How to Start an eCommerce Business?
What is eCommerce Business?
The eCommerce business is the next big thing worldwide, generating around $140 – $150 billion yearly. This does not require any physical store for on-visit purchases. You can visit the website or application, select a product, make your preferred payment choice, and place an order. eCommerce is a virtual medium for buying or selling products. The eCommerce business provides better and greater opportunities for many entrepreneurs, flexibility, and affordability. Now we know what an eCommerce business is, but how to start an eCommerce business? Let’s find out with the following steps.
Steps to Start an eCommerce Business
Step 1: Research the eCommerce Business Market
Research is the most important aspect of commencing an eCommerce business. We must know how the market behaves and what niche product we will provide to the target audience. A proper business model should be prepared about how to get the product, contacting suppliers, payment options, and delivery partners. These are the most common and basic things to consider before starting an eCommerce business.
Step 2: Choose an Appropriate Business Name
Having a business name that is catchy and appealing is one of the most important aspects of an eCommerce business. A great business name can attract many customers, define your business, and should have been taken by something other than another business domain. While choosing a good business name, remember that it should be simple, creative, original, and different from others. The next step is registering the business under which legal structure is good for a business. Register your business as a Sole proprietorship, General partnership, LLC, or Corporation. The next step is to get the license and permits done. Let’s know what measures to follow and what
licenses and permits to watch out for.
Step 3: Get all the Business Licenses and Permits
The next big step is getting a license and permit in your company’s name. The business license depends on the state from which you are regulating. Suppose you are commencing your business from home. Then most of the permits you may have are from having a brick-and-mortar store. You must check through your local government website to determine what permits and licenses you need for the eCommerce business setup. Some licenses and permits may include sales tax permits, signage permits, professional and trade licenses for certain industries, and health, safety, and environmental permits. In addition, you have to pay some charges for licensing and permits, so add the extra dollars to your business setup expense so that it won’t surprise you going further. After acquiring all the licenses and permits, let’s research the product and market size.
Step 4: Research Your Product and Market Size
The data of consumers on a specific product depends on their needs. You have to get the data of some of your inventories and the market size of consumers who are expected to buy that product. Each product has a different market size, and the revenue generated will get you the gross margin of profitability. The demand for that specific product is calculated depending on the market size. Having the data of each product in your inventory can lead to estimating the market size and gives you a clear vision of how the market will work. After all this research and licensing, you must focus on the software connecting you to the customer.
Step 5: Get a Proper eCommerce Software
Proper eCommerce software can be developed as a bootstrap by hiring developers or bought online through various eCommerce website selling platforms like Shopify. Usually, Shopify charges around $300 for the complete maintenance per month. It completely depends on the purpose of your business model, either to go bootstrap else get it from online platforms. The software design should be appealing so the customer wants to repeatedly visit and shop from it.
Step 6: Book Your Own Domain Name and Hosting
Once the software is developed, the domain name and hosting platforms are the next big thing. Some online eCommerce platforms may provide the domain name and hosting and charge you for the maintenance, but if you are bootstrapped, you can expect around $1-$15 a year for the domain and around $30 a month on average for hosting. After getting the domain name and hosting, the next step is to check the security and payment gateway for
transactions.
Step 7: Integrate Security and Payment Gateways
Each time a customer makes a transaction, the Security and payment gateway is pivotal. They provide payment processing if you purchase the eCommerce website through a platform. Or, if you go with the bootstrapped model, you must use a payment processor like stripe to integrate with your preferred system. For the integration and every transaction, you must pay $0.20-$0.40 per transaction made to your store. Every transaction made through the payment portals is end-to-end encrypted. Before receiving payment through the eCommerce website, check on your own before deployment. Once the gateway verification is done, it’s time to manage product and sourcing.
Step 8: Finalise the Product Management and Sourcing System
As it is an eCommerce business platform, you might wonder how to source products and their solutions. That’s where dropshipping products are a viable option for most eCommerce entrepreneurs. It is a business model where you find stores with that specific product in their inventory. When the customer places an order, then the request is received by the eCommerce business holder. They assign it to the supplier store with that specific product in their inventory at a wholesale price. Then the desired package is handed over to the delivery partner with whom the company has a contract to deliver the product and pay them a monthly commission. Then comes the deployment of your website.
Step 9: Deploy Your eCommerce Website
After all the research, licensing, product management, and sourcing details, it is time to deploy the eCommerce website. The eCommerce website can be accessed if it is deployed on the internet. Deployment means the launch of any website on the internet for internet consumers. Once launched, it is important for advertising and marketing.
Step 10: Market and Advertise Your eCommerce Business Website
Once the website is deployed or launched, it is important to advertise it and increase the tariff on the site to make more people know about it. Social media advertising is one of the best ways to gain customers. Or the marketing is done through various holdings and billboards throughout the city. This marketing and advertisement may cost you 6% -7% of your annual revenue. The pop-up shown during any content consumption on the internet may cost you around $50-$60 a month. Also, it is important to know that if a customer visits and purchases something through your website or application, it is necessary to solve any queries or issues regarding the product. So, customer chat support is necessary for any eCommerce business website.
Step 11: Setup a Customer Support for Feedback from the Customer
Contacting the customer and receiving their feedback concerning their order is important. A live chat feature will help the customer with any queries regarding the order they placed. It is also important that customer will not empty their carts after wish listing any product just because they are not sure about something with the product.
Conclusion
Building an eCommerce business can transform your personality and make you a future entrepreneur. A complete guide on building an eCommerce business from scratch is valuable. An eCommerce website has the potential to make you a global-level entrepreneur. It has the same potential and needs similar effort to regain the customer and their needs and deliver the desired product to gain customer retention. A good eCommerce platform will lead to global exposure; for that, you will need an expert on How to build an eCommerce website. So, what are you waiting for? At Ayatas Technologies, We have global-level developers to guide you and develop your customized eCommerce website. Do not hesitate to contact us for a FREE consultation about eCommerce website development.