You may have big goals for your new online store, or you may just want a modest side business to make a few extra dollars by doing something you enjoy. Whichever is the case, there’s no way to predict what will happen a few years down the line. With luck and hard work, your store can become more successful than you ever thought, and when that happens, you will want to be able to expand as easily as possible. To make that future transition as easy as possible, you can plan for it from the start by choosing software that is flexible enough to handle your initial small needs and future larger ones.

Hosting Plan Options

When you choose your shopping care software and online store provider, spend some time reading up on the options for expanding your store later on. You want to be able to add more products or product lines without needing to revamp your entire site design. Also, if you need to step up to a higher level of hosting or shopping cart plan, it will be helpful if you can do so at any time rather than at the end of a contract period. Consider pricing options for multiple levels of hosting plans, even if you are going to start out at a lower level.

 

Updating Your Store’s Checkout

 

Another update that you should consider for your small business is an upgrade to your POS machine . You may think that customers like the small business touches of handwritten receipts, old manual cash registers, and printer calculators. But so many of these customers are used to the big business elements like digital cash registers and printed receipts that you need to prove that you can hold your own with these larger companies. Invest in some new point of sale equipment, like an updated cash register and printer, and a scanner for bar codes on the tags of your items, and you will not only put forth a more modern image to help customers have faith in your business’s ability to keep up with modern retail, but you will also make things easier on yourself. This hardware can link to your eCommerce software to keep all the sales in your store connected and maintain easy to read records.

  

Online Store Software

In choosing a template for your online store, look for something that will enable you to quickly expand all of your product lines or introduce new product lines easily. Details to look for are how many items can be displayed on a page and how the navigation works, especially how it handles multiple categories and sub-categories. A great search feature is also important, as many people will find items they are looking for by using search. Customers should have the option to search from every page in your store, to make it as simple as possible to search, browse, and find the products they want.

Even if you can’t imagine having the kind of success that will need a large online storefront or hosting plan, or don’t think you will ever expand into in-person retail sales, there’s no telling now what will happen a few years down the road. Give yourself some flexible options from the start to make future expansion easier.