How long does a virtual store take to be ready?

According to data from E-bit, the number of virtual stores in the country is increasing more and more. In addition, in 2017 the Web shoppers survey also showed that electronic billing reached BRL 47.7 billion. Therefore, it is clear that online businesses are growing, and because of this, a  need to migrate to digital is starting to emerge, as well as some important doubts.

How to set up and in how long a virtual store is ready? What documents are needed? How do online payments work? How to correctly register the product? Is it necessary to invest a lot to get started? If these questions have already passed or are going through your head, there’s no need to worry. After all, this is quite common.

Always keep in mind that there are several important decisions to make: whether you will sell on a national, state, or regional level; how many people go to work; how many products will need to be registered in the system and, mainly, who is your target audience.

Yes, to create e-commerce you need to have practically the same concerns as a physical establishment. For example: in a physical store you need to create the architectural project, shape the layout of your store, receive the operating license from the fire department, you need to have a well-planned product record, pricing must be in line with the market, and so on.

Likewise, in the virtual store we have to choose a platform where the website will be located, create the online store interface, insert content protection codes, register the products in the system and also price according to the market.

One of the main differences in this regard is that the time to open e-commerce is much shorter. Learn more about this throughout the article.

But, after all, how long does a virtual store take to be ready?

That an online store without great difficulties takes about 30 to 45 days to be ready, you already know, right? However, to really understand this time, here are some pillars that must be verified for the  construction of your virtual store , according to the E-commerce Guide, published in 2017 by ABRADI/SP.

1. Schedule with the company that will develop the virtual store

It is of paramount importance that the schedule is well done. This is so that the creation processes of the company that will develop your virtual store are aligned with your business proposal.

Monitoring the process and clarifying any doubts and changes that may arise is essential, such as dates, production time, delivery time, among other things. All to  optimize the deployment of your site .

2. Planning and management

It is necessary to plan your choices strategically and, over time, manage the investments that will be made in each sector of your business. Knowing how to identify what can be left on hold and what is essential for your e-commerce at that specific moment, in order to manage possible crises, is essential for the success of the store.

3. Creation of the visual identity of the virtual store

To create your store’s visual identity, it is important to research and find out what other businesses in the area are like, and think about what your audience would like to see. Remember that it is necessary to think about the best layout, as well as the  ideal colors  and  typography  in order to create a concept for your store. In this process it is important to have the participation of a design professional.

4. Platform deployment

The implementation process can vary greatly according to what you want or already have in your online store, and what you want to deliver to your end customer. In this sense, always keep in mind that the contracted features vary according to the chosen platform. Therefore, this step is one of the ones that most influence that question “how long will it take for a virtual store to be ready?”.

This is because, for example, if you choose an open source platform, you will need to hire a company to implement it. This choice is important, since working with free code requires certain specific knowledge. However, it is also possible to choose SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms. These, in turn, have some functionality included, such as monitoring services, project management and schedule.

Therefore,  everything will depend directly on your choices .

5. Payment methods

There are  three ways to receive your payments online : direct contact with the acquirer, companies that mediate the relationship between the brands/banks and their website; the payment intermediary, which is basically a company responsible for processing the sale of your product from the website itself; and payment gateways, that is, plugins that connect your e-commerce directly with a financial institution.

In this case, the choice will depend on your goals and preferences. The important thing is to have a well-defined means of payment in order to offer a great shopping experience to your customers.

6. Product registration

Registering your products seems to be one of the simplest tasks, but it is necessary to be very careful when including the items that will be sold in the system. This is because it is necessary to create a title, a description and a complete meta-description with keywords for each product, with the objective of captivating your customer to complete the purchase. That way,  it’s something that also takes time .

7. Shipping

The process of calculating freight online is similar to quoting any type of delivery, and it is during logistics planning that it needs to be worked out. Therefore, to start defining the shipping for each product, it is important to choose which type of transport your store will have.

In this case, there is the option of gateways that connect the platform with a freight management website that calculates, plans and delivers the product to you in an outsourced way. The most used carriers are Melhor Envio and VantagensNet. If you prefer, you can also contact the Post Office and make a shipping package that will reduce your shipping cost.

This process must be well thought out, as it will directly define whether customers will be interested in buying your product or not. Often, the high  cost of shipping is what makes users give up  on the purchase.

8. ERP

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) means an integrated business management system, and basically it is a system that  streamlines the operation and automates sales  processes  : it receives sales orders, checks payments, separates and checks the goods, packs the products, issues invoices and labels, sends the items and monitors the delivery.

When demand on the site increases, usually after ten orders, it is important to have a system like this working to make life easier for your customer, who will have the product at home beforehand, and will always be well informed.

As examples of ERP software we have Bling, which is aimed at micro and small companies, and Tiny ERP, one of the most used in the market. You can also choose to integrate with an existing system in your virtual store.