Key eCommerce Website Requirements to Sell Online
The e-commerce is a way to go and if you are not selling products or offering services online you are simply NOT existing. The eCommerce industry is witnessing a tremendous growth across the Globe thanks to increasing smartphone and internet penetration. With further increase in internet service providers and the launch of 4G and 5G services, at affordable prices – the e-commerce and m-commerce or mobile commerce industries are set to record even higher growth. In this article, we look at the procedure for starting a successful eCommerce business in India.
The Legalities
- Company or LLP Registration.
- GST Registration.
- Bank Account.
- Payment Gateway.
- Legal Documents.
- Foreign Direct Investment.
- Information Technologies Act, 2000.
- Payment and Settlements Systems Act, 2007.
Web Requirements
- Fast, stable & secure web hosting
- Highly-responsive mobile site
- User-friendly web design
- Content Management system
- Fast checkout process
- SEO-friendly web pages
- Blogs
- Report + Analytics tool
- Low shipping fee
- Product reviews
Setting up an eCommerce business
Now there are two ways of setting up an eCommerce Business in India, a proprietary eCommerce website or joining an established marketplace. In recent years, m-commerce or mobile commerce – business conducted through smartphones has become very popular.
Creating your own proprietary eCommerce website
Creating your own proprietary eCommerce website is one of the hardest methods of starting an eCommerce business but it’s by far more profitable and establishing a startup. Starting a proprietary eCommerce business requires a web development team, online marketing team and a payment gateway for receiving payments. Starting a proprietary eCommerce website is a long-term initiative and requires a good amount of investment in terms of money and effort to build up a successful business. This is where SEOMP can help you, we already got a eCommerce ready setup for Franchisee.
Joining an already established marketplace
Joining an already established marketplace is an easy way to start an eCommerce business or sell products/services online. Joining an e-commerce marketplace as a seller often requires only a bank account and GST registration, making the process easy and simple. Further, on an eCommerce or m-commerce platform aspects such as technology development, marketing, payment gateway, logistics, etc., are taken care of by the marketplace platform, reducing the workload on the seller. In addition, sellers can often join multiple marketplaces and sell their products, making it the easiest way to start an online or eCommerce business.
Some of the popular eCommerce or m-commerce marketplaces are:
- Flipkart
- Amazon
- Snapdeal
- Shopclues
Detailed Analysis
1. Company or LLP (Limited Liability Protection ) Registration
For starting an eCommerce venture it good to have a company or LLP to have limited liability protection and improve the ease of doing business. Having a company or LLP would ensure that the opening of bank accounts in the name of the business or obtaining a GST registration are easy and fast.
Almost all marketplaces allow Proprietorships and Partnership firms to sell on their website. However, there would be no limited liability protection in case of litigation. Hence, it is best to start selling with an LLP or Company.
In case the promoters wish to start a proprietary eCommerce website, then it is best to start with a Company, as it is the only type of entity that can allow for angel funding or equity funding – a must for successful eCommerce ventures.
2 GST Registration
GST registration is a must for becoming a seller on an eCommerce portal or while starting a proprietary eCommerce website.
3. Bank Account
Once the Company or LLP is incorporated, a bank account can easily be opened in the name of the business by contacting a Bank. In the case of Proprietorship firm, GST registration must first be obtained to open a bank account in the name of the business. Opening of bank account is essential to list on an eCommerce marketplace or obtain payment gateway for a proprietary eCommerce website.
4. Payment Gateway
A payment gateway would be required for a proprietary eCommerce website to process customer payments. The payment gateway provides allow for the website to accept credit card, debit card, net banking, internet banking payments from multiple banks and credit card companies. Therefore, one payment gateway is sufficient to accept many forms of online payments. Once, a payment is received from the customer, the payment is sent to the bank account of the business by the payment gateway provided in one or two business days. Read the article on “how to get a payment gateway” to know more.
In case of selling through online marketplaces, the marketplace would accept the payment through their payment gateway and credit the money to the bank account of the seller directly. Hence, it does not require a payment gateway and only a bank account is necessary.
5. Legal Documents
While selling online, it is important to protect the business and the promoters of the business through the proper use of terms and conditions document and privacy policy. In case of a proprietary eCommerce website, the terms and conditions, disclaimer and privacy policy would have to be drafted by the business based on the nature of its activities and products sold online.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to start your own eCommerce business in India.
- Step 1: Decide on the perfect business plan and monetary model.
- Step 2: Branding your brand.
- Step 3: Register your eCommerce business Website
- Step 4: Opening a bank account.
- Step 5: Build your eCommerce website.
- Step 6: Incorporate Payment gateways.
- Step 7: Partner with Logistics.
Website Requirements
Fast, stable & secure web hosting
In order to publish your eCommerce website, you need a web-hosting service. Web-hosting offers any facilities required to launch, store and maintain websites on the internet.
It also takes care of your website’s speed, uptime, and security, which are important for any eCommerce store. We will get into each factor now.
Security
As cyber security remains a top concern for all internet users, customers need to feel safe before filling in their cards and other valuable personal information for checkout purposes.
Moreover, web browsers warn their users every time they enter a site that has no SSL certificate – which is shown by the subdomain “HTTP”. This alone can scare people away from your online store.
On the store owners’ end, a secured website is also packed with benefits. It can protect them from cyber attacks, data stealing, and many other unwanted risks. Get HTTPS free with our eCommerce Package
Speed
More than a decade ago, Amazon has found out that every extra 100ms in loading time costs 1% of their sales. The insight is still relevant today, that’s why giant sites like Amazon, Google, Netflix, Facebook, etc are super fast.
As customers are so used to these speedy experiences, they expect every other site to be the same. Google suggests that no web pages load more than 2s and it has been the goal for all eCommerce stores.
Whereas speed performance relies on your website’s size and technical structure, web-hosting also plays a crucial role. Hosting plans with better bandwidth and CDN functions result in faster web pages.
Thus, understanding eCommerce hosting and choosing a suitable service will solve many security, performance, and stability issues.
Highly-responsive mobile site
Responsiveness means that your online store can adapt to many different screen sizes, thus, delivering pixel-perfect experiences to your customers regardless of the devices they use.
Our latest sales on one of our Popular eCommerce Website show that 71% of sales were made via mobile, while desktop sales only accounted for 29%.
SEO-friendly web pages
SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of getting your eCommerce website found on search engines like Google and Bing.
Apparently, you need not show up on EVERY search results page, but it would be ideal if your website is there, in the results list for search queries specific to your products.
A recent study it has been found that 52.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search results and 68% of online experiences start with search engines.
Blogs
Blog is an effective content marketing channel to attract new visitors and turn them into loyal buyers. It helps increase SEO visibility significantly, which means more customers will find your eCommerce site.
Also, by providing useful tips, reviews, instructions & entertaining content for your users, you can keep customers coming back to your website and build brand loyalty.
Building a useful blog can take time and effort, but it can be totally free. A blog is a great way to build up a successful eCommerce website from scratch with only knowledge and creativity needed. It’s particularly true for small businesses when investing in ads or other paid marketing tools can cost greatly.
Report + Analytics tool
Reports are essential to measure how your website performs to decide the next action.
Besides revenues and the number of products sold, there are other metrics worth knowing. For example, sales conversion rate, website traffic, email opt-in rate, average customer value and cart abandonment rate.
Fast checkout process
Seven out of every ten customers leave their cart abandoned. This means that 70% of customers do not complete the transaction for what they intend to buy.
One of the most prominent reasons is the complicated checkout process.
Lots of buying decisions are impulsive, consumers buy when they are in the mood for it. Lengthy checkout, meanwhile, destroys their patience and motivation to buy.