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What you need to know before starting an eCommerce business?

Tag: business success

what-you-need-to-know-before-starting-an-ecommerce-business

Ecommerce businesses demand dedication and careful planning. It is also important to properly execute the plans so that you can achieve efficiency and success. While setting up an online business is a dynamic process, there are certain guidelines which you can follow to ensure that your efforts yield the best possible results.

Let’s discuss those guidelines in detail –

Research the space

The first step in the process of setting up an ecommerce business is to research the online space. Apart from studying the broad online scenario, you should also analyze your own specific ecommerce segment. At this juncture, you may want to focus on several points such as the breadth and depth of the market and the likely future growth rate. Once you are done with the analysis, it is time for to create a niche for yourself. You may start by finding out your unique selling points or USPs. Recognizing the unique propositions of your business can help you in targeting the desired market segment in a more efficient manner.

Also Read: Starting Your E-Commerce Business: Key Points

Choose your Offering

Once you have analyzed the market, it is time to pick what you are going to offer to your clients. You may have a product to sell or a service to offer or have a portfolio consisting of various offerings. You should carefully curate your offerings to ensure the right mix. It is generally advisable to have a variety of goods and services so as to provide more comprehensive experience to your clients. It is also important to diversify your risk factor by investing in different lines of products. You should also pay attention to the supply chain to avoid the roadblocks for the procurement and the distribution of your product.

Set up your Business

It is the most crucial stage. You need to put your plans into practice. At this juncture, you need to pick up a proper name for your ecommerce business. Ideally, your business name should be closely related to your product and be easy to remember. You can further customize your business by choosing a logo to represent your mission. These things will help you in creating a distinct identity of the brand in the market. It will also be helpful in creating a niche market for yourself.

Also Read: How to Quickly Create an Online Store and Integrate a Payment Gateway

Take Care of Legalities

Every business is regulated by certain rules and legal requirements. Before you start your operations, you should make sure that your business is registered with proper authorities. You should also ensure that all the required fees and payments have been made. Ideally, the business name and logo should also be registered to protect your intellectual property. If you are entering into any collaboration with supply chain partners, then such partnerships should be ratified accordingly. It is generally helpful to take the services of a qualified legal professional to avoid any complications.

Automate

Ecommerce businesses are highly amenable to automation and the incorporation of technological tools. You should take advantage of these processes and incorporate them into your business. Some of the main examples of these tools are the billing processes and ecommerce payment gateway. Automation can not only free up your time, but can also help in optimizing the use of various resources including cash and human resources. Automation of services such as the use of ecommerce payment gateway also leads to smoother experience for your clients, thus promoting brand loyalty.

With the above points in your mind, you can easily navigate through the process of setting up an ecommerce business.

Also Read: How to setup your e-commerce store using Payshop

7 Ecommerce Tips for New Entrepreneurs

7 Ecommerce Tips for New Entrepreneurs

E-commerce occupies a primary position in today’s economy. Every new business is now required to have online presence to ensure its overall growth and survival. E-commerce landscape is highly dynamic and is continuously evolving. In order to make your business more efficient and productive, here are some tips for a new entrepreneur regarding eCommerce.

  • Deliberate Before Going Live: one of the biggest mistakes committed by new entrepreneurs is to launch half-baked products and services. While online business world follows the practice Minimum Viable Product, it is still advisable for new businesses to endeavor to perfect their products before launching them online. Such precautions should be undertaken with regard to the product as well as with regard to the infrastructure required for online launch. Before making your website live, you should ensure that your domain name, outbound links and SEO are all in the right place.
  • Integrate your Marketing Efforts: as eCommerce is fast evolving, the marketing tools are also changing at a fast pace. In such environment, it is therefore important that the marketing mix is designed in such a way that frequent changes may be incorporated seamlessly. E-commerce generally uses email blasts, newsletters and social media. It is imperative that these promotional media are used in an intertwined fashion. New entrepreneur can use these media to cross target their markets and draw synergies.
  • Use Funnel Approach: in simple words, funnel approach implies that you need to be aware of the path taken by your target customers to eventually buy your product or service. The various facets involved in the process of funnel approach is to retain customers and upselling. Further, entrepreneurs may also use subscription based models and cross selling approaches under this framework. There are various tools available for this purpose such as plugins which may be easily integrated with your website to achieve desired results.
  • Keep Your Systems Flexible: it is important that the infrastructure used for running your eCommerce venture is flexible and is able to accommodate your growing business. The backend system should be designed in such a way that it expands with your endeavor. While selecting various elements such as server capacity, you should keep in mind not only the present requirements but also future potential. In case of eCommerce, later upgrades in the system may prove to be prohibitively expensive and tedious. Therefore, it is advisable to anticipate the future requirements and incorporate them into the infrastructure in the beginning stage, thus minimizing the need for later additions.
  • Go Social, Go Mobile: proper use of social media can work wonders for your online business. With a number of platforms available, it is important to ensure that your social media mix offers you synergies, without causing any duplication of efforts and resources. The use of social media not only allows you to provide latest information to your clients but also to keep track of their changing preferences. Further, one of the most important trends is to use mobile access. More and more people are using eCommerce through their phones and tablets. In order to fully harness the power of mobile eCommerce, it is important that you optimize the mobile rendering of your website. Alternatively, you can opt for designing a dedicated app for mobile devices. In order to future proof your eCommerce venture, it is essential that you pay proper attention to mobile segment.
  • Pay Attention to Analytics: as eCommerce changes at a fast pace, the businesses are required to keep pace with them. This can be done by using various analytical tools which are helpful in gathering data. Such data is then analyzed to find trends and predict future patterns. The important data required for such purpose is the number of visitors to the website, the conversion rate and loading time. Such data is then analyzed and the strategies are designed accordingly. In order to design robust marketing and other plans, the use of analytics cannot be overemphasized.

The above given pointers offer simple and fast way to optimize your eCommerce business. It is essential that an entrepreneur ensures that they are constantly evolving to keep their eCommerce ventures relevant and effective.

PayTabs

How to Improve Customer Retention and What Are the Benefits

Customer retention is highly important for any business as relying solely on new clientele for growth may prove to be a myopic approach. There are several approaches which may be undertaken to ensure that the firm is able to generate repeat business from its set client base. The main benefit of customer retention is that it takes considerably lower expenditure to generate revenue from established customers than from new clients. Higher Revenue: when a business is able to retain its client, it helps in achieving higher revenue as well. As your clients already trust your business practices and products, you are not required to plan any expensive marketing plan. This feature ensures that your profit margin is more robust than ever. Here are some of the benefits of a loyal customer base.

  • Improved Business Image: apart from offering pecuniary benefits, customer retention also helps a firm in generating goodwill in the market. Having a loyal customer base gives a stamp of approval to your products and services. It sends a message to the market and to the prospective clients that your business is trustworthy.
  • Lower Marketing Costs: acquiring new clients is an expensive affair as you need to spend a lot of money on collecting data about them, designing appropriate policies and executing them. However, in the case of existing clients, these expenses are reduced considerably. Lower costs mean that you are either able to provide your goods and services at cheaper rate to your clients or able to add to your profit margin. Both the situations are conducive to solid business growth.
  • Data Collection: in today’s world, data is king as it is used for making analysis and creating policies. When a business has large customer base, they are able to generate big data sets which are required for proper analysis. It is also a lot easier and less expensive to collect data from existing clients than looking for new people for this purpose. In case of loyal customer base, the frequency of collecting data and analysis may also be kept lower, which further helps in rationalizing the associated costs.

Creating customer following need not be a daunting task. Here are some of the main ways you can ensure that your customers keep coming back for more.

  • Know Your Client Base: it is important that you understand the requirements and features of your clients. It will help you in customizing your offerings, motivating clients to keep coming back. Providing customized products to best meet your clients’ requirements is the key to build a loyal customer base.
  • Take Extra Care: for generating repeat business, it is imperative that you provide robust customer care. This step ensures that as and when there is any grievance, it is properly handled. The speedy resolution of the issues is also important as any delay may lead the customers to look for alternatives, eroding your client base.
  • Offer Incentives: it is always helpful to start loyalty program, where you offer incentives to your clients for making repeat purchases. Such incentives may be in the cash form or non-cash form. The monetary incentives may be introduced through discounts and cash backs while the main examples of non monetary incentives are freebies, early access to new products and free shipping among other features. However, it is ideal to offer a judicious mix of cash and non cash incentives to ensure that the requirements of your client base are adequately met.
  • Remain in Touch: it is important that you maintain constant touch with your clients, even when they are not making purchase. This is especially important in the areas where the demand is seasonal. During the lean season, you can remain acquainted with your clients by sending them newsletters about latest developments in your business. However, you should ensure that such communiqué is appropriately customized and is able to pique customers’ interest.

It needs to be noted that offering high quality goods and services is of paramount importance for creating a loyal customer base. However, you also need to undertake the above given strategies to ensure that you are able to generate repeat business from your clients.

Subscription Economy: Business Impact of Rapidly Changing Consumer Needs

Subscription Economy: Business Impact of Rapidly Changing Consumer Needs

Technology has changed the way businesses are conducted. This is primarily due to change in consumer needs and perceptions. Technology has brought newer avenues to the customers and has offered them more choices. One of the most disruptive innovations facilitated by technology is the proliferation of subscription economy. This mode has changed the way consumers pay for different products and services. It also means that the businesses are now able to better handle their cash inflows and improve their liquidity.

What is Subscription Economy

In simple words, it may be defined as the practice of businesses to offer subscription to their customers. This implies that instead of charging a lump sum amount to the customers, the goods or services are provided in lieu of periodic payments. Such periodic payments are called subscription and the model is known as subscription services model. Currently, many companies are moving away from traditional model towards subscription economy due to change in consumer taste and needs.

Under this business model, the consumer is willing to use the goods or services on periodical basis instead of making a one-time commitment. While the payments under this model are expected to be made regularly, the plans may be customized to best meet the individual requirements of the consumers. However, it should be noted that the model has proved to be so successful that it has not only been implemented in B2C segment, but also in B2B sector. It is likely that by 2023, 75 percent of the companies dealing in direct selling will adopt subscription model for their clients.

Subscription economy may have different meanings for different businesses as firms may choose to implement their own versions to suit their requirements and resources. The main types of subscription economy models are a) Pay as you Go, b) Curation model c) Replenishment model and d) Access model. Pay as your Go model is simple and hence highly popular. Under this model, the consumer is charged for periodic delivery of goods and services. Since it takes away the worry to remember the need to renew, the model is also known as convenience model.

Curation model is mainly used by the businesses which provide personalized goods or services instead of the mass ones. This model allows the consumers to discover new products by sampling them, instead of committing to them in the first go. Such subscription boxes are especially popular in food and beauty segment. Replenishment model, on the other hand, is more suitable for goods and services related to regular, day to day life. With such subscription model, the customer can automate the delivery of their consumables. Access based model offers need based access to goods and services on payment of periodical fee.

Impact on Business

Subscription economy has impacted the businesses in a prominent manner. Subscription model implies that businesses are now required to remain in constant touch with their clients since one time interaction is now converted into periodic interactions. The businesses are now required to be more savvy with their customers as every interaction with them forms the foundation for the next one. It is also more important now to keep the customers engaged and interested in your products as they may choose to switch their loyalty if there is any slack in the services. While this factor can keep the businesses on their toes, it also provides them the opportunity to innovate and grow.

With subscription model, the firms can make their cash flow more predictable, allowing them to better manage their liquidity and funds. The higher predictability of the cash inflows let the firms undertake better planning for their future endeavors. Subscription economy also helps the firms by reducing their customer acquisition costs. Further, the firms can also personalize or customize their marketing strategies to best suit their client base. The model is helpful for the clients as well since they are not forced to make lump sum payments.

Conclusion

Subscription model is here to stay and for the ultimate success of this model, it is important for businesses to have a robust and reliable payment processing system. Such system should be able to handle frequent payments in an efficient manner. With such payment systems, the firms can boost their sales and client base.

Success Tips for Millennial Entrepreneurs

Success Tips for Millennial Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has always been a challenging task but millennial entrepreneurs face some unique challenges. However, they also have access to better resources, allowing them to make the best of the circumstances presented to them. Here are the top tips which can help millennial entrepreneurs in avoiding potholes on the road to success.

  • Create an A Team: Entrepreneurship may be a lonely journey, but it helps to create a good team. Make sure that you have a strong support system and that your team consists of people who understand your ambition and vision. It is also important that you actively seek out help as and when you require it. People are more than willing to help others out when they are asked in a direct manner. As an entrepreneur, you need to understand that looking for help is not a sign of weakness but of open-mindedness. This quality is especially helpful in technical areas, so if you are struggling with the taxes for your business or are stuck with a faulty code, then make sure that you have right kind of people in your team to deal with such issues.

 

  • Learn to be on Your Own: While this tip may seem to be diametrically opposite to the first one, it highlights the importance of being self-reliant when it comes to running your enterprise. Your team may be able to provide you technical support and at times, maybe even moral support, but there will also be times when you will find yourself dealing with such issues on your own. Further, you should also develop your abilities to reach a decision in an independent manner. You may also need to severely curtail your social life to make time for your entrepreneurial ventures. Before you take a leap, make sure that you are ready for these sacrifices.

 

  • Find Your Passion: The success of your venture depends on your efforts and your efforts are directly correlated to how closely you identify with your business. If you are truly passionate about your venture, then you will be able to stay motivated despite all the obstacles coming your way. You can also keep up your motivation level by focusing on the ultimate reward. Entrepreneurship involves long working hours, repeated setbacks and consequent stress. These obstacles are easy to overcome when you believe in what you are doing.

 

  • But be Business Savvy: it’s great to have an opportunity to work in the area you are passionate about, but it is also important to have your business fundamentals right. This means that you have proper idea about your market, you have designed your product in an appropriate manner and that you comply with all the regulatory requirements, among other things. While passion matters, you should also keep in mind that businesses have a high failure rate, especially in the initial years. New entrepreneurs are also advised to be careful about the finances so that they do not run out of funds at crucial moments. If you do not have any business background then you may also take up a few business oriented courses in a local college or university. Alternatively, you may join your industry association and other trade collaborations.

 

  • Be Agile: In today’s highly competitive world, it pays to be agile and nimble. A venture’s success is widely determined by its ability to pivot. It is important that you quickly recognize the gravity of a situation and take appropriate actions promptly. Some of the situations which may require such quick actions include change in market structure or change in regulatory frameworks. It is also advisable to keep various processes and procedures simple so that they may be conveniently altered as and when required by the changed circumstances. An entrepreneur should also be open to making swift changes to their plans. If the earlier plans do not seem to work then they should amend them accordingly.
Entrepreneurs are not born, they are made. By following these simple tips, you can vastly improve your chances of becoming a successful entrepreneur. You should also use technology tools to boost your business. These tools such as those provided by PayTabs can bring about efficiency and economy to your business operations, helping you grow at a fast pace.