10 Steps To Start E-Commerce Business from Scratch

E-Commerce business is overgrowing around the world, and it has a huge opportunity. Nowadays, in this pandemic situation around the globe makes it more demandable. People have to be locked down at home, so this E-Commerce system is their only way to buy their necessary goods. That is why lots of entrepreneurs want to go online for their business via E-Commerce. Today we will discuss those steps which are required to start an E-Commerce business from scratch. So let us start the article.

What is E-Commerce?

At the very beginning, before we start the article, we have to learn first what is actually E-

Commerce. In general, E-Commerce means Electronic Commerce. Buying and selling products electronically over the internet with an online presence is an integral part of E-Commerce. Mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems are the core functionalities of E-Commerce.

Required Steps to start an E-Commerce business from scratch

Here we will talk about the 10 steps to start your E-Commerce business from scratch. Let us start.

Step 1: Decide the type of business you want to do

At first, you have to decide on what type of business you want to do. That means physical product selling or digital product selling or selling service. Analyze the market early so you can learn what is people's demand right now, or what type of product's has long term demand. According to this analysis, choose your product type.

Some trendy product types right now:

1. Grocery store
2. Electronics store
3. Medicine store
4. Parcel service
5. Rental service
6. Ambulance service
7. Online Doctor appointment
8. E-book store
9. Digital product store (Music, Movie, Games, Video, Software, Online course)
10. Various services which have the potential to run through online presence (Cleaning, Recipe, Daycare, House Maid, etc.)

Step 2: Choose a unique name for your business

After choosing the product type you want to sell, then move forward to think about your E-Commerce business's unique name. The name should not be too large, have to avoid complicated names, the name should be easy to memorize and obviously related to your business.

Step 3: Secure Your Domain Name and Website

You will require a suitable domain name for your E-Commerce business. This domain name should be related to your real business name. For example, if your business's name is "Rent Car for Tour" then your domain name should be "www.rentcarfortour.com/org/biz" etc. If this is not available, you will have to try something similar to your business's name. You can use "www.tourbyrentcar.com/org/biz" etc. Actually, the name should be smooth and at least 60% identical to your original business's name. After choosing a domain name, you have to select a platform to build your website. You can choose any pre-built template to start your E-Commerce site or create an E-Commerce business template of your own. If you want to start your E-Commerce business earlier, then choosing a pre-built template is an ideal solution.

Step 4: Select The Best Business Structure and Register Your Business

This step is about your business structure. You have got several options when it comes to your business structure:

• Sole Proprietor
• Partnership (if you have a business partner)
• LLC
• Corporation

If there are no partners in your business, then you are Sole Proprietor; otherwise, partnerships should be mentioned in the "About Us" page or in the Company profile. Both the corporation and LLC separate you and your assets from the business and provide other tax benefits.

You can register on your own by filling out the appropriate business structure paperwork from the IRS (for USA) yourself, or you can hire a business filing company to do it for you. A lawyer is another option, but that is often over-killing for the average small business owner’s needs.

Step 5: Apply for Business Licenses and Permits

Operating an E-Commerce business does not exclude you from needing specific business licenses and permits. So you have to check with your country, state, city to see what sorts of sales tax licenses or home business licenses you will require, and get those approved before you start operating your business.

Step 6: Find the Right Vendors

You have to find the right vendors who will provide you the products to the sale for a long time. The E-Commerce market is very competitive. Choose the vendors who will serve you well in the long run.

Step 7: Start Marketing Early

If you want the whole world acknowledged your new E-Commerce business, you must need to do early marketing. You can use social media platforms to do early marketing. Also, the electronic and print media could be utilized for that purpose. Billboards on the roadsides are another option.

Step 8: Social Profiles

Your E-Commerce business should have a social presence. For achieving social presence, you have to maintain social accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and also need to keep a YouTube channel.

Step 9: Several Management Systems

This is the most integral part of your E-Commerce business. You will require several management systems to run your business smoothly. So these management systems are:

1. Stock & Inventory Management: This management system will categorize your products, your products' amount, product's availability, new product entry, and removing a product or whole product category.
2. Order Management: This management system will let a customer do an order of product and track down all the details of a customer, customer's billing address.
3. Admin, Employee, and Customer Management: If your E-Commerce site is based on subscription and you also have a lot of employees, then you will require a different kind of profile management according to roles. Admin profile will manage the operation by distributing duties to Employee profiles, and the customer profile is for customers. A customer will fill the customer profile, and he can go shopping with his profile.
4. Database Management System: All the data of products, employees, customers, orders, and payments will be maintained via a well structured Database Management System.
5. Cart System: Cart is a must for E-Commerce business. It will let a customer choose a product and send it to the cart and continuously let him choose other products to buy. Customers could add and delete the product from the cart.
6. Payment System: The payment system will monitor the payment methods. It could be cash on delivery or online payment.

Step 10: FAQ, Customer Support and Refund Policy

The final step of starting an E-Commerce business is planning for how to interact with valuable customers. FAQ section is an excellent method of interaction. If a customer has any questions in his mind, he could check the FAQ section. Customer support is another way to interact. The customer could use customer support to know anything about the product before buying, or it is a way to have support after the sale. Also, every E-Commerce business should have a refund policy. How a customer could be eligible for a refund that must be instructed clear cut on refund policy.

Summary

Now we could summarize the article. We hope from this article that you are acknowledged on the necessary steps to start an E-Commerce business from scratch. If so, it would be a great honor for us. Please share this article with your social community as it always inspire s us to deliver you more quality articles. Thank you again for reading this article. That is all for today. Have a beautiful day.