The age of web dominance has left little to imagination.
Developing an e-commerce website from scratch is capital intensive, and
requires a lot of skill, complexities and attention. These days an
entrepreneur can easily set up an e-Commerce website with little or no capital.
All one needs is a product to sell or provide a much needed solution.
Developing an e-commerce website from scratch is capital intensive, and
requires a lot of skill, complexities and attention. These days an
entrepreneur can easily set up an e-Commerce website with little or no capital.
All one needs is a product to sell or provide a much needed solution.
A growing database of free tools has made it easy
and affordable to set up an e-Commerce platform. Intending e-Commerce
entrepreneurs have two major options of starting an e-Commerce website.
These include selling their goods via an already established marketplace or
running their own website.
and affordable to set up an e-Commerce platform. Intending e-Commerce
entrepreneurs have two major options of starting an e-Commerce website.
These include selling their goods via an already established marketplace or
running their own website.
There are 8 simple steps e-Commerce entrepreneurs can take to set
up their own platforms at no cost. These steps are;
up their own platforms at no cost. These steps are;
- Overcome the fear of failure: Failure should not just be a learning curve, it should also be a moment to
reflect on why things went wrong with a particular product and to
continually to adapt until ‘perfection’ is achieved.
- Have
a product ready or designed with the help of your
customers. Though this does not literally translate to having the ideal
product or item ready but at least the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
should have been achieved before setting up your e-Commerce platform.
- Setup
an online store or list the products for sale on online
marketplaces such as UBA’s Shoppers Mall, Konga, Jumia’s Marketplace,
OLX.com amongst others.
- Make
use of effective but affordable ‘shipping’ arrangements
such as DHL, UPS, FedEx and
others to cater for logistics. A situation whereby there are horrible
delays or loss of shipped items while in freight is not desirable. Tested
and trusted services should be used.
- Promote your product and Get more customers via
social media (Facebook, Twitter,Instagram etc)
and create a newsletter (Mailchimp) list for better interaction and
feedback from customers
- Repeat the
entire process until you can muster enough financial and experiential
muscle to scale from a mere online store to a vast online shopping mall.
While dreaming big is positively ambitious, an Amazon.com sized
e-commerce website will be difficult to start. Amazon and eBay started
as small e-Commerce stores before growing into the giants they have become.
Starting small is the best way to eventually get as big as Alibaba in
China and Konga or Jumia in Nigeria.
e-commerce website will be difficult to start. Amazon and eBay started
as small e-Commerce stores before growing into the giants they have become.
Starting small is the best way to eventually get as big as Alibaba in
China and Konga or Jumia in Nigeria.
