How to start ecommerce business – A guide for you

As 2021 is just few days away this is the time to plan for new year’s eve and your actions plan for 2021 to turn your dream into reality. If starting an ecommerce business has been in your to do list then this post on How to start ecommerce business is for you. In this post we will be discussing step by step actions points that we are required to commence ecommerce business.

What is Ecommerce Business?

Ecommerce business is selling something(especially products) on online platform. Once can sell products directly from the website or from the e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, PayTM etc. Mostly when someone sells on e-commerce platform they need to pay a commission to platform for any product that is sold. But still one cannot evade from these platforms because

• The user base is so huge. There are millions of people vising these platforms everyday so one cannot miss the opportunity to attract potential and huge audience
• Intent is higher on e-commerce platforms. People usually go to these platforms when they have to buy something specific or landed up buying even if just went for exploring
• While competition is huge chances to choose your product are also good if promoted well organically and through advertisement

To learn how to start ecommerce business follow below steps

Choose ecommerce platform for your product

This is the very first step towards how to start e-commerce business. There are plethora of e-commerce platforms and one needs to choose among all. Ideally the most important 4 are Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, PayTM. This is for Indian audience. This might vary basis your product category and demographics. Following points need to be considered before selecting e-commerce platform

• Your product category – Depending on the category of product you sell, it is important to choose e-commerce platform. This is the basic step for how to start ecommerce business. One need to analyze the user behavior in the demographics one sells. For example, somebody who wants to sell apparel will choose Amazon/Myntra as a platform and for someone who wants to sell FMCG products should choose big basket or Amazon as a platform. The above two chosen options are for metro cities

• Budget – If one has a budget for presence on multiple platforms then go for that but if you have limited budget then one need to choose platform which give maximum ROI

Below are some of the platforms that can be consider

1. Amazon – Here are important points to sell products on Amazon. Read more to know about types of accounts that one can create for selling. And if you choose promotion, you should know about different type of ads that can be run on the platform such as sponsored products, sponsored display etc.

2. Flipkart – To look for steps to sell on Flipkart, read this post The main steps are same for every platforms that is getting listed, optimization and promotion. Stay tuned, we will talk about these further

3. Snapdeal – Here is the introduction to guide how to sell products online . Read the same to know how to start ecommerce business on snapdeal

4. Paytm – Still an evolving platform but one with huge potential. One can be there now as the platform has less competition and get the first mover advantage. Read more

Get your product listed

Once we have created account on ecommerce platform, the next step is to get all products listed on the platform. Things to remember

• All products need to be listed on the platform irrespective if you want to promote or not – Simply listing them can help in organic sales
• Few products which have different colors or sizes can be included as variant instead of individual listing
• Proper pricing and shipping needs to be added for the products
• Offers and discounts can be included timely

Optimize product listing

After adding all the products, we need to ensure that listing are well optimized. Proper optimization of listing is must which includes

• Proper Title – Brand name, keyword & specifications

• Well optimized description – Description should be detailed and in pointer form. Size guide or knowledgeable content is a huge plus

• Multiple images of products and size guide should be added

• How to use can be added either in video or an image form

• Proper keywords to be added at the backend for right targeting

Choose promotion

Once your products are listed and listing has been optimized, your products might start appearing in searches. But for small business who are new in this it takes time to come in searches so promotion is must. Beside this promotion also boost organic results.

When to choose promotion

One can choose promotion to

• Do branding
• Sell more obviously
• Make products visible which are not visible organically
• Promote brand which are new in the market

Types of promotion?

Though all platforms have different types of promotion and advertising platform but all the features can be segmented as below

• Automated campaigns – This kind of promotion just require you to select products that you want to promote. Then the platform will place product ads automatically where the conversions can be maximum.
• Manual Campaigns – These type of campaigns allow you to select keywords you want to target and also bidding you want to place

Long term focus

Consumers trust these platforms because they can read reviews and ratings of other consumers. So, one definitely needs to focus on rating and reviews on longer run. Every customer that buys from the platform must be reached for reviews and rating.

Stay tuned for more posts related to Ecommerce business. Will be live with a new blog post in 2021. Happy New Year 🙂