Thinking of how to start an e-commerce business in India? First of all, let’s take a look at why e-commerce is booming in India. Actually, e-commerce is the latest trend the world is witnessing; millions of people indulge in e-commerce activities every day. With the advancement of technology, India also is marking tremendous growth in e-commerce. The fast-paced lifestyle forces people to buy products online. Hence, starting an e-commerce business has become one of the successful business ideas these days. Sadly, most of us in India don’t know the procedures to start an e-commerce business. This article will definitely help you set up a successful e-commerce business in India.
Setting Up your E-commerce Business
Straight to the point, there are two ways to set up an e-commerce business in India; either by joining an established e-commerce marketplace or building your own e-commerce website. Of course, as the two steps indicate, building something new is pretty difficult than joining some already established; Likewise partnering a marketplace would be much easier than creating your own e-commerce store. That is, right from everything including the purchase of domain to the website development, everything should be considered with the utmost precision in building a new e-commerce website. On the contrary, joining an e-commerce marketplace demands to spend a few bucks to purchase a package that best fits your business. The rest will be handled by the marketplace.
Things to Know While Starting an E-commerce Business
The inclination towards e-commerce in India has opened new avenues for business opportunities. We are speaking about a large audience who are actively searching for products and services in the digital world. By establishing an e-commerce store for your brand or service, the chances of increased business sales opportunities are high, and placing your brand online will keep your customers close to your business. E-commerce business enables them to reach out to you with just a few mouse clicks.However, keeping these points in mind would help you set up and run a successful e-commerce business:
Strong Business Idea
Like every kind of business ventures, one needs to have a strong idea about their plans and goals to achieve. For a flourishing business, you need to ensure that your priorities are set accurate. Be patient and ready to spend ample time to make your plans work out in the best way; choose a perfect niche to accomplish your business goals in the best possible way.
Plan Everything
Planning everything in advance and straight will definitely help you keep your entrepreneurial journey a success. Right from putting your priorities straight to familiarizing your product across the globe, you need to plan everything. Given below are some of the things you should include in your pre-business plan to set up an e-commerce business in a brilliant way.
- Figure out a complete plan for your business.
- Decide a name that best suits your business.
- Plan to improve your presence in the online world
- Payment Gateway
- How to deliver products promptly to your customers
- How to market your eCommerce in India?
- Whether you need technical support
- Whether you need a local provider or an e-commerce specialist
Legal Formalities in Starting an Ecommerce Business
Register Your Company
If you are planning to own your own e-commerce website, you should register your company first. The most crucial part of starting your e-commerce business in India is registering the company and completing all the legal formalities for the same. Whatever, it is necessary to make sure that your business is registered and operates within the set guidelines. Remember that only with a registered LLP, you can open a bank account for your company.
Find these essential steps involved in Registering a Company or LLP:
- One of the initial steps for starting an e-commerce business in India is to apply for the Director’s Identification Number (DIN), using the official website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
- Ensure that you have your Digital Signature Certificate and Permanent Account Number (PAN).
- After obtaining the DIN, either apply to the Registrar of Companies (ROC) or through the official website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, to ensure that the name you have decided for your company is available.
- Once you obtain the confirmation on your business name availability, you can incorporate the proposed company within six months. You are also allowed to renew your company name by paying a certain fee.
- Apply for the Shops and Establishment Licence and GST certification, Shops and Establishment Licence that are essential in case of Professional Tax (PT) and Payment Gateway Integration.
Legal Documents
Relevant privacy policies and terms and conditions document are necessary to protect the business, especially while selling a product or service online. For a proprietary e-commerce website, the terms and conditions, privacy policies, and disclaimer content should comply with the products sold online and the nature of your business. If you’re planning to sell your product or service through online marketplaces, then the legal document will be issued by the marketplace. However, before signing the agreement, read the agreement properly.
VAT Registration
For those who are planning to market their products on an e-commerce portal or through a proprietary e-commerce website, VAT registration is a mandatory step in India; the VAT reg can be done with the State’s Sales Tax Department.
Opening a bank account
Once your company is registered, you will need to open a bank account in the name of the business. A bank account is mandatory to obtain a payment gateway to join an ecommerce marketplace or to own a proprietary ecommerce website.
Payment Gateway Integration
To receive customer payment from a proprietary e-commerce website, integration of Payment Gateway is a necessary step. By integrating payment gateway, you can accept payment through various payment modes such as credit card, debit card, net banking etc. On the other hand, for business through e-commerce marketplace, you need not integrate a payment gateway, because the payment from the customer will be accepted through their payment gateway and the amount will be credited to the seller’s bank account directly.
Logistics
Logistics is another essential component if you are planning to set up an e-commerce business in Idia. Proper logistics planning is necessary to ship and deliver the products to the customer within the specified time frame, once they place an order from your shopping portal. People who wish to run their e-commerce business through a marketplace need not worry about logistics because the marketplace would manage all these by themselves.
Choose the Best E-commerce Website Development Company in India
Choosing which e-commerce website development company to build your shopping portal is decisive if you are planning your set up your e-commerce store. Since India is one of the greatest centres of eCommerce website development companies, it might be a tough game for first-time entrepreneurs who are planning to build a shopping website. A reliable partner in e-Commerce development service partner like HatchingWeb will benefit the customers to fulfil the basic requirements in your budget. The added advantage of this HatchingWeb is that this leading e-commerce development company in India makes sure that besides using the latest technologies and completing the project in the specified time frame, profitable eCommerce solutions are provided to start-ups, medium-sized enterprises and business giants all across the globe on an affordable rate.
It doesn’t matter which e-commerce development company you are going to choose to start your e-commerce business in India, don’t forget to ask their company portfolio, experience in e-commerce development services, payment policy, and other related aspects to find the best e-commerce solutions provider for your business.