Change is the spice of life
In ancient times, when men used to exchange goods/services with each other, they converted to buying after the discovery of currency, resulting in the development of markets, street markets, departmental stores, wholesale markets, shopping malls & now online stores.
It was a long journey of developments over decades, but the growth of online stores is remarkable within a short span of time due to the internet, online payment methods
E-Commerce stores' Revenue in India ( source: Google)
This graph clearly indicates the success story of online stores & it's expected that by 2021, it will of 100 Billion USD with a growth rate of approximately 25% while globally its growth rate is 8-10%.
The main players are
AMAZON
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, as an online bookstore, and later diversified to video, electronics &thousands of products. Its revenue in 2018 in India IS 7.5 Billion USD
Flipkart
Flipkart is giving close competition to Amazon. Flipkart was founded by Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal formally worked for Amazon in 2007, based in Bengaluru, India
Flipkart initially focused on book sales, expanding into other categories like electronics, fashion & lifestyle products. It is the leading company in apparel after acquiring Myntra & Jabong.com
Myntra & Jabong are both Indian companies based in Bengaluru & Gurugram, respectively. Myntra was acquired by Flipkart for 280 million USD & in Aug 2018, Walmart took over a 77% share of Flipkart for 16 billion USD, valuing it at 22 billion USD.Snapdeal
Snapdeal is one of the three top online stores based in New Delhi, India, established in February 2010 by Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal with investors like SoftBank Corp., Alibaba & few more
Paytm Mall, Tata Cliq, Big Basket, Shopclues, Firstcry, & a few others are emerging in online business with a bang.
DISCOUNT & CASHBACK
Get discounts & cashback from Rakuten(previously Ebates) when buying from your favourite store. Click the above link, and enjoy shopping
Looking at the above scenario, you might be thinking of opening your own store, which is as easy as having a cup of coffee, but I will advise that it requires a lot of patience & effort.
HOW TO DEVELOP AN ONLINE STORE
You can develop an online store in three ways
1 Using e-commerce software.
2 Create your own online store.
3 Hiring someone to create your online store.
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1 E-commerce software
Shopify is an established e-commerce software, simple to use to create an online store. Over one million businesses in 175 countries have created their online store on Shopify. You can also start with just a few steps.
SHOPIFY
You can start with a 14-day trial on Shopify.
1 Sign up
2 Choose your store with a catchy name.
3 Answer a few questions
4 Enter your business address.
5 Select a plan starting from $29/month to $299/month
You can also buy a button to sell on Facebook at $9/month
6 Choose the template or theme; you don't need design skills.
Customise the colour, layout, and content(including the pic of the products you want to sell & description)
Your online store is ready. Rest all regarding payment and marketing(setup is to be done by you), Shopify will take care.
Set some discount structure if you want.
You can also analyse day-to-day sales & transactions.
The app plays an important role in online business; you can find more than 2500 apps, free or paid, to manage your store & drive sales.
Similarly, you can develop an online store on BigCommerce, WooCommerce (with free & paid extensions)& few more websites also offer to make an online store.
Similarly, you can develop an online store on BigCommerce, WooCommerce (with free & paid extensions)& few more websites also offer to make an online store.
I would like to make it clear that making an online store is easy, but establishing itself in the market requires lots of patience, effort &
investment of time & money. Shopify also has some restrictions.
investment of time & money. Shopify also has some restrictions.
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2 Create your own online store
You can create your website in many different ways depending on your budget, your plans, etc.
Here I'm suggesting to you the best way to create your own website/online store.
a) SBI
As a solo entrepreneur, I understand it's very difficult to get exactly the experienced staff to do some work.
Creating a website is easier. The difficult part is:-
a) Perfect research and planning
b) Creating a high-converting post for promotion on social media
c) Getting viewers for your website and connecting with them.
d) Increase traffic on your site.
e) To start making money from your website.
To achieve success online, we require a lot of other tools and training provided by Solo Build It (SBI).
SBI has included everything you need to develop your website, starting from by step-by-step process explained to you via videos and an action guide...
SBI provide all the required tools to grow a profitable business.
Software is always up to date with no need to install, add are free and automatic.
24/7 support and assistance to build your business. The like-minded solopreneur Community forum is also very helpful.
Beautiful templates for an eye-catching website.
Above all, the proper training and guidance are the added advantages to creating your website at SBI.
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b) Amazon
You can also sell your products online on Amazon by becoming an Amazon seller.
Read More AMAZON: INCOME HUB
Read More AMAZON: INCOME HUB
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c) Google my business
At Google My Business, you can create your website without any expenses. It also provides the facility to develop your online website, you can place your product photo with a description, but you have to manage payment, shipping & marketing by yourself.
Read here for step-by-step information on
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d) Create a website
A website can also be a platform to sell products online, you can make it free as well by buying hosting & domain.
Hosting is just like the premises of your physical store for which you are paying rent & Domain name is the online address of your website.
I'm not going into detail here, you can know more on my following blog pages.
3 Simple Steps to Create a Business Website
Here too, you have to manage shipping, payment & marketing on your own.
Here too, you have to manage shipping, payment & marketing on your own.
You can also add the WooCommerce plugin to your WordPress website.
Shipping: ups.com, shipafrieght.com, and maersk.com can provide you with shipping solutions.
Shipping: ups.com, shipafrieght.com, and maersk.com can provide you with shipping solutions.
Payment: PayPal and Skrill can manage payments worldwide. You can give the option by bank transfer or payment apps like Google Pay, Paytm & other similar apps. You can also provide an option for credit/debit cards.
Marketing: This is the most enjoyable as well as the toughest part of establishing your business online.
For marketing, you have to do a lot of research, planning to generate traffic to your website, whether it's paid, like Shopify or free. The best option is to read more, know more & take action.
The marketing concept is wide, including email marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, and digital marketing for managing you require the appropriate tools.
A few of my blogs for you as ready references
HOW TO GENERATE TRAFFIC TO THE BLOG
AFFILIATE MARKETING TOOLS TO GENERATE TRAFFIC
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
OUTBOUND/INBOUND MARKETING
For hosting & domain, you may choose from the following. I suggest Milesweb, which provides hosting with a free lifetime domain for just 40 Rs/mo or $1/mo.
HOW TO GENERATE TRAFFIC TO THE BLOG
AFFILIATE MARKETING TOOLS TO GENERATE TRAFFIC
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
OUTBOUND/INBOUND MARKETING
For hosting & domain, you may choose from the following. I suggest Milesweb, which provides hosting with a free lifetime domain for just 40 Rs/mo or $1/mo.
GlobeHost
Hostgator
Three-for-one hosting unlimited package
Hostinger
know more about Hosting & Domains in a
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e) WEBSITE.COM
You can also make an online store/website on website.com within just three steps with a stunning design, flexible product options, and 1-click PayPal integration to secure your payment from a credit/debit card globally.
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FINAL THOUGHT
To develop & run a physical store is more costly as compared to building an online store & less recurring expenses, but in a physical store, you can expect from day one; in contrast, in an online store, you may have to wait maybe for a year to get your first sale.
In a physical store, you have to put in physical as well as mental efforts, while in an online store, you have to present only mentally.
A physical store has a limitation of location; on the other hand, an online store can be developed globally, hence generating more revenue.
Analyse the pros & cons of taking a wise decision.
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3 HIRE A WEBSITE DEVELOPER
Many freelance website developers are offering the development of your website at a nominal price. You may contact freelancing sites like People per Hour, Upwork, Freelancer & or Fiverr.
FINAL THOUGHT
To develop & run a physical store is more costly as compared to building an online store & less recurring expenses, but in a physical store, you can expect from day one; in contrast, in an online store, you may have to wait maybe for a year to get your first sale.
In a physical store, you have to put in physical as well as mental efforts, while in an online store, you have to present only mentally.
A physical store has a limitation of location; on the other hand, an online store can be developed globally, hence generating more revenue.
Analyse the pros & cons of taking a wise decision.
Enjoy Earning & Buying Online
Discloser:
This site contains affiliate links through which I may earn a cup of tea
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