The first step to e-commerce is very crucial, as it will show you the road to the future. Are you planning to start an e-Commerce? Are you a start-up in this field? Then, firstly you have to learn and gain some knowledge about – what is e-commerce? How the industry works? What are the needs to grow up an e-commerce business? The steps to be taken and measured properly to gain your success.
The fastest growing industry in the world at present time is the e-commerce industry. According to some financial data driven by some famous companies, it is assumed that the global share of the retail sales will be approx. 21.8% within 2024 for the e-commerce industry.
To get into the e-commerce industry or business, you have to first learn about it. So, here I am giving some important information on where to start!
What is e-commerce?
E-commerce or electronic commerce can be simply defined as a business module where the selling and buying of tangible products and services happen with the exchange of currency, service, or products through online mediums, especially using the internet.
With the modernization of technology, presently there are almost 4.66 billion internet users around the world. It is approximately 59.5 percent of the global population. And, among these 92.6 percent are mobile users. So, by this figure, it can be easily assumed that the increase in the eCommerce industry that are seen in the last few years is due to the increase of internet users across the world. And, also the pandemic situation that the World faced due to Covi-19, showed the way to surge in this model of the business. The future of the e-commerce industry is on the lift.
An E-commerce business can be segregated into a few parts of terminals according to the structure of the business module:
- B2C – Business to Consumer (customer). This module of the business is widely used around the world, where a product or service is sold by a business to its targeted customers. There are many World famous platforms in this concept, such as Amazon, Alibaba, Flipkart, etc.
- B2B – Business to Business. This module is used to sell the products or services from one business to another business.
- C2C – Consumer to Consumer. This is such a module in which one consumer sells a product or service to another consumer. Examples like eBay, Olx, etc.
- C2B – Consumer to Business. This module is used when a consumer or an individual sells a product or service to a business. For example, a software developer selling his/her developed software to a business.
The First Step to E-Commerce
Let’s now discuss what is the first step to e-commerce. As has been discussed before that eCommerce is simply the way of selling products or services that you offer through an online medium. But, in actuality – it is not as easy, as it looks.
The most important phase of starting an eCommerce business or stepping into the eCommerce industry is to have complete research on it. Knowledge about the industry and modes of functionality will help you to succeed in the trade.
- Product or Service: It is very important that you have a product or a service to provide to your customers. So, research the product or the service that you want to provide to your customer. How much the product or the service is needed by the people? What is the demography of the product’s reach? What is the consistency of the product? From where you can procure the products or services you will be selling. The primary objective of e-commerce is to deliver the right product or service to your consumers in the stipulated time. So, always prepare yourself for the necessary steps.
- Demography: Make proper research about the details of the targeted customer or audience for the product or service you will be selling. It is very important to know your consumers better. What age you will be targeting, which region will be focused on, and which segment of the class will be targeted. All should be researched properly.
- Competitors and Market: This is one of the most important points, that you have to research. Get a complete analysis of your competitors. How do they work? How do your competitors market the product or service? If you are able to study properly how your competitors are performing according to the market, you will be able to launch a successful e-commerce business.
- Knowledge: It’s the most important factor before you step into the e-commerce industry. It may be that you are running a successful offline business. But, that doesn’t mean, you will be able to get success to your online business. You have to gather knowledge about the e-commerce industry. The behavior, the factors to create the business properly. For example – if you are totally a non-technical person, then you will need the help and guidance of a technical adviser. But, I will advise you to study a bit and gather some technical knowledge, as it will help you in the course of time.
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Conclusion:
The main concept of taking the first step to e-commerce is to acquire knowledge in every phase as much as you can. It doesn’t mean that you have to be a genius in every phase. You just have to learn about how it all works. What are the main factors to have success?
As it is said “Rome is not built in a Day”, so keep in mind, that in the e-commerce business, it is very important that you have patience, give time, and R&D in all forms. Success will be definite.
In this article, the author has tried to provide some information. If you do like then share your comment.
“Clear the Doubts and Do”.