The 12 steps to starting the e-commerce store you want

Even though e-commerce only makes up one percent of retail sales in South Africa, it's still a big and booming industry. You may want to start selling your wares online, or have a great idea for a store. Question is, where do you even get started?

Starting an online store is actually quite easy, but maintaining it is another beast altogether. It’s not just about slapping a plug-in onto a WordPress site and going for it. As is the case with any company, there are a few more steps to take into account when making your dream store.

1. Make sure you know what you’re getting into

This, to me, is a given, but to a lot of people it’s not something they’ve really thought about. The big e-commerce stores, such as Raru, Takealot, and Yuppiechef didn’t just start “for fun.” All of them required a lot of planning, blood, sweat, and tears (I should know, I did this for 10 years).