India’s e-commerce business is set to grow from US $50 billion in 2017 to US$100 billion in 2020 according to a recent estimate! A part of this success must be attributed to m-commerce or mobile shopping. Mobile e-commerce is complementing the online retail industry perfectly and India has become the second largest smartphone market after China. The country had a whopping 450 million internet users in 2017, so the potential can be easily recognized. E-commerce websites come in many different forms and there are many ways to get one set up. So what are some typical costs? It's not an easy question to answer but here's an overview.
Whether you’re starting a brand new e-commerce site or rebuilding an existing one, these are the main considerations that will influence the cost:
- What are your specific business specific needs?
- Which platform do you want to use?
- What expert help is available for you?
Hosted
A hosted platform is a piece of software that runs on someone else’s server. More often than not, you won’t have access to the code that runs your site. Shopify and Squarespace are good examples of this approach.
Self-Hosted
A self-hosted solution is a software that is run on your own machine. You create and see the code and are responsible for uploading and updating it. If you are having any technical problems you are the one who has to sort it or ask someone to help.
The popularity of online sites like Flipkart, Snapdeal, MakeMyTrip.com, Jabong, Myntra etc have encouraged many to tap the e-com opportunity. Besides, this is also a great time for the online retail industry. An account on Instagram or Facebook may be all it requires you to start your very own e-commerce venture, thanks to the introduction of e-commerce tools on social media. A range of solutions like Soldsie, Beetailer, inSelly and many more are also available to set up your social media shop.
We’ll now look at some of the basic requirements of starting a full-blown e-commerce business in India:
What do you actually need?
Think of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) model. This means starting with a basic version of your website. At this stage all you need to worry about is selling to the customer. This helps minimize risks, saves money on unnecessary add-ons, and ultimately lays the groundwork. By starting with a basic, bare-bones approach, you can launch earlier, which means you gain operational experience and gather customer feedback earlier. This will help you figure out the apps and new functions your website actually needs.
Build your Online Store:
We recommend you go ahead and invest in a website because there’s nothing like having your own store. A paid domain and hosting service will improve your appearance in search networks, thus diverting more traffic towards your business.
You can set a free domain on WordPress if you have limited funds while starting-up. You can also look into services such as Godaddy.com or hostgator.com. These providers offer basic website creation and hosting services at competitive rates, along with logistical and technical support. They also help with different aspects such as product catalogs, seller support, customer support, payment gateways, logistical services, etc. You must, absolutely, make sure that your website is mobile friendly!
Get a Secured Payment Gateway:
There are a few basic types of payment gateways available for e-commerce businesses in the country. Compare the various gateways available and choose one which suits your business structure and revenues.
- Payment gateways integrated with a local bank: They are easy to adopt and a more viable option for smaller businesses.
- Hosted payment gateways like PayPal Standard or Self/Pro hosted gateways like PayU Money: They are usually easy to implement and the seamless transactions add to a great customer experience.
- Non-hosted payment gateways or API gateways like Authorize.net – Here customers are not redirected to a different web page or server to complete a purchase.
A small tip: Do not forget to include options for cash payments. Cash payments are still a popular and convenient mode of transaction for many.
Pay Attention to Search Engine Optimization:
Your business will be heading for trouble if you do not implement SEO techniques and strategy across your website. Make sure you optimize every product and section names to help them turn up organically on search engines. Organic searches are one of the driving forces of sales. Take care to use keywords based on trending searches by customers.
Hiring an expert to do this job is always advisable since SEO requires dedicated and skilled resources. Your business must track audience behaviour on search engines to understand audience demands better. You can procure products which you know will sell and also use tags so consumers can discover them easily.
Implement Social Media Marketing:
With 100’s of millions of daily social media users, the social platform is an excellent area to reach potential customers. A recurring presence on social media can help you build your brand, a strong audience base, and a continuous flow of customers. Monitor social conversations and searches related to your business and recognize and capitalize on emerging demands.
Integrate your website with a shop on social media channels to streamline the sales process. Communicating with your customers is integral and social media is a great platform for that. Address grievances, accept suggestions and offer support to your customers whenever possible. Businesses which engage regularly on social media are known to increase the level of consumer trust in their brand and products.
Clearly Specify the Terms & Conditions:
Online stores have significantly notched up their game, vying for customer ‘footfall’ and offering discounts. It is very easy to cause customer dissatisfaction with poor store layout, payment problems and unclear terms of services.
Create a clear section on your website comprising of all the different policies and conditions applicable to customers. Your Terms and Conditions of Service must include the following:
- Purchasing policies and conditional criteria for purchase
- Product return, replacement and refund policies
- Shipping and delivery policies
- Payment and security policies
So, are you ready to sell online?
- Building an online store is a fantastic way to make a bit of extra money. But it’s difficult to know where to start.
- The good news is you don’t need lots of money, time or technical knowledge to build an online store.
- What you do need to know is what tools to use and how to use them.
Learning how to create an online store from scratch can be daunting (we know from experience). We wanted to build an online store for our business so that it would provide us with a full-time income. But when it came down to it, we had no clue where to start! That’s why…
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People in all the age groups (from young kids to old age persons) have started to utilize the online shopping platform. There are no restrictions online. You can view different types of products online. Compare the prices with other dealers. Make wise decisions by choosing a good product/service. Most of the giant online shopping websites provide attractive deals & discounts to overcome the competitors. The growing competition denotes that the e-commerce industry is in the healthy trend. With the rise of smartphones, it is even more convenient to shop on the go. Interestingly, 82% of shoppers who buy in-store research their purchase online first. Mobile e-commerce will dominate the online shopping industry because high volumes of users make purchase orders through their mobile devices only.Our shopping cart development team can offer you the following functionalities.
- Professional e-commerce web design and development
- User friendly interface
- Secured online payment integration
- Advanced shopping cart integration
- Powerful search functionality
- Social media integration
- Reliable & easy to use
- Device-friendly & responsive design
- Clear navigation structure
- Order tracking facility
- Online cancellations
- Effective product management
- Shipping method integration
- List of products with unlimited categories and sub-categories
Call in the expertsIt’s true that there’s no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to quality e-commerce websites, so eventually you’ll want an agency to help you out. In the long run, a professional design agency will help you make money by making your website better and by following best practice. They can help you save money too by setting up your website so that it’s easy to update.We have a team of professional developers & designers with extensive e-commerce web development experience. We can build custom-made web designs for your business success. Whether you need a basic shopping cart website (usually, for the small retail outlets) or feature-packed e-commerce website (10000+ product pages), we can provide you a complete solution. Our team members are fully-updated in terms of latest technologies and development. Hence we can provide you the complete solution to create an online shopping website. We build corporate websites using various e-commerce platforms such as Magento, NOP Commerce, WordPress, Drupal, etc.Contact us to know more about our services.
