Every million-dollar business starts with an idea, so get ready with yours to make it a successful e-commerce business.
Wondering how to start an e-commerce business from scratch? Don’t be surprised if we say that it takes direction, effort, and lots of other things that you need to take care of.
The best part is that technology has made it easy to start a business online. Even from scratch, you can start an e-commerce business. We have created this blog to make things simpler for you.
Through the blog, you will come to know worthy information that can lead you to land an e-commerce business leveraging technology.
So, let’s take a bite at some key e-commerce stats before we go through the blog in detail!
Any business around the globe can’t be started without having market knowledge, and undoubtedly, statistics are helpful to understand it quickly.
These e-commerce stats related to the e-commerce industry and trends will give you a quick and better idea.
The mentioned stats indicate that it is the right time to start an ecommerce business. There are 12 to 24 million online stores that exist.
However, with a unique online store still, you can grab multiple hidden opportunities. Establishing an online business leveraging ecommerce app development would be the best idea for you.
If you have decided to start an e-commerce business, then prepare yourself to put each step firmly process by process. Your efforts require a lot, but in the end, you will come up with success for sure. Now, let’s start with the first one.
You need a product first to start an e-commerce business. It can be fashion apparel, an electronics product, or any product of your interest. Whatever niche you decide, you can make products available for sale in two ways: either you can manufacture or source from the manufacturer. The decision will be yours.
Tip: What you can do is research- what products are in trend. In what kind of products are your targeted audience interested? What products can you sell with a low budget? It will help you to decide about the product to sell quickly.
The ecommerce landscape is vast, and multiple business models exist. Here, it would help if you chose the business model that suits your business requirements. Usually, there are four key types of business models.
Tip: whatever business model you choose, ensure that you can seamlessly deliver the goods or services to your customers.
Once you have decided about the product and business model, it means you have won half the battle. Now, the next crucial step is market competitor research.
Competitor and market research can save you lots of things and can help you to deliver the best for your business. It will help you to determine – Who is your competitor?
What is going on in your target market? What is the latest trend with your desired product? What changes can you apply to your product to make it different from others? And more. This research will help you to create a perfect business plan.
Tip: While conducting competitor and market research, validate your product idea. It is okay that you have a clear mindset about it, but validation will help you to resolve multiple doubts.
A business plan is not a piece of document; it is a roadmap to starting an e-commerce business. It helps in organizing the business in the best way.
Here, you will define the objectives for operation, finance, marketing, product promotion, sales, and more. Overall, you can consider it as documenting your mission to achieve something the best and strongly establishing your business.
Tip: While drafting the business plan, keep all aspects in mind, including the investors and end customers. It would be best if you created a detailed business plan.
Starting a business is like a dream come true, but there are some regulations and legal aspects associated with it.
Especially if you want to develop an ecommerce store, then you also need to choose its unique name to have a solid identity in the market. So, choose a name that suits your business and register it via the following legal formalities.
Tip: Suppose you want to develop a marketplace app like Amazon and Etsy, then check the name of the business online to ensure there is no mirror business name registered already.
It is the most crucial step to start an e-commerce business. It can be done as – e-commerce mobile app development, e-commerce website development, or both.
There are multiple e-commerce platforms available that you can choose to develop your online store, and these can be Shopify, NopCommerce, and others.
All these top e-commerce platforms offer multiple features that can let you craft the store in a way you want, or you can get help from an experienced e-commerce development company.
Tip: The best idea is to launch a website and app together; it will help you to connect with more customers. The website will work as your storefront, and the app will help you with an effective brand promotion.
Seamless order fulfillment is also required for the best customer satisfaction. Hence, you need to collaborate with a shipping services provider that can deliver your orders to the customers on time, including the safety and security of your parcel.
You can connect your business to the top global shipping companies like DHL, FedEx, UPS, Parcelforce Worldwide, Royal Mail, DPD, TNT, and others.
Tip: Make sure you understand all the service details, such as cost, terms & conditions, ratings, and reviews. Suppose you have a larger budget and can handle shipping by yourself. In that case, you can also develop software with the help of a logistic software development company.
Marketing and promotion is a continuous process, and you need to start with it just after the launch of your ecommerce business.
Investing in marketing is worth it, and it can provide you with long-term benefits. There are multiple marketing channels that you can leverage.
One of the best ways to promote your business online is the use of social media. Most of the top ecommerce businesses are utilizing it as much as they can for their business growth.
Tip: Prepare a marketing strategy by keeping the target audience in mind; it will lead you to reach them quickly. The best way to start is with limited products. Once people know you add more products for promotion.
Do not just go with the thoughts that you need to start the online business, and things will be sorted out. Think about the future aspect of it, like- What kind of tools do you require?
How much does it cost to develop an ecommerce website?
What about the scalability of the business and more?
All these things depend on one, and that is how you develop an e-commerce mobile app or website. So, here are some top ecommerce platforms that you can consider to start an ecommerce business in 2024.
Let’s traverse the list.
One of the top-most and easiest options if you are looking to start your e-commerce business in 2024. Shopify is a SaaS (Software-as-a-service) e-commerce platform that allows one to create a creation of an online store in no time with no-code experience.
It offers multiple tools and features such as multichannel selling, drop shipping, payment integrations, social media integration, and more.
Although it offers 3 plans, i.e.,
ASP.NET is such a fantastic technology, and it serves as one technology for multiple purposes. Regarding eCommerce development, the ASP.NET-powered platform is NopCommerce, and you can also call it ASP.NET Core Shopping Cart.
It offers solutions for small & medium, enterprises, and global businesses. It is open source and available for all. The other associated advantages are PCI DSS compliance, unlimited customization, tech support, and more.
For developing a NopCommerce-based ecommerce, it would be best to consult with a certified NopCommerce development company.
If you aim to deliver a differentiated ecommerce experience, then Kentico is one of the best eCommerce platforms available to consider for developing an e-commerce website in 2024 for business.
It helps in multiple ways, such as facilitating the customers to find the right product, helping businesses to showcase and sell the products, checkout customization, payment integrations, handling multiple stores, promotion for sales, and more.
You can leverage Kentico technology not only for ecommerce development but also for CMS development.
WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform that helps businesses, merchants, and developers to build a desired ecommerce store.
Millions of brands are using WooCommerce technology for their online business. 23% of the top one million ecommerce websites are WooCommerce-based.
It offers multiple features, functionalities, and integrations to create a successful ecommerce shop. It works best in combination with the WordPress platform.
If your business is enterprise-level and you are looking to develop an ecommerce store in 2024, then BigCommerce is for you.
It is known as one of the best ecommerce development platforms for B2C and B2B businesses. BigCommerce is SaaS-based and offers ultimate flexibility to scale the business online.
Its features include international selling, headless commerce, multi-storefront, omnichannel sales, commerce-as-a-service, and more.
Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento, is a fantastic ecommerce platform for developing ecommerce apps and websites to start an online business.
Whatever business model you follow, you can use Adobe Commerce to build your store to sell products from electronics to clothes. Including features and functionalities, it offers multiple extensions to extend ecommerce capabilities like back-office integration, ERP integration, order management systems, and others.
Some of the top brands using Adobe Commerce are T-Mobile, Coca-Cola, KrispyKreme Doughnuts, and more.
Salesforce is also a perfect option for developing an online ecommerce store. It helps in achieving goals faster and unlocking new opportunities.
AI-guided automation is one of the top advantages of it. Using Salesforce, you can create digital storefronts leveraging commerce AI and Data Cloud-powered intelligence. Its offerings are storefront templates, composable storefronts, headless commerce, order management, and others.
Most of the readers may have a question- How much does it cost to start an ecommerce business? So, it varies on multiple factors which decide the cost. These are:
One of the biggest factors in the cost of starting an e-commerce store is the cost of developing an ecommerce app like noon or website. It covers a major portion of the budget to start the business. The e-commerce development cost could be like-
1- E-commerce website development costs- $15,000 and $40,000.
2- E-commerce app development costs- $10,000 and $20,000.
Different payment processing platforms charge different fees per use, but the average chargeable payment fee is 3% of each transaction.
You need to obtain a license & permit to run a legal business from an authority that also requires cost based on business type, location, products, and others.
If you are selling your products directly to the customers, then you need to maintain an inventory and manage products. So, here is the cost of managing a warehouse or storage space for products.
Either you are managing shipping on your own or hire third-party shipping services provider; with both options, cost is associated. It contributes to the overall cost of starting an ecommerce business.
Marketing & promotion acquire a good portion of the cost. Suppose you want to run a PPC ad or social media ad, then there is cost associated based on the ad volume and requirements.
If you are a small business, then you can handle operations on your own, but if its size is big, then you need a good-sized team to handle your ecommerce business.
Starting an ecommerce business is the ultimate excitement, but it is also challenging. Therefore, you need to take each step carefully and with patience. You can refer to this blog as one of the useful guides on how to start an ecommerce business in 2024.
The key conclusion is that it requires lots of effort, but in the end, your business will get established. The foundation of online business depends on how you develop your ecommerce website.
So, instead of trying multiple options, you must choose an ecommerce platform that meets your requirements. You can also consult an experienced ecommerce development services provider for the best results.
Being one of the reputed ecommerce development companies, you can connect with experts at ARKA Softwares anytime to learn more than what you can do to start an ecommerce business and how we are flexible to help you for achieving your goal, that is- starting an ecommerce business in 2024.
Jeeto11
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While the development is ongoing, the client is pleased with the work thus far, which has met expectations. ARKA Softwares puts the needs of the client first, remaining open to feedback on their work. Their team is adaptable, responsive, and hard-working.
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I started my project with Arka Softwares because it is a reputed company. And when I started working with them for my project, I found out that they have everything essential for my work. The app is still under development and but quite confident and it will turn out to be the best.
