fluctuate a lot from provider to provider, so it is a good idea to compare the systems before deciding which solution you want to use.

Here on the platform, we have gathered a number of the most well-known payment solutions – AjourPay, OnPay, Vibrant, Swedbank Pay, and Swiipe. If you create a profile for kompasbank navigator, you can get good discounts from several partners. At Swedbank Pay, your company can also set up a redemption agreement, which is necessary to receive the money your customers pay.

Create a free profile for kompasbank navigator here.

6. Get a accounting system

A lot of administrative work is involved when you start an online store. You have to take orders, send bills and invoices, pay your suppliers, deal with VAT, etc.

For most people, it is a highly time-consuming process to post and invoice manually, so we recommend that you get an accounting system. In addition to giving you more time for things that create value for your business' progress, implementing an accounting system will typically also mean that your accounts are more up-to-date than if you had to handle them manually.

Right now, you can get remarkable offers on the two largest Danish accounting systems, Dinero and e-conomic, if you have created a user for kompasbank navigator.

If you want to make the bookkeeping process even easier for yourself, you should contact Storebuddy. Their solution gathers the information from your online store, payment gateway, card acquirers, and accounting program so that you can easily follow every single order from the time it is ordered until it is posted correctly.

7. Manage your shipping options

If you sell a physical product on your online store, it is your job to send the goods to your customers. Therefore, you must have an agreement with one or more shipping companies so that the customers can receive their orders.

Denmark's most used freight companies are PostNord, Bring, DAO, DHL, and GLS. For many customers, the shipping options on your online store are a decisive parameter for whether they want to shop with you or not. Therefore, you must offer different and flexible solutions so that customers feel that they can act on their own terms in relation to what fits best into their everyday lives.

In addition, it is also essential to get a handle on the general terms and conditions such as return of goods, right of withdrawal, data processing, etc. For most people, it can take some work to familiarize themselves with the various conditions and rules, so getting legal advice from a actorsuch as Legal Desk is an advantage.

8. Warehouse management

You must have storage space for the goods that you sell on your online store. How many items you need to stock depends mainly on how much demand you think there will be.

There are three main ways to manage your inventory:

• Own warehouse: The cheapest solution is to store the goods at your place – it is only limited by your space and how quickly the goods can be packed.

• Storage hotel: If you experience a significant increase in sales on your online store, moving your goods to a storage hotel (pick & pack warehouse) can often be a good idea. Here, all tasks are outsourced to an external partner, as they receive the products from your suppliers, handle the shipments to your customers, take care of warehouse management, etc. A storage hotel increases your expenses, but it can be a good solution as it gives you time for other tasks.

• Dropshipping: With dropshipping, you continuously forward your orders to the supplier, who then delivers them in your name. This means you can buy a few products that might not be sold. This is an optimal solution if you need more funds to purchase large quantities from your supplier.

If you want to integrate a digital tool that gives you a complete overview of your warehouse and where you can easily handle all stages of your supply chain, from purchasing from suppliers to shipping and invoicing your customers – all on the same platform – you can contact Rackbeat, which offers an efficient warehouse management system that gives you many great internal benefits:

• Fewer human errors (typing and calculation errors)

• Better supplier relations

• Less stock binding

• Avoid paying for items you've never received

• Instant overview of the total value of inventory

9. Digital marketing

To succeed with your new online store, people must know it exists. Therefore, you must have initiated various marketing initiatives to make your online store more visible.

Regardless of which digital marketing activities you intend to initiate, you will quickly find that achieving results requires a lot of time and knowledge. Therefore, it often makes more sense for many small and medium-sized enterprises to get assistance from a digital marketing agency.

At kompasbank navigator, the web and marketing agency Aveo can help you with everything from sparring and prioritizing your marketing efforts to setting up and optimizing your campaigns.

If you want to become more clever about which disciplines to focus on and strengthen your company's digital presence, you can read our guide to digital marketing.