All About Selling

How to create an online business plan

by Ayesha Siddiqa on 27/07/2017

Like any business, however big or small, online business needs proper planning. If you have decided to take the plunge into online selling, or want to take your established offline business online, then a fresh new business plan is absolutely required. A business plan will help in identifying growth areas, challenges and expenses in advance. In this post, we cover some key points you should include while creating an online business plan.

Business objective:

This is essentially the set of goals that you want your business to achieve. To assess this, you will need to perform a market analysis of the competitive products, if any, and growth potential in terms of numbers and sales figures. Basically, envision where you want your business to be positioned immediately, in the near future and long term, and map it into your business plan.

Financial plan:

Money and profitability are an important part of any business. So, it is important to have a realistic idea about where the money is coming from and where it is going. Cost estimates are a major part of any business plan as they are a way to assess profit and loss. By keeping a tab on the expenses, it becomes easier to manage your business.

Pricing:

This is a very important aspect of executing an online business. Customers will buy from sellers offering the best price for products. This does not mean you need to constantly offer discounts or sell your products at a loss. It simply means, assessing the competition and providing the best possible price which is beneficial for both you and the customer. Great customer service then becomes an added bonus that can help you earn loyal customers. At Amazon, you could try the ‘Automate pricing’ feature that will help do this job for you.

Marketing:

Some might say that having a great business plan is nothing if you do not have the right marketing strategy. A good marketing strategy is one which connects with the customers in fulfilling their requirements and helps establish a sense of curiosity and trust in your products/brand. Marketing on various online and offline channels can be a very expensive process but selling online on an established marketplace like Amazon can help solve this issue as you will have ready access to crores of customers in a single place. Additionally, you get the benefit of Amazon’s marketing and brand building initiatives.

Growth review:

It is a good practice to review your business on at least a quarterly basis. Setting up milestones will help in mapping your business onto the overall objectives. It also helps in planning for the future and understanding the rate of growth. Growth could be in terms of increment in number of products, sales, increase in profit margin, expanding your business team or all of these together.

Exit plan:

Once you have drafted a comprehensive business plan, you will be able to calculate financial exigencies and potential market risks well in advance and be prepared for them. A business exit may mean handing over your business to another or shutting it down. In the unfortunate scenario where you incur a loss and are unable to keep the business running any longer, you will need an exit plan. It is like a safety net that you can fall back upon and mitigate further losses.

Drawing up a business plan is like creating a path for your business to take. All established businesses were once just an idea, and a venture with a well-charted business plan is more likely to get a firm-footing in the market. We hope these points help you plan and setup your business with ease. If you want to setup your business right away, you can just register to Sell on Amazon and start selling to crores of Indian and Global customers.

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