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What does launching an online store entail?

In order to open an online store In Romania, you need to take into account several legal aspects such as the legal form or the CAEN code of the online store, as well as technical aspects. Whether you want to open an online store for clothing, furniture, electronics, beverages, footwear, or toys, they must comply with the current legislative regulations. As it is a new business, you also need to ensure the long-term functionality of the store.

In the following, we will describe step by step what you need to do to open an online store.

  • Step 1: Preparing to open an online store
  • Step 2: Legal entity format for operating an online store
  • Step 3: Reserve the domain
  • Step 4: Choosing suppliers
  • Step 5: Marketing and Promotion
  • Step 6: The process from an operational point of view
  • Step 1: Preparing to open an online store

An online store involves more operations than just creating and posting it online. Ideally, you should talk to someone who already has such a store or someone with knowledge in the field to learn all the implications. The e-commerce specialists at ADP Creator can guide you in making the best decisions regarding your appearance online with such a platform.

After you have gathered all the information, put everything on paper. It is ideal to have one business plan Well thought out. To ensure that things run as smoothly as possible, make all the calculations and be aware of the entire commercial process - what budget you need to stick to, where to source your products from, what markups to apply, who your target audience is, who your potential customers are, how to attract them, where and how to promote your business, whether to manage the business alone or hire employees, and so on. Think in terms of business and make all the necessary calculations to realistically determine how long it will take to recoup your investment and when you can expect to make a profit (and what that profit will be).

  • Step 2: Legal entity format for operating an online store

To answer a search frequently made on the Internet: One cannot operate online store without company or without the existence of a legal entity. In order to legally open an online store, we advise you to contact a lawyer together with whom you can decide the most suitable legal form for the activity you are going to carry out. This can include PFA (authorized natural person), AF (family association), SRL (limited liability company), or another form of legal entity but it certainly cannot be about PF (natural person).

  • Which is the code CAEN for the online store?

CAEN code that you will need to carry out the online trading activity is "4791 – Retail trade through order houses or the InternetThe CAEN code will allow you to legally sell physical or virtual goods through an online store. An exception to this rule applies to platforms that sell cars, motorcycles, or spare parts for cars and motorcycles, which require one or more additional CAEN codes, depending on the situation.

For example: For the situation in which you want to sell cars online, the CAEN codes will be 4791 (described above) and 4511 – Trade in cars and light vehicles. For other types of vehicles you will use CAEN code 4791 together with 4519 – Trade with other motor vehicles.

If you want to open an online store through which to sell auto parts, you will use the same CAEN code 4791 together with the 4531 – Trade with picking up parts and accessories for motor vehicles. In this situation, you will also need an opinion or an authorization from the City Hall.

If you have decided to open an online store to sell motorcycles and/or spare parts for them, you will use CAEN code 4791 together with 4540 – Trade in motorcycles, related parts and accessories, maintenance and repair of motorcycles.

  • Name

When starting the process of registering your legal entity, you will need a name for the company you are setting up. Choose a name that represents the activity you are conducting and take into account the future brand you plan to promote. At this stage, also choose the domain name that you will use for the online store. Try to find 2-3 names for both the company and the domain. It's possible that some names have already been claimed by someone else, so be prepared with a Plan B, and sometimes even a Plan C or D.

  • Step 3: Reserve the domain

The first piece of information in this regard is that the name should not be chosen hastily, but once you have made a decision, it should be registered quickly. After you have decided on a few ideal name options, reserve the domain as quickly as possible. Several hundred domains are registered daily, and there is a risk that you may not find exactly what you want. To check whether your preferred domains are already reserved or not, access the website HOSTERION and go to the domain registration section where you can check if the chosen domain name is available.

In the "Domain Name" field, fill in only the desired name and extension without other signs, without spaces, without prefix. For example "adpcreator.com".

If you receive the domain data as a response, it means that it is already reserved by someone else. So restart the process by filling in another name under "Domain name".

When you receive the answer "The domain is available", access it domain registration page and start the registration process. At the end, you make the payment and from this moment you can start the steps to create the actual online store.

In case you can't handle it, customers ADP Creator benefit from free assistance in reserving domains.

  • Step 4: Choosing suppliers

To launch an online store you will need a few service providers related to this type of business.

You will have a choice web developer and a web designer for creating the platform. It is ideal to use an agency vs a web designer because an agency can offer you a quality guarantee and at the same time a full package of services accompanied by discounts for: web development, web design, copy-write, graphics, animation (if necessary), hosting services, online promotion services, optimization services and many others. We recommend you to contact our specialists who can give you all the details needed to make one professional online store.

Before starting the design of the online store, you will need to choose a hosting service provider. We advise you to be very careful in selecting the server because the functionality and security of your online store depend very much on its quality and performance. The vast majority of providers on the Romanian market offer very large spaces (tens of GB) at prices of 2-5 euros per month. Don't be excited about such offers because, in most cases, the servers are very weak, and there is a (high) possibility that the store will constantly crash, and there may be security errors or problems. The quality of a server does not consist of the size of the space allocated on the disk (which you do not really need much), but you need a powerful processor, RAM memory, as few/low limitations as possible on the number of simultaneous processes and the number of MySQL processes, and many others. For an online store with a few dozen products, you need less than 1GB of disk space. For a medium-sized store (100-200 products), you will need approximately 1-1.5 GB, and for a larger online store (with 400-500 products), you will need approximately 2 GB of space. You will also need 200-300 MB for each email address (if you are an organized person) and about that much space. Focus on the processing power, speed, and security of the server. ADP Creator provides quality hosting services to its clients. Do not hesitate to ask us questions in this regard.

After choosing the ideal platform and hosting services, you will have to decide what functions your online store should contain. If you want a platform that allows online card payment, you will have to contract a company specialized in processing online payments. 

  • Variants of online card payment processing providers
  1. Netopia - the mobilPay service - the most popular provider in Romania. Compatible with most online sales platforms and supports all major cards. Transactions are processed through the 3D Secure system. I charge commissions starting from 0.99% and make the settlement in 3 days.
  2. Stripe A relatively new system on the Romanian market, but very well-known in countries such as the US or the UK. One of the most versatile and easy-to-use online payment systems. It supports most online sales platforms, accepts all major cards, and even supports payments with ApplePay or GooglePay. You can set the payment schedule: daily, weekly, monthly, etc. It offers reporting and forecasting systems, and so on. The commissions charged are 1.4% + 1 lei per transaction with a European card or 2.9% + 1 lei for transactions with cards outside the EU. No contract is required - setting up an account can be done online in just a few minutes.
  3. EuPlatesc.ro - It offers a payment system through the 3D Secure system. It only accepts Visa and Mastercard. You need to contact them to find out the commissions.
  4. LibraPay - Offers fast settlement (T+1), 3D Secure payments and modules compatible with most e-commerce platforms. They claim that they charge "attractive" commissions.
  5. eBTpay – Service offered by Banca Transilvania. To find out the exact commissions, you need to contact them.
  6. PayU - It only accepts companies whose receipts exceed USD 150,000, and the settlement is made 2 times a month - it is not suitable for small or medium traders.
  7. Paylike - Card payment processor that supports Apple Pay and Google Pay. They accept 13 different currencies and settle weekly. The commissions charged are 1.5%+0.5 lei per transaction.

We recommend Netopia or Stripe.

  • Variants of courier service providers for e-commerce platforms

For the situation in which you want to sell physical goods, you will need to contract one or more companies providing courier services to ensure the delivery of the goods to the customer's address.

You will also need a system within the online store that knows how to communicate with these couriers and that generates AWBs.

The most popular courier service providers that offer the possibility to integrate systems within e-commerce platforms are the following:

To choose a courier, we recommend that you contact them beforehand, understand the logistic process, find out prices and possibly negotiate a contract.

You can also work without a contract at the beginning when you will probably have a small number of deliveries, but when this number increases it is good to talk to a courier to get better prices. In this sense, you will have to make estimates regarding the number of monthly deliveries.

  • Step 5: Marketing and Promotion

This aspect should be taken into account and prepared before starting the design of the online sales platform, and the details and costs should be included in your business plan. Marketing and promotion represent critical aspects in the success of an online business. From defining the target segment, designing a logo, platform design, search engine optimization (SEO) elements, and developing marketing strategies or running advertising campaigns, you should consider every aspect both in terms of implementation and financially.
Team online marketing specialists ADP Creator can give you more details in this regard.

  • Step 6: The process from an operational point of view

When starting an online business, it is important to consider that the online store is open 24/7. Additionally, depending on the products sold, you may generate low sales volumes for higher priced items or high sales volumes for more affordable items. It is important to consider this from the beginning and decide whether you need the help of an employee to prepare the ordered products for the courier or if you will handle these tasks yourself.

You must also take into account the fact that you will need a customer relations service to provide additional information to customers, to provide after-sales services (if applicable) and to handle any complaints.

Certainly, you will need an accountant, and it is possible that for an online store with a medium or large number of sales, you will need a system that automatically generates fiscal documents. In this regard, we can help you with the implementation of modules that greatly simplify this arduous and time-consuming process.

Here you can find some packages create online store provided by the ADP Creator team or you can request a 100% customized online store filling out the form.

Success in business!

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