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Setup An E-Commerce Business, Kinds of E-commerce, Growth of E-commerce in India
Before going on the actual procedure of developing the e-commerce business, it is important to know about the E-commerce platform some more and clear some basic concepts of ours to make the understanding more deep and sorted.
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
WHAT IS E-COMMERCE?
E-commerce or can say electronic commerce can be defined as a term which describes the selling and purchasing of any good over the Internet, like, buying the clothes, shoes, apparel or anything on an online platform, in simple words, e-commerce is a process where the businesses and the consumers sell and purchase goods via an electronic medium. E-commerce includes online marketing, supply chain system, online transactions, mobile marketing and so many transfers of data through an electronic path which helps the business to run and grow.
E-commerce has erased the limitation of time and distance to buy or sell the goods without facing any part of problem permanently, in short, it has emerged as a savior of business, it has given a cool and wonderful platform to the business with which you as a business person can list your company’s product over internet and can grow your business non-uniformly and with this it has also blessed the consumers to find their needed product in an easy way without roaming sweating here and there, your product is just a single click away. The traditional way of buying and selling has changed completely after the arrival of e-commerce in the field of Internet.
How and when E-commerce emerged?
The E-commerce emerged firstly in the year of 1960’s when the transfer of data started over the internet and the organizations started using the technology named Electronic Data Interchange, that is, EDI where the files or documents has started to transfer through internet for the business purpose.
From the year 1990, online shopping business started and went on the thirteen sky since then, as it has lowered the burden of time and distance from the shoulder of the buyer, with time after the smartphones came into our hands, buying became the concept of just a single click where you can purchase your desired product sitting anytime and anywhere, just need of the internet connection is there like a thread. And now you can visit the virtual Online Shopping Store and can browse millions of product online on the screen of your smartphone.
The E-commerce website
Those online portals on which the selling and purchase of goods are done and also the transactions of amount corresponding to them occurs too are E-commerce website, but, the E-commerce is not bounded by the selling and buying, it also includes the web portals regarding the trading, counselings, tutorial, music, auction, movies, retailing, and so on. A wide platform is an e-commerce which welcomes every individual to sell their product and buy your product.
Kinds of E-commerce:
1- The Business to Consumer(BtoC)
In this kind of e-commerce, the business sells their products to the customers or consumers through online web portals, where you search for your desired product, scroll them, add them to the cart and then buy it through online fund transaction method like with the use of credit/debit card or net banking. The best example of this is Amazon, Flipkart.
2- The Consumer to Business(CtoB)
The process of selling and purchase of items or products through consumers to the business via the internet, for example, the paid survey regarding any product of any company.
3- The Business to Business(BtoB)
The buying and selling of goods or products over the internet between the two businesses or company. The best example for this is the company which provides hosting services to the websites of other companies, like, GO Daddy, which sells the domain and other hosting services to the other companies.
4- The Consumer to Consumer(CtoC)
When over the internet you sell a product which you need no longer to the needy one it is Consumer to Consumer e-Commerce. The perfect example of this is OLX, a wide platform where you click your good which you need no longer and give an ad of it where the buyer can contact you directly through the contact details provided by you on the website.
Main Features of E-Commerce
1- The Global Reach
The first and the best feature of E-commerce is its availability globally, anyone can buy their favorite and needed product from anywhere, no limitation in the name of country is out of reach for anyone, the product which you have chosen for yourself would be at your place after you will order it in the relevant days. So, no matters where you are staying and from where you are ordering, the need of it is just a valid address of yours where your product can reach to you easily.
2- Omnipresence or Ubiquity
Since electronic commerce deals with the internet, to make efficient use of it can be done by you easily, there is just need of an internet connection which you can use in the form of wireless fidelity that is using hotspot with which you can connect your smartphone and can scroll through the items you want to get at home. The only ubiquitous market is the e-commerce as the conventional market has their own operating hours, you cannot go to the market in the midnight if it has working hours from 9:30 AM to 10 PM, and there, e-commerce came into limelight which does not have any resting hours, the online store is open for everyone 24x7, anytime and anywhere.
3- The Information Density
The great technical capability of E-commerce is its Information density, that is, using the e-commerce reduces the storage cost of the data, procedures, and the communication data as per of the Pearson education. It also provides bucket full of information without any expense which use to be accurate.
4- Interactivity
This is the highlighted feature of e-commerce, as it provides a genuine interactivity with the consumer which gives a complete and transparent process, like, the track of the shipment and delivery part after the order of your item. This makes the customer believe the platform on which they have shopped that is the online store; this feature makes the customer for the long term.
5- Universal Standard
The feature which makes the e-commerce business like an evergreen forest is its Universal Standard those are used by the Individuals, government authorities, and businesses in the same way where everyone uses the same media, internet, and technical standard to access the e-commerce platform in the same process and using the same standard that is the Universal Standard. Like everyone has to register on the platform to create their username and password in order to access their own personal account.
Growth of E-commerce in India currently and in upcoming 5 years
India has seen the wondering growth in the e-commerce field in recent years with an internet user of about 300 million. India has seen the marvelous rise in e-retail, electronic goods, fashion, home appliances and so much, it has given many opportunities to the young generation and made them number one entrepreneur providing so many jobs.
In future or in upcoming 5 years it is possible that the purchasing and selling of stuff would be on the social media platform. Maybe the delivery system will become more intelligent with the use of quad-copter or drones. With the use of artificial intelligence, your all the queries would listen and answer by the robots more accurately and efficiently.
How to start eCommerce business
If you want to start ecommerce business of yours, then in here we will tell the step by step procedures with their requirements in order to achieve the desired ecommerce store of yours.
Step 1: Choosing or selecting the product
In the first stage, you have to take the biggest decision of yours i.e. which product you want to sell, this is touted to be the most challenging decision which one has to take.
After you have selected your product you want to sell over the internet you have to register your business and have to set them all up.
Step 2: Registering the Domain name
Then the second step comes choosing a fabulous domain name of your online store, which will describe your business that would have the catchy name with which the customer will relate to them, far easier.
After choosing the domain name you have to check whether the domain name you want is available or not for your ecommerce store, if it is, then what can be awesome than that, else check for the other.
Step 3: Taking Hosting Services
The next step after buying the domain for your ecommerce is purchasing the hosting services to setup your ecommerce store, find the compatible ecommerce choices in order to work.
In this Magento ecommerce will help you in listing your items, set the suitable price for them and also adding the shopping cart to the website.
Step 4: Logo Design
After you have selected and registered the name of your business and have also purchased the hosting services the next step towards the making of your online store comes the making of a fanatic, the eye-catching amazing logo which would act as a symbol of your e-commerce business.
Step 5: Web Design
The next step after following the four comes, the most important one that is designing a website for your e-commerce business. Where you have to first design a blueprint or prototype of the website you want which is sketched into your mind. Now a day’s people prefer to use Wordpress and Woocomerce for it. A great website which engages the user attracts more visitors and increases the traffic to the website, in clear words; a great and beautiful website has a big role in Ecommerce SEO.
Step 6: Website Development
After making the prototype of the website by designing it with outlines the next phase comes in is the second biggest phase that is the website development. In this step, the site is developed with the help of website developers those give your ideas a new life and make your imagination real. The functionalities are added to your ideas and hence the end result gives you a perfect running ecommerce store of yours.
Step 7: Digital Marketing
The seventh step after the completion of development phase comes to the digital marketing phase. At this point, you have to decide how you want to introduce your product or your business in front of the customers.
The marketing of your business digitally is done with the Ecommerce SEO, SMO, SEM. The SMO is social media optimization which is done by the Facebook ads campaign which also includes Instagram, giving the ad on the YouTube, making use of Google ads.
After building the website, the next important thing which comes is, understanding the search engine optimization or Ecommerce SEO if you want to optimize your site and want your online store to come in the organic search result.
Step 8: Building Marketplace Management
The last and the ultimate step which comes is building the online store with the better understanding of Ecommerce SEO in which you have to write a valuable and compelling product description of your business. Where your e-commerce business is launched on the social platform over social media as everyone has become so much connected to the world of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other websites where they give new business a chance to get introduced to the audiences, as without marketing the customers would be remain limited to a particular area, so for the global reach building marketplace for the new business is must.
How the e-commerce development company of ours work for the clients?
1- After the product selection, we start designing the website and from the consent of the client, we start working on the process of website development where the functionalities are added to the website design, in short, the lifeless site is given life in this phase and your dream site is created. This phase takes 4-10 week, the designing and developing depends upon the technology we make use of.
2- During the E-commerce Website development process, the shopping module development is carried out where we register the accounts on the different marketplaces and lists the products as with the help of this process we would start the process of ordering of products within 15 days after the start of the project designing and development as this makes the customer happy with their rising business and frequent selling of their product gives their spirit a hike.
3- After the completion of design and development phase of the ecommerce platform, the Admin team of ours starts working on the product entry on the website where we use to upload the photo either manually or with the use of tools. And with each product a compelling and useful product description is added which gives a sorted and short feature of the product like an overview, this is an important part of the making and establishing phase.
4- In the meanwhile duration of product entries, we start working for the launch of the online store and start the process of digital marketing of the ecommerce store through the website to make the perfect space of your site for you within 4 months by performing SMO and SEO for your website. Like giving ads of the business on Facebook of the eye endearing Info-graphical image of your product with a mind catching and attracting tagline which would define your business.
The technologies use:
1- Magento ecommerce
Magento is an ecommerce platform which provides flexible shopping cart system which not only keeps track over the content but also looks over the functionalities of the online store they are being used in. Magento ecommerce is used for various ecommerce business is because of its application which does not need any developer to run the site. That is why Magento is a leading enterprise e-commerce platform; it is also providing the optimal performance which is increasing the experience of the customer wonderfully.
2- Opencart
It is a wonderful e-commerce system which is based on the MVC in which you can easily develop extensions and can customize too. Opencart has very user-friendly and great admin dashboard, you will not get confused through the menus, Opencart ecommerce provides an easy way to make changes in your Opencart store. Here, you can edit the files in the core of your CMS, Opencart ecommerce gives readymade templates.
3- Wooecommerce
If you have made your website on Wordpress then without any problem you can add the cart system in your site with this great plugin of Wordpress that is Wooecommerce.
The Wooecommerce lets your Wordpress website to sell your products and wonderful services and the best part of it is, this plugin is free with beneficial features as the paid add-ons.
With Wooecommerce you can sell your item digitally and can keep track of the products, managing the inventories with perfect payment gateway integration.
The Industries we serve for
The compelling e-commerce development company of ours works for the startups, retail e-commerce, the manufacturing companies who want to start their business online and we also do online store development for the wholesale businesses where we make sure that our client gets their prototype as the end result. With the help of Digital marketing, we try our far best to launch our every project tremendously so that they can have a fanatic start of their business.