Today eCommerce business play vital role in retail business in India. Starting an eCommerce business is relatively easy in India with very little capital requirement, making it an ideal choice for millions of young entrepreneurs. In this article we look at how to start an eCommerce business in India.
Start an eCommerce business in India
Select an eCommerce Business Model
Before getting the steps to start an online business you need to select the best suitable eCommerce business model for your business. There are two types of eCommerce model, becoming a seller on an established eCommerce platform (eg: Flipkart, Amazon etc.) or creating a new eCommerce website.
Most of the entrepreneurs starting an eCommerce business by becoming a seller on an established eCommerce platform. The best ideal choice is getting into established eCommerce platforms. They have a framework businesses to register with them and sell on their platform backed by their technology, marketing efforts and delivery capabilities. This makes starting to sell online a very easy process and requires no effort for website development, website maintenance, digital marketing, etc…
The another option is starting an eCommerce business by creating your own website. Starting an eCommerce business by launching a website is more recommended for those entrepreneurs looking to sell niche products or have a long-term vision for establishing a large successful eCommerce business backed by private equity investors. This method is however more difficult and requires more effort. While launching an eCommerce website maybe easy with tools like Shopify, Zepo, Opencart, Magento, WooCommerce etc. the challenge lies in marketing.
Next part of article are mainly based on business models that choose to create a new eCommerce website there own.
Select the Best Name for your eCommerce Business
The most important thing in an eCommerce business is selecting the business name. The name mean in eCommerce business is Domain Name (eg: www.myntra.com, www.lenskart.com, etc.). The rules to select the Domain Name is, it must be short, remember-able, re-callable and easily spellable without any mistake. You can buy a domain name that is suitable for your business. You can buy domain for cheap from GoDaddy (recommended).
It is very hard to find Domain name with “.com” now a days so that you can go Expired Domain List to select one that suitable for you business.
Create an eCommerce Website
There are many ways to make your eCommerce website.
- Hire a web developing agency
You can hire a professional web developing agency. They create an eCommerce website with all features you needed for your business. It is very expensive than other methods of creating eCommerce website. - Choose a eCommerce platform providers with monthly subscription
There are many eCommerce platform which provides all eCommerce function(eg: Shopify, Zepo, PayUMoney). In this method you don’t need to bother about hosting, security measures etc. For this service they charge monthly subscription fee. They also have tie-ups with other companies who provide services like logistic and payment gateway, so it becomes easy for you. Basically, they can support you in everything related to this business. - Self hosted eCommerce software
There is many paid and free opensource eCommerce software is available for creating an online store. Now a days many hosting companies provide 1-Click installation for opensource eCommerce software(Hostgator,Bluehost etc…). Creating an eCommerce website with opensource eCommerce software is very easy. First of all select an eCommerce software for your business then choose best eCommerce hosting providers in India for hosting your software. It is very cheap way of making an eCommerce website.
Registering an eCommerce in India
Many of them ask ‘How to register e-commerce company in India?’, Well, registering an eCommerce business is not very different from regular business. It does not require any unique license or registration. It is just like any trading or retailing firm, you just have to get your firm registered, this may be as sole proprietorship or partnership or Pvt. Ltd company.
Registering an eCommerce business is not necessary for all business. There are many students, house wives getting into online business and no body of them dealing with any legalities and process of documentation. There are alternatives like PayUMoney payment gateway, which does not require any firm registration for starting it and it can be linked with saving accounts for transactions.
If you start an eCommerce business as Pvt.Ltd or Ltd Company then you have to register it as compulsory according to companies act.
Select Payment Gateways in India
Payment gateway is the one of the major link for accepting online payments online in your website. There are two types of payment gateways in India:
- Payment gateways with no setup fees: these are very popular but they have higher TDR’s ( Transaction rates ) per transaction. few examples are PayPal, PayUMoney, Airpay etc.
- Payment gateways with setup fees: these have lesser TDR’s per transaction and faster processing. few examples are PayU, CCAvenue, Directpay.
You can also accept payments via Cheque and Direct Deposit, it is better way for wholesalers.
For applying for a payment gateway in India you will be required to submit few documents, like ID proofs, phone bills etc. They verify your address also. All this process approximately takes 10-15 days for completion.
Select Logistics in India
Next thing you will be needing is Currier service partner for logistics in India. For this either you can approach your local Currier service provider, who also have big network of logistic services through out India (and even abroad) like Bluedart, Aramex, Fedex or you can talk to automatic logistics solution providers in India for eCommerce. You can take their Currier rates, taxes and delivery time, and compare. They may request you for an agreement signing, in which you can ask them for monthly billing, so that it becomes easy for you.
Market your eCommerce Business in India
Marketing your eCommerce business can be done by social media’s, affiliate marketing like icubeswire, vcommission or self hosted affiliate software etc, paid marketing like Facebook Ads, Google adwordand other web based advertisements. And for long term, you can go for SEO and Social Media Marketing in India, this can also be outsourced to any professional company.
If you find this is helpful please share this to your friends, relatives and those who planning to start eCommerce business.
