How To Start An eCommerce Business

Over 2 Billion people right now buy something online each year and the numbers are only going to grow. So if you are thinking of opening your own eCommerce business, starting an online store then this blog will help you to get some understanding on how to start an eCommerce business. 

  • Have A Business Plan

Remember that an eCommerce website is just like any other store. Just by creating the store will not sell anything. You have to bring in the customer inside the store in order for them to purchase anything. And, driving traffic to your website involves costs. Do the research and figure out:

  • The products you are going to sell and it’s demand in the market.
  • Who are your customers?
  • What would be the geographic areas you will be selling?
  • What would be the pricing range for your products?
  • What costs are involved to run the e Commerce operation?
  • What are the margins you have on the products?

    Consult an expert to be confident that you will be able to make the profit after spending all the money. 
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  • Create A Brand Name, Identity and Form & Company

Finalise a brand name, which represents your business and it is unique. Make sure the name is short and easy to remember. Get a logo designed for the company.

Make sure you form a company and get back an account. It is going to be required at a later stage when you are applying for a payment gateway.

  • Hire A Developer

You can create simple websites on your own but the eCommerce business is tricky. It involves several integrations like and can be quite complicated. So we recommend getting professional help. Talk with a web developer and finalise all the features you want on the website in advance.

You can also develop a website from scratch or use a predesigned eCommerce theme from WordPress or Wix but we recommend you to do it from scratch.

Register Domain, Hosting and SSL


Visit GoDaddy or Hostinger and book a domain, hosting and SSL. A lot of developers can offer you to use their hosting as well or you can buy it yourself. While booking the domain make sure that it is in sync with your brand name.

The domain and Hosting you can buy for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and 4 years and you can renew once the validity ends and SSL is usually for lifetime.

  • Organise Your Product Information


If you have a big list of products then we recommend you to have them organised in a spreadsheet and have the following mandatory sections:

  • Product Name
  • SKU
  • Description
  • Features
  • Prices

You must also click good photographs of your products and get them edited by a professional or use a free if you can do it yourself. It is very important that the product photographs look good and attractive.

  • Payment Gateway


You need a payment gateway to receive payments online. You need to apply for a payment gateway. Either you can contact your bank or contact companies like RazorPay, PayU directly. Keep the following things ready beforehand:

  • Business Name
  • Bank Account
  • PAN Card
  • Business Proof
  • Address Proof
  • KYC of the owners

    The payment gateway provider will deduct around 2% + GST from the received amount before remitting the amount in your current bank account.
    Shipping & Logistics


Have a thorough plan on how you are going to manage the delivery of the products once you start getting orders. Create a proper process and run through the process a few times and find out the loop holes before finalising the same.

Have a delivery partner in place. You can also do shipping integrations with service providers like ShipRocket.

Train your staff how to check orders, pick them from the inventory, pack them correctly and keep them ready along with the shipping and billing documents for the delivery person to collect it from your stock point.

  1. Start Generating Traffic To Your Website


Once your website is ready you have to start driving relevant traffic to your online store. You can do the so by the following:

  • SEO Marketing
  • Google Shopping Ads, Search Ads and Display Ads
  • Facebook and Instagram Marketing
  • Re-marketing ads targeting those who have visited your website but may not have purchased anything. Showing them ads again and again may bring them back to the website again they may make the purchase. We absolutely recommend running remarketing campaigns. Dedicate a portion of your ad balance for this mandatorily.
  1. Retain Your Customers


Once someone has purchased a product from your website you have their name, phone number and email address. Stay in touch with them by sending Emails, SMS or WhatsApp messages in regular intervals with new offers and promotions so that they can return and buy more and recommend someone else.

Most importantly make sure that you remain patient and do not have unrealistic expectations of getting rich overnight. Just like any other business, eCommerce also takes time to mature. It requires your time, attention, effort and investment on a continuous basis to gradually grow into a profitable business. Stay on the job and evaluate your performance from time to time and try out new things.