STEPS TO LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE STORE!

Digital is the way to go in 2022! Most of the world is online and selling in the digital era has it’s own perks. It reduces various costs athe nd gives you the ability to sell your products from the comfort of your home. This in turn helps in increased sales and visibility for the brand.

The product that you decide to sell must be based on your passion and interests. Then you must work on building your own product with a manufacturer. It includes sourcing the inventory and designing of the finished item.

Once the product has been decided, you will need to form a company to start a business.
There are four main types of companies or business entities under which you can register your company with GOI:

● Sole proprietorship
● One Person Company (OPC)
● Private Limited Company (Pvt Ltd)
● Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

If you have opted for a corporate or partnership based structure for your online business, you will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This is required so that the taxes can be done in the next fiscal year.

Once your company has been registered with the GOI, you will need to register your eCommerce business and complete the following legalities:

● Apply for Director Identification Number (DIN).
● PAN and Digital Signature Certificate will be required.
● After getting your DIN, check with the Registrar of Companies for the name you have decided for your company.
● Apply for GST certification and Establishment licence.
● Apply for Provident Fund and Certification of Company’s Incorporation.
● Register with the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.
● Have a bank account in your company’s name. Here your payment gateways etc. will be linked.

After deciding the product and an idea business model, you can look at online channels where you can sell your product. It can be an already existing eCommerce website like Amazon or you can build a new website for your brand or choose to do both.

To build your own eCommerce website you can either:

● Buy a domain name and set templates from an already existing platform or
● Build your own website from scratch via coding.

Having your own website can be exciting but requires extra time, resources and effort. Search engine optimization, social media marketing and advertising will also be required to drive in traffic.

Additionally, fulfilling orders, shipment, packaging etc., too can pose a burden for you. Therefore, you need to assess your needs and choose accordingly.

Selling on an existing eCommerce website like Amazon comes with a host of benefits like:

● Already set platform with an existing marketplace. Hence, your reach to customers increases.
● Using an established platform like Amazon’s - third-party services for sellers to scale up and improve business requirements.
● A site like Amazon has a built-in SEO mechanism which shows the best results to customers.
● Amazon platform has access to crores of customers that you can potentially tap into.
● All of these help reduce the time, effort and resources required to start the business.

Once you have a platform where you are registered and company details have been added, you can start listing your products. Here you need to mention all details regarding your product like - description, colour or size variations (if applicable), pricing, important features, images, videos (if required), etc.

You need to set up payment gateways so that the customer has options for paying you. The more the options, the easier it is for the customer to do transactions. Popular payment gateways for your own website may include - PayPal, PayU and RazorPay.The modes of payment could be -

● Online - credit card, debit card, net banking, etc.
● Offline - through cash or card upon arrival of product to customer.

To set up payment gateways on your own website, documents like bank account details, PAN card, Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum of Association, Articles of Association, Website privacy policy & terms of use, etc. are required.

This process becomes much easier on an existing eCommerce platform like Amazon. All you need is your:

● GST details
● PAN details
● Email ID

This refers to packaging and shipping the product to the customer. This step also includes tracking of the order wherein a requirement for a built-in software is important. With the help of this, you can be notified every time a customer purchases something. And lastly, you will also need delivery partners to fulfil shipping requirements.

On platforms like Amazon, you have the benefit of Fulfillment by Amazon where Amazon takes care of your storage, packaging & delivery needs.

Check all details and make sure things are in place before launching your business. It is also important to invest in marketing and advertising so that people know about your product and brand. Social media is a great, low-budget way to do so.

Starting a new business and selling online is not an easy task. That is why selling on an existing website like Amazon has proven to be a boon for many sellers! Amazon provides a host of benefits to its customers like:
● Amazon Launchpad - an easy way to register your business and start your journey.
● FBA - Fulfillment by Amazon, where Amazon takes care of your packaging, shipping and delivery needs.
● Variety of shipping modes for your ease.

It is a huge step to start a business and an online one definitely makes the journey somewhat simple but nothing is easy. Which is why a site like amazon can make it a bit easier for your business. So, now that you have a host of information, get going and good luck for your entrepreneurial journey. And if you are interested to launch your business online globally, here are the steps on how to start an export business with Amazon.