So you’re ready to start your very own E-commerce store. We can’t blame you. Browsing through sites like robots.net , you’ll discover the many ways to automate businesses. Would it be great to be able to sell products without lifting a finger?

Going into E-commerce is inevitable. It’s more advantageous to market your products online than to sell them offline. A lot of brick-and-mortar stores are switching to eCommerce to strengthen their brand.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create your own, fully automated, E-commerce store. You’ll learn how to sell products by using chatbots, social media, and many other platforms. So be sure to take down important notes.

Choosing your product niche

First off, you may want to think about what product/service you’re going to market first. You also want to decide on how you’re going to market them. There are a lot of online marketing strategies you can pattern your store into. Your E-commerce store should be built and optimized based on what type of products you are going to sell.

Choose an E-commerce platform

Now it’s time to select the most critical part of an automated E-commerce store. You guessed it, an actual E-commerce website builder . An E-commerce website builder is where you’ll spend your time to develop a store. So be sure to pick the one you’re most comfortable with.

E-commerce platforms are services where you can build your very own online store. Depending on the niche or marketing style you choose, they have different fields of focus. Let’s look at some examples below.

Shopify

Shopify is the go-to when it comes to building an E-commerce store. It’s user-friendly and beginner-friendly. There are ready-made free themes so that all you need to do is click and drag to make your store stand out.

Woocommerce

Another great alternative E-commerce platform is Woocommerce. It’s a free plugin where merchants can turn their WordPress website into an online store. Pretty similar to Shopify feature-wise. Consider building your store through this platform.

Bigcommerce

A rather expensive option, but promises a full-fledged E-commerce store that won’t disappoint. Bigcommerce appeals to the entry-level E-commerce entrepreneur as well as big businesses. Bigcommerce has industry-leading server uptime, advanced security, and exclusive eCommerce apps..

Set up a Facebook Page and Instagram

Now that you’ve chosen your desired platform, your next step is to drive traffic to your store. We’ll recommend Facebook as its the most popular social media platform to integrate with most of the eCommerce platforms.

Set up a Facebook page and Instagram account for your store. Not only is it free and easy, but it’s also a way to further add to your sales channels. The more sales channels you have, the better chance your store can generate sales.

Set up a Facebook Business Manager

The next step is to create a Facebook Business Manager account. This is where you’ll set up ads, boost posts, automate message replies, and link your E-commerce website.

You may want to spend time to learn more advanced features of Facebook Business Manager to maximize its tools. Facebook is continuously improving its algorithm to augment online stores, so you should take advantage of it.

Set up SMS marketing

Setting up SMS marketing is a bonus step. You can skip it, but if you want another angle to automate your store, you can set this up to add another layer of depth to your E-commerce website.

Set up Email marketing

According to researchers, for every $1 on ads spent, email marketing generates $40 in ROI . Email marketing is often ignored because many focus mostly on other forms of advertising. However, a stable email marketing system added to your store can significantly boost your store’s sales.

Integrate Chatbots

You can’t call an E-commerce store “Fully automated” without chatbots. Chatbots have forever changed the way we communicate with customers. Having chatbots added to your store saves precious time. You won’t have to deal with redundant and repetitive tasks so you can focus more on more important tasks.

Hire a Virtual Assistant

Lastly, you can’t rely on technology alone. to top it all, hiring a virtual assistant to oversee the ins and outs of your site is a must. He/She will handle repetitive and trivial stuff while you focus on the bigger picture for your store.

Chatbots can’t control every part of your business. They still have limitations that only humans can fulfill. Factors like negotiations and customer relations are things only humans can do. That’s why hiring a virtual assistant is essential.

Takeaway

These steps are just the tip of the iceberg. Building a fully automated e-commerce store is a continuing process. As time passes, many other new platforms and apps can add to improve your site. So be sure to explore more ways and tricks after you build your own E-commerce store.

Edward Bertrand