You have a passion for beauty. Ever since you were a little girl you’ve loved playing in your mother’s makeup, and once you were able to wear makeup, your passion only intensified. So now, you’re considering whether or not you should turn your passion for beauty into your very own online store… but you have doubt.
You have all kinds of questions running through your mind like “is it a viable business idea?” “will people buy my products?” Well, you will never know the answers to those question until you take that leap of faith and take on a new business endeavor. Now, starting an e-commerce business can seem a little daunting at first but if you look at how shopping has changed over the decades, you’ll start to see that e-commerce stores are actually very lucrative business ventures.
Just look at all the things you can buy online:
Food
Clothes
Furniture
Cars
Appliances
The world of e-commerce is making shopping so easy that you don’t even have to leave your home anymore to shop… people can have exactly what they want with just a tap, click, swipe. That alone should make you feel pretty good about opening an online beauty store… the stats are out there to show just how lucrative the beauty industry is. Did you know that Allied Market Research projects the beauty industry to reach $430 billion by the year 2022? If these beauty industry statistics don’t make you want to open shop, what will?!
Now, even with that amazing projection in mind, there are some things you need to know before you jump in the e-commerce sea without a life jacket. If you have the ideas, the passion, and the drive for beauty, then you can definitely start your own online beauty boutique… you just need a few pointers on where to start and what to do. Read on to find out more.
Establish Your Brand
When starting an e-commerce business of any sort, brand recognition is key. To go along with brand recognition, you also want to make sure you have a strong image. Remember, the goal is to have your brand work for you, not against you. With your business being in the beauty industry, you want to make sure your brand is a direct reflection of what you’re selling.
Failing to properly establish a brand is where a lot of new entrepreneurs go wrong and the area that they go wrong in, is in the beginning stage… the choosing of their domain name. Picking the wrong domain name is setting your business up for failure before you can even get started!
When you are picking your domain name, you need to be mindful of the actual name you choose and its relevance to the products your selling. If you’re selling lipsticks and lip glosses on your site, then a domain name like “kissableshades.com,” for example, would be great for your website… it lets potential customers know or at least have an idea that the site has something to do with lips and shades of lip colors!
Figure Out If You Want to Sell or Resell
Deciding whether or not to sell your own products or resell established brands is one of the first things you need to figure out. Do you want your site to be THE place for beauty fanatics to buy top-selling brands or do you want to promote your own products as the hottest thing on the market?
You can do either and still be very successful BUT when you sell your own beauty products, there are some hoops you will have to jump through. You have to create and develop your own formulas, so that will require you to get help from a cosmetic chemist. You will also need to make sure you comply with the FDA rules and regulations, plus, make sure you have the right permits to conduct business in your area.
It’s definitely a lot to take on when you are selling your own products but it is very doable… how do you think some of the top-selling brands got their start? They had to start somewhere, right? You can do the same.
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Determine Your Niche Market
Lots of e-commerce business owners try to sell a little bit of something for everybody… that’s fine but there’s also nothing wrong with focusing on selling to a particular market too! Think about who will be buying your products. Will it be a working mom? Professional makeup artists? Or maybe fashion divas who are on a budget?
You need to figure out who your ideal customers will be and market to them. These days, one of the popular aspects of beauty that is becoming more and more popular is beauty products with natural and organic ingredients. Whether you have your own products or are selling established brands, you can market to customers who buy these types of beauty products.
To further entice customers, you can reel them in even more by using promo codes as a marketing strategy. If you think about it, who doesn’t love a deal? Everyone does! Using promo codes for your business allows your site to attract more traffic, it brings more awareness to your brand (that you worked so hard to create), and it’s a huge influence on what the customer buys. So, if you do decide to utilize the perks of promo codes, it will serve you well.
Think About Offering Subscription Boxes
Subscription boxes are a trend that’s becoming popular by the second. For all the lovers of beauty, subscribing to a beauty brand is a dream. It allows the customers to build a collection of the products they love and also see new products that have come out as well.
So, subscription boxes will not only be beneficial to your customers but it will also be beneficial to you as well. Why? Because it will secure a source of steady income for your business! With customers subscribing to the collection of products for months at a time, the revenue will be racking up for your business.
