Nowadays, selling online is now possible in different ways and having various skills in digital marketing can only facilitate those who intend to start an e-commerce, which from a virtual store could, depending on its success, also become a store. real physics and vice versa.
Try to open an e-commerce that is different from the crowd
Those who want to try their luck in creating an e-commerce must necessarily update themselves on the e-commerce sector and on the trend of the market in which they choose to operate, which must always be a niche market, to guarantee continuous profits for the seller, standing out among the multitude of products and services that have filled the web for years and are thus consolidating as an innovative market.
The question that entrepreneurs ask themselves is: “Okay, but how can I open an online store if I know my customers well?
The importance of a digital strategy to start an ecommerce
Entering into electronic commerce involves several commitments to circumscribe a niche of customers, thus focusing on their specific needs and trying to implement an action plan that is based on a series of ideas and concepts that belong to both the field of digital marketing and that of creativity, which affects the multimedia representation of the online store, through the website and its presence on the web.
Therefore, digital marketing strategies are essential to be able to open an online store and popularize it on the web among the countless results that appear in search engines after the user has entered their "query" with the keywords of reference.
Therefore, choosing to open an online store of niche products or services whose site contains certain keywords that guarantee the positioning of the site among the first results of Google and that have little competition, is a Seo Brand Awareness operation, as well as its reputation, called Brand Reputation.
To position an online store in an SEO perspective, it is very useful to open a blog, which must be characterized by a predetermined number of articles (preparing your own editorial calendar) focused on the products or services for sale, as well as on the topics related to the themselves, to be able to demonstrate to customers that their e-commerce is always up to date on certain economic and cultural dynamics.
The advantages of an E-commerce and a Marketplace
Ok, but what do you have to do to open an online store without running the risk of running into major obstacles of various kinds?
Those who work with ecommerce can take advantage of some benefits compared to those who own a physical store, since the management costs of a virtual store are relatively lower and easier to manage; But it is important to highlight that precisely because of the rise of online stores, the most convenient economic advantage can be obtained with a Marketplace than with an ECommerce.
There are differences between the two websites, E-Commerce and Marketplace: with E-Commerce, in addition to the difficulty of knowing how to differentiate yourself from the competition, there is also the difficulty of incurring expenses that many sellers may consider large, a situation that with a Marketplace, which brings together supply and demand, is generally less thorny.
These are the main differences between an E-Commerce and a Marketplace, based on two different types of businesses for electronic commerce:
- B2C- Business To Client: is the business that concerns an Electronic Commerce website, and involves the sale by the company to its final consumer;
- B2B – Business To Business: is the business that concerns a Marketplace website, and involves an exchange of commercial relationships between suppliers and partners, or from business to business.
Let's now look at the different types of marketplaces that exist:
- Marketplace as online marketplaces where sellers and buyers offer products to sell;
- Marketplace as retailers that buy and sell goods, but also allow sellers to offer their products;
- Marketplace as international B2B based online marketplaces.
- Marketplace as commercial services for tourism that offer the possibility of reserving hotel facilities.
- Marketplace as services dedicated to the person and the home environment.
When you want to open an online store, whether you choose to work with an E-Commerce or a Marketplace, the first operation that can be carried out is to create a site and contact an SEO agency to improve positioning and organic traffic. It is also important to have excellent "web usability", that is, the usability of the site, through an intelligent configuration of its categories, which must respond to the expectations of customers browsing the portal.
The action plan to open an electronic commerce and doubts about the VAT number
How to open an online store avoiding unnecessary expenses and instead find potential commercial success? Here is a series of commitments that the professional seller must assume to ensure solid, quality work:
- the choice of products or services, preferably niche.
- competitive analysis,
- the SEO strategy to be able to position the website in the Google SERPs,
- the promotion strategy that mainly involves social networks,
- editorial content and writing work,
- the execution of all the phases of the so-called Funnel Marketing in order to induce the visitor to become a real customer of the online store.
Another important information that may be useful before opening an online store refers to the difference between two types of e-commerce:
- Direct e-commerce: refers to the sale of virtual resources or services that fall under the regulation of Directive 2002/38/EC, which designates the owner of the website as sales manager. This is the case of Electronic Commerce.
- Indirect e-commerce: refers to all commercial commerce activities based on digital intermediaries that operationalize website sales, sales that almost always include VAT tax obligations. This is the case of markets.
Do I have to open the VAT number?
Another very common question from those who want to work with an online store is whether or not to open a VAT number for sales income: if online sales are not an occasional activity, opening a VAT number is mandatory, therefore , when an ecommerce consists of real work, among the costs to be budgeted are the settlement of VAT and taxes and the tax declaration using the UNICO model.
All remuneration received by the online store must be recorded in the personal income tax return, under the heading “other income”, since such income is taxed for IRPEF purposes.
When can tax withholding be used?
When working with an online store and therefore with an electronic commerce, it must be taken into account that the specific online sales service is not subject to exceeding a limit of 5.000 euros, but rather depends on the frequency of work, which, as already said, in order not to be subject to VAT tax, must be occasional and not continuous.
Websites that act as intermediaries between supply and demand such as eBay or Subito.it do not impose VAT on users who sell something, because the sale is managed by a portal and not by the users.
Every professional seller who sells online must comply with the tax obligations required by the Legislative Decree. 185/1999 for those who work with electronic commerce, by requiring them to indicate their VAT number on the home page of the site on which they sell products or services, in accordance with Presidential Decree October 5, 2001, n. 404. On this website it is also mandatory to publish the legislation on privacy and the processing of personal data, indicating the user's right to request the deletion of their data from the website on which they have registered in order to exit. or propose a purchase.
