Ecommerce Business in India: The Basics

Hi Folks, Hope everyone is doing ok during these post-COVID times, Due to COVID and Lockdown, many have lost business and jobs. But there is always an opportunity for us to overcome these difficult times and recover in health and wealth.

COVID Vaccines have arrived to support us stop the spread of the CORONA virus. Every State has lower down the lockdown restrictions. Though many businesses suffered because of the lockdown, the eCommerce industry has grown. Yes, this lockdown and COVID have accelerated the growth of the eCommerce business in India.

Because of the lockdown restriction, many brick-and-mortar shops were closed, and only the essentials products are allowed to be sold. Thus many online eCommerce stores adapted the social distancing and offered sanitized packaging and no-contact delivery option to the customers. The online stores were able to easily adapted to this situation than the offline shops. 

People who have never order online have now become online buyers. Businesses with the offline business model have incorporated the online business model. 

Are you one of the people who suffered his job or business because of the lockdown?

Now, looking to start an eCommerce business or looking for a way to promote your existing business online. You have come to the right place to start your eCommerce journey.

Now we are going to discuss how to start a small eCommerce business in India.

This article will help you start your own eCommerce business in India. There are many ways to start this business, you can either sell other people\’s products or create your own product to sell. Once you choose the type of business model, then it is time to find a platform for your business. Before we get into the options, let\’s take a look at what an eCommerce store is and how it will work to grow your small investment into great success

Ideas for Ecommerce Business in India

If your promoting your existing business you may skip this paragraph, others please follow.

While creating your business idea make sure to choose a niche.

online business ideas from home if you prefer to work from home, 

online business for women if you prefer to run women-related business-like Masala Products, Home Decor, Clothing, etc.

What are the challenges of starting an ecommerce business in India?

Like any business, you should prepare your business plan.

Your online business plan should include goals, marketing strategy, financial planning, and a budget.

Depending on your business type choose your eCommerce business model. ie; b2c, b2b, d2c, etc.

Business Registration & Hosting

Like any business, you should Register your Business, GST, etc. Plus you have to register a domain name. Make sure it is related to your products or use your brand name. The next step is finding a suitable eCommerce platform and hosting partner. We can\’t build a website from scratch unless you have a large budget or a bunch of coders in your team, that is why we should choose eCommerce platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Magento, and Wix. Choose the platform depending on your expertise, if you like to work on plug and play model I would suggest you go with Shopify.

E-commerce Website Management

Some hosting partners provide a Free SSL Certificate, make sure you get SSL because it secures online transactions. Speaking of Online payments also register with Payment Portals like Razorpay or Instamojo and connect it to your site.

The next step in your eCommerce business is to decide who will manage your Online Store. If you are a small business, you can do it yourself but it is nice to have an expert handle it so that you can focus on other things like running your business. Website management includes Backup, Product update, Blog posting, etc.

Packaging & Logistics for Ecommerce Business in India

The eCommerce platform takes care of providing your order slip and invoice etc. Make sure to do pretty packaging because it is all branding for your business. And also connect them to Shipping aggregators such as Shiprocket. You can also opt for the fulfillment service by which you can store your product in their warehouse and provide same-day delivery to your customers. Make sure you have enabled email and WhatsApp marketing so that notification from order to delivery is sent to customers.

How to grow your e-Commerce business?

Till now, we have just built the foundation of our eCommerce business. The next step is how we are going to drive traffic and sales to your online store and what you need to do further scale your business is digital marketing.

To drive traffic to your website there are two ways, one is organic traffic which is done by doing SEO which takes some time. another one is paid traffic some examples are Google Ads and Facebook Ads etc.

You have to pick the right keywords for SEO and pick the right audience for the Ads so the traffic brought in results in conversion.

While planning a budget in your business plan, keep in mind the cost of doing SEO, Paid Ads, Email Marketing, Influencer Marketing, etc. It is good to spend 10-15% of your forecasted revenue as a budget for marketing.

To grow or scale your online store focus on building a funnel and have up-sell and cross-sell products. Use inbound marketing tactics such as exit intent pop-up, abandon cart emails, retargeting, etc to gain more sales from existing traffic. Optimize your website and increase your conversion rate to get more sales with the same budget.

Having niche customers and identifying your customer personas will help in Growing your Store.

Reviews, Word of Mouth, and Testimonials

Be sure to collect reviews from your customer. Offer loyalty and referral programs. People read reviews before making a purchase online so make it mandatory to collect reviews from your customer. Don\’t hesitate to ask for reviews, ask your customer to review whenever possible. also display those reviews on your website, social media, etc.

Starting an eCommerce business in India sounds easy and challenging at the same time. Make sure your product is in demand and bring a solution to the general public problem. Identify your market gap and map your customer journey and push them to the next stage of the funnel by providing them an irresistible offer. Don\’t worry about the technical side and cost of the digital marketing service required to promote your online store. If you have planned your Goals and Revenue the cost of advertising and marketing is a little price you have to pay to run a successful eCommerce store online.