There's a major shift happening in the world of commerce, and it's levelling the playing field for innovative and forward-thinking entrepreneurs globally: Retail stores are moving online in an effort to adapt to changing consumer habits and a pandemic that's closed many physical storefronts.

Here are some tips for building a successful e-commerce business.

Take action, and get started.

Platforms such as Vooka (which I use in my own business) are designed for nontechnical experts, as they typically require zero coding or website design skills. Some platforms also allow you to customize how you want your store to look and feel, as well as use apps to enhance the functionality of your store. 

You can choose to sell your own products, or you could source products from other suppliers and perform a dropship model so that you avoid the hassle and risk of holding inventory.

Drive targeted traffic to your store.

Now that you have your store set up and populated with products, it's time to tell the world about your new business. Before you begin, I recommend installing website tracking via Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel at a minimum. Through using these tools allows you to gather data about your website visitors, run marketing strategies and create custom and lookalike audiences. 

It's also important to understand which types of traffic are visiting your online store. The first type of traffic is organic traffic. "Organic traffic" refers to visitors who land on your website as a result of unpaid search results. Examples include blog posts, social media marketing and search engine optimization. 

The other type of traffic is paid traffic. I recommend focusing on one advertising platform at a time when trying to generate paid traffic. An example of such a platform is Facebook Ads, which allows you to target specific audiences on Facebook and a huge database of users.

Build a real brand.

Many new e-commerce store owners do not treat their business like a "real" business; they might ship products that are of inferior quality and have longer shipping times. As you can imagine, not only do customers dislike this and will likely never buy from the seller again, but also the seller runs the risk of chargebacks, refunds and possibly even losing their merchant processing account. 

Find great suppliers that ship fast and build customer satisfaction and loyalty, and only sell products that you yourself would feel comfortable with. It is far cheaper to retain existing customers than find new ones. Over time, your customers will become your best marketing resource.

If I could leave you with one final takeaway, it is to find a niche you are passionate about. Research the market to see if there is enough demand for what you intend on selling. You can perform a simple keyword search on Google and see how many brands, products, ads and websites exist. Let's say you love yoga; it's a hot niche right now. You can easily sell yoga mats, straps, blankets, blocks, bolsters, chairs or meditation cushions.

By keeping these tips in mind, you can be on your way to creating a store that's a valuable asset. Perhaps you will sell it down the line or attract new investors who can help you scale it to new heights.