How to start an ecommerce business from scratch in 2022?Author Panel

Start  an  e-commerce  business

Do you want to start your own eCommerce business? Do you have an idea but can't decide how to proceed with that? Do you have the potential to start but you don't have an idea? Are you afraid of starting something on your own? Do you lack capital funding? Are good at something and want to turn that into a full-scale opportunity?

It's time for you to be awake and get ready for a new journey. A path which is very difficult to start and even more difficult to continue. But if that's your dream let's make that happen!

Let's start your business journey from scratch!

🎯Discover 

Your first step would be to find a problem which you as a user face and that many people face. Your idea might be a completely unique idea or some idea the market already has but it needs many modifications in the system. You can get ideas by asking your friends and family members what problems they face from using different products/services. Thus your idea need not always have to be a new one. You can update existing products or services in a way that’s better for the consumer. This may be as simple as:

• Changing the product’s appearance and improving quality
• Adding a new feature
• Finding a new use for a product that customers already love

Look for the current trends in the market. That helps a lot. In most cases, there will be some business out there that does the same thing as you would do. Hence focus on two things. Try to solve the problem which customers face on using your competitors' service/product. Now for that, you have to use your competitor's service/product/website as a user. Secondly, target a particular audience. Playing on a broader prospect can give you competition with really large companies. In most cases that may be a terror.

🎯 Make a Business Plan

Once you have your idea, start building a business plan that describes your products and services in detail and how should you implement the process. It should include information on your industry, operations, finances and market analysis.
 

Basics of Business Plan

Writing a business plan is also important for getting financing for your startup. Banks are more likely to give loans to companies that can clearly explain how they’re going to use the money and why they need it.

🎯 Find a Co-Founder

In the initial stages of business, everyone starts with one person. But always you can't do everything by yourself. You may be good at marketing but you have absolutely 0% knowledge of building a site. Now that's a con. Therefore you should find a co-founder. The person should not be someone randomly selected from the crowd. The person should have the ability to do the things you can't do in that business. Also, he should be someone trustable, not someone running after money. Your business might take a downward slope sometime but still, the person should stay with you to make this business a success someday.

🎯Production

If you are going to start a product-based business then start searching for where you can start your goods production. It may be your home where you buy machinery and start it all by yourself or you may find a good Manufacturing Company and give orders to it and resell it. Even though it may not be your production but still you may have a high margin.

🎯 Secure Funding for Your Startup

The funding for your startup is different for every business owner. In case of a service business, the capital needed would be less than a product base based business. However, no matter what your costs are, you’ll likely need to get startup financing from:

 

• Friends and family
• Angel investors
• Venture capitalists
• Bank loans

You can also apply for a business credit card. Many companies offer 0% APR promotions, which means you won’t pay interest on your purchases if you pay off the balance before the end of the offer period.

 

If you don’t get the right amount of funding or can’t raise money for your business, you’ll risk not being able to pay your operating costs. This may cause you to close your doors. In fact, it’s estimated that 29% of startups fail because they run out of money.

If you want investments in your company, go online you will find many websites like CrunchBase where you will get many people who will be interested to be an investor in your company i.e. they will take some equity % of your company and will invest.

🎯 Building Website

To start an eCommerce business building a website not only allows you to do B2C business on your own platform but also gives your brand awareness and reputation. Find a great name for your business and buy a domain name and make a great logo. You can build your eCommerce website on Content managing platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, Weebly or any other website. Get an SSL certificate alongside. It builds the trust of the user in your website. 

🎯 Business Email and Workspace

Using a free email provider like @gmail.com would give your customers an unprofessional feel. Get a business email and an online workspace. You can use the Google Workspace or Microsoft 365

🎯Start selling on B2C platforms

• Alibaba
• eBay
• Amazon
• Flipkart
• ecplaza
• Grainger
• Quill
• ThomasNet
• Asos
• Argos
• John Lewis

You can even reach customers on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. In 2020, 2021 a very good number of people started their businesses right from these sights. Maybe you will be the one in 2022.

🎯Advertise your Startup

Your company may be great but to reach the potential sales you need to reach your targeted audience. For that, you should -

• Be active on Social Media platforms like WhatsApp Business, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit and LinkedIn. You should post pictures of your product and product-related stuff at least once a day.
• Write Guest Posts for blogs/websites and put links to your website over there. It will bring you a good amount of targeted audience to your website.
• Make content on YouTube, Vimeo and Tiktok about your product/service.
• Write content on sites like Quora, and Medium and put links to your websites.
• Organize free online/offline Giveaways
• Perform E-mail Marketing
• Use Google AdSense [For Google Search, YouTube or Google Maps] or Media.net ads [Bing, Yahoo] or Facebook ads.
• Perform Influencer Marketing

🎯 Set Up a Good Accounting and Bookkeeping System

You will need to set up a bookkeeping/accounting system to keep track of your finances—income, expenses, capital expenditures, EBITDA, profit and loss, etc. This is important in order to understand your business’s cash flow situation and also for tax-filing purposes.

There are a number of online software solutions that can be helpful in this regard, such as QuickBooks, Zoho, FreshBooks, and Xero.

🎯 Organize your Workspace

You may use Notion, Asana or Tettra to organize your workspace and create projects for yourself and your team.

🎯 Scaling

If you see good growth in your sales and revenue or you have sufficient funding it's time for you to scale up your company. Build a bigger team, rent a bigger office and maximize your production.