Online has made it easy for many businesses to start and develop over the years. Some of them are in a sector that doesn’t require much physical space, therefore an online shop might be the right decision. Beauty and skincare are an area where you don’t need too much experience and the possibilities are endless. So, the question we’re set on answering today is: how to start a cosmetic business online?
If you decide on starting a cosmetic online business, the first thing you’ll need to choose is if that store will be online or physical. That will determine the best steps to take in opening a beauty supply store and that is why we’ll present you how to open an online store step by step.
For now, we’ll present the steps for how to create an online store, which is not really that hard. You don’t have to do many things yourself when you can reach for an eCommerce firm to help you. At Helix Solutions we are set on making your job easier by taking care of the construction of your website itself. So, the first step in creating this business is choosing the right partners.
Step 1. Choose the products
Before starting to plan a business, you’ll need to consider what kind of products you will sell. Will there be skincare products, hair products, natural ones, nails products, or all of them?
Take into account the help you’ll be getting once the store is up and running. Will you hire people to take care of uploading the content or do you plan on doing that on your own? If you will have help, then you might consider broadening your products. If not, perhaps you can choose a niche and stick to it for a while.
The second important decision regarding the products involves the inventory of products. You need to be prepared for larger orders once you create an online store. So make sure you have enough products.
Step 2. Determine the target audience
This second step is one of the most basic, yet the most important ones. Determining WHO will buy your products is crucial in creating the interface of your website and the selling message.
You’ll have the main audience and secondary audience target. Usually, the main audience concerns those people or entities that are directly impacted by your message. The secondary audience is those people who have heard the message but are not directly interested in buying, instead, they are affected by it in some ways.
So, you can be selling to professionals: salons, hairstylists, nail artists, makeup artists, and such. Or you can be selling to non-professionals. If your ideal target audience is the non-professionals, you’ll also have sub-categories, young people, or mature audiences.
Finding out who is your target will determine the message and the design for your website. If we’re talking about professionals, the template will need to be in a certain way. Whereas if you’re addressing young people then things change. It is not easy starting an online cosmetic business, but Helix Solutions is here to help you with the “how to start a beauty business”.
Step 3. Design and create the website
These days you don’t have to know coding to make a beautiful, functional website. Your input in the design of the site will determine the personality of the store, the way you see your business. Begin with designing the logo and other visual characteristics of the brand, then follow the same path for the website.
There are beautiful templates that can be personalized according to your wishes, or one can be made from scratch. You’ll need to select beautiful and copyright-free images for the header and other parts of the website, take care of the written content, and see that the store is attractive and user-friendly.
The pages you’ll need to include will take into account the target audience. If the online store is for professionals make sure you have the right information on display. If the store is for a broader audience, then what you’ll need to focus on will be the products, and their characteristics, rather than the prices or certain offers.
But what pages will a beauty supply store need?
The About page is essential in describing yourself as a seller, your mission statement, and also making yourself known.
Another important page is the Contact page. Here you’ll need the phone number, email address and social media links, and even a physical address.
And last, but not least, the Home page. It is the first page people get to see when they enter your website. So make it attractive and not overly crowded with information and images.
Step 4. Choose and purchase the domain
This doesn’t seem to be such an important chore in the grand scheme of opening a beauty supply store. But, it is. Choosing the right name for your website is crucial. It can be your brand name, or it can have a different name. It is the first thing people will notice before they even get to see your website and your products. So, choose wisely.
A domain name with many words will be hard to write and read.
Step 5. Populate the online store with merchandise
Your online business must have the pages we described above, but don’t forget about the purpose of the website: the store itself. So, within the website, there is a page that will lead the visitor to the shop.
That page will need to be populated with products.
Depending on the merchandise there could be categories: Hair, Face, Body, Nails, etc.
Every item should have:
- The name of the product is written clearly
- The description of the product
- An image or more
- The weight of the product if needed
- The price of the product
Now, we know it’s not easy to create an online store that will bring lots of customers from the beginning, but the presentation of your items matters. Make the photos attractive, try to use your photos, work with a content writer for the description and ask for SEO to help you with the keywords.
Lucky for you, at Helix Solutions we have all the help you need. Check here our services and our skills in the development of online stores.
Step 6. Advertise
As they say, advertisement is the backbone of selling. You can have an amazing product, a great store, and still be slow on selling. We are here to tell you that you need to let the world know you exist.
How to do that?
The cheapest form of advertising is online advertising. And when you open an online store with beauty supplies the quickest way of making sure people know about you is with social media and search engines advertising.
Of course, mouth-to-mouth advertising is free and surely there will be friends wanting to help you, but this will take a long time. And these days, time is of the essence when starting a business.
You can also send newsletters, create an online event, make tutorials, offer vouchers and enlist the help of influencers to make yourself known. In time you can add to the website more pages, like a blog page which will help you with content and appeal to your audience.
It’s hard work, but it’s not an impossible task opening and running a successful online cosmetic business.
As you can see by now, the answer to the question: how to start a beauty supply store? is a complex one.
Step 7. Obtain feedback and do maintenance
After a while, you can reach out to your customers for feedback. Testimonials could be rewarded with extra discounts and you’ll be able to use them in advertising your store. More than that, the team you’re working with can assess what happens to the people who enter your website and want to buy. If there is a lot of cart abandonment you can devise promotions that will help the visitors become clients and finalize the purchase.
The main thing is to make sure they are satisfied with the purchase and they come back for more.
Maintenance on the website is another issue that you’ll need to see into. Once the store has more products added you’ll need to make sure there is enough space and the website is running smoothly. Be prepared to work with your team closely and see the updates are being made.
We help the business owners with continuous programs that also do the maintenance for their stores making sure they are up to date and not missing a thing.
Conclusion
Wanting to open a beauty supply store or any kind of store for that matter is not an easy task. There are many things to consider besides creating the online store itself. Don’t forget to check the inventory, the legal procedures and pick the right team to help you with your store.
Now to answer the burning question: How much does it cost to open a beauty supply store?
The online store only can range from $2000 to $5000+, but there are many other costs to be considered before opening the business, so make sure it’s within your budget.