Essentials to start an Online Hyperlocal business in India
Krenai
Hey you there, have an existing retail business? Want to expand it? Wish to set up an E-commerce portal? Then my friend you have arrived at just the right place, in this blog I will be going through the A to Z on how to kick start your small business into the online realm.
There are many things to learn and understand, so find a comfortable spot and get settled, keep a hot cup of coffee ready and a notepad to jot down pointers in case you are like me who forgets stuff easily. So buckle up and get ready to dive in!
In case you already have a fair share of knowledge and want to skip this and learn further topics like Marketing, Paid Advertising, Data Science. Etc. Then click on the below links: How to Market your Business and Using Paid Advertising to Boost Sales
Understanding Online Business -
After selling products at a retail store there is only so much so that you can grow and earn. You start to realize the importance of having to expand online or else have your growth remaining stagnant. This is simply because most people these days prefer shopping online; I am a witness to that.
After all who would want to spend so much effort to go to a physical location to buy products which can you easily order online and have it delivered to your home. Heck, I wouldn’t even spend energy to get the TV remote to change the channel! Though selling products online can appear to be a difficult thing to
accomplish, what with all the technical jargon and the basic mechanism which can be cumbersome to understand especially for someone who might be from a non-IT background. Through this blog and many others, I will guide you from the beginning on how to set up an online shop to the end on how to market and advertise your business online. So without any further ado let us begin!
E-Commerce Portal
The first step in setting up your online business is the creation of an online store, just like a retail store. This online store can either be a website or a mobile application but the main focus is going to be on mobile right now cause that is the most widely used platform.
This online store is also known as E-commerce portal, imagine it like a virtual shop where the seller and customers can interact, buy products and pay orders without having to meet physically.
An E-Commerce portal has many purposes like showing a list of products with their availability and description, tools for marketing, payment, etc. Creating such an application takes time and is no easy task. Hence, why most companies charge exorbitantly for their creation.
Krenai aims to cut down on that pricing by providing e-commerce portal creation in a streamlined and simple way by providing pre-designed custom templates for your app’s layout, inventory management tools and marketing tools all at cheaper costs than other competitors and without affecting the quality of service offered with punctual delivery of the work.
We also have a dedicated and diligent team for providing support in- case support is ever required. You get all these services at a cheaper rate compared to the other competitors in the market and which in turn saves money which you have to spend for an e-commerce portal creation.
Designing and Styling your App
Now we begin one of the most important aspects of your online shop, its design and visuals which are what the customer will see. The design of your store does the talking for your business, what kind of business you are and sets the mood of the shopping experience. This is a very essential component as this is what dictates whether the store’s appearance looks appealing to the customer and whether they decide to take action or not.
The design of your store mainly includes things like font type and size, color scheme, etc. It is important to focus on these factors as they are what give your entire store a centralized feel. Your main focus should lie in keeping things simple and professional looking with proper color combinations.
Luckily for you, Krenai provides its clients with options from over 30+ designer-made templates to choose from and select the one which best suits your business.
Even though there are templates to choose from there are still few things to be kept in mind while selecting:
- If the amount of product categories listed on your app page is low, then having a menu navigation bar on the top works great. While if you have lots of products or too many product categories, then having a navigation menu that runs down on either side of the page works best.
- Choose a template with a color combination that matches your business’s niche and specialty. For example, if you are selling pharmaceutical products then using a range of various blues is preferable.
- Maintaining the hierarchy of information, the most important details and pieces of information should always stay at the top.
Payment Gateways -
To earn profits, first you have to get paid and for that you need to receive payments first quite obvious right?
For payments to be made and received online for online retailers, Payment Gateways are used and integrated into online stores. These are basically a merchant service. provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payments processing for e-businesses. Most e-commerce platforms only allow a few payment gateways and recommend which one to use. Krenai offers multiple online payment gateways options for the e-commerce portals we build for our clients with the choice of multiple payment gateways being available that can be easily added including debit/credit card.
When deciding on a payment gateway, few things must be checked before preceding forward such as If there any setup fees? / Any monthly/yearly subscription? / Any transfer delays? / Any support in case of need of assistance?
It is necessary to have a well-integrated shipment delivery system that is connected to your website. It is mainly dictated by two things:
- Whether, it is a product being sold or a service. If it is a service or a digital item, then the product can be rapidly and easily transported to the client through any online email medium like Gmail or drives like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
- If it is a physical product, then there should be shipping of products through courier. The shipping solution you provide mainly depends on your product, your business model, your target audience, and your e-commerce solution. If you make sure all these factors work together flawlessly, then success is guaranteed.
How to make products more captivating -
A catalog is an important tool that helps to sell your products. When cataloging your products, certain things like posting sharp and clear photos and creative looped videos showcasing your products helps them to look more enticing and aids in captivating your customer’s attention and gets them to buy products from you.
Some important things to check off:
- Images - When you upload pictures of your products, make sure that the pictures are clear, sharp, with proper colors and without any distortion or chromatic aberrations.
- Videos of Products - Uploading a small video of your products, showcasing them also helps to invoke interest in your characters.
- Reviews - Having your customers write positive reviews of your products also aid in instilling trust inside your customers about your products.
- Brief Descriptions - Proving a brief and concise description of each with any further details like nutrition content for food etc. This helps customers to better understand products and figure out what product is better related to their needs and what they wish to buy.
Conclusion:
By understanding and going through all the aforementioned steps now you are endowed with the knowledge about e-commerce portals, how they work, how they are built, and how Krenai aids you in this process. In physical retail marketing, it is limited to the surrounding area, and also the expenses get escalated. To conclude this article, I would like to point out the benefits of having an e-commerce portal on your sales and profits.
There is only that you can sell physically through retail locations as it is dependent on the customers visiting your stores and the proximity to the local populace. On the other hand, having an online store negates this issue by providing the entire store’s stocks at the browsing prowess of the customer’s fingertips.
This enables them to easily go through the products that you have to offer and if the item they are interested in is available, they can have it home delivered. All this can be done through the comfort of their homes. You can cut down on staff because unlike retail store, you don’t need a huge staff base to keep a check on inventory levels and embezzlement, etc. Hence, you are able to save costs on hiring staff. All this helps in captivating more customers than through retail. This increases overall sales, which means you earn a higher sales profit. With this newly found knowledge now you have a proper foundation in the online business sector and are ready to face it alongside proper tools and other experts to help in case needed.
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