How to Start a Retail Website
Starting a retail website can be a profitable way to make money, whether you plan to run the website as a full-time job or in your spare time to make a little bit of money on the side. Although creating a successful retail website takes a lot of time and energy, it requires less startup capital than a brick-and-mortar store, which needs money for rent, supplies and a larger stock of products.
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Instructions
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Know that you still have to follow the laws for the location you are based in, even if you are operating online. You will only need a license from the United States federal government if you are selling items like guns, alcohol, tobacco or meat, but you will need to check what licenses are required locally. You will also need a federal tax indentification number, a state tax number in some states, a seller's permit if you want to buy goods wholesale without paying taxes and a home occupation permit if you are working out of your home.
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Register a domain name through a site like Register.com or GoDaddy.com. For just a few dollars a year, you will have a website address that you can easily direct potential customers to and a professional email address to go along with it. Having your own website address will be helpful even if you have it forward visitors to website hosted by a larger merchandising group.
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Build your website. You may choose to build your website yourself, if you have the necessary knowledge and skills or a willingness to learn, but you might also choose the hire a web designer or company to build a website for you. If you are launching a large enough website, you could consider even bringing in someone to work full time on the technical side of the business. If you are interested in something simpler, you might launch your business, at least at first, through a site like Ebay or Amazon, where sellers can start their own stores and tap into a large base of buyers.
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Add payment options. If you are not selling through a larger company, you will need to arrange your own ways to collect money. Although you will forfeit a small portion of your profit, many users will be more likely to purchase goods from your website if they pay through a well known third party service like Paypal or Google Checkout rather than provide their credit card information directly to you. You can also accept payment by mail.
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Market. Add your website to search engines and directories, send out emails to your friends and press releases to news organizations and purchase ad space on other websites. Designing your website for search engine optimization will also be important for bringing visitor to your site.
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Tips & Warnings
If you would like an easier way to start a website to sell retail goods, consider sites like Lulu.com and Cafepress.com, which print books, clothes and other goods, designed by sellers, on demand when buyers purchase them. They take a significant cut of the profit but let sellers set the price to determine how much they will earn.
