How to star an online store?

A Green business idea: How to set an online shop of solar products?

5/2/2015

Friends, internet has revolutionized the concept of doing business. Today most of the transactions are done through the internet and that too at a very fast speed.The concept of having brick and mortar shop is losing its relevance. Today; one has the advantage of opening one’s shop online through the internet. This is called an E-shop. These e-shops do not require or very minimal start up cost as compared to the brick and mortar shop.

Also, the e-shop has a presence all over the world where there is access to the internet, whereas the physical shop’s reach is limited to the customers of the nearby location. You can take the example of Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Shopclues. All these are online shopping portals which provide products to its customers through the internet and whose turnovers are running into crores. From here you can understand that the internet is a very powerful tool of doing business.
Anyone can start an e-shop who has basic knowledge of the internet.

(1) Set up your online shop in the e-portals

You can set up your shop in e-portals like e-bay, flip kart, snap deal or shopclues.These portals offer to set up your store at free of cost. You can display your products in this portal. These portals are well established having the huge traffic of visitors on their websites. They have their own payment gateways, technical and customer support team. Once the order is confirmed, they collect the product from your place and deliver it to the destination. Even though they offer listing of the products at free of cost but they charge their commission when your product is sold. To set e-shop here, all you need to do is provide all your relevant details like name, e-mail, bank account number (for disbursement on selling of the product) and to accept their terms and conditions. Remember that they have a different fee structure for different categories like books, electronics, home appliances, and health & nutrition etc.Read the commission structure relevant to your category. Always set the price of the product in such a way that after deducting the courier charges and their commission, you get your profit margin.

(2) Setup your own website and the online store

The other option is to have your own domain name and hosting. The cost of having your own online shop is around 5000/- annually. Here you have to integrate the payment gateways ,arrange for the logistics, increase the traffic to your shop through online marketing. Here you are having more freedom to design your shop and display the product as per your requirements. These efforts are worth doing because in this way you are building and creating your own brand.
Or, you can choose the first one, which when starts generating income and then subsequently shift to the second option. In this way, you will not feel the burden of extra cost and extra efforts require for setting up e-shop with your domain name and hosting.

(3) How to setup your e-shop?

First of all think of suitable and relevant name for your shop which tells something about your business or the products.
Buy and organize products for your shop. The products are solar lanterns, solar panels, books on solar energy, solar calculators,solar toys, solar charge controllers, solar batteries and other solar products.
Initially, you can keep your inventory small and increase it gradually as your sale starts picking up.
Take neat and clean pictures of the products from different angles like front view, top view, and side view and upload these images on the portal.
Write a good description of each product highlighting its benefits and the advantages. A good description always helps you in making a customer interested in your products.
Offer a good and competitive price of your product so that the customer is always attracted to your product. Always remember that price plays a vital role in making a business success.
Always offer a good quality product. It pays in a long run because a good quality product will help in making the customer permanent and establish you in the business.
Write terms and conditions which explain the normal sales procedure like approximate time to deliver the product, how to request for refund or how to put replacement request etc.

(4) Investment required

Rs. 1-2 lacs

(5) The Payback period

1 year

(6) Marketing

Promote your product through offers like cash on delivery, 15 days replacement guarantee or free delivery.
Offer discount on special occasions like Diwali, New Year, and Christmas etc.
Inform regularly to the customers and the prospects about your products and offers through e-mail.

Always remember that quality product displayed with different angles, having complete description, a good and secure payment gateway with multiple payment options like debit card, credit card, net-banking, COD etc and fast delivery are the keys to success in the e-commerce business.