Making your startup successful is quite a tough job with the ever growing competition in almost every field. India is witnessing a brand new generation of startups and making a remarkable presence not just in the domestic country, but also worldwide. The previous year has been a roll on for the Indian entrepreneurs. There are many inspiring stories of people who created their own paths of innovation which lead them to be inspiration for many newbie.
We all are aware how online shopping has proved its dominance in the past few years. The following report by statista depicts that the rate of eCommerce sales is projected to grow to 4.88 trillion US dollars by the year 2021. This data clearly says that today’s generation is spending more and more time online especially for shopping various products online.
However, in today’s business a lot of money is going to online store owners which earlier used to go to physical store businesses. With majority of shoppers heading to screens instead of physical stores you need to provide better customer experiences on which they can easily rely.
So, it’s high time for these retail stores owners to make their business online by making an eCommerce website for better sales.
But, do you really know that many startups in India survived successfully?
Well, according to Statista.com, there are many reasons which leads to downfall of any startup. Some major ones are:
- No need of the product in market
- Pricing/cost issues
- Poor product quality
- Poor marketing and others.
So, for making an eCommerce store successful, here are 5 tips to be considered at the initial stage of startup:
1) Keep an eye on your competitors:
Its very important to know about your competitor’s steps. You can check out with your competitor’s marketing strategies so that you can get some idea and can implement them less or more the same on your website too. Think out of the box and apply some new business tactics which your competitor hasn’t applied till yet.
2) Decide on how you will fund your business:
The way you fund your business decides its growth! Focusing on development is crucial, but keeping a look at funding is also one of the key factor for the growth of your business. It’s necessary not to do everything at once as many startups work with less resources initially until and unless the demand increases for the same. The better way is to go with the flow. This makes it quite crucial to work more in less resources.
3) Maintaining relationships with your customers is valuable:
Once you have officially launched your eCommerce website , the key to getting success is to gain customer loyalty and happiness. The cost of building relationships with new customers can be high as it requires you to provide free gifts or discounts to them. But, in the bigger picture, it would be helpful. You can even ask the customers to share their feedback after successful product purchase.
4) Get out of your comfort zone!
A quote stated that “The enemy of progress is comfort, so learn to enjoy being uncomfortable”. At the initial stage of the startup, it is important to make big goals for your business. You should try to build customer base steadily and do keep a check on your progress with an active management role.
5) Be patient:
Success won’t happen overnight, neither for couple of years. Companies should invest carefully and plan ahead strategically for continued efficiency and profitability in the upcoming years of their business. Sometime success comes to you easily and sometimes it takes you to follow the hard path.
Eg. Jeff Bezos established Amazon.com in 1994, but it wasn’t famous for many years but he struggled enough for years and now stays among one of the most successful eCommerce industries around the globe.
Have you heard about Amazon Effect?
It is a term which is used to describe the success rate of the biggest eCommerce platform i.e amazon over the past few years.
Announcing an additional $2 billion investment into India, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos recently said: “At current scale and growth rates, India is on track to be our fastest country ever to billion dollars in gross sales.”
Effectively, in just few years, Amazon has established itself perfectly and became a leader in one of the largest markets in the world along with local champions like Flipkart and Snapdeal.
Amazon effect has provided completely friction-less shopping process to consumers with immediate results. However, It has also marked its presence into traditional spaces also. Customers now want the same experience, in front of their computers as well as inside a shopping mall also.
Conclusion:
I would sum up by saying that, as a founder, it’s important to know the difference between a great idea and great company. If you are a physical retail store owner you should look forward to take your business online. The easiest way to do so is to create an eCommerce store. So, start preparing from today itself, and don’t give up when things gets tough.
Find out other articles for successful eCommerce sales:
How to improve sale of your eCommerce store in 2019?
Secret keys to success for eCommerce platforms in 2019