Online Christian gift and bookshops have the advantage of selling directly to consumers so there's no overhead to worry about when you set up your business model. Product choices? The sky's the limit; you'll be able to choose merchandise from hundreds of companies manufacturing gifts and books guaranteed to delight everyone from pure evangelical to not-so-much. Keep a pulse on what your best customers are buying once you launch your site and you'll always know what to stock---now and in the future.
Instructions
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Write a business plan for your online Christian gift and book business. Include a mission statement, goals and objectives. Figure out how much money you can afford to invest in your start-up and apply for a business loan if you haven't enough cash to launch and operate for six months. Set up an accounting system by purchasing an easy-to-use software system for the job.
2Study other online Christian gift and booksellers to see what they're selling and at what price points. Get a good indication of what's moving by items featured on their home page and landing pages. Collect samples of great-looking websites (not necessarily Christian-based) to give your web designer an idea of what you like and what you don't.
3Hire a website designer. Request at least one home page, five landing pages and two drop down tabs beneath each landing page. Title landing pages to assist shoppers searching for Christian gifts and books. Consider: About Us, How to Order, Gift Suggestions, Book Suggestions and Seasonal Specials. Under Gift Suggestions and Books Suggestions, assign one tab each to adults and children. Use the Seasonal Specials to introduce new product or cull bloated inventory. Urge your designer to pull out all stops on your Home Page so visitors are dazzled.
4Choose between launching a site that's available to anyone surfing the Internet or request one that requires a password to enter. Check with your web designer to see what accommodations he or she is building into your site that may require the latter if that's the way you'll capture data about who is visiting, what they're buying and other types of marketing information.
5Affiliate with credit card companies so shoppers can pay for their Christian merchandise the easy way. Offer options of telephone and mail orders, too; not everyone is comfortable ordering on line. Collect information from credit card orders to build a database and use it for future sales material e-blasts.
6Outline your shipping policies. Compute handling charges you'll add to shipped merchandise based on the supplies and time required to do the job (e.g., cushioning material, outer boxing, labels, tape and labor). Handle the fulfillment end of your Christian gift and book business on your own or contract with a warehouse to stock and pack merchandise on your behalf.
7Join a trade organization to keep track of Christian giftware and book trends. Find like-minded retailers all over the world via your membership and enjoy benefits like newsletters, networking, trade shows and professional advice from those who are literally are walking in your shoes.
