ecommerce business plan doc

How to Write an Ecommerce Business Plan [Examples & Template]

Published: April 03, 2024

If you have a promising idea for an online e-commerce business , it’s important to create an e-commerce business plan to ensure your vision has enough stock to be profitable.

Having a business plan for your online store will help you define your target market, establish your monthly and quarterly sales goals, and increase the likelihood of long-term e-commerce success.

In this post, we’ll go over an online store business plan and how you can create one for your e-commerce startup. Let’s get started.

What is an e-commerce business plan?

An e-commerce business plan is a document that outlines your business and its goals, analyzes your industry and competitors, and identifies the resources needed to execute your plan. It also lists the e-commerce retailers you’ll use to distribute your products and the marketing strategies you’ll use to drive sales.

Whether a company operates as a startup or has years of operations and growth under its belt, an e-commerce business plan is essential for evaluating a business and determining areas of improvement.

An e-commerce business plan is essential, with increasing numbers of shoppers conducting business online. It's estimated this number has reached over 2 billion . An e-commerce business plan keeps you organized and is useful when seeking investors who need to understand your company.

So, let’s dive into some examples of e-commerce business plans and what goes into writing one using our free template .

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How to Make an Ecommerce Business Plan for Your Startup

Darren DeMatas

June 5, 2024

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In addition to receiving commissions generated through affiliate marketing, we are able to fund our independent research and reviews at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more.

So you’ve decided that you want to quit your day job and start your very own ecommerce empire. That’s great!

But before you become the next Jeff Bezos  (and definitely before you quit your job!), it’s worth spending some time thinking about a business plan. In this article, we’ll dive into the key elements of an ecommerce business plan, which is very different than writing traditional business plans.

Why You Should Create a Business Plan

We know that starting an ecommerce business is exciting, and it can be tempting to jump right in without constructing a business plan. READ: PLEASE DON’T DO THIS.

If you haven’t put your ideas, questions and concerns on paper, then you haven’t given your business model enough thought .

Taking the time to write a business plan might seem like a lot of work, but it can save you a lot of time and money in the long run by better preparing you for potential challenges and opportunities that you’ll face as a first-time entrepreneur. Think of it as a roadmap for your new business venture.

It’s exciting to start your own ecommerce business. However, you want to be well prepared and not jump into anything without having a solid, foolproof ecommerce business plan in place.

After all, you wouldn’t jump out of a plane without a parachute, so why start a business without a safety device in place? That safety device is your business plan.

The business plan is the brainstorming process that ensures your concept and goals are realistic.

This is more than just mental notes. True business plans take your ideas , questions, and concerns and put those in writing.

As you start creating your business plan, you’ll soon understand that it’s more than a single piece of paper with handwritten details on it. It’s a clearly constructed format of how your business will be created, how it will operate, and what you hope the future holds in terms of a successful ecommerce business.

When you write your business plan, be sure to have a target audience in mind. Are you going to look for investors or put a Kickstarter campaign into motion and use this as your descriptive platform? If so, make sure that your business plan contains everything the audience would want to know about your business (and more!). Many traditional funding solutions require a business plan in order to give you capital. However, there are alternative solutions, such as  Payability  that specialize in ecommerce and don’t require credit checks, a business plan, or any complicated paperwork. They can also get you approved in as little as 24 hours.

When your business plan is completed, you should have achieved the following goals:

• Knowledge:  A greater sense of knowledge of the business aspects.
• Resources:  The resources you’re going to need to make your business successful, such as partners, money, employees, etc.
• Road Map: Have clear set goals to take you from the very beginning of your business and onward.
• Viability: In other words, is your business possible? Will you have enough profit margins to keep the doors open long-term?

Now that you know why you should create a business plan, it’s time to move on to how you can create your business plan and get started putting your ecommerce business into motion.

How to Start an Ecommerce Business Plan

At the very beginning of the planning stages, it’s a good idea to develop a framework for your business model. This business model will continue to evolve as you create each section of your ecommerce business plan, so don’t strive for a perfect completed plan on the first try. You will be making tweaks to the plan of certain steps along the way.

There are many ways to sell products online and different business models  to pursue. Research and learn from successful ecommerce business examples in the market. The exact business model you follow will be one that makes the most sense with your resources, skills, and interests.

In order to create the best online business plan with your product in mind, you need to figure out the following things:

What are you selling?

The first step to creating an online business is to learn the absolute basics of what you can sell.

• Physical products: Clothing , shoes, home goods
• Digital products: Software as a Service products, ecourses, ebooks
• Services: Consulting services, home cleaning

Who are you selling to?

• Business-to-Business (B2B): You are selling to organizations, corporations, and non-profits rather than individual customers
• Business to Consumer (B2C): This means you are selling to individual consumers rather than businesses
• Marketplace: You are acting as a middleman by bringing businesses and (B2B or B2C) customers to one website.

How are you sourcing your product?

• Manufacture in-house: You make your product or service in-house
• Third-party manufacturer: You outsource the manufacturing of your product or service to a third-party manufacturer
• Dropship: You partner with a dropship manufacturer. Basically, this means that they make your product, package it and ship it directly to your customer while your company handles the entire customer relationship.
• Wholesale : You buy goods or services from other companies in bulk and re-sell those products on your online store

Additional References

• Entrepreneurship: Business & Marketing Plans
• Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship Resources
• Business Plan Resources

Executive Summary

The executive summary will be written according to your goals, and it’s recommended that this is done at the very end of your business plan completion. This will ensure that you include all of the important factors about your business and present your ideas in a concise and complete way.

Some of the features you’ll include in the executive summary include information showing that you’ve done your research, you have concrete sales forecasts, and the main details about your brand.

Business Model

When you’re figuring out your business model, you have to consider four different areas:

• Monetization strategy
• Product/industry
• Target market
• Sales channel

Monetization Strategy

The monetization strategy delves into the methods you are going to use to sell your products.

This strategy will look at different product monetization methods, including white label, private label , affiliate marketing, wholesale, dropshipping, and even selling ads.

Product/Industry

The product industry section is where you summarize your main niche.

For example, “Vegan Skincare Products.”

Target Market

In the target market section, you will write a sentence or so on who your target market, or ideal customer, is in the community.

If you’re selling vegan skincare products, your target customers might be women who embrace the vegan lifestyle and use natural skincare products in their daily beauty regimen.

Sales Channel

The sales channel refers to where you’re going to sell your products.

For example, you might be selling your products on your own website, and this should be entered in this section.

Business Overview

This next section covers your company overview.

This section of your business plan will cover various features of your company, including the following:

• Company type
• Domain name
• Value proposition
• Brand traits

The brand name section lists your business name or brand name.

This is an extremely important aspect of your business plan as it’s what will set the tone for everything that follows.

Pick a brand name that’s simple yet unique and is something that can be used in a wordplay manner, if desired, but not pun-worthy.

Company Type

The company is how your business operates. For example, you might label your business as an LLC , S-corporation, sole proprietor, or some other type of business organization.

The best way to determine how you should categorize your company is to speak to your accountant. There are various tax and legal aspects to forming your business in a certain way.

Speak with the professionals in the company and corporation formation field to determine how to label your company and which company type best benefits your business in a variety of ways.

Domain Name

This section is where you list your domain name.

Choose a domain name that is memorable and embraces the overall traits and features of your business.

And, when choosing a domain name, be sure to think of SEO aspects when doing so. You’ll find out just how much all of these things tie together and ensure a frequently-visited website is the end result.

Keep in mind that with ecommerce, the domain name is just as important as the brand name. Maybe even more so!

Value Proposition

A value proposition is a short, crisp statement that will gauge how clear your idea is. Write this section as if you had one minute to explain your business to a potential investor or customer and then practice it over and over again.

The value proposition can be used on your ecommerce store as your company description.

Here’s a good example: Say you’re looking to start a hiking company called Atlas Hiking Co. which sells premium performance hiking shirts. A possible company description could be the following:

Atlas Hiking Co. is a lifestyle hiking company that produces high-performance hiking shirts for outdoor lovers. Our proprietary SPF40 fabric is one of the lightest fabrics on the market, providing mountain lovers with maximum comfort, both from a breathability and sun-protection standpoint. Our product is made in the U.S.A. and a portion of our profits are donated to preserve national parks around the country.

Pay special attention to all the sensory words !

The mission statement in your business plan is the “why” of it all.

For example, why you started the business, why you are selling the products you are selling, etc., can all be added to this section of your business plan.

You can make this portion as simple or detailed as you like. Just make sure to properly and clearly explain your business mission.

The vision part of the business plan is your “how” in the grand scheme of things. It is the dream you have for your company and the path you’re going to take to realize that dream.

When you write the vision portion of the business plan, think long-term. What are you hoping to achieve, not just in the near future but for the long haul of the life of your business?

Look into the future and plan out where you see your business in 5, 10, even 20 years from now.

This will help you construct the rest of your business plan if you know where you want your business to head, now and in the future.

Brand Traits

The brand traits section is a short section in your company overview.

Basically, in the brand traits section you’re going to want to list three to five words that describe your brand.

Think of your brand personality and describe it using a few separate powerful words.

The personnel section lists all individuals, including yourself, who will be involved in the daily operations of your business. You can create a separate section for a full operations plan or add that later.

Some business owners choose to handle all duties on their own or with a partner, while others will hire individuals to fill the following roles:

• CEO (usually the business owner)
• Management team
• Customer service/logistics
• PR/Social media specialist
• SEO manager
• Advertising manager

Competitive Market Analysis

Here’s a fact you can bank on: there has never been a successful e-commerce entrepreneur that didn’t understand his/her target market cold.

That’s why this section is one of the most important in the entire business plan. It will force you to understand the industry in which you operate, the overall industry analysis and outlook, the existing competition, and your target customer demographic.

Market Segment

The market segment portion of the business plan will help you to put your ideas down on paper, make them more focused, and get your team together.

This area will include your niche selection, target market, and competitive analysis.

Niche Selection

The niche section  provides an overview of your niche, why you selected it, whether there’s a micro niche included, and the type of niche you’ve chosen.

The purpose of this section is to crystalize the ideas that you have and make sure they are understandable and viable.

The target market section covers an overview of your target market plus describes your market segments.

Ask yourself who your  target customer  is (population size, age, geography, education, ethnicity, income level) and consider whether consumers are comfortable with buying your product category online.

When listing the target market information, make sure to mention your target audience size as this is important for ensuring that your audience will be adequately covered.

Competitive Analysis

With the competitive analysis portion of your market analysis, you want to list your market leader and direct and indirect competitors.

After you mention who these entities are, you need to list the characteristics of each one, such as domain name, business model, monthly traffic, and pricing range.

However, before you even get started in writing this section, you need to spend several hours researching your target market.

Here are some of the most efficient ways to research a particular market:

Industry reports

Google is your best friend. Look for any recent industry reports on your market of choice. This will give you a good sense of how much growth the industry is experiencing, why this growth is happening, and what are the largest customer segments. In our example of Atlas Hiking Co., we should research the outdoor apparel market.

Let’s say that through our research of the outdoor apparel industry, we discovered that there was a huge boom in youth hiking apparel. Perhaps parents were increasingly concerned about their kids’ exposure to UV rays while hiking, so they began to spend more money on their kids. We could use this valuable information to guide our business strategy.

There’s only so much you can read online. Go to a nearby store that sells similar products to yours and interview the store representative. The store rep has interacted with hundreds of interested customers, which can lead to thousands of valuable insights! It’s amazing how these insights can translate into a meaningful business opportunity.

Here’s an example:

If I were going into Billy’s Outdoor Store to research the outdoor apparel market, I would probably ask Billy the following:

• What are your best-selling products?
• What are your worst-selling products?
• Find products similar to yours and ask the representative his/her favorite features on products similar to yours.
• How much are customers generally willing to spend on these types of products?
• Do customers make repeat orders of any of these products?
• Do you get a lot of customers that are looking to buy last-minute hiking gear before they go on a hike?

Competition

Create an Excel spreadsheet of all of your competitors. In your spreadsheet, you should have the following columns:

• Competitor Name
• Price point
• Product Description
• Key Features (e.g., fabric, waterproof, slim fit, etc.)

What is the competition missing? Is there a gap in the offering? Where you can add some additional value?

After conducting the competitor analysis, Atlas Hiking Co. might find that the competition’s hiking shirts offer very few features at a low price point, but no one offers a luxury hiking shirt with additional features at a higher price point.

This is just an example of the types of insights one can gain from market research which can drastically alter your business model.

Keyword Research

By using Google’s keyword planner  and trends pages, you can get a good sense of how in demand your product is and whether it’s trending upward or downward. Google is great for a general idea, just don’t bank on it.

Some other keyword tools you can use for keyword research include Ahrefs, JungleScout, and Viral Launch. Check out this list  for more ideas.

Trade shows

Are there nearby trade shows that you can go to? Again, creating connections with other people in your industry is a surefire shortcut to countless hours of reading on the internet. Trade shows are also a great opportunity to talk to competitors, meet manufacturers, and better understand where things are heading in your industry.

Once you finish researching the relevant industry, you should summarize your findings by answering the following questions:

General Industry

• How big is the overall industry?
• How big is the specific sub-industry in which you intend to operate?
• Where has most of the historic growth in the market come from?
• Why is this the right time to enter this market?
• What are the sub-segments that are poised for future growth (e.g., youth apparel)?
• How crowded is the product category with competition?
• How is your competition distributing its product (online, retail, wholesale, etc.)?
• What’s missing from the competition’s product offering?

Products and Offers

So we know we want to sell hiking shirts, but how do you research specific products?

But for some of us, we’re not quite sure what we should sell. To succeed in online retail, you need a product that is trending upwards in a growing niche.

Different types of products

Some of the different types of products include the following:

• Convenience products: Frequent purchase products, little effort on buying
• Shopping products: Less frequently purchased in between purchases, little more effort and planning, shop around
• Specialty products: Strong brand preference and loyalty, will buy no matter what the price

The various types of niches include the following:

• Hobby niches
• Lifestyle niches
• Problem niches
• Weird/embarrassing niches

Existing products

Come up with detailed specifications for each product or service you intend to sell. If it’s a hiking shirt we’re selling, we would want to have:

• Detailed sketches of the shirt
• Fabric weight, materials, type
• Key features (e.g., pre-shrunk, water-proof, SPF 40)

Future product pipeline

What are other products that you have in the pipeline? Perhaps once you’ve successfully sold hiking shirts, you’re able to leverage your manufacturing relationships to provide hiking socks and shorts. Include that information in this section.

The products and services section will cover the various selling categories of items.

These product offerings will include the following:

• Core product

Each product group will have its own purpose in your sales catalog. For example, tripwire is the product that brings customers to your ecommerce store or online marketplaces  while the core product is your main seller.

Knowing what products you’ll include within each section allows you to have a firm grasp on what your main product will be and how the other types of products will work alongside your main product.

This section will also cover the search volume and Amazon pricing range.

You’ll need to calculate your true costs. You have to make sure you don’t overestimate your margins.

To tabulate your total true costs, you need to write down the costs in the following areas:

• Target price
• Supplier cost of the product
• Total cost per unit
• Net profit per unit
• Profit margin per unit

Once you complete the pricing portion, you’ll have everything on one sheet and readily accessible whenever you need it.

Marketing Plan and Operations

So, now you’ve concluded that you have a great business idea, and it’s in a growing market. That’s fantastic – but how are you going to drive traffic to your ecommerce website and get customers to buy it ? And how much can you afford to spend on your product?

Marketing  is everything. It’s important that your marketing efforts match your business model.

If you have a website and no marketing, your site won’t have any visitors. With no visitors, you will make no sales. Then how do you grow and sell your ecommerce business (if that’s your long-term goal)? Even with the best possible products, nobody will buy them if they aren’t directed to them in some way.

In order to come up with a marketing strategy, you need to first know your customer inside out. You should be able to answer such questions as:

• How old is your customer?
• Where does your customer live?
• What is the population of your customer base?
• What is their education level?
• What is their income level?
• What are your customer’s pain points?

With so many channels to reach your customer, which one is best for you?

Once we know pretty much everything there is to know about our target customer, we can shift focus to our marketing strategy. You want to choose marketing strategies that equal positive conversion rates. What channels should you use to grab the attention of your customer demographic? Some of the key marketing channels include:

Paid Marketing

• Pay-per-click – this online marketing typically involves using Google Shopping campaigns  and managing a product data feed.
• Affiliate sales networks – Allowing other blogs and websites to sell your product for a cut of the revenue. List the different affiliate sale networks that you plan to promote through.
• Facebook ads ⎯ Ads posted on Facebook to draw in buyers through social media means.
• Influencer marketing ⎯ Hiring industry influencers to get the word out about your product through their social media platforms and contacts.

Organic Marketing

• Social media (Facebook, Instagram , Pinterest, etc.): What is your strategy for social media, and where will you dedicate your attention?
• Search Engine Optimization : Create and promote awesome content so people find your product organically through search.
• Content marketing: Figure out how you’ll use content marketing in your business. Consider various article topics that will persuade your target audience to buy your products.
• Blogger networks: could be organic or paid through affiliate sale programs.
• Key bloggers: Develop a list of the key bloggers in your product category. For Atlas Hiking Co., this might be an influencer that blogs about the best hiking trails in America.

Finding the optimal mix of these advertising tools depends 100% on your customer segment as well as your product type. For example, a SaaS product targeting millennials will require an entirely different marketing strategy than an e-commerce physical product targeting baby boomers. Perhaps that should be a post on its own for another day!

How much should you spend to acquire a customer?

In order to understand this, we need first to discuss a concept known as customer lifetime value or LTV. In essence, this is a formula that helps you better understand how much an average customer will spend over time.

Here’s  a good read on how to calculate LTV.

It’s important to remember that for new businesses, you don’t have a lot of data on customer purchase habits so it’s a good idea to be more conservative with your assumptions in calculating LTV.

Let’s say, for Atlas Hiking Co., I determine that the average LTV per customer is $300. This means that over time, the average customer will spend $300. Let’s say, on average, if I receive $300 in revenue, $100 of that will translate to gross profit before I factor in my marketing costs (basically, I’m just subtracting the cost of making the shirts).

Knowing that my gross profit is $100 per shirt is a critical piece of information because it tells me that I can spend up to $100 in marketing to acquire a customer and still be profitable!

Some of the marketing options include social media marketing and content marketing.

Think about your business model and then line up your marketing budget. Your marketing budget may include the following items:

• Sales/branded content
• SEO/blog content
• Facebook/Instagram ads
• Influencer marketing
• Marketing tools
• Niche advertising

Choosing The Right Technology

With so much technology and SaaS products out there, it’s important to understand the various moving parts and diagram how they all integrate with one another.

Some of the different elements include:

• Shopping Cart Platforms  – e.g., Shopify , BigCommerce , WooCommerce , or any open-source platform
• Hosting – Nexcess , BigScoots , Kinsta , WPX
• Payment Processo r – e.g., Stripe, Paypal
• Fulfillment Center – e.g., Amazon, ShipBob
• Apps – e.g., Zipify, BuildWooFunnels, Gelato
• Accounting & Taxes  – e.g., Quicken, Xero
• Marketing Automation – e.g., Klaviyo , Mailchimp
• Marketing Tools – e.g.  Buzzstream, Ahrefs
• Customer Loyalty Programs  – e.g., Antavo, Smile

Come up with a detailed list of the different products and services you need to run your business as well as the monthly and per-transaction cost of each of them. This will be important in understanding the impact of these services on your margins.

Matching your business model to your technology is essential, too. Certain website platforms are better suited for specific sales models.

Email marketing is another type of technology that should be carefully considered and matched up correctly with your business model.

Keep in mind that it takes, on average, 6-7 interactions with a brand before someone makes a purchase, so you need to keep using technology to get them back to your website.

As you explore the technology options and find out ways to draw potential customers in and keep them happy while they’re there, here are some key points to keep in mind:

• What you say about yourself and your products with your website content
• How you respond to questions on live chat and email support
• How to make use of chatbots
• How you connect on social media
• The information you send through email marketing
• What bloggers and influencers say about your brand
• How existing customers review your company
• How you advertise
• How you establish loyalty beyond sales

After you figure out your technology methods, you have to come up with a technology budget.

The business plan must also include the operations side of things. Determine who will be your manufacturer, secondary manufacturer, and shipping and fulfillment  provider.

When looking at supply chain costs and options, ShipBob  is an ecommerce fulfillment provider you can consider.

Financial Plan

When figuring out your financial plan, evaluating and pinpointing your startup costs  is essential.

The focus of the financial plan is how long it will take for you to make your money back. You also need to figure out if you need a business loan .

Traffic and conversion rates will help you determine how long it will be until you start making money back.

You’ll also want to use an income statement to detail financial information.

This section is used for financial projections, such as forecasting sales, expenses, and net income of the business. Ideally, you’ll want to create a monthly Excel balance sheet showing the following:

• Projected revenue:  First, come up with your projected number of units sold and then come up with your projected revenue (Projected Revenue = # of Units Sold * Average Sales Price).
• Fixed expenses:   these are expenses that are fixed no matter how much you sell. Typically, these relate to monthly SaaS subscriptions, employee salaries, or rent.
• Variable expenses  – these expenses change in direct proportion to how much you sell. Common examples include the cost of goods sold and credit card payment processing fees.

This helps business owners better understand what they need to achieve to hit their profit goals. In reality, projections are usually always off the mark, but it’s good to give yourself some measurable goals to strive for.

This section should aim to answer the following questions about your product offering:

• How much product do you need to sell per year to meet your income goals for the business?
• What are the margins on your product? If you sell one hiking shirt for $50, how much do you make after paying your supplier, employees, and marketing costs?
• What is the lifetime value of a customer?
• How much can you spend to acquire customers? If you conservatively project that the average customer will spend $300 over time on your shirts, then you can afford to spend an amount less than $300 to acquire that customer using the paid marketing channels described previously.
• Do you have any big capital expenditures early on that would require you to need to bring in investors?
• Can you improve gross margins by making bigger orders from your suppliers?

There are various acquisition channels that will help your traffic to convert including:

Your revenue plan will contain a 12-month revenue forecast plan to help you map out each month of earnings.

There are different business earning models you can go through to determine how much you can make with your business.

You want to calculate how much traffic costs. This all depends on the methods you use to gain traffic to your site.

As you determine what your profit might be with your ecommerce business  or ecommerce businesses, there are certain math formulas to use:

• The profit equation
• Break-even analysis
• Units needed to achieve the profit target

You should also consider how you will use fintech companies in your ecommerce business.

What are the key elements of an ecommerce business plan?

The main components of an eCommerce business plan include the executive summary, company description, market analysis, organization and management structure, product line or service, marketing and sales strategy, financial projections, and funding request, if applicable.

How do I create a budget for my ecommerce business?

Start by estimating your initial startup costs and ongoing expenses. Consider costs like website development, inventory, marketing, shipping, taxes, and any necessary licenses or permits. It’s also important to factor in a contingency plan for unexpected costs.

How do I find the right product to sell?

Research is fundamental. Look at market trends, customer needs, and competitor products. Use tools like Google Trends or social media platforms to understand what customers are currently interested in. Always consider your passion and knowledge about the product too, as this can drive your business forward.

How can I differentiate my product from competitors?

Differentiation can come from unique product features, superior customer service, better pricing, or a compelling brand story. Understand what your competitors offer and how you can do it differently or better.

Wrapping Up Your Business Plan

Careful planning is crucial to get your e-commerce business from the planning phase to the launch phase and to ensure its successful future.

Going through the exercise of writing a business plan will cement your own understanding of your business and your market. It will also position you to take advantage of lucrative opportunities while mitigating harmful threats to your business down the line.

Your turn! Have you written a business plan for your online store? Do you have anything to add? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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How to Write E-commerce Business Plan + Template

So apparently everyone is jumping in to start an ecommerce business. Considering you already have your star product or service ready, you must be very thrilled to launch your business and make your first sale.

However, wait. Is your business plan ready? If you haven’t marked writing a business plan as the most important task on your checklist, you need to do that right away.

We know writing an ecommerce business plan is challenging. As a business owner of this new challenging enterprise, you don’t have much time. But this detailed guide with step-by-step procedures is likely to make the entire process of writing easier for you.

Don’t waste a minute further. Let’s dive right into the topic.

Key Takeaways

• Elements like executive summary, product or service, operations, marketing and sales plan, management team, and financial plan come together to make a compelling business plan.
• Determine marketing strategies for your ecommerce business and lay a clear action plan for building a solid brand image.
• Clearly establish your value propositions, business goals, and objectives to form relevant strategies for your ecommerce company.
• Make financial projections and consider various progressive and aggressive scenarios to establish the feasibility of your business idea.
• Identify the gaps and loopholes in your planning and make changes to your business idea accordingly.

Why do you need an Ecommerce business plan?

A business plan has many more advantages apart from helping you get approved for a business loan. Here are a few potential benefits of having one for your ecommerce company:

• Goals fulfillment: You will have to juggle multiple roles while running your ecommerce store. A well-crafted business plan will offer a roadmap to your business while helping you realize your business goals.
• Business strategies: A  business plan simplifies your business strategy and helps put the strategies for sales, marketing, and operations in perspective.
• Market analysis: A business plan strengthens your stand in the market by compelling you to conduct a detailed market analysis of the industry, competitors, and potential customers.
• Test ideas: An ecommerce plan will help you realize the gaps and errors in your planning. This allows you the luxury to make changes in the business model before investing your money in it.
• Simplifies the finance: A well-structured business plan lays a clear financial plan for your ecommerce business. The figures will help you understand the profitability, costs, and expenses of the company and its viability in monetary terms.

There’s much more to it. A business plan is like a beam of bright light that will make walking through the woods easier. It’s a living document that will evolve as the business grows.

Key components of an ecommerce business plan

Wondering what goes into making a perfect ecommerce business plan? Well, these are the key components you shouldn’t be missing.

• Executive summary: The executive summary will highlight the key details of your entire business plan.
• Business overview: This section will include a brief business overview along with its value proposition, objectives, mission, and vision statement.
• Market analysis: This section will define your potential customers and competition. A detailed industry analysis and competitors analysis will lay a foundation for important business strategies.
• Products and services: Define the products and services you will sell to your ideal customer. Also, offer a brief description of each product.
• Sales and marketing strategy: Highlight your sales and marketing plan to attract your potential customers. From content marketing to social media- include every detail of your strategies here.
• Operations plan: A well-defined plan that will help you run a smooth online business. Clearly defined process for inventory, order fulfillment, sales, storage, etc.
• Management team: A brief introduction of your company’s management team and their expertise in the field.
• Financial plan: Includes detailed financial forecasts and key reports like balance sheet, cash flow, P&L, and investment plan.

There is no definite format for business plans. However, a comprehensive plan accounts for all these components and makes it effective.

How to Write an Ecommerce Business Plan: A Complete Guide

From undertaking thorough market research to creating a marketing plan- uncover every detail on writing an effective plan for your online business with this guide.

1. Get an Ecommerce business plan template

Crafting a stellar business plan is a challenge. However, it can be the most precious reward for your business if you manage to write it comprehensively.

The process of translating your business idea into a business plan is lengthy and time-consuming. One is likely to leave behind an important detail or two without any definite format.

This is why you need an Ecommerce business plan template to write your plan in a structurally organized format. A template will help streamline your thoughts, organize the vision, and bring your ideas to life effortlessly.

Let’s not look elsewhere for a perfect template. Upmetrics business plan template is intuitive and is enriched with relevant examples that can be easily used as a reference while writing your plan.

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2. Write an executive summary

Executive summary is a concise rundown of key points that summarizes your business plan. Though presented at first, it should be written in the end after you have walked through all the other aspects of planning.

Consider it as a document that will offer a brief insight into your overall business. Investors will read this part and gauge the viability of your business idea. If they find it fascinating and intriguing enough they will read it further in detail.

Add brief details of your ecommerce business, target market, problem, solution, service model, business goals, and financial figures in this section.

Adapt a narrative tone to make it interesting and keep it highly informative. And, most importantly keep it within a limit of 1-2 pages.

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3. Create a company overview section

As the title suggests, this section offers a brief company description of your ecommerce business. You must also include brief details about the company’s history in this section if it’s not a new venture.

So what does this section include?

• Name and location of the business , i.e. location of your warehouse, back end office.
• Type of your Ecommerce business , i.e. B2B, B2C, D2C, C2C, etc.
• Business structure of your e-commerce brand , i.e. sole proprietorship, Partnership, LLC, limited partnership, etc.
• Business goals : Highlight milestones such as sales or revenue goals.
• Mission statement : Describe the fundamental purpose of your business explaining why the business exists. For instance, the mission of First Cry is to offer eco-friendly baby care and maternity items to conscious buyers through its website and listings on a third-party platform.
• Vision statement : It is a declaration of what you want to achieve with your ecommerce business. For instance, First Cry wants to become the preferred brand for baby care products in the markets of North America, Asia, and Europe.

4. Conduct a competitive and market analysis

In this section of competitive and market analysis, you will dive deep into the study of the target market, industry trends, and your competition. Only a thorough understanding of these key elements will help you build a resilient business.

Target market and market opportunities

Begin by determining the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for your products and services. This part of the market analysis will offer a realistic idea of your market size.

Further, strengthen the understanding of your target market by identifying your target audience. Create a buyer persona by considering the psychographic and demographic details of your ideal customer.

Collect data from US census boards, government websites, and industrial publications for solid and foundational market research.

Lastly, identify the market trends and highlight your business strategy to fill the gaps in the existing market.

Competitive analysis

Ecommerce companies operate in a severely competitive marketplace. Understanding your competition will help you safeguard the business against potential threats and risks from your direct and indirect competitors.

Collect the data and analyze your competitors on the grounds of prices, services, quality, product offering, target market, and market size to make conclusive points. Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses using methods like SWOT analysis.

Now, detail the competitive advantage of your products and service offerings. This analysis should reflect that your business idea has a solid advantage over competitors’ offerings.

Focus on quality research. The study of the target market and competition will lay a foundation for crafting efficient business strategies.

5. Detail your products and services

After completing your market analysis, you will create a detailed section for your products and services.

Highlight all the product lines that your online business will offer. Also, mention the products within each product line and the product source.

If you are amongst the ecommerce businesses that sell digital products or services, mention those and explain how the customers will access them.

For instance, an OTT platform offers streaming services to its clients through an application.

Keep this section detailed by adding a brief description of each product and its pricing.

Consider this as a checklist of questions you must answer within this section:

• What are the products of your online store?
• Will you manufacture the products or source them from vendors?
• How will your customers buy the product- Website, application, shopping platforms, etc.
• What will be the pricing of your product offerings?

6. Develop a sales and marketing plan

By now, the readers are aware of the products and services that your online business will offer. It’s now time to tell them your sales and marketing plan.

Millions of ecommerce businesses start every year. But very few manage to crack their desired sales.

In this section, you will make sales strategies to ensure that your desired sales become achievable.

Try answering the following to form an efficient sales plan:

• Sales channels: website, application, ecommerce platforms, subscription box platforms, flash sale sites, etc.
• Sales method: Inbound methods or outbound methods
• Sales personnel: Who will be responsible for product/service sales
• Sales tools: CRM

The decisions you make here will influence the marketing strategy of your online store.

Marketing strategy

Now you need a well-rounded marketing plan to market your online store. After all, marketing is crucial to developing a brand, reaching your target customers, and acquiring sales.

In this section of a business plan, you will highlight the marketing plan for your ecommerce business. Identify the marketing channels that will be most effective for your target customers and design your strategies accordingly.

Here are a few prevalent marketing methods that can help you grow your online store:

• Content marketing: Start writing informative and useful blog posts for your target audience. Focus on principles of SEO and keyword research to grow your reach organically. Also, post guest blogs on websites to increase your chances of reaching a wider audience.
• Social media marketing: Identify the social media platforms that are used the most by your target audience and dedicate your marketing efforts accordingly.
• Email Marketing: Email marketing is the most rewarding marketing channel for thousands of ecommerce businesses out there. Explain how you will build your Email list and draw conversions through them.
• PPC: Design strategies for running paid ads on Google, Facebook, and other platforms and determine your budget for the same.
• Traditional PR: Traditional methods of publications can also help you market your product effectively. If you will be using such methods, highlight the details regarding the same.
• Influencer marketing: Will you hire or barter with influencers to promote your product? If so, define your strategy for the same.

All in all, the marketing plan should clearly define a roadmap to reach your target audience. Also, highlight different marketing tools you will use for your online business.

7. Introduce your management team

Having the right team will help you build a successful ecommerce business. So take your time and figure out the manpower needs for your business.

In this section of your business plan, you will introduce the key management members at your ecommerce store. Define their role, responsibility, experience, expertise, and achievements to prove their suitability in your organization.

Outline the organizational structure of your online store and explain how these people will be responsible for the smooth functioning of your business.

8. Outline your operational plan

Running an ecommerce store is not an easy task. From managing the backend to offering timely deliveries- a lot goes into ensuring smooth business operations.

A solid business plan cannot be complete without a detailed section of operations in it. So take your time and set your operations in line before you start with the store.

Here are a few things that most ecommerce business plans have in common. Consider adding them to your operations plan as well.

• Order fulfillment process: Everything from getting an order to delivery, managing returns, shipment, packaging, exchange, and tracking is defined at this step. Explain how the order will be fulfilled at your online store.
• Manufacturing and quality control: If the products will be manufactured in-house, what will be the manufacturing process? How will you ensure quality? Where will the goods be manufactured? What machinery will you use?
• Suppliers: Who will be your supplier for products and services? What will be the purchase terms? Will there be an agreement or contract? What would be the contingency plan in case of casualty?
• Storage: Will you dropship the products or store them in a warehouse? Where will be the storage located? How will you manage stock? What methods will you use?
• Technology and payment processors: How will the customers pay for online shopping? What payment methods are available for them? What technologies will you use to facilitate payments? How will you secure their personal information?
• Customer service: How can the customers reach you? What will be your order policies? Will there be any customer service team?

The logistics and operations plan will serve as a policy book for your organization. It will answer every query and doubt regarding the process.

9. Prepare financial projections

Now comes the most taxing part of creating a business plan- preparing a financial plan.

A financial plan is crucial because it will help you determine the feasibility of a business idea. Moreover, if you plan to seek funding for your online business, the projections in this plan will compel potential investor’s interest in your business.

Here are a few things to include in your financial plan:

• Startup costs: Estimate the startup costs for your ecommerce business . From website development to inventory costs, licensing fees, security, and software charges- include every cost that will go into establishing your online business.
• Funding source: Determine your funding requirements and what sources will you use to acquire the funds, i.e. business loans, angel investors, friends and family, etc.
• Pricing strategy: Include your pricing plan for the products and services. Consider various overhead and operational costs to determine the final pricing.
• Sales projections: Include your monthly, quarterly, and annual sales projections through different sales channels and also estimate your revenue.
• Income statement: Also known as profit and loss statement, in this key report you will forecast the company’s profit and loss for the next 3-5 years. The difference between a company’s revenue and expenses will give you gross profits and net profits.
• Cash Flow Statement:   A clear documentation of cash that is generated and spent in a business. This will help potential investors understand whether your business will make or lose money.
• Balance sheet: A key summary of your business assets and liabilities that indicates your net worth. Calculate your equity in the business by deducting all the liabilities from your assets.
• Break-even analysis: Break-even will help you evaluate how long before the business will start making money.

Too much of calculations right? Not with the financial forecasting tool from Upmetrics. Simply enter your numbers in the tab and the tool will do all the detailed calculations for you. Import the data from Excel sheets and before you know your projections will be done.

Ecommerce Industry Highlights 2023

Ecommerce is a trillion-dollar industry. It’s indeed a rewarding market for anyone who wants to start an ecommerce business. But before that, you must check out these latest industry highlights of 2023.

• Global market size: The global Ecommerce market size is expected to reach 6.3 trillion dollars in 2023. There is ample room for new businesses to venture into this market.
• Online marketplace : According to Forbes , 24% of total retail purchases will be made online by 2026.
• Market leader: Amazon accounts for 37.8% of Ecommerce sales , which is far more than other ecommerce businesses.
• Cart abandonment: 48% of online shoppers abandon their carts because of extra costs on shipping and taxes. You are likely to lose your potential customers if you fail to consider these aspects.
• Frequency to shop: 79% of online shoppers will shop for something or the other at least once a month. Considering the customer segments, nearly 96% of Gen Z shop at least once a month online.
• Social media commerce: If you think websites and platforms are the only way to reach your potential customers, you are wrong. 96.9 million people in the USA are reported to shop on social media.

The US online marketplace is expected to reach 940.9 billion by 2023 end. There is enough scope for new businesses to emerge and grow in this competitive market space.

Related Ecommerce Resources

• Creating a Successful E-commerce Marketing Plan
• E-commerce Financial Plan
• E-commerce Industry Statistics
• Calculating Your Online Store Startup Budget
• How To Open n E-commerce Business

Download a sample ecommerce business plan

Looking for help to write your business plan? Well, we have something absolutely perfect for you. Download our ecommerce business plan sample pdf and get a detailed guide to write a plan along with relevant examples.

Upmetrics business plan templates are designed specifically for entrepreneurs and business owners who want to write their own business plans. Our templates are modern, intuitive, and easily available to kickstart your plan writing.

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All set to start your own ecommerce business? Let’s simplify the entire business planning process for you with Upmetrics. We have more than 400+ customizable sample business plans suited for varying different businesses. With features like AI assistance and financial forecasting, you can bring together an actionable business plan in easy steps.

So whether you are aiming to start a business-to-business or business-to-customer or any other type of ecommerce business, you are well equipped to write the most stellar plan with our business planning app .

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ChatGPT Prompts for Business Plan

Frequently asked questions, can i get expert help to draft my ecommerce business plan.

Of course, you can. Writing a business plan is not an easy task. You may lose context or can leave behind an important detail while writing. A plan writer can translate your business idea into a plan efficiently with his compelling skills. If not, you can take the help of online tools and search for relevant templates to write your own business plan.

Can I customize my ecommerce business plan as per my business needs?

Absolutely yes. No two ecommerce businesses are the same. The very purpose of a business plan is to address the unique concerns, ideas, and questions relating to your ecommerce business. From executive summary to a financial plan, customize every aspect of your plan with Upmetrics business plan builder.

What are the common mistakes to avoid while crafting an ecommerce business plan?

Here are a few mistakes to avoid while drafting a business plan for your new business:

• Lack of market research
• Inadequate financial planning
• Overlooking the competition
• Not having a clear value proposition
• Undermining the technology needs
• Not considering casualties and emergencies
• Using complex language

Can I create an e-commerce business plan on my own, or should I hire a professional?

Ideally, you should be the one drafting your business plan. This is because no one knows your business better than you yourself and your business partners. So instead of hiring a professional, take the assistance of plan builders and step-by-step guides and create a compelling plan. Upmetrics AI assistant will simplify the writing process by helping you put together a cohesive write-up.

What are some emerging payment technologies to consider in your e-commerce business plan?

If you are planning to start a competitive ecommerce brand, you need to offer a bunch of payment solutions preferred by your target audience. Here are a few payment technologies you must definitely have in your business:

• QR code payments
• Mobile wallet
• Contactless payment
• Real-time payments
• Buy now pay later solutions

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Ecommerce Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their ecommerce businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through an ecommerce business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Ecommerce Business Plan Template here >

What is an eCommerce Business Plan?

An ecommerce business plan is a detailed and comprehensive document that outlines the strategies, objectives, and operational blueprint of an online business. It serves as a roadmap guiding the company’s operations and growth within the dynamic and competitive digital marketplace. The plan typically covers various aspects, including market analysis, target audience identification, product or service offerings, marketing and sales strategies, competitive analysis, financial projections, and risk assessments.

Why You Need a Business Plan for an eCommerce Business

If you’re looking to start an ecommerce business or grow your existing ecommerce business you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your ecommerce business in order to improve your chances of success. Your ecommerce business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Source of Funding for Ecommerce Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for an ecommerce business are bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

The second most common form of funding for an ecommerce business is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan.

Venture capitalists will fund an ecommerce business but not in its infancy. You will need to first achieve sales traction. Once you do that venture capitalists might invest $2 million to $100 million into your business over time.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

Below are the 10 sections a sample ecommerce business plan should include:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of ecommerce business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup or do you have an ecommerce business that you would like to grow further.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the ecommerce business industry. Discuss the type of ecommerce business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of ecommerce business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of ecommerce businesses.

Ecommerce businesses based on businesses model:

• Drop Shipping: you sell the product on your website and the product’s supplier fulfills it
• Wholesaling And Warehousing: you sell the product on your website and the fulfill it yourself (through your own warehouse and systems)
• Private Labeling And Manufacturing: you sell the product on your website and you manufacture it yourself or have someone manufacture it for you
• White Labeling: you sell the product on your website and have someone manufacture it for you (but unlike private label, your product is not unique; the manufacturer is also creating the product under other brand names)
• Subscription: you sell the product or service on your website on a subscription basis (customer pays you every week/month/year)

Ecommerce businesses based on customer model:

• Business-to-Business (B2B): your business is selling to other businesses
• Business-to-Consumer (B2C): your business is selling to consumers
• Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C): your business provides a platform for consumers to sell to other consumers (e.g., ebay)
• Consumer-to-Business (C2B): your business provides a platform for consumers to sell to businesses
• Business-to-Government/Administration (B2A): your business is selling to governments or administrative agencies
• Consumer-to-Government/Administration (C2A): your business provides a platform for consumers to sell or communicate with governments or administrative agencies

In addition to explaining the type of ecommerce business you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, customer milestones, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the ecommerce business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the ecommerce business industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards subscription businesses, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for offering subscription options.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your ecommerce business plan:

• How big is the ecommerce business (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your ecommerce business. You can figure out your relevant market size by multiplying the amount of target customers by the amount they might spend on a product or service like yours each year.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your ecommerce business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: college students, sports enthusiasts, soccer moms, techies, teens, baby boomers, manufacturing plants, state government agencies, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of ecommerce business you operate. Clearly baby boomers would want a different offering and branding than teens or government agencies.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other ecommerce businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from you that aren’t direct competitors. This includes offline stores or other ecommerce companies that offer similar products or services. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who needs the products or services you provide will frequent a business like yours.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other ecommerce businesses with which you compete. For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What products do they offer?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And check product review websites to learn what your competitors’ customers like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide superior ecommerce services?
• Will you provide ecommerce business products/services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you make it easier or faster for customers to acquire your products/services?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For an ecommerce business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product/Service : in the product section you should reiterate the type of ecommerce business that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products and/or services you will be offering.

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the menu of items you offer/will offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your ecommerce business. In general, the place for an online business is well, online. But if there is a physical component to your business, document that here.

Promotions : the final part of your ecommerce business marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Search engine optimization
• Search engine marketing
• Traditional public relations
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Advertising in physical newspapers, magazines, radio and television
• Partnerships with other websites and/or organizations

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your ecommerce business such as warehousing, invoicing, serving customers, procuring supplies, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your 10,000th customer, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch a new product or service.

Management Team

To demonstrate your ecommerce business’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in the ecommerce business. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in ecommerce businesses and/or successfully running retail businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you serve 100 customers per day or 200? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your ecommerce business, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. For example, let’s say a company approached you with a massive $100,000 contract, that would cost you $50,000 to fulfill. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now to fulfill the contract. But let’s say the company didn’t pay you for 180 days. During that 180 day period, you could run out of money.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing an ecommerce business:

• Website and technology buildout
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include agreements you’ve negotiated with developers, manufacturers and/or employees.

Ecommerce Business Plan Summary

Putting together a business plan for your ecommerce business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the online store business plan template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the ecommerce business, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful ecommerce business.

Download Our Ecommerce Business Plan PDF

You can download our ecommerce business plan PDF here . This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

Ecommerce Business Plan FAQs

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How To Create The Perfect Ecommerce Business Plan (Examples & Templates)

The ecommerce market is full of innovative ventures that started as an ecommerce business plan. This guide tells you how to convert your vision for an ecommerce company into a strategic plan.

Ecommerce is rapidly growing around the world. The industry has reached a market valuation of $6.31 trillion worldwide and is expected to cross $8 trillion by 2026.

In 2023, ecommerce accounted for 20.8% of all retail sales . The contribution of ecommerce is expected to grow even further to cover 24% of retail sales in 3 years. This seems like a good time for anyone thinking about starting an ecommerce business. Despite many companies enjoying pieces of this $6 trillion pie, starting an online store is not a piece of cake.

As with any other business, you need research and careful planning before jumping into action. That’s exactly what this guide is about. I will shed light on some basic business concepts, discuss examples, provide insights with statistics, and give you ready-to-use templates for various stages. But first, let’s begin with the fundamentals.

What Is An Ecommerce Business Plan?

An ecommerce business plan is a document containing the roadmap for initiating, maintaining, and expanding an online selling company. This document contains several details that are crucial for establishing your ecommerce business. It serves to guide the formation of a company and draw insights to make business decisions to achieve short-term and long-term goals.

The ecommerce business plan also contains information about the market, competitors, products, pricing strategy, company finances, supply requirements, etc. The more details you can add to an ecommerce business plan, the better you can execute it.

Why Do You Need An Ecommerce Business Plan?

An ecommerce business plan acts as a guiding document for your online business. It is a more systematic approach to analyzing the market and developing a business that can thrive amidst the competition. 

This document also gives insight into your business model. The document covers several aspects of the company. It helps you define business goals for marketing strategy, operations, and finances. This plan also helps you understand how these aspects would affect each other.

For instance, you can gauge the impact of marketing expenses on the cash-flow statement. You can derive these insights from market research and financial plan sections of your business model.

It is also a necessity if you seek funding for your online store. Potential investors would gauge the feasibility of the company based on this document. The business plan gives them insight into the business strategy. It also presents a compelling case for the funds you demand.

Ecommerce entrepreneurs can showcase the operations plan and budget allocation for running an ecommerce store successfully. But most importantly, it shows value proposition to the potential investors. It gives them an idea of how the company will generate revenue, brand value, equity, etc.

How To Create The Perfect Ecommerce Business Plan

Let’s look at the step-by-step process for creating an ecommerce business plan. Each of these stages will help you get a deeper understanding of your business. It will also help you define your vision through organizational structure and processes. Let’s begin with the executive summary.

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Step 1: Draft an executive summary

Although this is the first part of an ecommerce business plan, it is better to tackle the executive summary after completing the entire document. The executive summary gives an overview of the business plan on a single page.

The executive summary presents a company overview and highlights of the most important parts of the document. It gives a brief overview of what the new business is about and what it sets out to achieve. You will discuss these points in-depth later in the document. You can use the below template to draft your executive summary:

You will have better clarity regarding some of these aspects after you complete the entire ecommerce business plan. For instance, you can provide a more accurate competitive analysis after conducting market research. Similarly, you will have a clear understanding of financial projections and investment requirements after you source potential suppliers.

You can create a rough draft of the executive summary at the beginning. Then you can circle back to it when you have more clarity.

Step 2: Company description

In this section, you provide details regarding the company. At this point, the ecommerce business plan begins to take shape. Start filling out the details in the template below to describe your company.

In this section, you will start to define what your company will look like and what it will do. You will also provide details regarding the type of people you will need to run the company. You will also define the resources you already have to run the ecommerce business and the ones you will need. 

For instance, if you have already purchased a domain name and registered the company name as a trademark. Then you can list it as an existing resource. But you have not developed an ecommerce website. So you will list website development under the required resources.

This section of your business plan also gives an overview of the hierarchy and the management team. You will show the number of departments in the company and the key team members for each department. You can also define the operations you will carry out in-house and those you will outsource to external ecommerce agencies .

This section will give you a clear idea of your current standing. It will also help you identify the things you are lacking. But this section, too, is subject to change. You might discover some additional requirements after additional research.

Step 3: Describe your products and services

In this section, you will define details about the products and services your ecommerce business will offer. You will describe what you are offering to your customers. It includes both products and services. You can use the ecommerce business plan template below to define these aspects.

While you would only sell products on your ecommerce platform , you must also provide a few services. These would include order fulfillment systems , customer support, online transactions, and so on. You may only facilitate some of these services by yourself.

For instance, you may use a payment gateway for online transactions. Similarly, you might partner with a courier service to deliver the products to your customers.

Step 4: Conduct market analysis

This is the most important part of making an ecommerce business plan. You must analyze several factors concerning the market segment, competing brands, and competitor products. 

You must understand how your products, services, and brand perception compares against the competition . Use the template below to create a detailed overview of the market you will compete against.

This analysis will affect several other aspects of your ecommerce business plan. At this stage, you must analyze the market and decide what place your company can take in the competitive landscape. You can also use other methods for market research, such as SWOT analysis or Porter’s Five Forces analysis.

Regardless of the method, you need an accurate understanding of what your competitors offer and how you can differentiate your ecommerce brand. This brings us to marketing.

Step 5: Draft your marketing plan

The marketing plan for an ecommerce business primarily depends on two factors. These are the target audience, customer segmentation, and market forces. You will draw relevant insights from the market analysis to define your marketing plan. Here is a template to help you define the marketing strategy for your online store.

Your marketing plan should give you a clear idea of how you will position your brand in the market. You also need to define the channels you will use for different stages of the sales funnel. For example, you can show that you will use Facebook ads to raise awareness and email marketing to engage existing customers.

You can also present additional sections to define your ideal customers using buyer persona. You can create a different persona for different types of potential customers. You can associate each persona with a product and its use cases. Finally, you need to define the ecommerce tools you will need for your marketing efforts. These can be automation tools, CRM software , SEO tools, etc.

Once you have a clear idea of how you will bring the audience to your ecommerce, you have to define how you will convert them into customers. That brings us to the next stage of the ecommerce business plan.

Step 6: Define sales and customer service processes

At this stage, you will define several aspects concerning your customers. These include purchase journeys and after-sales services. This strategy serves as an extension of the marketing plan. See the template below to define your sales and customer service strategy.

With this template, you are essentially defining customer experience with your brand. You will create a strategy for selling the products on different channels. These include ecommerce websites, marketplaces, affiliate websites, social media, etc. You will have to define the sales process for each channel.

You must also draft a plan to create memorable customer experiences. This is crucial for developing a community. It also has a direct impact on sales and revenue. Repeat customers spend 67% more than first-time buyers. Once you have a strategy for acquiring customers, you must build a strategy for delighting and retaining customers.

Step 7: Create a supply chain strategy

The supply chain strategy includes the journey of the product from the supplier to the customer. It includes procurement, manufacturing logistics, warehousing , distribution, order fulfillment , and reverse logistics . Use the template below to create your supply chain strategy. 

In this section of the ecommerce business plan, you will outline how the product will make its way to the customer. Supply chain management involves everything from sourcing the products from a supplier to shipping the products to the customer. 

Alongside the strategy, you also need to define the stages that you will outsource. Creating your supply chain is quite resource intensive. That is why ecommerce businesses outsource certain aspects to 3PL companies . Some of the commonly outsourced services include distribution and logistics (42%), manufacturing (37%), product finishing (29%), and packaging (23%).

This process accounts for a significant portion of ecommerce expenses. It will also impact several customer-facing aspects of the business. This includes the availability of stock, shipping charges , delivery time, and more. Hence, you should define a supply chain strategy for speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

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How to conduct an ecommerce website audit: checklist & benefits, ecommerce conversion rate optimization: expert guide on boosting ecomm cro, ecommerce replatforming: how to migrate your store the right way, step 8: identify legal frameworks.

In this section, you will also cover the applicable legal frameworks for running the ecommerce business. These include business registration, taxation, permits, legal structure, trade laws, etc. Use the template below to define the legal obligations in your ecommerce business plan.

You must understand the laws applicable to running an ecommerce business in your region. If you plan to ship products internationally, you must also understand international shipping laws, customs clearance requirements, import/export regulations, and trade laws in the target market. This section ensures that your company always remains on the right side of the law.

Step 9: Define financial requirements

The final section of an ecommerce business plan is concerned with finances and legal compliances. The preceding sections will give you estimates regarding different aspects of your ecommerce business. These include operations, marketing, procurement, logistics, and so on. 

Based on these estimates, you will define the financial projections for your ecommerce business. This includes both revenue and expenses. You can use the template below to define the financial aspects of your business.

If you pitch the ecommerce business plan to an investor, you must add other details to this section. These would include funding requirements, funding stages, value offerings, etc. This section of your business plan also sheds light on a company’s assets and liabilities.

You must also clarify what you offer the investors against the funds. This can be equity stake, debt, dividends, and so on. This helps potential investors conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

You can go a step further and present key elements of cost-benefit analysis for the ecommerce company. This should highlight the short-term and long-term gains for the new business. You can use this section to show potential investors how your new business will grow in market value based on milestones. These milestones can be defined based on sales, inventory size, revenue, market acquisition, etc.

With this section, you conclude your ecommerce business plan. You need to revisit the executive summary and ensure it aligns with the rest of the document. It is best to review the entire document a few times to ensure you present a unified vision for starting and running your ecommerce business.

Is ecommerce a profitable business?

The profitability of ecommerce businesses depends on several factors. This includes market condition, business structure, product demand, revenue model, etc. You can understand the profitability of your ecommerce business idea by checking brands selling similar products. When first starting out, you can cut costs by leveraging tools like free inventory management software . This can help ease the financial burden of being a new business.

Do I need a business plan for an ecommerce business?

A business plan gives structure to an ecommerce business idea. It is a really helpful document for business owners and entrepreneurs. This document helps you measure the viability of the business model, products, marketing strategy, financial plan, legal structure, operations, and other aspects of the company.

Use The Ecommerce Business Plan to Guide Your Actions

The purpose of creating an ecommerce business plan is to represent your vision systematically. This document will shed light on several aspects of your ecommerce business idea. It will also serve as a guide, philosopher, and friend when you launch your company.

If you are pitching your idea to investors, this document will show them the value that your ecommerce business idea can generate for them. The next step for you is to turn the ecommerce business plan into a company. 

You should subscribe to The Ecomm Manager newsletter for more news, trends, tips, and guides related to ecommerce. These articles can help you optimize and expand your business further.

More great ECM content:

• Ecommerce Platform Guide: How To Choose The Right Solution For Your Business
• How To Use Ecommerce Accounting Software To Maximize Your Money: Methods, Tips & Tools
• What Is Order Management?
• A Guide To The Global Order Fulfillment Process
• An Easy Guide To Ecommerce Shipping: Process, Strategies, Methods & Costs
• Ecommerce Warehouse Process Guide: Expert Tips & Advice for Success
• 26 Types Of Marketing Software And What They Do
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Creating a Stellar Ecommerce Business Plan for Your Online Store

Choose the Right Ecommerce Platform

For years, you’ve purchased items from online businesses or marketplaces like Etsy, eBay and Amazon and thought to yourself, “I could do something like this, too.”

Starting your own ecommerce business may seem intimidating — writing a business plan, even more so.

However, a business plan allows you to validate your business idea, assess your financial position and create a concrete action plan for how you’ll deliver a product from the original source to the end consumer.

In other words, while the business plan might seem like it’s ultimately meant for other people’s benefit — potential investors, business partners or well-meaning family members who keep pestering you to write one — in reality, the business plan benefits you, the business owner, the most.

You’ll shape the vision and mission for your business and map out how you’ll get there. One study by Harvard Business Review found that entrepreneurs who write a formal business plan are 16% more likely to achieve viability than those who don’t.

An ecommerce business plan is a document that outlines your business purpose and goals, analyzes your industry and competitors and identifies the resources needed to execute your plan.

For example, which suppliers will you work with? What types of products will you stock? Who is your ideal buyer? How will you advertise your business? Can you afford to provide free shipping and still make a profit?

Here’s a step-by-step primer on how to write a business plan for your ecommerce store, what elements to include and how to use your own business plan to increase your chance of success.

How to Create An Ecommerce Business Plan

Business plans help entrepreneurs maintain focus on their goals and shape the day-to-day running of a new business. The key elements of an ecommerce business plan template describe blueprints for growth, projected timelines and financial goals — clarifying topics like cash flow, expenses, marketing tools and distribution channels.

Draft an executive summary.

An executive summary provides a concise rundown of the key points in your business plan. In short, it should summarize your chosen industry, business purpose, competitors, business goals and financial position. Executive summaries average 1-3 pages and are ideally under two pages.

What does your business do?

Explain the raison d’être for your startup. What problem will you solve for your customers? Who is the target audience? Where do you want your business to be in one, five, or 10 years?

Here are the main elements of an executive summary:

The problem statement or business opportunity : Describe a pain point or gap in the market that you are uniquely qualified to fill. (“As someone who used to own a convenience store, I heard many of my customers complain about the lack of healthy food options while traveling domestically.”)

Your business idea : State how you plan to approach the problem (“XYZ is a ready-to-eat meal company that lets travelers order and pack healthy meals ahead of trips so they can avoid eating fast food.”)

Company history : Describe what milestones you have achieved. Are you already working with suppliers? What is your current revenue? (“In 2021, XYZ fulfilled over 10,000 orders, generating $150,000 in revenue.”)

Industry and market analysis : Outline the trends in the market that affect your business, market size, and demand for your product. (“In 2022, the global health and wellness food market was valued at $841 billion and is projected to increase to one trillion by 2026.”)

Competition : Explain who your competitors are, outline their strengths and weaknesses, and make it clear how you will differentiate.

Timeline for key milestones : Project when you plan to achieve goals like breaking even, launching an IPO, or other key milestones.

Financial plan (if you are seeking funding from investors or banks).

What goals does your business want to achieve?

Set short- and long-term goals for your business, such as achieving a certain amount of revenue or testing a new product idea. Business goals can be general and high-level or they can focus on specific, measurable actions (SMART goals).

The most realistic goal-setting approach is to set short-term goals as stepping stones to your long-term goals. For example, your short-term goal to decrease website bounce rate by 25% within 12 weeks might help you reach the long-term goal of growing conversions by 50% within one year.

Timeframes for short-term goals can range from a few hours to a year, while long-term goals generally take 1-5 years to achieve.

What products do you sell?

Outline your product offerings and specify where you’ll source each item. Some ecommerce businesses manufacture products in-house. Others work with wholesalers, manufacturers or print-on-demand businesses to resell their products.

Curate a tight product line that demonstrates your value proposition. Why should someone buy from your online store rather than another brand? Why would someone choose your products over a substitute if you don't produce goods in-house?

Ecommerce companies sell three types of products: goods, services and digital products. Tell your readers what you intend to sell and why. List each item and its purpose. For each, you want to answer the question “why?” Why are you choosing to offer these specific products and services? How do you plan on fulfilling orders?

If you’re offering a service, explain what you do and where. Are you local? Do you travel to your customers? Will you partner with similar service providers in other areas?

How will customers access the item if you're offering a digital product? Will they download software or education videos from your site? Will they pay a subscription or usage-based fee? What about licensing requirements? Mention intellectual property ownership (if applicable) including trademarks, patents and copyrights.

Who is your audience?

Describe your ideal customer. Define your product or service from their point of view. What problems does your product solve for them? What benefits or features do customers look for when shopping for that product type?

Create customer profiles that summarize your target audience in terms of demographics (age, location, gender, etc) and psychographics (pain points, interests, buying patterns). Consider creating customer segments based on shared characteristics if you cater to a wide audience.

Demographic data should include the following points:

Education level.

Relationship status.

Occupation.

Meanwhile, discover your target customer’s motivations, needs and wants as much as possible. Psychographic data should include the following points:

Where are you going to sell your products?

Outline your sales channels, both future and existing. For example, your main point-of-sale might be your ecommerce site. Be sure to include stats on site traffic and conversions so readers know how your site is performing.

Still, you might also offer your products online on marketplaces like eBay, Amazon and Etsy. Explain how each of these channels is performing and how you’re optimizing them for product discoverability and conversions (eg: following SEO best practices, using high-quality images, highlighting user-generated content).

Identify your company overview.

Tell your brand's story , its purpose, and how the company was founded. In addition to the company description, provide details on how you currently run the business. List your business partners and employees and describe the business's legal structure.

The best brand names are memorable and communicate the essence of your business. Brand names gain icon status because they represent an excellent product or service, so don’t obsess over it.

That said, the right brand name can be your brand’s most valuable asset, driving differentiation and speeding acceptance. In fact, 71% of consumers prefer to buy from brands they recognize.

If you’re struggling to come up with a name, try using an online brand name generator as a jumping-off point. Remember, you’re not locked into a single brand name forever.

Business structure

Describe the legal structure of your business. Is it a sole proprietorship, LLC, an S-Corp or a partnership? Consider speaking to an accountant if you’re not sure. Who is in charge of the business? List founders and officers and their contributions (both capital and expertise) to the company. Who works for the company? Include an org chart that illustrates who currently works for the business and the roles you plan to hire for . List their responsibilities, salaries and terms of employment (freelance, full-time, part-time).[

Your business structure]( https://bristax.com.au/business-articles/business-structures/ ) affects how much you pay in taxes, your ability to raise money, the paperwork you must file and your personal liability in the event of business bankruptcy, so this information is important to lenders. Also mention if you have filed or plan to file for any applicable licenses or permits.

Domain name

Register a unique domain name for your business. A catchy brand name is essential because the domain is less likely to have been claimed by another business. Keep your domain name as short as possible and ensure it includes your brand name for SEO purposes.

Your mission describes the fundamental purpose of your business. It should tell people why the business exists and how it benefits its customers. For example, LinkedIn’s mission statement is “connect the world’s professionals and make them more productive and successful.”

However, be careful not to exaggerate. An overly aspirational mission statement is disingenuous and wishy-washy — no single corporation or small business will single-handedly “change the world.”

A vision statement is a declaration of what you want your business to achieve in the future by fulfilling its purpose. It describes your company’s “why,” while the mission statement describes the “who” and “what” of the business.

Your vision statement should define your values as a business (eg: reducing waste generated by single-use toiletries) and future goals (achieving a zero-waste world by implementing a circular economy).

Background information

Tell the story of how you conceived your business idea. Say you’re a former school teacher who discovered your artistic flair from making handmade pottery in your garage on weekends. Describe how your business has grown and changed since you first started it.

Your team and key people

List the key personnel in your company. Aside from the founders and executive team, who keeps the business running each day? Here are a few examples:

Company owner — that’s probably you.

CEO — that’s probably also you.

Management team.

Customer service manager.

Logistics manager.

PR and social media specialist.

Advertising manager.

SEO manager.

Copywriters.

Conduct market research.

Ecommerce businesses face intense competition and are liable to market disruptions because they rely on third parties (suppliers, shipping companies, wholesalers) to deliver a product or service. Knowing the market in and out will help you build a more resilient business.

A market analysis considers your ideal customer (their purchase habits and behaviors), competitors (their strengths and weaknesses), market conditions (industry trends and long-term outlook), and how your business fits into this landscape.

The point of a target market analysis is to:

Identify the most and least valuable markets.

Develop buyer personas.

Find gaps in the market to fill.

Assess the viability of a product or service.

Improve business strategy .

Market opportunities

The first step to identifying your target market is determining your total addressable market (TAM) — the maximum market size for your product or service. Who are your customers? What are their demographic and psychographic traits? When and how often will they buy your product?

The best way to obtain a high-level overview of your customer base is to consult your social media and web analytics. These dashboards show where your customers live, their age, gender, general interests and more. You can also use U.S. Census Bureau data to pad up this information.

Competitive analysis

Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your current and potential competitors. First, find out who your direct and indirect competitors are. You can perform a Google search of businesses that sell similar products or scope out rivals in your local area.

Here’s what you need to know about your competitors:

What markets and segments they serve.

What benefits they offer.

Why their customers buy from them.

Details of products and services, including pricing and promotional strategies.

Search for publicly available information about your competitors. Aside from that, do some of your own primary research. Visit their website and complete an order or visit their physical outlet.

Next, analyze the information. Is there a segment of the market your competition has overlooked? Is there a product they don’t supply? Did you have a bad customer experience when you walked into the store?

Detail your competitive advantage in your business plan. Don’t just list things that your competitors do — that’s not analysis. The competitive analysis section aims to persuade the reader that you are knowledgeable about the competition and that your business idea has a significant advantage over the competition.

Products and services

List the products and services you provide and how customers will access them. If you’re selling digital products, will customers have to stream or download the content? Do they pay a subscription fee to access a content platform or do they pay for each individual content piece? If you’re providing a service, will you provide it on physical premises or will you travel to customers’ homes? Will you sell physical products in a physical store or online? What is your website like? List each product, including a short product description and pricing information.

Develop a marketing plan.

You need a go-to-market strategy if you haven’t already launched your business. How will you spread the word about your business? How and where will you advertise and what is your budget? If you run social media ads, for example, what platforms will you use and who is your target audience? Will you do content marketing and SEO? A thorough marketing plan answers all of these important questions.

Marketing channels

Define which channels match your consumer demographic. Do your potential customers spend time on Facebook or do they prefer YouTube? First, figure out where your potential customers are. Next, create attention-grabbing marketing strategies and use them to reach your customer base.

Paid marketing channels

PPC advertising : Advertise on Google’s search engine and pay only once someone clicks on your ad. You can bid for ad placement in the search engine’s sponsored links when someone searches a keyword related to your business offering.

Affiliate marketing : Embed links to another business’s products in your content and receive a commission when someone makes a purchase using your unique affiliate link.

Social media ads : Run paid ads on social media apps and platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to reach targeted audiences. Ads can use different creatives such as images, videos and GIFs.

Influencer marketing : Work with a popular influencer who will promote your products to their followers. Influencers are paid based on conversions or reach.

Organic marketing channels

Brands must use an organic marketing strategy to build brand awareness and engagement and drive website traffic.

Examples include:

Search engine optimization (SEO) : Optimize your website, web pages and blog posts for maximum discoverability on search engines. This involves doing keyword research for your industry, creating high-quality content that attracts and converts and using keywords in the right places.

Social media posts : Organic social media posts build brand awareness and humanize the brand by providing a behind-the-scenes look at the company and allowing you to share engaging visual content to inspire, educate and entertain.

Blogger networks : Collaborating with trusted bloggers on link exchanges can help you build website backlinks, improving your search engine ranking.

Content marketing : Organic content includes blog posts, white papers, SEO pages, and more. This gives you content to post on social media and improves the discoverability of your website. Websites that publish high-quality content consistently rank higher in search results.

Email marketing : Create email templates for new and potential customers, cart abandonment, promotions and announcements and more.

Logistics and Operations plan

This portion of the business plan covers what you physically need to run your ecommerce company. Basically, it outlines how you’ll manage the flow of goods from the supplier (you or a third party) to the consumer. You cannot start a business without an established supply chain.

Your logistics and operations plan should cover the following:

Suppliers : Where do your raw materials or products come from? Do you work with a manufacturer who produces your product idea or are you reselling products from a supplier, wholesaler or distributor? What is the minimum order value? Do they require payment upfront or after the sale? Do you have a backup supplier in case demand spikes or there is a problem with fulfillment?

Production : Will you create your own products or use a third-party manufacturer or dropshipping company? If you’re creating your own products, where will this be done? What assets and equipment do you need? What are your operating costs?

Shipping and fulfillment : Outline how the product will reach the end consumer. How long will it take you to pack and ship products to customers? Will you use a third-party shipper? Will you ship internationally?

Inventory : How much inventory will you keep on hand and where will you put it? How will you track incoming and outgoing inventory? Do you need warehouse storage space?

Establish a financial plan.

The financial section of your business plan is where you prove the feasibility of your business idea and calculate your startup costs. It includes financial projections and statements that show your business’s current financial position and project where you hope to be in the future. This is one of the essential components of the business plan, particularly if you are seeking investment funding, a bank loan or a business partner.

Income statement

In this document, you’ll forecast the company’s revenues and expenses during a particular period. Total revenue is the sum of both operating and non-operating revenues while total expenses include those incurred by primary and secondary activities.

If you subtract your expenses from your revenue sources, you’ll come up with your bottom line (profit or loss).

Balance sheet

A balance sheet helps you calculate how much equity you have in your business. It summarizes your company’s assets (what you own), your liabilities (what you owe) and equity (money invested into the business plus profits).

A balance sheet enables you to calculate your net worth. All of your assets (machinery, inventory, business premises, etc.) go in a column on the left and your liabilities (accounts and wages payable, business loan repayments, business credit card payments, taxes) go in a column on the right. If you subtract your liabilities from your assets, you get your business’ shareholder equity.

Cash-flow statement

This document shows how much cash is generated and spent over a time period. Cash flow determines whether your business is primarily gaining or losing money. Positive cash flow and profit margins are important because it enables your business to repay bank loans, purchase commodities and keep the lights on.

How to Increase Ecommerce Sales

Explore our collection of free resources designed to help you scale smarter and accelerate your online growth from $1 million to $100 million.

The Final Word

Writing a comprehensive business plan is crucial not only for staying on track in the first year or so after launching your business but also for securing funding, finding a business partner and evaluating the viability of your business idea.

FAQs About Ecommerce Business Plans

Who needs an ecommerce business plan, what are the benefits of creating a business plan, how do i start an ecommerce business with no money, browse additional resources.

Ecommerce Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

Ecommerce Business Plan Template

If you want to start an Ecommerce business or expand your current one, you need a business plan.

Your Ecommerce business plan will accomplish several key objectives. First, it will help you create goals for your Ecommerce business and give you a roadmap to follow to reach them. It will also help you develop the right strategies to attain your goals. For example, by understanding trends in the Ecommerce industry, the strengths and weaknesses of other ecommerce businesses, and the demographic and psychographic needs of your target market, you can craft better product and marketing strategies.

You can download our Ecommerce Business Plan Template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

The following Ecommerce business plan template gives you the key elements to include in a winning business plan for an ecommerce startup or an existing ecommerce business.

Below are links to each of the key sections of a sample ecommerce business plan:

E-commerce Business Plan FAQs

What is an e-commerce business plan, do i need an e-commerce business plan, how often should i update my e-commerce business plan, how do i write an e-commerce business plan.

• Executive Summary - In this section, you will provide an overview of your e-commerce business including highlights from each section of the business plan.
• Company Overview - This section includes a description of your company, its legal form of business, where you are located and/or based out of, who is involved in the venture (both financially and non-financially), who your customers will be, and why a consumer should buy from you instead of a competitor.
• Industry Analysis - Here you will describe the current state of the industry that your business is involved in by providing relevant data. This information will allow you to then describe the competitive landscape, any barriers that may affect entry into this industry, and how your company plans to overcome these obstacles.
• Customer Analysis - Identify who your customer is and why they would buy from you. What is the size of your market? How will you reach your target audience?
• Competitive Analysis - Identify who your major competitors are. What are the different ways that you can differentiate your company from these competitors?
• Marketing Plan - This section should include a description of your target customer, how you will reach them, and what the cost associated with this activity will be.
• Operations Plan - This section should discuss how you will run your day-to-day operations. This includes information such as manufacturing or service delivery, inventory management and any other key issues related to how your company will operate.
• Management Team - This section should be composed of resumes for each member of your management team including any current gaps in their skill sets.
• Financial Plan - This section should include projected income statements, balance sheets and cash flow forecasts for the first three years. You will need to provide both your financials as well as those of any sub companies you are involved in.

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Ecommerce Business Plan Outline

BUSINESS STRATEGIES

How to create a defensible eCommerce business plan

• Allison Lee

In order for your online business to survive its first precarious years—and to thrive beyond them—you need a solid ecommerce business plan.

Most eCommerce websites  are built on a dream, a passion or a noble goal of fixing something that lacks a proper solution.

But unfortunately, many businesses don’t last more than a few months. A discouraging truth about eCommerce is that 90% of startups fail  in the first 120 days.

After all, some of the most common reasons why businesses fail include lack of capital, inadequate management, and a faulty business model. Much of this is a symptom of poor planning. Here’s how you can better plan for your brand’s future and create a strong eCommerce business  plan in order to bring your eCommerce business ideas  to life.

What is an eCommerce business plan?

A business plan  is a roadmap for how to structure, operate, and manage your business. It includes the important elements that define your company—such as your name, description, capital needs, product categories, target market characteristics, and business goals.

A thoughtful ecommerce business plan can prepare your store for a successful launch and/or help it to scale in the right ways. In the latter case, an annual business plan review and revision can help you adapt to industry changes and anticipate new trends or consumer behaviors.

In a nutshell, an ecommerce business plan helps you to:

Secure funding: By having a business plan that details the who, what, where, when, and hows of your business—you’ll enjoy an easier time building trust with investors and piquing their interest.

Filter distractions: New trends and distractions crop up all the time in eCommerce, making it especially important to have a plan that holds your business accountable to (read: focused on) particular goals.

Do your due diligence: When you’re first figuring out how to start a business , it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and act on gut feelings. But building a business plan requires you to slow down and perform more thorough research on your target market, product(s), financial plan, and more.

Plan for the long term: Your business plan will help you to better gauge where your business should be in both the short and long terms. It can also act as a compass, estimating the steps you need to take to get from where you are today to where you want to go.   

Grow your team: An ecommerce business plan not only gives you a sense of who to hire and when, but serves as the glue binding your team to one, clearly defined vision.

Grow your operations: Between your tech stack, staff, supply chain, website, and more—there’s a lot that needs to be put into motion before your eCommerce business can take off. Your business plan should outline all of these moving parts, helping you strategically build out your operations.

How to create an eCommerce business plan

An eCommerce business plan is structured similarly to a traditional business plan. However, it will detail things like your website builder, eCommerce merchandising methods , sales channels, fulfillment process, and goals that are distinct to building an online store  and running it successfully.

Here’s a breakdown of what you should include in your plan and how to create it:

Write your executive summary  

Include your company name, description, and domain  

Perform eCommerce market analysis  

List the products you’re selling and why  

Plot your operations plan  

Set out your marketing and advertising plan  

Lay out your financial plan  

01. Write your executive summary

Though this is published at the beginning of your business plan, your executive summary should be written last.

This summary is exactly as it sounds. It connects and introduces all the components of your document for readers who want a brief overview of what your business is all about. It’s similar to a hook or an elevator pitch that compels readers to continue scrolling.

Keep this summary short. Do not exceed one page, and include a brief description of your product or service, growth opportunities, and why your business is set up for success. What do investors or teammates need to know right off the bat?

02. Include your company name and description

In this section, you’ll want to outline the who, what and why of your business. Rather than going into details about the products you plan to sell (this comes later), talk about your vision for the company. Share your motivations, values and problems that you plan to solve.

Your description can include things like:

Brand name: Selecting a meaningful name is particularly important for eCommerce businesses since your website domain will be closely associated with your brand. Jeff Bezos famously named Amazon after the world’s largest river because his goal was to create the world’s largest bookstore, but also didn’t want to be tied to books. Similarly, you’ll want to pick a name that you won’t outgrow. If you need some inspiration, give Wix’s store name generator  a whirl or check out this guide to eCommerce business names .

Domain name : At this point, you’ll want to have registered a domain name. Use Wix’s domain name search  to check if your preferred domain is available. If the domain is taken, you can take one of several steps: contact the site owner directly, tweak your domain (e.g., add a verb like “get” to the front of your name), use a different TLD than .com, or use an abbreviated form of your name.

Background: Your description is a great place to share why you started your ecommerce business in the first place. What inspired you to create your brand? Who do you plan to serve? What do you plan to accomplish? While you want to avoid waxing poetic here, it’s worth giving your readers an inside look into the history of your company.

Vision: Your vision statement  should capture the ideal state of your business. In other words, what is the future that you’re building towards—not just now, but five or 10 years from now?

Mission: Your mission statement , on the other hand, should express what you’re striving and able to achieve now. While your vision statement provides the 30,000 foot view of your company, your mission statement acts as a compass for your team and keeps them motivated to do their best.

Business structure: Be clear about whether your company is a sole proprietorship, an LLC , s-corporation, c-corporation or partnership . If you’re not sure which applies to you or which one to pursue, consult a lawyer or accountant.

Key personnel: Name key team members like your cofounders, CEO, partners, and upper management. There should be no question about who owns the company and who is responsible for managing what. This is not something just meant for appearances—your team should be well-structured to ensure efficiency and growth.

Core values: Your values should represent how you plan to run your ecommerce business. Investors and employees will want to know that they’re backing the right horse, not just from a financial perspective but from a human perspective. Your values will naturally make an appearance in your vision, mission, and background, but make sure that your values are clearly stated for readers to refer back to.

03. Perform eCommerce market analysis

Your ecommerce business plan should include extensive information about your industry and the people you plan to serve. The last thing you want to do is enter the ring blindly or operate based on assumptions alone.

This section should describe everything from the barriers to entry, to how your business fits into the existing landscape, to how much opportunity exists. Remember that you’re the expert here. Not everyone who gets their hands on this doc will have as much insight into the industry—nor the time to research it on their own—so you’ll want to provide all the essential information up front.

Target market: Estimate the number of consumers who need your product (based on real independent research) and how often they may make a purchase. Revisit your buyer personas  and describe who you’re planning to target. Is the need for your product growing, based on the climate of your industry? What consumer behaviors have you observed? Are there any doubts or questions that you should address?

Competitive analysis: Identify your top competitors and perform a deep dive into their strengths, weaknesses, top products, pricing strategies, and more. You should know how your business stacks up against these players. For example, many companies manufacture and sell hair and body care products but Lush built its reputation by taking a stand against animal testing, over packaging and harsh synthetic ingredients. The company has a clear niche of eco-friendly products within the cosmetics and bath products industry. They create unique, memorable products that are easy to differentiate from competitors (and fuel brand loyalty). The most important thing at this stage is to be honest in your assessment. Don’t turn a blind eye to areas where your company needs to improve or any risks that you run. At the same time, zero in on any product gaps or niches that your company can effectively target to get ahead of competitors.

Special considerations: As an eCommerce business, you may not simply sell D2C  from your branded site. You may also choose to sell on third-party marketplaces like Amazon, sell wholesale, or open brick-and-mortar locations. Each of these may involve a different set of competitors and buyers. Take the time to look into each of these channels separately. Understand how you plan to compete on all of these different fronts (or perhaps now is a good time to define which is most important to start off with).

04. List the products you’re selling and why you’re selling them

By now, you’ve likely mentioned your product several times within your ecommerce business plan. Still, you’ll want to have a section that clearly lists out your products.

In this section, describe your pricing, product positioning , margins, product life cycle , and key differentiators. You can include pictures and product reviews if you’ve already tested your items in the market. Or, if you’re still in the research and development phase, describe your timeline and progress in detail.

It should be clear whether your products are private label  or sourced elsewhere. If you only sell a few items, provide a more detailed description of each. Alternatively, if your catalog is too large to list out, give a more general overview of each product type, plus the strategy behind them.

05. Plot your operations plan

If your ecommerce business plan is meant to serve as an internal doc for your team to use (or even if you want investors to see where your capital is going), include a section that describes how you plan on tackling logistics and operations. There are tons of things to keep track of on this front, from the suppliers you’ll need to work with to the storage space you’ll require.

Here’s a breakdown of information you can include.

Suppliers: List out your suppliers for raw and/or finished goods. Where are they located? How do you plan on connecting with and managing them?

Production: Are you dropshipping , manufacturing, hand-crafting, or buying your products wholesale? Include details like lead time, contingency plans (for when demand spikes), and other essential details about your supply chain.

Equipment: What hardware and software will you need to conduct business? Include your website builder and other subscription-based tools that you’ll need.

Warehousing: Explain where you plan on storing your products—whether that be your own warehouse or a third-party logistics (3PL) provider.

Facilities: Do you plan on opening a brick-and-mortar location or will you have a designated office space? Include where your team members will be operating out of and how that might change as you grow.

Personnel: You’ll want to be clear about the chain of command and which roles are filled or need to be filled. Don’t forget to think about any legal or accounting needs, in addition to board members, consultants, and employees.

Inventory: How do you plan on handling inventory management ? This is an area where lots of ecommerce businesses stumble, so you’ll want to have a clear strategy (and the necessary technology) to keep this in check across all of your sales channels.

Shipping and fulfillment: Do you plan on fulfilling orders on your own or will you outsource this responsibility? Moreover, how will you handle international shipping if your brand plans on selling overseas?

06. Set out your marketing and advertising plan

It’s no secret that you need a good marketing and advertising plan to grow your eCommerce business .

But you may be surprised to know that a staggering 37% of surveyed startup owners  said that poor online marketing caused their businesses to fail. Of this cohort, 35% said that a lack of online search visibility was the top reason.

That’s why you don’t want to haphazardly build your eCommerce marketing strategy . Think of—and document—the various components of your strategy:

Social media ads

Content marketing/SEO

Organic social media

Email marketing

Influencer marketing

Promos/discounts

Affiliate marketing

Loyalty programs

Events/pop-ups/ flash sales /trade shows

Radio or TV

Brand partnerships

A strong marketing plan  doesn’t necessarily require a big advertising budget. But you’ll want to name your top channels upfront and specify whether these things will be handled in-house or with an agency’s help.

07. Lay out your financial plan

So you’ve got big plans for your eCommerce business. How will you fund them?

This is where you reassure readers that your head isn’t just in the clouds. While this is probably the least fun to write, the viability of your online business (and your reader’s confidence in you) relies on having a firm grasp of the numbers.

If you plan to seek financing, then investors and lenders will want a sales forecast along with your list of expenses (this includes both fixed costs and variable costs) to ultimately ensure that they’re making a sound investment.

Or, if you don’t plan on seeking third-party funding, a financial plan still tells you how much money you’ll need to run your business and helps to protect you from unwelcome surprises. The last thing you want is to run out of money before you can establish yourself—which is one of the top five reasons that eCommerce startups failed in the same survey mentioned above.

Consider including these elements within your ecommerce financial plan:

Startup cost

Income and expenses

Balance sheet

Cash flow statement

Break even point

Customer acquisition cost

Key assumptions

Financial projects for next five years

Whether you’ve just dipped your foot in eCommerce or have been in business for years now, you’ll need an up-to-date business plan to run a tight ship. Download our free business plan template  today and build a solid foundation for your brand.

Ecommerce business plan FAQ

Why do i need an ecommerce business plan.

Having an eCommerce business plan is essential for several reasons. It serves as a roadmap that outlines your business goals, strategies, and tactics, helping you navigate the complexities of starting and running an online store.

What are the main steps included in an eCommerce business plan?

Related posts.

7 types of eCommerce you need to know to succeed

What are eCommerce KPIs and how to track them?

28 best eCommerce tools to power your online store’s growth

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7 steps to creating a captivating ecommerce business plan

Use our free template to attract investment to your ecommerce business

Ananth Ramanathan

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By 2026, almost 24% of all retail purchases will take place online.

As these numbers suggest, today is unarguably the best time to start an ecommerce business. However, if you want to get a slice of this $8 trillion pie, you’re going to need to do some preparation first.

In this blog, I’m going to give you a step-by-step guide to creating an ecommerce business plan. This will not only help you set clear goals but also help you attract investor funding.

Let’s get into it 👇

What is an ecommerce business plan?

An ecommerce business plan is a strategic document that outlines your online business’s goals, objectives and operational details. It helps you and your investors understand the business’s direction, competition, marketing strategies and financial requirements.

Simply put, an ecommerce business plan is a structured way to lay out your business idea . It makes it easier to share with investors and people who can help your business succeed. The more details your ecommerce plan has, the better you can accomplish your goals.

Benefits of an ecommerce business plan

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of creating an ecommerce business plan, let's clarify why it's crucial. A well-constructed ecommerce business plan helps you realise the following benefits:

• Get clarity on your overarching strategy - decide a clear direction of travel for your ecommerce business
• Set goals - monitoring ecommerce business metrics allows you to track your progress and stay focused
• Mitigate risks - by conducting thorough market research and risk analysis, you can identify and address potential pitfalls
• Allocate resources - effectively budget to ensure your online store doesn't run out of steam before reaching the finish line
• Attract investors - if you're seeking funding, a well-crafted ecommerce business plan can be a powerful tool for convincing investors and banks to support your online business

Now, let's journey into creating your comprehensive ecommerce business plan!👇

7 steps to creating the perfect ecommerce business plan

1 - Create an executive summary

The executive summary introduces people to your vision, mission, objectives and key metrics, piquing interest in your business.

Vision and mission

Your vision is the North Star you want your ecommerce business to follow. It's the big picture or the end goal.

Your mission is your compass. It directs your daily efforts towards achieving that vision.

For instance, for your ecommerce store, your vision could be to create an online retail empire that revolutionises the shopping experience.

Your mission could be to provide a wide range of high-quality products and services and deliver them with exceptional customer care.

Business objectives

Goals are the milestones on your journey to success. Make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART).

For instance, you might aim to generate $100,000 in annual revenue in the first 12 months of your ecommerce business. You could use the SMART framework to achieve this goal like so:

• S - I need to register a 20% average monthly revenue growth to hit my goal
• M - I need to track performance metrics like cost per acquisition, average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value (CLV). I want to ensure we’re trending in the right direction
• A - I have a deep understanding of the customer base I’m serving and the problems I need to solve for them, meaning my goal is attainable
• R - I need to scale my user base if I want my ecommerce business to be sustainable
• T - I need to split my yearly website visitor goal into quarters to track my progress

Key metrics

These are the measurable data points that will show your business performance. Some examples include customer acquisition cost (CAC), churn rate and user satisfaction scores.

These metrics will be your guide throughout the journey, informing your decisions and strategies.

For your ecommerce business, you'd want to track:

• CAC - aim for $20 or less
• CLV - maintain an average of $100 or more
• Monthly revenue growth - target a 20% month-on-month growth rate
• Churn rate - keep churn below 20% per month

2 - Company overview

This section of your ecommerce business plan describes exactly what your company does. Here, you’re introducing your business to your potential investors and partners, telling them how it is different from your competitors or other ecommerce companies.

You’ll also need to explain what makes your business unique, your business model, ownership and management structure.

This section should include:

Company description

A company description explains what your company does and how it aims to fill the gaps in the current marketplace. Here, you should include the most compelling benefits of your business and how they’ll bring in customers.

Your company description also includes your company’s history, target market and audience, while also describing how you plan to evolve with changing customer preferences.

Business model

A business model outlines whether:

• You’re planning to use a traditional sales model or a subscription model
• You’ll sell directly to customers or source products for other manufacturers
• You’ll operate a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-customer (B2C) ecommerce store

Unique selling proposition (USP)

This section explains how your business will stand out from the competition and what your plan is to become a leader in the industry. It also answers how your product or service will fulfil the needs of your customers and what problems you’re trying to solve.

Management structure

The ownership and management structure provides background on your business’s leadership and details about the composition of your workforce.

3 - Describe your product and services

Now that you’ve described your business and its goals, it’s time to go deeper into your ecommerce business plan. In this section, you’ll describe the range of products or services your online store will offer.

If you plan to offer a wide range of products, then provide a brief description for each product line. Or if you want to sell a select few items, then provide more details about each product, like the cost of manufacturing and selling price. This ensures that potential investors gain a thorough understanding of your product offerings and business ethos.

Product and service descriptions should also clarify for investors whether you manufacture the products, dropship them or source them from a wholesaler. This section is a good place to tell them how your products are superior to the competition and what advantages they provide to your customers.

Finally, mention the payment gateways, courier services or third-party aggregators you’re partnered with to provide the shopping experience to your customers.

4 - Conduct competitive analysis

Understanding your competitors is essential for any ecommerce business. A thorough competitive analysis helps you:

Identify direct competitors

Identify online stores that are similar to yours, offering comparable services or products. Then analyse their strengths and weaknesses, their market positioning and their user base.

As an ecommerce business, an obvious competitor would be Amazon. After performing a competitor SWOT analysis, you might find the following information:

• Strengths - vast product selection, efficient logistics and a strong brand
• Weaknesses - intense competition, limited personalisation
• Opportunities - expanding into new markets and verticals
• Threats - regulatory challenges, reputation management

Identify indirect competitors

Aside from your direct competitors, alternative solutions may also be competing for your target audience's time and attention.

For your ecommerce store, you need to consider brick-and-mortar stores as part of your competitive analysis. After researching them, you might find the following information:

• Strengths - in-person experience, instant gratification
• Weaknesses - limited product selection, restricted operating hours
• Opportunities - ecommerce integration, enhanced customer service
• Threats - ecommerce competition, evolving consumer behaviour

Uncover competitive advantages

With this information, you can determine what sets your online store apart. It could be a better pricing strategy or a niche focus on a specific user segment. Only by understanding your competitive advantage can you gain clarity about your online business's unique value proposition.

Building on who your competitors might be, you could consider these as your competitive advantages:

• Curated product selection
• Personalised shopping experience
• Superior customer support
• Streamlined mobile shopping
• A loyalty rewards program

5 - Develop a marketing plan

Your marketing plan should outline four main topics:

Positioning strategy

• Acquisition channels

Tools and technology

Goals and evaluation.

A positioning strategy is a distinct image or perception of a product or service in consumers' minds.

A positioning strategy's goal is to differentiate your product or service from the competition. It aims to create a clear and distinct value proposition for consumers.

To create a positioning strategy, you must:

• Define the personality and characteristics of your brand
• Position your products based on the perceived value they offer in relation to their price
• Develop messaging that communicates your unique value proposition
• Ensure consistency across all touchpoints, including messaging, colours, logo etc.

An effective positioning strategy allows you to occupy a distinct and favourable place in the minds of your consumers. This makes it more memorable and appealing.

For example, footwear brand Crocs was once considered unappealing. But over a period of time, they transformed their brand image by changing their positioning.

Tapping into the rise of ugly-chic fashion trends, Crocs decided to collaborate with luxury brands and influencers in order to reach new audiences.

Today, Crocs has become one of the hottest fashion brands in the world, selling over 850 million pairs of shoes .

Marketing channels

In this section, you highlight the marketing channels you’ll use to acquire customers. These are the specific methods that your business will use to reach out to and engage with potential customers.

• Paid advertising - use Google Ads for targeted keyword advertising and product listings; alternatively, you can invest in paid advertising on social media platforms
• Content marketing - develop content that addresses the challenges and needs of your target audience; you should also create informative content about your products and industry trends
• Social media marketing - choose social media platforms where your target audience is active
• Email marketing - create personalised email campaigns for each segment of your target audience
• Influencer marketing - find influencers whose audience matches your target market, collaborating with them to promote your products
• Events and trade show marketing - network and build brand awareness at industry-specific events, trade shows and conferences

Here, you’ll shed some light on the tech stack you’re going to use to execute your marketing campaigns.

Many different tools and technologies can help you execute your marketing campaigns. Some of the common tools include:

• Marketing automation software - automate repetitive tasks, like scheduling social media posts and managing email marketing
• Customer relationship management (CRM) software - manage and analyse data to create personalised customer experiences; you can also track customer’s history of interactions with your brand
• Social media management tools - they help you plan, schedule and analyse social media performance with one platform

These are the metrics you typically use to evaluate your marketing efforts. Here, you also need to define the goals you want to achieve through marketing.

Some of the key metrics that you need to consider are:

• Revenue and sales - use metrics like average order value, total revenue or conversion rate
• Traffic and engagement - look into page views, website traffic or social media followers
• Brand awareness and perception - use metrics like net promoter score (NPS), brand recognition rate or customer satisfaction
• Customer acquisition and retention - for retention look into churn rate, customer lifetime value (CLV) or customer satisfaction

6 - Plan your finances

The clarity of your financial data, including your costs , budgets and revenue projections, is a dealbreaker when it comes to securing investor funding. And while you may need to amend them over time, presenting a clear picture is crucial.

Here’s how you can start to do that:

Online store development costs

Estimate the cost of labour, technology, software licences, equipment and other resources. Be detailed in your estimates to avoid unexpected financial surprises.

Operating expenses

Forecast your ongoing expenses, such as server hosting, marketing, customer support, maintenance and any other operational costs. A well-prepared budget will help you manage your resources effectively.

Revenue projections

Predict your revenue based on user growth and your chosen business model. Don’t be too outlandish with your estimates and consider multiple scenarios, including best-case and worst-case, to understand the range of potential outcomes.

Break-even analysis

Determine when your online store will start generating enough revenue to cover all its costs. The break-even point is a crucial milestone that indicates the financial sustainability of your ecommerce business.

7 - Use the ecommerce business plan to secure funding

Once you have your ecommerce business plan, it’s time to use it as a tool to get you the funds you need to develop your online store.

Choosing the right funding source depends on your online store's development stage, funding needs, and the trade-offs you're willing to make in terms of control and equity.

Here are the various avenues you can follow to raise capital for your ecommerce business:

Personal savings

If you have personal savings, this can be an initial source of funding for your ecommerce business. Using your own funds can give you more control and flexibility.

Bootstrapping

This involves building and growing your ecommerce business without external funding. Bootstrapping may require you to invest your own money, work with a small team and focus on organic growth.

Angel investors

Angel investors are individuals who provide capital to early-stage startups in exchange for equity in the company. Finding the right angel investor can bring not only funding but also valuable expertise and connections.

Venture capital

Venture capital firms invest in startups with high growth potential. They typically provide larger amounts of funding in exchange for equity. Venture capital can fuel rapid expansion, but it also involves giving up a portion of ownership.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo, allow you to raise funds from a large number of people. They believe in your ecommerce business idea and thus invest in you. In return, backers may receive rewards or early access to your online store.

Traditional bank loans can provide capital for your ecommerce business, but they require repayment with interest. Ensure you have a solid business plan and financial projections to secure a loan.

Grants and competitions

Some governments, organisations and startup competitions offer grants or prizes for innovative business ideas. These opportunities can provide non-dilutive funding.

Things to do once your business plan is complete

1- Create your online store

Now that you’ve used your ecommerce business plan to secure funding, it’s time to actually start your ecommerce store . Here are the key steps you need to follow:

Find the right development team

Depending on your ecommerce store’s complexity, you might need developers, designers, quality assurance experts, project managers and more. Choose individuals or teams with the skills and expertise to execute your vision.

Choose the platform

Select the right platforms (e.g., website, app or web app) and technologies that align with your store's objectives. Different platforms offer different advantages and cater to distinct user bases, so choose wisely. Additionally, consider the technology stack and tools required for your ecommerce store development .

Select features and functionalities

Define the core features of your online store. For instance, you might need:

• Secure payment processing
• User-friendly product search and filters
• Product recommendations
• Customer reviews and ratings
• Wish lists and shopping carts
• Order tracking and customer support
• User profiles and loyalty program integration

Set development timeline

Set milestones and deadlines for your ecommerce store's development phases. A well-structured timeline helps you track progress, manage resources and launch your store on schedule. Be realistic and account for unexpected delays that can occur during development.

2 - Perform an internal SWOT analysis

To ensure the long-term success of your online store, you need to update your business plans as well as your store’s features and functionalities.

Here, a SWOT analysis can help. This is a simple yet powerful strategic planning tool, helping you evaluate your store’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

This analysis helps you gain a better understanding of your business’s current position in the market. It also helps you make informed decisions about its future development and capitalise on market developments.

The first step to conducting a SWOT analysis for your ecommerce business is to identify its current strengths. This involves taking an honest and comprehensive look at what your store excels at in its current state.

After identifying your ecommerce business’s strengths, it’s time to acknowledge its weaknesses.

This involves pinpointing areas where your online store needs improvement, allowing you to enhance the overall user experience, usability and value propositions.

Opportunities

Opportunities refer to the external factors and circumstances that you can leverage to your online store’s advantage. This section focuses on recent trends and favourable conditions so your ecommerce business can gain a competitive edge and expand its user base.

Threats have a tendency to lurk in the corner and haunt. Don’t fear them, get them in the front and tackle them individually. Threats can stem from external risks like market risks, financial risks, legal and compliance risks that we need to account for and vary.

By now, you have all the information you need to create a killer ecommerce business plan and a good idea of how you can use it to secure funding.

It’s important to remember, though, that you can’t just set and forget the work you do in this exercise. Instead, you need to continually evolve your plans to meet emerging customer needs. You also should capitalise on any opportunities the market presents.

If you want more ecommerce inspiration, hit the banner below 👇

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Ananth Ramanathan runs Studio Store business at Builder.ai with a mission of digitising a 1M+ micro SMEs in the next 5 years. He oversees the commercial, product, and customer success functions to rapidly scale Studio Store globally. Ananth's an experienced tech business operator, a failed entrepreneur, and an active angel investor.

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As the saying goes, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” So, if you wish to build your own eCommerce empire, having an eCommerce business plan is crucial to your success.

Why Should You Continue Reading This Article?

But maybe you have no idea where to start. Of course, you don’t want to leave out something important. In this article, we’ll show you how to build an eCommerce business plan and discuss how to write it in a well-crafted, simple way from scratch, for your eCommerce small business and what are the key elements that should be included in it.

Let’s get started!

Why You Need an eCommerce Business Plan

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” So, planning is almost everything you should start with.

Although it can be hard work to put together a comprehensive eCommerce business plan, it’s such an important step for the below-mentioned four reasons:

• Establishing a Clear Roadmap:  Well-written strategic planning will help you set clear goals and set an action plan to reach them. It will also help you to set priorities and realistically estimate the time and effort needed to achieve them.
• Being Ready for Any Sudden Changes:  Change in the eCommerce business world is happening quicker than ever before. And this increases the value of planning. Having a data-driven business plan gave managers a dashboard to work with navigated sudden change.
• Securing Funding: If you are looking for a loan or an equity investment for your startup, getting a business plan document right is essential because an organization that will provide the money wants to make sure that you know what you are doing and have a clear path to profit.
• Avoiding Costly Mistakes: If you are considering setting up a small business with limited resources, having a startup business plan helps you know exactly what resources are needed to avoid wasting resources down the drain and to make the most of them.

Before You Start Planning: 3 Key Questions to Answer

To build a well-written online business plan sample, you need to answer the following questions:

• What Are You Selling?  Are you selling physical products (i.e apparel, home appliances, etc.), digital products (i.e online courses, ebooks, software, etc.), or services (i.e marketing services, consulting, car repair, etc.)?
• For Whom?  Do you sell to individuals (B2C) or organizations, corporations, and non-profits (B2B) or are you are a part of a marketplace acting as a broker just like affiliate marketing?.
• Who Are Your Suppliers? Do you manufacture your products in-house, or outsource a third-party manufacturer? Do you partner with a dropshipping manufacturer or do you depend on wholesale?

With great data comes a great business plan. Answering this line of questioning will give you an initial overview of what your business is and it’ll be like a starting point.

How to Structure a Business Plan for Your Online Store

Let’s agree from the start that the business plan will not be perfectly completed on the first try. It will continue to evolve as you create each of the planning stages and you’ll be making edits along the way.

For an eCommerce business plan example, there are six basic sections it should include, Let’s delve deeper…

Let’s delve deeper…

1. Executive Summary

Any e-Commerce business plan should start with an executive summary of just one sheet summarizing each section of your business plan. Although it is placed at the beginning, it should be the last section to be written.

The executive summary is the first thing your prospect investors would read, and it creates the first impression of your project. So, make it simple, easy to understand, and attractive.

The executive summary should include:

• Business ideas presentation
• Business model
• Products and services
• Target audience and target market
• Management team
• Success factors or the points that differentiate your company
• Financial strategy

2.  Company Overview

This is the next section that includes detailed information about your business and identified the competitive advantage of your online store. It covers some features such as:

• Brand Name and Founder’s Name: Your online store name and who is behind it.
• Brand Traits: List just 3 to 5 words that describe the brand that you want your online store to be identified with.
• Domain Name: It’s the URL. It should be short, simple, memorable, and doesn’t include numbers.
• Company Type: How your business operates.
• Value Proposition: It’s a brief statement that shows how clear your idea is.
• Mission Statement: The reasons behind your business’ existence.
• Vision: The goals that you want to reach long term. They must be realistic and ambitious so they can be motivating.

3. Market  Analysis

Conducting market research around your eCommerce small business idea is essential. It tells you whether or not people will buy what you’re selling.

Market analysis is broken down into 3 main sections:

A. industry analysis:.

Industry analysis outlines the industry size facts and statistics bode well for your eCommerce business. It answers questions like:

• What does the market look like for your industry overall?
• Has it grown or changed over the years?
• Are there any expectations of growing up or slipping down in the future?
• Are there factors that could impact its growth?

Industry analysis is likely to be one of the toughest parts of your eCommerce business plan, but fortunately, research and white papers are abundant in almost all industries, besides free tools like Google Trends .

B . Market Segment:

The market segment or audience segmentation helps you to create your “Buyer Persona” which represents your target audiences’ various demographic sets (gender, age, geography, education, income level, ethnicity, etc.). The market segment includes both your target market and niche selection.

It’s important to provide an overview of your niche, whether there’s a micro-niche included, and why you chose it.

C. Competitive Analysis:

Competitive Analysis provides an overview of who is your market leaders are and direct, indirect, and potential competitors. It also identifies your competitors’ key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, focusing particularly on where you can defeat the competition or add unique value to your business.

Creating a comprehensive competitive analysis includes 4 key phrases that are:

• Identify Your Competitors
• Select a Competitive Analysis Framework
• Collect Data on Your Competitors
• Write Your Competitive Analysis Report

4.  Marketing Plan

By now, you’ve covered almost all your company-related aspects, your customers, and your competitors as well. It’s time to talk about how you’re going to reach your customers and drive traffic to your eCommerce website.

The marketing plan describes the planned promotion strategies, business growth strategies, pricing strategies , sales strategies, and how much can you afford to spend on your marketing efforts. To come up with a well-defined marketing strategy, you need to deeply know your customer inside out.

It’s important to keep in mind that every potential customer is different, and there are many organic and paid marketing techniques that you can use to reach each of them. From SEO, social media, content marketing, and email marketing to influencers, these proven techniques will surely  acquire customers and drive traffic to your online store .

So, this stage is all about defining:

• Which marketing channels are best for you to reach your customer?
• How much can you afford to acquire customers to your online store?

5. Operations Plan

Operational planning reflects the task flow of your eCommerce store and how they’ll be divided. It includes your daily tasks as an online store owner. Some basic things should be established, such as your work schedule, your daily tasks timetable, your location, and your product stock.

Your tasks will include:

• Offering support
• Managing the stock
• Managing returns
• Negotiating with suppliers
• Dealing with unforeseen events
• Promoting your store
• And much more

List all of your daily tasks and how your routine will be to make sure that everything in your business plan will be under control. If you are a startup and you’re the only person in charge, it’d be hard to manage all tasks. So, it’s important to have initial planning on paper, and then make small modifications down the line to hire a staff and management team.

6. Financial Plan

For many people, this is the most difficult part of a business plan. However, it’s extremely important. It outlines the major costs for an eCommerce business that include the cost of goods, internet connection fees, salaries of the staff, etc.

If you’re seeking to get outside funding, your financial statement should contain the following documents:

• Summary of Funding Requirement: It’s an outline showing why you are applying for a loan, the cost for raw materials and operational machines, and how much money you need.
• Use of Funds Statement / Income Statement: It shows how profitable your business would be during a given period and describes how you plan to use the funds you’ll get.
• Business Budget: This displays cash inflow and outflow statements over a specific period of time.
• 3-Year Profit and Loss Projection: It’s assumptions that are stated clearly and in detail to communicate your vision of the company’s future and how you anticipate achieving that vision.

5 eCommerce Business Plans’ Mistakes to Avoid in 2022

As for eCommerce owners ( whether it was for fashion, services, etc.), there are some methodologies they use to approximately estimate future turnover, profitability, and more.  But unfortunately, most of these estimations and expectations are frequently distant from market reality.

ExpandCart gathers the most common mistakes that usually happen when you put an eCommerce marketing plan into work, Let’s show you around! 

Mistake #1  |  Selecting the Improper eCommerce Platform

Whether you’re just getting started with your eCommerce shop or have been running one for a while, a not-suitable eCommerce platform can boost your eCommerce business plan or awfully put it to an end! 

After you’ve created a sample business plan for an eCommerce startup, you’ll need to think about several things when selecting an eCommerce platform, including:

• Your financial situation
• Whether you prefer a template or bespoke design, we can help.
• What type of experience do your consumers want?
• What items do you intend to sell?
• How do you intend to grow your company?
• What tools your platform needs to integrate with?
• How much control do you desire over your website?

The last thing you want is to pick a platform that restricts your company’s development, doesn’t interact with your existing systems, or doesn’t provide the amount of control and flexibility you want.

An improper eCommerce platform can result in a variety of problems, including income loss, decreased conversions, less traffic, security difficulties, bad design, and more. This major error might force you to spend even more time, money, and effort modernizing your platform or moving to a new one entirely.

Take your time while deciding on the best eCommerce platform for your online eCommerce as this will affect the whole performance of your eCommerce business plan. 

Mistake #2  |Skipping Environment Check

Before drafting an eCommerce business plan to launch or boost your e-commerce website, it’s a crucial step to start assessing the viability of your ideas before anything!

And here, we don’t mean broad market studies, but rather a comprehensive test using a limited version of your site, that will assist in ensuring in the field that you are gaining traction in your market. You must be able to tie your business strategy to the fact that you have already made your first sales even before you daft your eCommerce business plan. 

Aside from the checking and validation component, an initial test will help you to get useful feedback from your consumers and discover for yourself the major roadblocks or places for progress in your business.

You’ll be in a better position to carry out your company plan and generate realistic and plausible financial projections once you’ve completed it.

Mistake #3 | No Clear Brand Message or Identity

A good product alone won’t perform as good branding! 

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that your things will sell themselves. To build a successful business, you’ll need to develop a strong brand identity that is both approachable to your target audience and favorable to viral brand awareness. If you’ve done your research, you should have a good notion of what your target audience wants and how to communicate with them. Then it’s only a matter of maintaining a consistent and firm message.

A strong brand identity boosts client loyalty and your chances of gaining global brand recognition.

Mistake #4 | Shallow Website Content 

If your eCommerce business relies on organic traffic to attract clients, then the material on your website should be crafted with the user and SEO in mind.

Many organizations make the mistake of considering content as an afterthought, failing to see that each piece of content represents a chance to increase traffic and convert clients.

You need to provide content that is relevant to your target audience, optimized for search engine traffic, and entices consumers to buy your items, from your homepage to your product descriptions.

Investing in SEO and CRO-friendly content is worthwhile, whether you engage with an SEO service or do it yourself. This entails using the correct high-quality keywords for your niche and crafting material that is designed to convert.

Mistake #5 | Mistargeted Audience 

What else could you possibly require? You have items, a company strategy, and a website. Unfortunately, having an offer and a venue to pitch it isn’t enough to be a true eCommerce success.

One of the most common blunders a business owner can make is failing to precisely define their target demographic and spend time learning what makes them tick. You’ll need to do some serious market research to make sure that:

• Your target audience has a genuine necessity for your product. 
• You know how to express your offer in a way that they will comprehend. 
• You may create a marketing plan that prioritizes your target audience.

Identifying and specifying your target audience can help you develop an atmosphere that they will remember and a brand message that will tempt them to buy and re-buy, and hence, a successful eCommerce business plan! 

Final Notes

We are living in a world of fast-paced digital transformation. Almost all businesses are thinking of building a strong online presence. Being prepared and having a well-crafted business plan for your dream eCommerce website helps you focus on what exactly you want your business to be in the future and provides a map of how to get there in no time.

Remember! Creating your own eCommerce business plan won’t be that easy, but success comes to those willing to put in the work and if you did it right, you will witness a great increase in sales and revenue . You can seek help from experts who can help you plan your business effectively.

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How to Write the Ultimate eCommerce Business Plan

• by Lightspeed

minute read

The numbers don’t lie: since 2014, the number of digital shoppers worldwide has grown from 1.32 billion to 2.14 billion. That’s a 62% increase! Currently a $4.28 trillion market, eCommerce is forecasted to make up a fifth of all retail sales by 2024. If you want a slice of the climbing profits, now is the time to get involved.

An eCommerce business plan can help you steer your online shop in the right direction. Fortunately, you don’t need a business degree to create one. Read on to:

• Learn what a business plan is and why your eCommerce company needs one
• Discover how an eCommerce business plan is different from business plans for other business types
• Learn how to write an eCommerce business plan step by step
• Get access to our free eCommerce business plan template

All your eCommerce questions answered, and more

Learn everything you need to know build, launch and grow an online store with this free guide.

What is a business plan and why does your eCommerce company need one? 

A business plan is a document that outlines the goals of a business and how the business will achieve those goals. While there is no standard format for a business plan, such documents typically cover what the company will do, what problem it will solve, how the business is structured, who the target market is and how the product or service stands out from the competition.

A business plan serves as a roadmap for your company and helps you stay focused. Having one is also useful for attracting investors and business partners, as it shows you’re serious about your business, have done your research, know your industry and have considered the challenges you may face along the way. 

How is an eCommerce business plan different from a business plan for other company types?

While the structure of a business plan for an eCommerce business won’t differ much from a business plan for any other type of company, the business strategy at the core of the plan may differ greatly from that of a traditional retail store.

For example, a traditional retail business plan might describe plans for leasing and designing a storefront. An eCommerce business plan, in contrast, would focus on the company’s digital storefront: its website. One of your business goals for the first year might be identifying the best eCommerce software , rather than finding the perfect space to lease.

Another notable distinction: while a traditional retail business plan might include an organizational chart with many front of house staff members, an eCommerce business plan would emphasize roles in online customer service , fulfillment and marketing.

Now, if you already run a brick and mortar business and are adding an online selling component, you’ll want to cover all of the topics listed above.  

How to make an eCommerce business plan

Now that you understand what a business plan is, why you need one, and what differentiates an eCommerce business plan from a traditional retail business plan, it’s time to get into the good stuff. Read along to learn exactly how to write an eCommerce business plan.

Summary 

This section concisely introduces everything that you’ll be covering in your business plan. Write it last, so that you can source inspiration from the rest of the document.

Company introduction

Explain what your company does and what makes it stand out. Use the company introduction to answer the following questions:

What does your business do?

What problem does it solve, and how?

• What is your business model? (i.e., Who are you selling to and how? Are you a B2B or B2C eCommerce business? Are you direct to consumer, or do you sell products from other manufacturers? Do you rely on a subscription service or traditional sales model?)
• What is your mission statement?
• What are your values?

Going through the exercise of considering these questions and putting your answers into writing will sharpen your focus as a business owner. When opportunities present themselves that don’t align with your values or help you solve your customers’ problems, then you can say no without doubts — or, conversely, you can enthusiastically accept opportunities that align with your vision.

Market research

Get to know your customers and competition. Do some soul searching and conduct market research to uncover:

• Who your ideal customer is. Make this specific. When your brand is distinct enough to “repel” a certain type of customer, it’s also strong enough to make your ideal customer really excited about your products, and to turn them into lifelong customers.
• How big your market is. While there are various ways you can research this figure , rough estimates will go a long way. Let’s say you wanted to start an online care package subscription business for U.S. college students. A quick online search indicates that there are nearly 20 million college students in the U.S. If the average student spends four years in college, that means there are roughly 5 million new students every year who could be receiving care packages. That’s a large market!
• Who your competition is. What other companies are offering similar products and/or to a similar audience?
• What makes your business different from the competition? 
• What advantages and opportunities do you have to be more successful than the competition?

Company structure

Now it’s time for the less sexy stuff. In this section of your eCommerce business plan you should explain:

• What the legal structure of your business is. Is it an LLC, an S-Corporation, a partnership or something else? If you haven’t incorporated your business, do you have plans to do so?
• Who is in charge of the business? List founders and officers and their contributions (in terms of both capital and expertise) to the company.
• Who works for the company? Include an organizational chart that illustrates who currently works for the business, and the roles you plan to hire for.

Products and services

Explain what makes your eCommerce shop shine: its products and services. Describe, in detail:

• What products and services you sell.
• How much you charge for these products and services, and your profit margins on them.
• Where and how you manufacture and source your products.
• How you plan on fulfilling orders. 
• Intellectual property you have ownership of (if any), including trademarks, patents and copyrights.

Marketing strategy

Having great products is fantastic, but that in itself is useless if people don’t know about your products. Include your marketing strategy in your eCommerce business plan to show your team and investors how you’ll get your products in front of customers. 

Your marketing strategy should include:

• A SWOT analysis that explores your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• The marketing channels and tactics you plan to use. Some useful strategies for eCommerce businesses are search engine optimization (SEO), social media commerce , email marketing, partnerships and influencer campaigns.
• Marketing goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure them. How will you measure growth? 

This is the juiciest section of your business plan. It helps you set sales and fundraising goals that will let you explain to investors where you stand financially and why you need their investment. 

If your business is pre-revenue, include:

• Revenue projections
• Funding information
• Expected costs

If your business already exists, include information like:

• Historical and forecasted revenue
• Investments
• A profit and loss statement
• Expenses (supply chain, labor, website hosting, etc.)
• Budget vs. actuals 

The ultimate eCommerce business plan template

Now that you know everything there is to know about how to start an eCommerce business, it’s time to craft your business plan. Follow the template below to set yourself up for success.

Executive summary 

Company name:

Founders/leadership team:

Products/services:

Target market:

Marketing strategies:

Business model:

Mission statement:

Company values:

Ideal customer:

Market size:

Competitive analysis:

What makes your business different from the competition? What are your advantages and opportunities?

Legal structure:

Leadership team:

Organizational chart:

Product/service 1:

Product/service 2:

Product/service 3:

Pricing, positioning and profit margins:

Manufacturing/supply chain:

Intellectual property claims:

SWOT analysis:

• Weaknesses:
• Opportunities:

Marketing channels:

Marketing goals and KPIs:

Revenue (projected or actual):

Profit or loss:

Investments:

Budget vs. actuals: 

eCommerce business plans turn dreams into action

When you record what you want to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it, you’re more likely to turn your vision into a reality. Take the time to think about your business, find out what makes your products different, and be thoughtful about how you’re going to find customers.

When you’re ready to build your eCommerce shop, turn to Lightspeed’s eCommerce platform.  Watch a demo to learn more.

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eCommerce Business Plan & eCommerce Business Plan Template

So, you've picked one of the best eCommerce business ideas and decided you're starting an eCommerce business . You've figured out what is an LLC so you know if you're going to be one or not.

Now you need to come up with a business plan.

Though it may seem like a lot of work, drafting a plan is an important step in starting a profitable business.

We've put together a guide to help you draft the best version so you can start off on the right foot.

What Is eCommerce Business Plan?

An eCommerce business plan is a document outlining the structure, operations, and finances of your business. This document will give you a roadmap to follow as you build your business and is very useful when seeking investors.

Typically, your business plan can help you steer your business in the right direction. When you write a business plan, each section of the business plan should be adapted to fit your business model and your target market.

How to Make an eCommerce Business Plan

Writing a business plan for an eCommerce business should be done by conducting thorough research and following an outline. Your plan will likely be ten or more pages, but some sections will require more detailed information than others. Make sure you include as much information as possible that a prospective buyer or investor would be interested in.

7 eCommerce Business Plan Elements

Though there are many types of eCommerce businesses , the best have business plans that are structured similarly. These are the seven major elements that all investors expect to see in a business plan:

1. Executive summary

This opening section is one of the most important and should be written last. It will summarize the following sections and highlight any key ideas you've discovered while writing. Investors often decide whether or not to continue reading based on this section alone, so it needs to be flawless.

The executive summary should not exceed a single page, so you'll need to condense information as much as possible. Try to include your concept, goals, products or service, customer base, marketing plans, and financials. If looking for financing, you'll also need to include how much startup investment you need to get going.

2. Company mission and overview

This section will need to answer two simple questions: who are you and what will your business do? This serves as an introduction to the business, what makes it unique, and why you're worth investing in.

The way your business will be structured, what your values are, what experience you have, and who will be on the team should be included. Are you starting B2B eCommerce or a direct to consumer brands ? Are you an expert in the field or is this a totally new venture? Be specific, but promote your strengths as much as possible.

3. Market analysis

Here, you need to outline who your target customers are, what competitors you will have, and how you plan to succeed. This section requires quite a bit of research but will give insight into the ways your business can carve out its place in the industry.

Your market analysis answers the questions: who are your competitors, where to find your target market, and how to price your product or service. It also allows you to see where your competitors are lagging. You can develop your unique selling points with a great market analysis.

Performing a SWOT analysis is a great way to fill out this section. It is a breakdown of your company's s trengths, w eaknesses, o pportunities, and t hreats. It is most often laid out in a grid with the most relevant information as bullet points for easy understanding. You can see an example in the template shared below.

4. Products and services offered

Your products and services will likely be peppered throughout your business plan, but this section will outline all of them and any key information. If you only offer a few products or services, be as detailed as possible. If you have many offerings, feel free to summarize them by category. This list can also be helpful in the future when cross selling .

Make sure to note where you're sourcing your goods. You may be producing goods, buying in bulk, or participating in dropshipping . Whichever you choose, your plan will need to be specific.

5. Marketing plan

Your plan needs to show how you will position your business and attract customers. Whether you will be using B2B marketing strategy (see what is B2B marketing ) or DTC marketing , show what sets you apart from the competition. Include what your products or services are, prices, how you'll promote, and where you'll sell them.

If you'll be using digital marketing, make sure to outline the different channels you plan to use. A little extra detail in this section can show that you have thought through how you'll turn prospective customers into buyers.

Your marketing plan should include the type of eCommerce marketing channels, such as social media, you will adopt. Adding a section about your marketing goals and eCommerce KPIs will help you track marketing campaigns.

6. Operations plan

In this section, you need to outline all aspects of logistics and operations. Investors are very interested in your operations plan, so make sure to be thorough if you're looking for outside financing.

Include information about procurement like who your suppliers will be and how your products are going to be produced. You should also include where your offices and warehouse are, what tools and technology you'll use, and how you'll handle shipping and fulfillment. What software you use for eCommerce accounting , eCommerce credit card processing , and how you'll handle 3PL companies (if you need them) are valuable data points for this section.

Remember, none of these activities would be possible if you don't get an eCommerce business license . You may also want to use a business process flow chart template to identify your business processes.

7. Financial Plan

Finally, it's time to outline how you plan to become a profitable business. Typically, your financial plan section will include an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement.

This section needs to be more detailed if you'll be seeking investors, so write for your audience. A financial projection is expected in that case and can sway investors on the fence. Which one of the best banks for eCommerce business should you open an account with and how will you accept eCommerce payment ? Answer these questions before an investor has to ask.

eCommerce Business Plan Template

You can also build out your eCommerce business plan using a free downloadable eCommerce business plan template.

Once you download it, give it a look through. You’ll see an example of an eCommerce food wholesaler's free business plan template for reference. 

We've included all seven sections and a few subsections to help you see the amount of detail expected in a business plan. It's mostly filler text, so you can edit the areas that you need and remove the rest. A robust plan can help you land investors, grow your business, and even pick up eCommerce business insurance .

Frequently Asked Questions About eCommerce Business Plan

Writing an eCommerce business plan gives you a solid headstart before launching your business. Let’s answer some popular questions about eCommerce business plans.

How Do I Write an eCommerce Business Plan?

There are various types of eCommerce business plans . However, when writing an eCommerce business plan there are formats you want to follow and sections you should include.

Here are sections to include in an eCommerce business plan:

• Executive summary
• Company Overview and objectives
• Market analysis
• Products and services
• Marketing plan
• Operations plan
• Financial plan

What are the 4 Types of eCommerce Businesses?

There are different types of eCommerce businesses . Here are 4 common types:

• Business to business (B2B)
• Business to customer (B2C)
• Direct to consumer (D2C)
• Business to government (B2G)

How Important Is a Proposal for eCommerce Business?

An eCommerce business plan serves as a proposal document to show investors when seeking funds for your business. A proposal makes it easy for investors to see the market opportunities and profitability of your eCommerce business. When written perfectly, it can influence these investors to pour money into your business.

Stick to the Plan

A solid business plan is a vital element in the foundation of any business. Put enough effort into researching the market and creating a thorough plan. It will give you the structure you need to grow a profitable and sustainable eCommerce business.

If you're looking to start an eCommerce food wholesale business, BlueCart is the best tool for you. It's an all-in-one online marketplace that helps food suppliers make wholesale sales , acquire new customers, and grow their bottom line.

We also recommend checking out some of the best eCommerce books and an eCommerce blog or two to give you insight into some of the new technologies and trends you can use to grow. You should also find out what SEO terms to include on your site so you can attract customers more easily. There are a lot of benefits of eCommerce SEO that can help take your business to the next level.

Ecommerce Business Plan Guide + Sample

July 6, 2023

Adam Hoeksema

Welcome to the ever-evolving world of ecommerce—a space where countless businesses are launching every day. If you've landed here, we're guessing you too are gearing up to start your own ecom business. Yet, entering ecommerce is not just about setting up a website and listing products—it involves a robust plan that encompasses every aspect from customer acquisition to cash flow forecasting. That's why we've crafted this comprehensive guide. This Ecommerce Business Plan Guide, complete with a sample business plan, should help you check this project off the list. 

Although we focus on ecommerce financial models , we know that some of our clients also need a full business plan, so I decided to take a deep dive into the topic.  I plan to cover:

• Why write a business plan for an ecommerce business?
• What to include in an ecommerce business plan?
• Ecommerce business plan outline

How to Analyze the Market for an Ecommerce Product?

How to analyze the competition in ecommerce, how to estimate customer acquisition costs in ecommerce.

• How to Create Financial Projections for an Ecommerce Brand?
• Example Ecommerce Business Plan?

Ecommerce Business Plan FAQs

With that as our guide, let’s dive in!

Why write a business plan for an ecommerce business? 

It might feel like writing a business plan is a waste of time, and honestly, writing a 40 page plan probably is a waste of time.  So why write a business plan?  I like to say that you write a business plan primarily because the people with the money (the lenders and investors) are asking for your business plan and projections.  

Although I think a business plan could be a good exercise for any ecommerce startup, I know the real impetus for writing a business plan is likely the fact that your potential investors or lenders are asking for one.  

What to include in an ecommerce business plan? 

I don’t think your business plan needs to be a 100 page dissertation, our ecommerce business plan example is roughly 10 pages.  We include the following sections:

Ecommerce Business Plan Outline

We suggest the following business plan sections for your ecommerce business plan:

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Market Analysis
• Product and Service Offerings
• Marketing Plan & Customer Acquisition
• Operating Plan
• Financial Plan

Analyzing the market for an ecommerce product is a vital step in any business plan. It gives you a better understanding of your potential customers, competitors, and overall market dynamics. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you do this effectively:

• Identify Your Target Audience: Understanding who will buy your product is crucial. Segment your audience based on demographic and psychographic factors. This might include age, gender, location, lifestyle, interests, income, and more. Analyzing these factors will give you a clear picture of who your customers are and what they need.
• Market Size Estimation: Determine the size of your potential market. This involves looking at the number of potential customers who might be interested in your product. Market size can be categorized into three segments: total available market (TAM), serviceable available market (SAM), and serviceable obtainable market (SOM).

I like to use Google Keyword Planner Tool to see how many people are searching for keywords related to the product I plan to sell as a quick and free way to estimate the market size.  For example, let’s assume that we are selling a yoga mat.  According to Google Keyword Planner Tool there are roughly 90,000 monthly searches for that keyword. 

To put some additional rough math to the opportunity, the first organic search result will often get roughly 40% of the clicks, and a solid ecommerce site will have a 3% conversion rate of visit to purchase.  So if you ranked first and received roughly 36,000 clicks with a 3% conversion rate you could sell 1,080 mats per month. 

• Competitor Analysis: Understanding your competitors is as important as understanding your customers. Identify your direct and indirect competitors, analyze their products, pricing, marketing strategies, customer reviews, and their market share. This will help you identify gaps in the market that you can exploit.

Read More: How to Write a Business Plan Competitor Analysis

• Trend Analysis: Investigate current market trends related to your product. Look at the growth of the market, customer preferences and behavior, and the impact of technology and environmental factors.

I like to suggest using Google Trends to see trends in popularity in your market.  If we stick with our yoga mat example we can see the following seasonal trends and trend over the last 5 years for the search term yoga mat. 

• SWOT Analysis: Carry out a SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to your ecommerce product. This analysis will help you understand your product's position in the market.
• Pricing Analysis: Understand the pricing strategies of your competitors and the pricing willingness of your potential customers. It will help you to set a competitive and profitable price for your product.
• Regulatory Environment: Check the regulatory environment related to your product. It includes legal regulations, trade policies, and standards that might impact your ecommerce business.
• Customer Behavior and Preferences: With the help of analytics and customer feedback, understand what drives customer behavior. Consider their shopping habits, their product preferences, and what influences their buying decisions.

Each of these steps will provide valuable insights that can shape your ecommerce product's marketing strategy, positioning, pricing, and much more. Remember, market analysis is an ongoing process—it needs to be repeated periodically as markets evolve over time.

There are a couple of tools that I like to use when analyzing the competition in ecommerce.  

• Google’s Ads Transparency Tool – with this tool you can simply enter in the domain name of a competitor and Google will show you all of the ads that they are running.  This is a nifty way to get an idea of ads that might be working well and areas you might be able to compete. 
• Ahrefs – Ahrefs will allow you to look up a competitor’s website and you can see how much organic traffic they are getting and exactly what keywords are sending that traffic. For example, REI ranks 3 rd organically for the keyword “yoga mats” so we looked up their Yoga Mats page on Ahrefs and found that they receive roughly 2,200 organic visits per month to that page:

We can also see what keywords are sending the most traffic to that page below where I have highlighted the monthly organic traffic estimate for each keyword. 

I like to use Google Keyword Planner Tool to estimate customer acquisition costs as well.  As we saw with the Yoga Mat example below the average cost per click to advertise for that keyword was between $0.39 cents and $3.13.   

Again if we stick with a 3% conversion rate and assume 50 cents per click that means you are likely to spend roughly $16 to acquire one customer.  Not a whole lot of room for margin in this business right?  In this case you would need to hope that you can sell multiple products to the same customer over time.  

Your customer acquisition costs will be a fundamental assumption in your financial model.  Let’s dive into that next. 

How to Create Financial Projections for a Bar Business Plan

Just like in any industry, the ecommerce business has its own unique factors that impact financial projections, such as online traffic, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs. Utilizing an ecommerce financial projection template can simplify the process and increase your confidence. Creating accurate financial projections goes beyond showcasing your ecommerce venture's ability to generate sales; it's about illustrating the financial roadmap to profitability and the realization of your online business goals. To develop precise projections, consider the following key steps:

• Estimate startup costs for your ecommerce business, including website development or platform setup, inventory acquisition, branding and marketing expenses, and initial fulfillment and shipping costs.
• Forecast revenue based on projected online traffic, conversion rates, average order value, and potential growth in customer base.
• Project costs related to product sourcing or manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and fulfillment services.
• Estimate operating expenses like website maintenance, hosting fees, digital marketing expenses, customer support, and administrative costs.
• Calculate the capital needed to launch and sustain your ecommerce business, covering initial expenses and providing working capital for continued growth.

While financial projections are a critical component of your ecommerce business plan, seek guidance from experienced professionals in the ecommerce industry. Adapt your projections based on real-world insights, leverage industry resources, and stay informed about digital marketing trends and evolving consumer behavior to ensure your financial plan aligns with your goals and positions your ecommerce venture for long-term success.

Example Ecommerce Business Plan

Explore our E-commerce Business Plan, presented below. If you prefer, you can access a downloadable Google Doc version of this bar business plan template, allowing you to personalize and tailor it to your specific needs. Additionally, a helpful video walkthrough is available, guiding you through the process of customizing the business plan to perfectly align with your unique Ecommerce business.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary:

• Business Description
• SWOT Analysis

Marketing and Sales Strategy

• Branding and Identity
• Website, menu, and social media platforms
• Marketing materials and promotional items
• Marketing mix

Operations Plan

• Organizational Structure:
• Location and Facility:
• SOP (Standard Operating Procedures):
• Health and safety protocols:

Financial Projections

• Startup Costs and Use of Funds
• Annual Sales, Gross Profit and Net Profit
• Key Financial Ratios
• Income Statement at a Glance
• Income Statement Annual Summary
• Cash Flow Statement Annual Summary
• Balance Sheet Annual Summary

I. Executive Summary

Our ecommerce store, "Eco-Friendly Fashion," aims to provide consumers with stylish and environmentally-friendly clothing options. 

Our target customer is the eco-conscious, fashion-forward individual who is looking for sustainable alternatives to fast fashion.

The ecommerce market is growing rapidly, and there is a growing demand for sustainable fashion products. We believe there is a gap in the market for an ecommerce store that offers a wide range of eco-friendly clothing options at affordable prices. Our unique selling proposition is to offer high-quality, stylish clothing that is also environmentally friendly, at a price that is accessible to our target customer.

We plan to launch with a product line of 50 items, including t-shirts, hoodies, and dresses, made from organic cotton and recycled materials. Our products will be manufactured in fair trade factories, ensuring ethical labor practices. Our initial funding will come from personal investments and a small business loan. Our financial projections show that we will break even in the third year of operation and achieve a profit by the fourth year.

II. Company Description

Eco-Friendly Fashion is a newly established ecommerce store that will offer a wide range of eco-friendly clothing options for both men and women. The company was founded by two friends, Jane Doe and John Doe, who share a passion for sustainability and fashion. Jane has a background in fashion design and John has experience in ecommerce and marketing.

Eco-Friendly Fashion is a limited liability company (LLC) registered in the state of California. Our team also includes a product sourcing specialist and a freelance graphic designer. Our office and warehouse are located in Los Angeles, CA.

III. Market Analysis

The global ecommerce market is expected to reach $4.9 trillion by 2021, with a significant portion of this growth coming from the fashion industry. Consumers are increasingly turning to ecommerce for their fashion purchases, and there is a growing demand for sustainable fashion products.

Our target customer is the eco-conscious, fashion-forward individual, aged 18-35, with a moderate to high income. This demographic is highly concerned about the environmental impact of their clothing choices and is willing to pay a premium for sustainable fashion options.

Competitors in the eco-friendly fashion market include established brands like Patagonia and smaller, niche brands like Tentree. However, these brands tend to focus on outdoor and athletic wear, rather than everyday fashion, and their products can be expensive. Our competitors in the sustainable everyday fashion market include companies like Reformation and Everlane, but these brands have limited product offerings and their products can also be expensive.

Our marketing and sales strategies will focus on leveraging social media, influencer marketing, and targeted online advertising to reach our target customer. We will also attend sustainable fashion trade shows and events to network and showcase our brand.

IV. Product and Service Offerings

Eco-Friendly Fashion will launch with a product line of 50 items, including t-shirts, hoodies, and dresses, made from organic cotton and recycled materials. Our products will be manufactured in fair trade factories, ensuring ethical labor practices. Our products will be designed in-house, with a focus on creating stylish, on-trend pieces that are also environmentally friendly.

Our pricing strategy will be to offer high-quality, stylish clothing at a price that is accessible to our target customer. Our products will be priced slightly higher than fast fashion options, but lower than sustainable fashion competitors like Reformation and Everlane.

We will continuously expand our product line and source new materials and manufacturing partners to ensure we are always offering the latest in sustainable fashion. In addition to our clothing line, we will also offer a recycling program for customers to trade in their old clothing for store credit. This will further demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and encourage customers to make more sustainable fashion choices.

V. Marketing Plan & Customer Acquisition

Our plan to grow our ecommerce business and reach our financial targets will follow a 5 pronged marketing approach in order to acquire customers. 

Brand Awareness:

• Partner with influencers and bloggers in the sustainable fashion and lifestyle space to feature your products and increase brand exposure.
• Utilize social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to showcase your products and educate your audience on the importance of environmentally responsible and ethically sourced apparel.
• Participate in local events and festivals that align with your values to increase visibility and connect with potential customers in person.

Content Marketing:

• Create a blog that features articles on sustainable fashion and how your products are made in an environmentally responsible and ethical manner.
• Offer styling tips and suggestions for incorporating eco-friendly fashion into everyday outfits to engage and educate your audience.
• Share customer testimonials and reviews on your website and social media channels to build trust and credibility with potential customers.

Email Marketing:

• Build an email list by offering an incentive such as a discount code to customers who sign up.
• Send newsletters that include information on new product launches, sales, and events.
• Use email automation to send abandoned cart reminders and follow-up emails to potential customers who have shown interest in your products.

Paid Advertising:

• Utilize targeted Facebook and Instagram ads to reach a wider audience and drive traffic to your website.
• Partner with eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle websites to run display ads and reach potential customers who are already interested in these topics.
• Consider using Google Ads to target customers who are actively searching for environmentally responsible and ethically sourced apparel.

Referral Program:

• Encourage satisfied customers to refer friends and family by offering a discount code or other incentive for each successful referral.

VI. Operating Plan

Eco-Friendly Fashion will operate as an online ecommerce store, with all sales taking place through our website. Our website will feature a user-friendly interface, detailed product descriptions, and multiple payment options. We will also offer free shipping on all orders within the United States, with the option for international shipping at an additional cost.

Our fulfillment and delivery strategies will include partnerships with established logistics companies to ensure efficient and cost-effective shipping. We will also implement a comprehensive returns and exchanges policy to ensure customer satisfaction.

Our ecommerce platform will be powered by Shopify, which offers a range of tools and integrations to manage our website, inventory, and customer data. We will also use a customer relationship management (CRM) system to track customer interactions and improve our marketing and sales strategies.

VII. Financial Plan

Our start-up costs will include the cost of product development and manufacturing, website development, marketing, and rent for our office and warehouse. Our initial funding will come from personal investments and a small business loan.

Our financial projections show that we will achieve $75,000 in sales in the first year, increasing to $500,000 in the second year and $1 million in the third year. Our expenses will include product manufacturing, marketing, salaries, and other operating costs. Our projections show that we will break even in the third year of operation and achieve a profit by the fourth year.

To minimize risk, we will continuously monitor our financial performance and adjust our strategies as needed. We will also implement a thorough risk management plan, including carrying appropriate insurance coverage and implementing strong data security measures to protect our customer information.

All of the unique financial projections you see below were generated using ProjectionHub’s Ecommerce financial projection template . Use PH20BP to enjoy a 20% discount on the template. 

Startup Costs:

Projected Financial Summary:

Annual Sales, Gross Profit and Net Profit:

Key Financial Ratios:

Watch how to create financial projections for your very own ecommerce business:

Income Statement:

Balance Sheet:

Cash Flow Statement:

VIII. Conclusion

Eco-Friendly Fashion is poised to fill a gap in the sustainable fashion market, offering a wide range of stylish and environmentally friendly clothing options at affordable prices. With a growing demand for sustainable fashion and our commitment to ethical and sustainable business practices, we are confident in our ability to succeed in the competitive ecommerce market.

Our team is dedicated to offering the highest quality products and customer service, and we are excited to bring our vision of sustainable fashion to life. Our next steps include finalizing our product line and manufacturing partnerships, launching our website, and beginning our marketing and sales efforts.

How do I start an ecommerce business?

To start an ecommerce business, you'll need to identify your target market and products, create a business plan, set up an online store or website, source or create products, establish secure payment and shipping methods, and implement marketing strategies to drive traffic and sales.

Which ecommerce platform should I use for my online store?

Popular ecommerce platforms include Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce. Consider factors such as ease of use, customization options, scalability, pricing, and integration with other tools or marketplaces when choosing the right platform for your business.

How can I drive traffic to my ecommerce website?

You can drive traffic to your ecommerce website through various strategies, including search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, content marketing, influencer partnerships, email marketing, paid advertising, and utilizing marketplace platforms such as Amazon or Etsy.

What are the essential elements to include in product descriptions for ecommerce?

Essential elements for product descriptions in ecommerce include clear and concise product titles, detailed descriptions highlighting key features and benefits, high-quality product images, pricing information, sizing or specifications, and customer reviews or testimonials, if available.

How can I optimize the checkout process to increase conversions?

To optimize the checkout process, streamline the steps involved, offer guest checkout options, provide multiple payment methods, ensure security and trust indicators, display shipping options and costs upfront, minimize form fields, and offer incentives such as discounts or free shipping for completing a purchase.

About the Author

Adam is the Co-founder of ProjectionHub which helps entrepreneurs create financial projections for potential investors, lenders and internal business planning. Since 2012, over 50,000 entrepreneurs from around the world have used ProjectionHub to help create financial projections.

Other Stories to Check out

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Have some questions? Let us know and we'll be in touch.

Don't bother with copy and paste.

Get this complete sample business plan as a free text document.

E-commerce Internet Business Plan

Start your own e-commerce internet business plan

FireStarters

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

Popular culture is no longer regional. The advent of cable television, syndicated radio programs, and the Internet has created a world where a fashion statement in New York will be on the streets in a small midwestern town in a matter days. The speed of our telecommunication system has increased young customers’ expectations and demands for products that represent their own cultural statement.

FireStarters will offer young customers, in small towns and communities around United States, the youth-oriented products and clothing that are popular nationwide but not available locally.

The difference between FireStarters and other youth-oriented e-commerce websites is that FireStarters is focused only on its small-town America customers. The target customer is a young person, age 11-18, who listens to alternative music and participates in youth sports like skateboarding and snowboarding. Our target customer will look toward alternative clothing trends in large urban areas as their inspiration. FireStarters will exclusively advertise in small communities with populations between 100,000 and 150,000 residents. Communities of this size already have small youth-oriented businesses, like skateboard shops and alternative CD stores, that FireStarters can utilize to promote its product line.

1.1 Mission

The mission of FireStarters is to offer distinctive youth-oriented fashion and products to small-town America.

1.2 Keys to Success

• Accessible website that is entertaining to surf. Like a trip to your favorite store where you always find something new that you want.
• Excellent vendor relationship that will facilitate quick shipment of orders.
• Establish an effective strategy for advertising in the communities’ youth-oriented businesses.
• Create a store image that our target customers sees as both attractive and trendy.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

FireStarters will offer youth-oriented products and clothing, online, that are popular nationwide but not available locally. Jill Stranton and Bobbi Hanson, co-owners of FireStarters, will create a cost-effective operation that will quickly ship clothing and product purchases to the customer.

FireStarters will focus on marketing products to its target customers in small cities with populations between 100,000 and 150,000 residents. The key to marketing strategy will be staging events that will increase the visibility of the online store with the target customer base. We will use existing local businesses that serve the same target customer base to co-sponsor these events.

2.1 Company Ownership

Jill Stranton and Bobbi Hanson are the co-owners of FireStarters.

2.2 Start-up Summary

The start-up costs of FireStarters consists of product inventory, creating a promotion campaign and establishing its website. FireStarters is funding start up with owner investments and a long-term business loan.

FireStarters will offer young customers the following youth-oriented products and clothing:

• Dresses and skirts.
• Time pieces.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the population of teens (age 12-17), in 1999 was 23.4 million, which represents 8.6% of the total U.S. population. Teenagers influence $324 billion in spending annually, have $151 billion in disposable income, spend $24 billion annually, and will spend $1.2 billion online by 2002. Teens spend an average of $82 per week on entertainment, fashion, food, and technology. These young people dubbed “Generation Y” dominate almost all facets of popular culture and are the fastest-growing demographic under age 65. 

Specialty youth clothing and products has grown into a billion dollar niche in the clothing industry. The popularity of the Internet with young people has been well documented and has generated the launching of a number of online stores by companies selling to that market segment. Most of these stores have retail outlets in large urban areas that serve as the promotional vehicles for online shopping.

The Internet is an accessible shopping tool for our target population. 64% of teens nationwide use the Net at home. The majority of teens, 55%, consider using the Internet better than watching TV. Families with teens are more likely to have Internet access than other households.

Online shopping by teenagers between 13 to 18 years in age is expected to total about $300 million this year (2000) and is accelerating at about twice the rate of online shopping by adults. By 2003, teenagers are expected to spend $2 billion annually online. By 2004, a clear majority of young consumers will shop online. The top five purchases made by teens [online], based on sales volume, are CDs/cassette tapes, clothing, books, computer software, toys and clothing.

4.1 Market Segmentation

Over the past ten years, there has been a profound change in population dynamics in the U.S. The non-metropolitan population has been growing at almost the same rate as the urban population. The West Coast, Midwest, and the Northeast have the largest growth rate. Today, there are millions of young people who don’t live near a large urban center that offers the diversity in clothing products that the youth culture demands. This has created a small market niche for businesses to sell clothing and products to young people who live outside the urban areas. This is particularly true in communities with a major college located in the community.

Currently, only regional malls offer access to the fashion and styles that young people want. Unfortunately, the focus of these mall stores is only on the mainstream of the youth market. Alternative clothing and products are rarely available outside the urban area. This is true because the companies that create the clothing and products are small and sell primarily through urban specialty shops.

FireStarters will capitalize on the following characteristics of Generation Y:

• Subculture Affiliation : Though rebellious, teens also want to blend in and be accepted by peers. They seek a community of peers to welcome them in, as well as help them stand out.
• Attitude : Teenagers wear attitude like a uniform to give definition to their identity. This extends to clothing, hair style and the type of music listened to in public. They also react to humor, silliness, and irreverence more easily than to other styles.

It is FireStarters’ plan to bring alternative fashion and products to small-town America via the Internet. We will create a business identity that will capitalize on the subculture affiliation and attitude of our target customers.

FireStarters will focus marketing on two type of non-metropolitan communities:

• Non-metropolitan communities with populations between 100,000 and 150,000 residents.
• Non-metropolitan communities with a major college and population of at least 80,000.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

FireStarters’ will have a two track strategy.

• FireStarters will advertise in alternative magazines that are targeted at our customers and the ad rate is affordable. (For girls: Bust , Candy , Chick , and Girl magazines. For Boys: Thrashers and TransWorld .)

• FireStarters will also plan 15 events in select communities to raise its visibility with the target customers. The focus will be initially on the West Coast during the first year of operation. During the second year of operation, FireStarters will plan events in the Midwest and the East Coast. FireStarters will sponsor skateboard competitions and demonstrations. We will assemble groups of boy and girl skateboarders and sponsor them with the FireStarters logo. The groups will be scheduled to tour selected communities. FireStarters will sponsor the events but will also seek local businesses that target the same customer base to share the event’s sponsorship. FireStarters will book local popular alternative bands to play the event. At these events, FireStarters will distribute stickers, caps, t-shirts, and promotional material offering a 20% discount on purchases.

5.1 Competitive Edge

FireStarters’ competitive advantage is offering product lines that make a statement but won’t leave you broke. The major brands are expensive and not distinctive enough to satisfy the changing taste of our target customers. FireStarters offers products that are just ahead of the curve and so affordable that our customers will return to the website often to check out what’s new.

Another competitive factor is that products for this age group are part of a lifestyle statement. FireStarters is focused on serving youth outside the metropolitan areas. We want to represent their style and life choices. We believe that we will create a loyal customer base that will see Firestarters as part of their lives. To facilitate that connection, our website will have a chat section where our customers can share what is happening in their communities as well as comment on our products and what we should add to our product line in the future.

5.2 Sales Strategy

Sales will be flat for the first 45 days of operation. We anticipate that sales will begin at this point and increase as our marketing campaign progresses.  

5.2.1 Sales Forecast

The following is the sales forecast for three years. First year monthly sales forecast is shown in the appendix.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

Jill Stranton will manage the daily operations of FireStarters. Bobbi Hanson will be FireStarters’ buyer and will also be responsible for marketing. Jill and Bobbi have over fifteen years of experience in the retail clothing industry.

Jill has been the manager of Wild Women Clothing for five years. Wild Woman Clothing is a mail-order business that focuses on young urban women ages 18 to 35. She supervised a staff of 10 and was extremely effective in keeping the business cost effective as sales grew 50% over a two year period. Prior to her employment with Wild Woman Clothing, Jill was manager of Atomic Age Fashions, a women’s clothing shop, for three years.

Bobbi has been a buyer for Glamour Imports for the past four years. Glamour Imports sells to over 200 women’s shops nationwide and generated over 10 million in sales last year. In addition to her experience as a buyer, Bobbi was a marketing associate for Gap from 1994-1997.

6.1 Personnel Plan

FireStarters will have a staff of five:

• Operations manager.
• Buyer/marketing.
• Order processor/website manager.
• Processing staff (2).

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

The following is the financial plan for FireStarters.

7.1 Break-even Analysis

The monthly break-even point, based on forecasted monthly expenses and costs, is shown in the table and chart below.

7.2 Projected Profit and Loss

The following table and charts present the projected profit and loss for three years. First year monthlies are in the appendix.

7.3 Projected Cash Flow

The following table and chart is detail the projected cash flow for three years. The appendices include first year cash flow monthly estimates.

7.4 Projected Balance Sheet

The following table shows the projected balance sheet for three years.

7.5 Business Ratios

Business ratios for the years of this plan are shown below. Industry profile ratios based on the NAICS code 454111, Electronic Shopping, a subcategory of the Retail Trade, are shown for comparison.

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How to Write an Ecommerce Business Plan

If you’ve got an exciting concept for an e-commerce venture, it’s crucial to develop a business plan tailored to your online store. This plan will play a pivotal role in ensuring that your vision has the necessary resources to thrive and generate profits. By crafting a comprehensive business plan for your online retail operation, you can effectively pinpoint your target audience, set clear monthly and quarterly sales targets, and significantly enhance the prospects of achieving long-term success in the e-commerce industry.

As a business plan writer and consultant , I’ve authored over 15,000 business plans for various enterprises, many of which have gone on to achieve substantial growth and success. In this article, I offer insights based on my experience and expertise in creating an e-commerce business plan.

What is an ecommerce business plan?

An ecommerce business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines the goals, strategies, and financial projections of an online business. It serves as a roadmap for the business, guiding entrepreneurs in making informed decisions and attracting investors.

How to Write an E-commerce Business Plan Step By Step

• Provide an executive summary.
• Business overview.
• Explain your offerings.
• Analyze the market.
• Develop your marketing strategy.
• Establish a sales plan.

l. Provide an executive summary

An executive summary serves as a succinct, one-to-two-page overview of your business, meticulously crafted to inform stakeholders about the essential elements of your comprehensive business plan. It’s a window into your business’s aspirations, strategies, and financial projections, providing a clear roadmap for decision-making and attracting potential investors.

An ecommerce business plan executive summary can look something like this:

Here’s a complete guide on how to write an effective executive summary with examples.

ll. Business overview

Business overview section beckons for meticulous attention to detail, as it showcases the very essence of your business – your product or service. It’s the stage upon which your offering takes center stage, captivating the audience with its unique value proposition and compelling features. Begin by painting a vivid overview of what you’re bringing to the market, piquing the interest of potential customers and investors alike.

A business overview of Pet Planet online store may look something like this:

Here are 14 profitable eCommerce business ideas you can start today!

lll. Explain your offerings

Having established the foundation of your business and its purpose, it’s time to embark on a deeper exploration of your plan. The spotlight now falls upon the products and services that will form the cornerstone of your venture. Begin by meticulously listing each offering, accompanied by a clear explanation of its purpose. Address the fundamental question of ‘why’ – why have you chosen to offer these specific products and services ? What unique value do they bring to the market?

Once the products and services have been comprehensively described, it’s time to illuminate the pricing model that will govern your offerings. Assign a clear cost to each service, considering factors such as production costs, market demand, and competitive pricing. Determining pricing, especially for a startup, can be a complex endeavor. Fortunately, sales pricing calculators can serve as valuable allies in identifying the optimal pricing strategy .

A explain your offerings of smart home products may look something like this:

• Business Plan Template

For your E-store business, download this ecommerce business plan template now.

lV. Analyze the market

A comprehensive market analysis serves as a compass, guiding your business through the intricate terrain of the marketplace. It begins with a deep understanding of your target audience, delving into their demographics, preferences, and purchasing behaviors. This knowledge empowers you to tailor your products, services, and marketing strategies to resonate with their needs and aspirations.

Here is how analyze the market in our ecommerce business plan.

How to Write Products and Services Section of Business Plan

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V. Develop your marketing strategy

An ecommerce business’s marketing plan is its secret weapon, guiding it towards brand awareness, target audience reach , and enhanced sales and revenue. This plan revolves around positioning strategy, acquisition channels, and tools and technology. Positioning strategy determines how you will differentiate yourself in the market, while acquisition channels identify how your target audience discovers your business.

Finally, tools and technology harness the power of innovation to enhance your reach, automate tasks, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior. By crafting and implementing a comprehensive marketing plan , you can effectively build brand awareness, attract your target audience, and drive growth and profitability for your ecommerce venture.

How to Write the Marketing Plan in Ecommerce Business Plan?

Vl. Establish a sales plan

Importance of an ecommerce business plan.

The significance of an ecommerce business plan cannot be overstated. It plays a pivotal role in:

• Defining Your Business Goals: Clearly articulating your business objectives provides a sense of direction and ensures that your actions are aligned with your overall vision.
• Identifying Your Target Market: Understanding your target audience's needs, preferences, and behaviors is crucial for tailoring your products, services, and marketing strategies effectively.
• Developing Effective Marketing Strategies: A well-defined marketing plan outlines the strategies you will employ to reach your target audience, generate leads, and drive sales.
• Securing Funding: Investors and lenders often require a comprehensive business plan to assess the viability of your venture and the potential return on their investment.

Tips for Writing an Effective Ecommerce Business Plan

• Conduct Thorough Research: Gather comprehensive data and insights into your target market, competitors, and industry trends.
• Set Realistic Goals: Establish achievable and measurable goals that align with your business's resources and capabilities.
• Update Regularly: Review and update your business plan periodically to reflect changes in your market, strategies, or goals.
• Quantify Your Financial Projections: Back up your financial projections with sound assumptions and calculations.
• Seek Feedback: Share your business plan with trusted advisors and mentors for constructive feedback and suggestions.

Revenue projections can be determined by conducting market research, analyzing industry trends, evaluating your target market size, and considering your pricing strategy. Additionally, factors such as marketing efforts, customer acquisition rates, and competition should be taken into account.

Managing operating expenses effectively involves careful budgeting, identifying cost-saving opportunities, negotiating with suppliers, optimizing operational processes, and regularly reviewing expenses. It’s important to strike a balance between controlling costs without compromising the quality of your products or services.

Funding options for an eCommerce business may include self-funding, loans from financial institutions, angel investors, venture capital, crowdfunding platforms, or partnerships. Consider your business’s financial needs, growth plans, and potential risks when exploring funding options.

The break-even point is the point at which your total revenue matches your total expenses, resulting in neither profit nor loss. It can be calculated by dividing your fixed costs by the contribution margin (selling price per unit minus variable costs per unit). This calculation helps you determine the minimum sales volume required to cover costs.

Tracking CAC and CLV is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts. CAC helps determine the cost of acquiring a new customer, while CLV estimates the value a customer brings to your business over their lifetime. By analyzing these metrics, you can optimize your marketing strategies and ensure that the cost of acquiring customers aligns with their long-term value.

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How to Start an Ecommerce Business: 2024 Edition

With global online retail sales expected to hit $8.15 trillion by 2026, there’s no better time to start an ecommerce business.

But if you’re new to the business world, launching an online store can be daunting. Where do you begin? Should your initial focus be on product selection, website design, or marketing strategy? These questions are common for any budding entrepreneur.

This guide covers all the steps, from the basics to the more advanced aspects of running an online store. You’ll learn how to set up, manage, and grow your business into a profitable ecommerce venture.

How to start an ecommerce business: 5 steps to launch

1. find products to sell.

Being strategic with your product selection is key. Here are some tips to help you choose:

Capitalize on regional products

Identify products unique to certain regions or cultures that might have a demand in other areas. These can be traditional crafts, local delicacies, or specific fashion styles.

Explore niche communities

Look into niche hobbies or interests and find products that cater to these specific groups. These communities often have passionate followers looking for specialized items.

Solve a pain point

Think of a problem you’ve personally encountered and consider if there’s a product that could solve it. Products that address real-life issues can resonate well with customers.

You’ll find inspiration is abundant once you start your search. Google Trends can be a useful tool to help validate your product ideas.

Additional resources:

• How To Find a Product to Sell Online: 13 Tactics for 2024
• 10 White Label Products Ideas for Ecommerce  

How to source your products

When it comes to sourcing products, dropshipping is a solid option to think about. It’s a setup where an ecommerce business sells products without dealing with inventory. A customer buys something from you, and then you order it from a dropshipping supplier who ships it directly to them.

While dropshipping is a popular choice, there are other business models like wholesaling or direct-to-consumer that might suit different business needs. However, dropshipping stands out for several reasons:

• Testing new ideas is easier: With dropshipping, trying out new products is a breeze. You don’t buy a bunch of stock upfront, so experimenting with different items to see what sticks is less risky.
• Geographic flexibility: Run your business from anywhere. As long as you have internet access, you can manage a dropshipping store, making it perfect for those who love flexibility.
• Lower entry barriers: You don’t need a big budget to start. This makes dropshipping ideal for those beginning their ecommerce journey.
• The Ultimate Shopify Dropshipping Guide (2024)
• 11 Best Dropshipping Suppliers and How To Choose the Right One

2. Analyze the competition

Research is integral to the success of your ecommerce store. Once you’ve chosen your products, look at competitors and what they’re doing. Here are a few things to pay attention to when doing a competitor analysis: 

• What is their business model?
• Are they selling multiple items or just one product?
• What social media channels do they utilize?
• Who is their target market?
• How do they push sales? (e.g., paid social, PPC, SEO, email, etc.)

Competitor analysis can lead you to identify better products to sell and give you a good understanding of how to launch an online business. Additional resources:

• SWOT Analysis: How to Create One + Examples to Inspire You

3. Write a business plan

With your competitive research complete, it’s time to write your business plan. This plan serves as a roadmap, guiding your ecommerce journey from start to growth. It’s especially important for aligning your goals and strategies.

Tips for crafting a successful business plan:

• Define clear objectives: Start by setting specific, measurable goals for your business. This could include sales targets, customer acquisition numbers, or market penetration rates.
• Outline your business model: Describe how you will manage inventory, whether through dropshipping or holding stock.
• Detail your marketing approach: Explain how you’ll attract customers. Include tactics like SEO, social media marketing, and influencer collaborations.
• Make financial projections: Include detailed financial forecasts. Show expected revenue, expenses, and break-even point.
• Conduct a risk analysis: Identify potential challenges and how you’ll address them. This could include market changes, supply issues, or technological advancements.
• Include an action plan: Break down your strategies into actionable steps with timelines. This makes your goals more attainable and trackable.
• The 7 Best Business Plan Examples (2024)
• Business Plan Template: The Ultimate Guide for Ecommerce Businesses

4. Choose a name and logo

Choosing a business name.

Choosing the right name for your online business is a critical step. A good name sticks in people’s minds and becomes synonymous with your brand’s identity. Tools like Oberlo’s business name generator are great for sparking unique ideas and checking if a domain is up for grabs.

After picking a few names, see if they’re available on social media. Your brand needs the same name everywhere for people to recognize you easily. Thinking of selling worldwide? Make sure your name works across different cultures. You don’t want any surprises there.

Crafting a logo

Your logo is the visual heartbeat of your brand. Begin with something straightforward yet impactful using Shopify’s free logo maker . This tool is ideal for those new to logo design.

Consider how your logo will appear in different settings. It needs to shine on everything from your website to product packaging. A well-designed logo, aligned with your business name, lays the foundation for a strong brand presence in the online marketplace.

• How to Build a Brand: An 8-Step Guide
• Branding Design: What It Is and How to Do It

5. Build your online store

Once you have chosen a name and logo, the next thing to do is build your store. Choosing ecommerce hosting platforms like Shopify can make setting up your store easy. Shopify has lots of templates to start with and an easy-to-use online store builder that doesn’t need coding input. 

When your website is ready to start taking orders, remember to try a test order yourself to make sure the process is smooth for the customer. Alleviate any additional steps needed to buy something online and ask only for information that is necessary for the checkout process.

• 7 Best Free Shopify Themes For Your Online Store
• 58 Most Inspiring and Successful Shopify Stores in 2024

6. Choose your sales and marketing channels

There are various sales channels available, and selecting the right ones depends heavily on your target audience and the types of products you sell. If you specialize in unique or handcrafted items, niche marketplaces like Etsy are more suitable than broader platforms like Amazon or eBay. 

Here’s a list of marketplaces that cater to different niches:

• Bonanza : A great platform if you’re selling unique and diverse items. From fashionable clothing to rare collectibles, it attracts a wide range of buyers.
• Newegg : If your specialty is electronics and tech gadgets, Newegg is your marketplace.
• Reverb : This niche marketplace is dedicated to musical instruments and gear. It connects sellers with a targeted audience of musicians and enthusiasts.

On the marketing front, balancing cost and effectiveness is key. You want to reach the right people without breaking the bank. Here are some strategies to consider:

• Social media marketing: Engage on Instagram with live sessions, for example—a cost-effective way to connect and show your brand’s personality.
• Email marketing: Interactive emails with quizzes or polls boost engagement without significant expense, offering valuable customer insights.
• Influencer partnerships: Working with niche micro-influencers can be more affordable and effective for targeting specific customer groups.
• Search engine optimization (SEO): Focus on voice search optimization. It’s a smart, future-proof strategy that can reduce long-term marketing costs.

Additional resources

• 10 Best Marketing Channels for Ecommerce Stores
• 9 Marketing Strategies That’ll Level Up Your Ecommerce Store

7. Launch your business 

Now, you’re ready to launch your online business. It’s a big step, and there’s plenty to keep an eye on as you start. First up, watch your key performance indicators (KPIs) closely. They tell you how well your store is doing and what you might need to tweak.

Next, make sure your shipping runs smoothly. Happy customers often come back, so getting orders to them without a hitch is crucial. If something goes off track, be ready with a backup plan.

Finally, keep learning and adjusting based on what your customers say and what your data shows. This way, your business keeps growing and improving.

How much does it cost to start an ecommerce business?

Starting an ecommerce business can be more budget-friendly than you think. Often, you might need only about $100 to get going, mainly for a website subscription and a theme for your store. One of the perks of an ecommerce business is that it typically costs less than a brick-and-mortar store. You won’t have the same overheads like rent for a physical space.

If you opt for a dropshipping business model, the initial costs can be even lower. In dropshipping, you pay for products only after customers buy them, so there’s no upfront expense for stock. However, if you’re making products yourself or working with manufacturers, you’ll need to invest in materials and labor from the start.

Shopify’s research sheds some light on what to expect financially. They surveyed 150 entrepreneurs and 300 small business owners across the US. The findings suggest that new ecommerce store owners might spend up to $40,000 in their first year, covering everything from products and operations to marketing and staff wages. But these costs are usually offset by your business’s profits.

Here’s a rough breakdown of typical first-year expenses: 

• Online store setup: 9%
• Operating costs like legal fees and software: 11%
• Marketing: 10.3%
• Product-related costs: 31.6%
• Shipping: 8.7%
• Team and staff expenses: 18.8%
• Offline costs, like event fees: 10.5% 

However, the actual amount can vary based on factors like your industry, the type of ecommerce model you choose, and whether you hire employees. And you don’t need to have the entire sum upfront. Many entrepreneurs start with personal savings, while others may seek support from friends, family, or personal loans.

4 tips for creating a profitable online store

Launching an ecommerce business is just the beginning. To make it profitable, you need to think differently. Here are some actionable tips for success: 

1. Enhance customer interaction 

Revamp your customer service approach. Implement interactive features like virtual product trials or augmented reality on your site. This will give customers a new way to experience your products.

2. Gamify your shopping experience

Transform your website into an interactive playground. Add elements like scavenger hunts for discounts or fun quizzes that lead to personalized offers. These tactics can make shopping more engaging and increase sales.

3. Personalize with AI

Incorporate AI technology into your store. Use it to analyze customer behaviors and preferences. Then, tailor product recommendations and content accordingly to enhance the shopping experience.

4. Keep your inventory fresh 

Regularly update your product offerings. Use market trends and customer feedback to introduce new items. Consider limited-edition products or collaborations to create excitement and attract repeat visits.

Open your ecommerce store

Building an ecommerce business from scratch has its mix of highs and lows. You’ll be choosing products, gauging their market fit, and handling production. Next comes developing your online store and drawing in customers. It’s a bit like solving a complex puzzle, and the satisfaction of seeing it come together is immense.

Hopefully this article has helped you understand how to start an ecommerce business. You’ve got everything you need at your fingertips to make this the year your store takes off, and we’re happy to help you meet this goal.

Ecommerce business FAQ

What are the 4 ecommerce business models.

There are four primary ecommerce business models, : 

• Consumer to business (C2B): In this model, individuals offer products or services to businesses. An example is an influencer charging a fee to provide brand exposure to their audience.
• Business to business (B2B): Here, one business sells goods or services to another business. For instance, a company might sell wholesale products to another business for their use.
• Consumer to consumer (C2C): This model involves transactions between consumers. An example is selling vintage clothes on a platform like Facebook Marketplace to another individual.
• Business to consumer (B2C): In this common model, ecommerce businesses sell goods or services directly to individual consumers, like purchasing a jacket from an online retailer.

How do I start an ecommerce business without money?

To be honest, you’d need at least a few hundred dollars to start an ecommerce business. That’s because it’s a product-based business that requires you to build an online store, do marketing, and invest in the growth of your brand.

That said, you can start an ecommerce business on the cheap by choosing dropshipping as your business model, tapping into free marketing channels, and creating brand awareness via word-of-mouth strategies. You can also look into funding programs like Shopify Capital to get the money you need to start and grow your ecommerce business.

Is an ecommerce business profitable?

In a word: yes. But realizing your profits could take a while, since an ecommerce entrepreneur’s journey is a marathon rather than a sprint. It could take you 18 to 24 months to see a profit. That’s why we recommend you don’t measure the success of your ecommerce venture by your net profit in the first year.

Want to Learn More?

• How to Start a Photography Business
• 30 Amazing Startup Business Ideas
• The Ultimate Guide to Mobile Commerce
• How to Start a Business

Ecommerce Plan Templates

Ensure the Success of Your Ecommerce Business with Template.net’s Free Printable Ecommerce Plan Templates. Choose from Professionally-written Document Examples Online for Your Ecommerce Plan, Marketing, Startup, Online Products, Goals, Competitors, and Resources Needed to Execute Your Plan with Our Templates that You Can Fully Edit to Your Needs, Download for Free, and Print for Immediate Use. 

• Ecommerce Facebook
• Ecommerce Facebook Post
• Ecommerce Flowchart
• Ecommerce Flyer
• Ecommerce Instagram
• Ecommerce Instagram Post
• Ecommerce Instagram Story
• Ecommerce Linkedin
• Ecommerce LinkedIn Post
• Ecommerce Manager
• Ecommerce Marketing
• Ecommerce Organizational Chart
• Ecommerce Plan
• Ecommerce Post
• Ecommerce Product
• Ecommerce Proposal
• Ecommerce Resume
• Ecommerce Roadmap
• Ecommerce Sale
• Ecommerce Snapchat Geofilter
• Ecommerce Store
• Ecommerce Website
• Ecommerce Whatsapp
• Ecommerce WhatsApp Post

Free Ecommerce Plan Template, Printable, Download

Template.net ensures that you meet your objectives in your ecommerce business and reach your sales targets with our professional ecommerce plan templates. Whether for mobile or digital marketing, get template examples for one page, 90-day market plan, or market analysis templates that contain simple and fillable original content that you can edit to your needed specifics using our document editor tool. All templates are free to download and printable on office or commercial printers.

Edit Ecommerce Plan Online for Free and Download

Choose your ecommerce plan template example that fits your needs to cover areas of planning processes, marketing strategies, or electronic commerce sales presentations. Edit your chosen template online using our editor tool to include your own relevant business provisions and objectives. Download freely after editing in PDF file format.

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Start selling with Shopify today

Start your free trial with Shopify today—then use these resources to guide you through every step of the process.

Free Business Plan Template for Small Businesses (2024)

Use this free business plan template to write your business plan quickly and efficiently.

A good business plan is essential to successfully starting your business —  and the easiest way to simplify the work of writing a business plan is to start with a business plan template.

You’re already investing time and energy in refining your business model and planning your launch—there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to writing a business plan. Instead, to help build a complete and effective plan, lean on time-tested structures created by other  entrepreneurs and startups. 

Ahead, learn what it takes to create a solid business plan and download Shopify's free business plan template to get started on your dream today. 

What this free business plan template includes

• Executive summary
• Company overview
• Products or services offered
• Market analysis
• Marketing plan
• Logistics and operations plan
• Financial plan

This business plan outline is designed to ensure you’re thinking through all of the important facets of starting a new business. It’s intended to help new business owners and entrepreneurs consider the full scope of running a business and identify functional areas they may not have considered or where they may need to level up their skills as they grow.

That said, it may not include the specific details or structure preferred by a potential investor or lender. If your goal with a business plan is to secure funding , check with your target organizations—typically banks or investors—to see if they have business plan templates you can follow to maximize your chances of success.

Our free business plan template includes seven key elements typically found in the traditional business plan format:

1. Executive summary

This is a one-page summary of your whole plan, typically written after the rest of the plan is completed. The description section of your executive summary will also cover your management team, business objectives and strategy, and other background information about the brand. 

2. Company overview

This section of your business plan will answer two fundamental questions: “Who are you?” and “What do you plan to do?” Answering these questions clarifies why your company exists, what sets it apart from others, and why it’s a good investment opportunity. This section will detail the reasons for your business’s existence, its goals, and its guiding principles.

3. Products or services offered

What you sell and the most important features of your products or services. It also includes any plans for intellectual property, like patent filings or copyright. If you do market research for new product lines, it will show up in this section of your business plan.

4. Market analysis

This section includes everything from estimated market size to your target markets and competitive advantage. It’ll include a competitive analysis of your industry to address competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Market research is an important part of ensuring you have a viable idea.

5. Marketing plan

How you intend to get the word out about your business, and what strategic decisions you’ve made about things like your pricing strategy. It also covers potential customers’ demographics, your sales plan, and your metrics and milestones for success.

6. Logistics and operations plan

Everything that needs to happen to turn your raw materials into products and get them into the hands of your customers.

7. Financial plan

It’s important to include a look at your financial projections, including both revenue and expense projections. This section includes templates for three key financial statements: an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash-flow statement . You can also include whether or not you need a business loan and how much you’ll need.

Business plan examples

What do financial projections look like on paper? How do you write an executive summary? What should your company description include?  Business plan examples  can help answer some of these questions and transform your business idea into an actionable plan.

Professional business plan example

Inside our template, we’ve filled out a sample business plan featuring a fictional ecommerce business . 

The sample is set up to help you get a sense of each section and understand how they apply to the planning and evaluation stages of a business plan. If you’re looking for funding, this example won’t be a complete or formal look at business plans, but it will give you a great place to start and notes about where to expand.

Lean business plan example

A lean business plan format is a shortened version of your more detailed business plan. It’s helpful when modifying your plan for a specific audience, like investors or new hires. 

Also known as a one-page business plan, it includes only the most important, need-to-know information, such as:

• Company description
• Key members of your team
• Customer segments

💡 Tip: For a step-by-step guide to creating a lean business plan (including a sample business plan), read our guide on how to create a lean business plan .

Benefits of writing a solid business plan

It’s tempting to dive right into execution when you’re excited about a new business or side project, but taking the time to write a thorough business plan and get your thoughts on paper allows you to do a number of beneficial things:

• Test the viability of your business idea. Whether you’ve got one business idea or many, business plans can make an idea more tangible, helping you see if it’s truly viable and ensure you’ve found a target market. 
• Plan for your next phase. Whether your goal is to start a new business or scale an existing business to the next level, a business plan can help you understand what needs to happen and identify gaps to address.
• Clarify marketing strategy, goals, and tactics. Writing a business plan can show you the actionable next steps to take on a big, abstract idea. It can also help you narrow your strategy and identify clear-cut tactics that will support it.
• Scope the necessary work. Without a concrete plan, cost overruns and delays are all but certain. A business plan can help you see the full scope of work to be done and adjust your investment of time and money accordingly.
• Hire and build partnerships. When you need buy-in from potential employees and business partners, especially in the early stages of your business, a clearly written business plan is one of the best tools at your disposal. A business plan provides a refined look at your goals for the business, letting partners judge for themselves whether or not they agree with your vision.
• Secure funds. Seeking financing for your business—whether from venture capital, financial institutions, or Shopify Capital —is one of the most common reasons to create a business plan.

Why you should you use a template for a business plan

A business plan can be as informal or formal as your situation calls for, but even if you’re a fan of the back-of-the-napkin approach to planning, there are some key benefits to starting your plan from an existing outline or simple business plan template.

No blank-page paralysis

A blank page can be intimidating to even the most seasoned writers. Using an established business planning process and template can help you get past the inertia of starting your business plan, and it allows you to skip the work of building an outline from scratch. You can always adjust a template to suit your needs.

Guidance on what to include in each section

If you’ve never sat through a business class, you might never have created a SWOT analysis or financial projections. Templates that offer guidance—in plain language—about how to fill in each section can help you navigate sometimes-daunting business jargon and create a complete and effective plan.

Knowing you’ve considered every section

In some cases, you may not need to complete every section of a startup business plan template, but its initial structure shows you you’re choosing to omit a section as opposed to forgetting to include it in the first place.

Tips for creating a successful business plan

There are some high-level strategic guidelines beyond the advice included in this free business plan template that can help you write an effective, complete plan while minimizing busywork.

Understand the audience for your plan

If you’re writing a business plan for yourself in order to get clarity on your ideas and your industry as a whole, you may not need to include the same level of detail or polish you would with a business plan you want to send to potential investors. Knowing who will read your plan will help you decide how much time to spend on it.

Know your goals

Understanding the goals of your plan can help you set the right scope. If your goal is to use the plan as a roadmap for growth, you may invest more time in it than if your goal is to understand the competitive landscape of a new industry.

Take it step by step

Writing a 10- to 15-page document can feel daunting, so try to tackle one section at a time. Select a couple of sections you feel most confident writing and start there—you can start on the next few sections once those are complete. Jot down bullet-point notes in each section before you start writing to organize your thoughts and streamline the writing process.

Maximize your business planning efforts

Planning is key to the financial success of any type of business , whether you’re a startup, non-profit, or corporation.

To make sure your efforts are focused on the highest-value parts of your own business planning, like clarifying your goals, setting a strategy, and understanding the target market and competitive landscape, lean on a business plan outline to handle the structure and format for you. Even if you eventually omit sections, you’ll save yourself time and energy by starting with a framework already in place.

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Business plan template FAQ

What is the purpose of a business plan.

The purpose of your business plan is to describe a new business opportunity or an existing one. It clarifies the business strategy, marketing plan, financial forecasts, potential providers, and more information about the company.

How do I write a simple business plan?

• Choose a business plan format, such as a traditional or a one-page business plan. 
• Find a business plan template.
• Read through a business plan sample.
• Fill in the sections of your business plan.

What is the best business plan template?

If you need help writing a business plan, Shopify’s template is one of the most beginner-friendly options you’ll find. It’s comprehensive, well-written, and helps you fill out every section.

What are the 5 essential parts of a business plan?

The five essential parts of a traditional business plan include:

• Executive summary: This is a brief overview of the business plan, summarizing the key points and highlighting the main points of the plan.
• Business description: This section outlines the business concept and how it will be executed.
• Market analysis: This section provides an in-depth look at the target market and how the business will compete in the marketplace.
• Financial plan: This section details the financial projections for the business, including sales forecasts, capital requirements, and a break-even analysis.
• Management and organization: This section describes the management team and the organizational structure of the business.

Are there any free business plan templates?

There are several free templates for business plans for small business owners available online, including Shopify’s own version. Download a copy for your business.

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10 best practices for ecommerce businesses

Ready to launch your ecommerce business? Follow these best practices to make sales and retain customers.

In crowded online markets, it takes effort to make an ecommerce business stand out.

Even with a fantastic product, a subpar customer experience leads to frustrated customers and missed sales opportunities. With the help of ecommerce best practices, you can smoothly guide your customers from learning about your brand to checkout — and hopefully turn a site visitor into a lifelong customer. After all, ecommerce is about more than just a product.

The rise of ecommerce businesses

Online purchases exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. People stuck at home spent, on average, 32% more on online purchases in 2020 than they did in 2019. The rapid growth and unbeatable convenience of online shopping paired with millions of people at home led to the perfect storm of booming online retail sales.

Today, ecommerce continues to boom with novel strategies and verticals centered on mobile or social commerce. Social media-based sales alone are set to exceed $56 billion in the U.S. in 2023, doubling pre-pandemic sales.

The rise of ecommerce businesses represents a significant shift in consumer habits that will likely continue. If you’re thinking of joining the wave and starting an online business, incorporate these best practices into your business plan to make sales — and win over consumers — from day one.

Ecommerce business ideas and examples

Ecommerce simply means buying and selling goods and services online — things like technology and makeup, but also homes and cars. You can sell anything there’s a market for. And if a market doesn’t exist, you can create one with a unique product or service.

If you’re thinking of starting a business but aren’t sure what to sell, here are some popular product ideas and why they’re in demand:

• Clothing. Clothing retail continues to evolve online. Now you’ll find everything from major brands at huge retailers to smaller, niche offerings for just about any style.
• Online courses. Hosting online courses is a great way to share knowledge and earn a side income for skilled teachers or experts in a field.
• Secondhand products. If you have an eye for hidden treasures, try finding and selling secondhand items. Used products are affordable, sustainable, and in high demand.
• Handmade personalized gifts. One-of-a-kind handmade items make a great gift. You’ll find no shortage of places to market them, like Etsy.

Build completely custom, production-ready websites — or ultra-high-fidelity prototypes — without writing a line of code. Only with Webflow.

10 tips on how to start an ecommerce business

Ecommerce seems simple but has a steep learning curve. Online marketers make it seem as easy as setting up a website and watching your net worth grow while sipping a drink on a beach. But to be successful, you need to know how to create (or source) in-demand products, attract customers, and manage inventory or dropship suppliers. And that’s just scratching the surface.

You also need to focus on marketing, content creation, design and development, customer service, and more. Business owners must juggle lots of roles and tasks to run an ecommerce business.

Here are a few best practices to help you get started.

1. Ask the right questions first

Drill down into key elements about the product or service — its features and benefits, target audience, and unique selling points — to identify early barriers. Understand what the product or service accomplishes or what problem it’s meant to solve.

2. Find where your product fits in the market

Know where your competitors fit in the market and be honest about where you fit on that spectrum. Once you find the differences, lean on them. Make it clear how you stand out from competitors, whether it’s superior quality or a better price point.

3. Choose the right suppliers

Decide whether producing your product or sourcing it from another company will work best for your ecommerce business model. Handmade goods are best produced by a single supplier, while selling phone accessories at volume often requires a factory capable of higher output.

Research potential suppliers and choose ones with good reviews and solid products or materials. Ask for a sample. Check out their competitors. Spend the time here so you don’t disappoint customers with a subpar product.

4. Make a detailed business plan

A business plan should include details about the product, marketing strategies, and financial projections. Putting everything in one place creates a centralized source of truth you can refer to later if you need to pivot to a new strategy or adjust financial projections.

5. Create an engaging website

A website is the face of all ecommerce, so design a user-friendly and engaging page that’s accessible and organized. A successful ecommerce store has high-quality images, clear product descriptions, and an intuitive checkout process.

Around 94% of consumers say that navigation is the most important part of a website, and 83% value good-looking, up-to-date websites. Without clear navigation, potential customers might grow frustrated and leave without making a purchase. Don’t sacrifice functionality for flashy designs that obscure information or interrupt the user flow.

Once you’ve established a basic website, optimize specific elements. Try A/B testing product descriptions, improving the user experience and user interface, and creating content that shows off your product offerings.

6. Stay updated on the best ecommerce tools

Ecommerce tools speed up operations, improve customer satisfaction, and increase the overall efficiency of an online store . If your payment processing system is out of date, for example, it could slow the checkout process to a crawl, leading customers to your competitors.

You should always seek new tools that improve pain points within your business, but don’t fix things that aren’t broken. Your time is better spent elsewhere.

7. Focus on great customer service

Respond to inquiries and resolve them quickly to build customer trust and loyalty. Encourage customers to reach out by offering multiple ways to do so: a chatbot, contact forms, open DMs on social media, or a business phone number they can call or text.

8. Optimize your store

Improve your ecommerce website’s search engine rankings by writing great content and applying search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. Optimize product images and descriptions, improve site navigation, and ensure your site is mobile-friendly to increase your chances of Google indexing and ranking your site.

9. Update your inventory frequently

Add new products regularly to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Don’t forget to remove out-of-stock or past-season items to avoid frustrating your customers interested in unavailable products.

10. Analyze customer behaviors

Once the business is up and running, keep tabs on its progress, traffic, and conversion rates. Customer data helps businesses understand their target demographics and better serve their needs. Track customer interactions, analyze site traffic, and conduct surveys. With that data, you can decide if you need to change your business goals or strategies.

Make a great ecommerce website

A great website is a crucial component of any online business. Learn how to build and optimize your ecommerce website with resources from Webflow.

Learn how to create a website from scratch or get inspired by some of the best ecommerce website templates . Webflow’s intuitive website builder offers a no-code, lightweight solution for your ecommerce business.

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• Business Insurance
• Best Small Business Insurance

Best Small Business Insurance Of June 2024

Fact Checked

Updated: Jun 3, 2024, 9:52am

We analyzed the official complaint records of 28 insurers and found that Allianz and Clear Blue are the best small business insurance companies.

A good policy will cover your small business for a variety of problems, like workplace injuries, stolen business property, fire, severe weather and lawsuits. But with all of the options available, finding a policy might seem like a daunting task. We can help you identify the best small business insurance companies.

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Summary: Best Small Business Insurance

What are the different types of small business insurance, how do i get the best small business insurance, how much small business insurance coverage do i need, how much does small business insurance cost, methodology, other small business insurance companies we rated, best small business insurance frequently asked questions, next insurance.

Tailored policies for thousands of professions

A.M. Best financial strength rating

A- (Excellent)

How We Chose the Best Small Business Insurance

We evaluated complaint data for commercial liability and commercial property insurance collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Our editors are committed to bringing you unbiased ratings and information. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and the methodology for the ratings below.

• 28 insurance companies evaluated
• 102 years of insurance experience on the editorial team

The Best Small Business Insurance Companies

Complaint level

Extremely low

A+ (Superior)

While Allianz may be better known for insuring large global enterprises, small businesses can also take advantage of its insurance industry acumen.

• Provides risk consulting for all industries.
• Allianz’s Crisis Management team helps businesses navigate terrorism, political violence and hostile environments.
• Recognized as a Sustainable Insurer by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2022 because of its work to integrate sustainability and climate actions into its global business.
• Does not offer small business insurance quotes online.

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Clear Blue Insurance

Clear Blue provides business insurance through partner agencies, not directly to small businesses. Available coverage types include all the essentials such as general liability, inland marine, commercial property and employment practices insurance.

• Operates in all states and Washington, D.C.
• Specializes in providing insurance programs by partnering with managing general agencies, reinsurers and others.
• Does not sell directly to small businesses. You’ll need to go through one of Clear Blue’s partner agencies.
• Does not offer business insurance quotes online.

You probably know Allstate for its auto and homeowners insurance but the company also sells business insurance with a stellar complaint track record. An Allstate agent can help you select the coverage that’s right for your particular business.

• Covers many  industries including retailers, food and beverage, medical, photographers and more.
• Can provide insurance for small businesses that operate out of homes.
• Website has lists of coverage types you may need based on your  industry.
• Offers online quotes for business owners policies.
• Does not offer online claims filing. You’ll need to call Allstate to file a business insurance claim.
• Does not sell workers compensation insurance.

Farmers Insurance

A (Excellent)

You’ll find a wide variety of commercial coverage types and the assistance of a Farmers agent.

• Provides useful information on its website explaining business insurance coverage types.
• Offers workplace safety videos and material, called MySafetyPoint, without extra charge to its business insurance customers.
• Has online business insurance quotes.
• You can submit a business insurance claim online.
• Does not sell business insurance in all states.

Acuity works through local agents to provide insurance for a wide variety of businesses, from hotels to auto repair shops to retailers and restaurants.

• The Acuity Nurse Helpline can facilitate access to the appropriate health care for your injured employees.
• Provides on-site loss control consultation and training.
• Offers a free online newsletter that addresses the specific concerns of truckers.
• Has a variety of videos with insurance information for various professions, such as construction and retail.
• Offers online business insurance quotes.

CNA has an excellent complaint track record. With over 300 coverage types available from CNA, you’ll have plenty of options to find the right business insurance fit.

• Industries that can be covered by CNA business insurance include construction, health care, financial institutions, law firms, manufacturing and more.
• CNA’s PrepWise provides a number of risk management services, such as cybersecurity awareness and ways to improve ergonomics in the workplace.
• Offers a pay-as-you-go workers compensation insurance option, so that small businesses can budget better.
• Offers online claims filing.
• Has a lower financial strength rating compared to other top competitors but still solid.

A++ (Superior)

As one of the largest insurers for commercial insurance on our list, Travelers also boasts very few complaints about its business insurance. Its wide range of commercial insurance solutions are available through independent agents.

• Offers TravPay, a pay-as-you-go workers compensation system that links your payroll directly to your workers compensation premiums, so you don’t have to guess the amount of annual payroll.
• Travelers’ TravComp is a workers compensation claims system that includes a dedicated return-to-work team of nurses and claims professionals with the goal of getting employees back to work quickly.
• Risk control resources include self-service material such as checklists.
• A variety of online services includes bills and payment histories, certificates of insurance and checking the status of claims.
• Does not offer online business insurance quotes. You will need to contact an agent.

Frankenmuth Insurance

Frankenmuth has customized, business-specific insurance packages for operations such as retail stores, manufacturing and small offices. Frankenmuth is a regional carrier operating in 15 states in parts of the Midwest and Southeast.

• Frankenmuth insurance is sold by local independent agents.
• Types of businesses that can be insured by Frankenmuth include retail stores, contractors, personal services and wholesalers.
• Only available in 15 states.
• Does not offer online business insurance quotes.

Cincinnati Insurance

Cincinnati Insurance sells its coverage through local independent agents who will tailor coverage to fit the needs of a business. Cincinnati’s business insurance is available in most states.

• Industries that can be covered include craft beverages, dentists, manufacturers, medical facilities, retail and more.
• The CinciPlus package combines expanded coverage types at a cost-savings from buying them separately. Cincinnati Insurance also offers CiniPak, which bundles coverage geared toward business types such as retail stores.
• Cincinnati’s three-year commercial package policy lets you lock in rates that won’t increase for the duration of your policy term. (Rates may change if your business’s needs change.)
• Complimentary loss control services can help you identify and manage workplace accidents, injuries and other problems.
• Not available nationwide.

Westfield Insurance

Selling business insurance in 21 states, Westfield Insurance has a notable track record for low complaints.

• With its Westfield Signature Series you can bundle together optional coverage types to address your specific business size and type.
• Among the top sellers of farm business policies.
• Only available in 21 states.

Chubb’s small business insurance targets small businesses with up to $30 million in revenue.

• Chubb offers insurance for operations such as cultural institutions, food services, health care, manufacturers, retail stores and technology.
• Small business owners may want to check out Chubb’s Business Owners Policy (BOP), which provides a blanket limit for property coverage so you have flexibility in where to spend a claim payment after a loss.
• Chubb’s BOP can be customized with coverage types such as flood insurance, electronic data liability, equipment breakdown, professional liability and other valuable protection.
• Only offers online business insurance quotes for businesses with a current or projected annual gross revenue of $2 million or less.

When buying small business insurance, your coverage decisions depend on your business’s type, size and specific risks. Common types of small business insurance include general liability, commercial property, and workers’ compensation insurance.

The Hartford

AM Best financial strength rating

ASK THE EXPERT

Insurance Lead Editor

Insurance Managing Editor

Michelle Megna

Start With a BOP

I recommend starting with a business owners policy (BOP). It combines three essential small business insurance types: liability insurance, commercial property insurance and business interruption insurance. It’s usually cheaper to buy a BOP than purchasing each coverage type separately.

Add Other Coverage as Needed

A BOP won’t cover everything, so I recommend adding more coverage types as necessary. For example, a BOP won’t cover car accidents. If you get into an accident with your work vehicle, you’ll need to add commercial auto insurance . Similarly, if you have employees, you’ll need to add workers’ comp insurance in most states.

Reassess Every Year

I think it’s a smart move to reassess your business risks every year. As your business grows, you’re bound to take on more risks, such as buying new equipment or adding more responsibilities for your employees. For example, you can add equipment breakdown insurance to cover equipment like refrigerators, computer systems and manufacturing equipment.

We recommend looking at several factors to determine how much small business insurance you need, such as:

• Your business type. Your industry has certain risks that are associated with it and you’ll need to buy the appropriate coverage types for those risks. For example, if you are an accountant who gives tax advice, you’ll want to buy professional liability insurance.
• The size of your business. As your business grows, you may need to increase coverage such as your liability limits. If you want to add an extra layer of protection, we recommend buying a commercial umbrella insurance policy.
• Your business location. You may need certain types of small business insurance required by law , depending on your city or state.
• Contractual requirements. Your client may require coverage such as general liability insurance, professional liability insurance or a surety bond .

The average cost of small business insurance is $57 per month, according to Insureon. That’s for a business owner’s policy (BOP) , which bundles general liability insurance, commercial property insurance and business interruption insurance. It’s generally cheaper to buy a BOP rather than buying each policy separately.

Your small business insurance costs depend on several factors:

• Industry. Industries with a higher risk will typically pay more than industries with a lower risk. For example, a construction company with multiple employees would cost more to insure than a graphics designer who works on their own.
• Size of payroll and annual revenue. The higher your operating costs and expenses, the more you can expect to pay for liability insurance.
• Number of employees. The greater the number of employees, the higher the risk of accidents.
• Location. If your business operates in a high-risk area with higher crime rates, you may pay more for business insurance.
• Building age and size. Older and larger buildings cost more to insure than newer and smaller buildings.
• Coverage amount and types. The higher your coverage limits and the types of business insurance policies you buy impact your costs. For example, if you have a business vehicle, you need to buy commercial auto insurance, which increase your overall business insurance costs.
• Claims history. If you have a history of filing claims for your small business, it could increase your premiums.

The best way to find cheap business insurance is to compare business insurance quotes from several different insurers. You can find business insurance quotes online or by speaking with an independent insurance agent.

Average Monthly Costs of Small Business Insurance

Business Insurance Made Simple

Compare Free Quotes From Top Insurers at Simply Business. Get a Policy in Under 10 Minutes.

Ratings methodology

We ranked business insurance companies based on complaint data for commercial liability and commercial property insurance in 2020. Complaint data is based on complaints upheld by state insurance departments in every state and collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

How do I know if I need small business insurance?

The vast majority of small businesses would suffer financially if they were sued or experienced a devastating loss, such as losing inventory in a fire. For those businesses, commercial insurance is a must.

Without small business insurance, you’d have to pay for the legal costs of lawsuits and find a way to pay for damage to your business property. General liability insurance and commercial property insurance are good places to start. Commercial auto is important if you have cars, trucks or vans that you use for business.

And workers’ compensation insurance is required in most states.

What does small business insurance not cover?

Certain types of accidents are generally excluded from small business insurance policies, including floods and earthquakes. You can typically buy separate policies to cover these types of problems, such as a commercial flood insurance policy.

Small business insurance also excludes coverage for fraudulent and intentional acts that you commit. For example, if you assault a customer, general liability insurance won’t cover your legal costs.

Do I need business insurance if I have an LLC?

It’s a good idea to get business insurance for your LLC. That’s because business insurance covers your business assets. For example, if someone slips in your store and gets injured, general liability insurance can pay for medical bills as well as legal costs if you get sued because of the accident.

While business insurance is essential for high-risk industries, such as manufacturing and construction, it’s also a good idea if you’re in a lower-risk industry, such as freelancing or bookkeeping. For example, if you get hit with a copyright infringement claim for one of your digital ads, your general liability insurance can cover your legal costs.

What type of insurance is best for a small business?

A good place to start is with a business owners policy (BOP) . It bundles three essential coverage types: general liability insurance, commercial property insurance and business interruption insurance . Combined, these three policies cover problems like accidental injuries and property damage, reputational harm, damaged or stolen business property, and income replacement if you can’t open your business due to a problem covered by your policy.

But a BOP alone may not cover all your needs. You may need to buy other types of small business insurance to cover the risks that affect your company. For example, if you have a work vehicle, a BOP won’t pay for repairs if you get into a car accident. You’ll need to add commercial auto insurance. It’s a good idea to speak with your insurance agent to make sure your business insurance policy meets the specific demands of your industry.

Do remote businesses need insurance?

Yes, remote businesses need business insurance to cover risks such as lawsuits, accidents and stolen business property. For example, if you own business property like computers and office furniture, you’ll need commercial property insurance to cover problems like theft and fire.

Your remote business may need other types of small business insurance. For example, if you visit clients, you’ll need commercial auto insurance. Or if you store sensitive data, such as client’s contact information and credit card numbers, you’ll want to consider cyber liability insurance .

Do you need a business owners policy (BOP)?

You need a business owners policy (BOP) if you want coverage for problems like lawsuits, lost business income and damage and theft of your business property. Without a BOP, you’ll have to cover these problems out-of-pocket, which could be financially devastating to your small business.

You can add other coverage types to your BOP. For example, if you drive a vehicle for work purposes, add commercial auto insurance .

Next Up In Business Insurance

• Best Commercial Auto Insurance Companies
• Types Of Small Business Insurance
• Best General Liability Insurance
• How Workers Compensation Insurance Works
• How To Get Cheap Business Insurance

Get Forbes Advisor’s ratings of the best insurance companies and helpful information on how to find the best travel, auto, home, health, life, pet, and small business coverage for your needs.

As a former claims handler and fraud investigator, Jason Metz has worked on a multitude of complex and multifaceted claims. The insurance industry can be seemingly opaque, and Jason enjoys breaking down confusing terms and products to help others make well-informed decisions.