A Comprehensive Guide On: How to Start Ecommerce Business in 2024?

Updated 22 Jul 2024
Published 18 Oct 2023
Nancy Bhargava 4176 Views
How to Start Ecommerce Business

Every million-dollar business starts with an idea, so get ready with yours to make it a successful e-commerce business. 

Wondering how to start an e-commerce business from scratch? Don’t be surprised if we say that it takes direction, effort, and lots of other things that you need to take care of.

The best part is that technology has made it easy to start a business online. Did you know that you can even utilize free online Ai logo generator sites to solidify your brand’s visual identity? Even from scratch, you can start an e-commerce business. We have created this blog to make things simpler for you.

Through the blog, you will come to know worthy information that can lead you to land an e-commerce business leveraging technology.

So, let’s take a bite at some key e-commerce stats before we go through the blog in detail!

E-commerce in Numbers: Some Key Stats About the Industry & Trends 

Any business around the globe can’t be started without having market knowledge, and undoubtedly, statistics are helpful to understand it quickly.

These e-commerce stats related to the e-commerce industry and trends will give you a quick and better idea.

  • In the USA, smartphone retail commerce sales are expected to cross USD 400 billion by 2024, and worldwide retail e-commerce sales will be $8.1 trillion by 2026.    
  • The global ecommerce market is projected to surpass $6.3 trillion in 2023.   
  • Ecommerce sales are more than 20% compared to total global retail sales.   
  • In 2023, 2.64 billion consumers are expected to make at least one purchase online.   
  • 79% of shoppers make online shopping at least a month.
  • An average consumer makes 19 online transactions in approximately a year.
  • The online stores that have a social media presence are experiencing 32% more sales compared to the others.
  • Free shipping is one of the top reasons that attracts over 50.8% of consumers to shop online.

The mentioned stats indicate that it is the right time to start an ecommerce business. There are 12 to 24 million online stores that exist.

However, with a unique online store still, you can grab multiple hidden opportunities. Establishing an online business leveraging ecommerce app development would be the best idea for you.

How to Start an Ecommerce Business: The Leading Steps   

If you have decided to start an e-commerce business, then prepare yourself to put each step firmly process by process. Your efforts require a lot, but in the end, you will come up with success for sure. Now, let’s start with the first one.

Step-1: Decide A Product   

You need a product first to start an e-commerce business. It can be fashion apparel, an electronics product, or any product of your interest. Whatever niche you decide, you can make products available for sale in two ways: either you can manufacture or source from the manufacturer. The decision will be yours.    

Tip: What you can do is research- what products are in trend. In what kind of products are your targeted audience interested? What products can you sell with a low budget? It will help you decide about the product to sell quickly.

Step-2: Choose an eCommerce Model  

The ecommerce landscape is vast, and multiple business models exist. Here, it would help if you chose the business model that suits your business requirements. Usually, there are four key types of business models.   

  • B2C (Business to Customer): from a needle to machinery, it is direct selling from business to customer. The top examples are Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy.   
  • B2B (Business to Business): When one business sells to another, it is called the business-to-business model. Example: Alibaba, DHgate.   
  • C2C (Customer to Customer): when a customer sells any product to other customers, it is called customer to customer business model. Example: Etsy, Craigslist.   
  • D2C (Direct to Customer): The D2C model refers to the business model where a business sells its products directly to the customer without involving any wholesaler or retailer. 

Tip: whatever business model you choose, ensure that you can seamlessly deliver the goods or services to your customers. 

Once you have decided about the product and business model, it means you have won half the battle. Now, the next crucial step is market competitor research. 

how to start ecommerce business

Step-3: Competitor and Market Research 

Competitor and market research can save you lots of things and can help you to deliver the best for your business. It will help you to determine – Who is your competitor?

What is going on in your target market? What is the latest trend with your desired product? What changes can you apply to your product to make it different from others? And more. This research will help you to create a perfect business plan.

Tip: While conducting competitor and market research, validate your product idea. It is okay that you have a clear mindset about it, but validation will help you to resolve multiple doubts.

Step-4: Create a Perfect Business Plan 

A business plan is not a piece of document; it is a roadmap to starting an e-commerce business. It helps in organizing the business in the best way.

Here, you will define the objectives for operation, finance, marketing, product promotion, sales, and more. Overall, you can consider it as documenting your mission to achieve something the best and strongly establishing your business.

Tip: While drafting the business plan, keep all aspects in mind, including the investors and end customers. It would be best if you created a detailed business plan.

Step-5: Choose Your Business Name & Register It  

Starting a business is like a dream come true, but there are some regulations and legal aspects associated with it.

Especially if you want to develop an ecommerce store, then you also need to choose its unique name to have a solid identity in the market. So, choose a name that suits your business and register it via the following legal formalities.   

Tip: Suppose you want to develop a marketplace app like Amazon and Etsy, then check the name of the business online to ensure there is no mirror business name registered already.

Step-6: Setup Your E-commerce Store

It is the most crucial step to start an e-commerce business. It can be done as – e-commerce mobile app development, e-commerce website development, or both.

There are multiple e-commerce platforms available that you can choose to develop your online store, and these can be Shopify, NopCommerce, and others.

All these top e-commerce platforms offer multiple features that can let you craft the store in a way you want, or you can get help from an experienced e-commerce development company.

Tip: The best idea is to launch a website and app together; it will help you to connect with more customers. The website will work as your storefront, and the app will help you with an effective brand promotion.

Step-7: Collaborate with the Shipping Brand

Seamless order fulfillment is also required for the best customer satisfaction. Hence, you need to collaborate with a shipping services provider that can deliver your orders to the customers on time, including the safety and security of your parcel.

You can connect your business to the top global shipping companies like DHL, FedEx, UPS, Parcelforce Worldwide, Royal Mail, DPD, TNT, and others.

Tip: Make sure you understand all the service details, such as cost, terms & conditions, ratings, and reviews. Suppose you have a larger budget and can handle shipping by yourself. In that case, you can also develop software with the help of a logistic software development company.

Step-8: Marketing & Promotion 

Marketing and promotion is a continuous process, and you need to start with it just after the launch of your ecommerce business.

Investing in marketing is worth it, and it can provide you with long-term benefits. There are multiple marketing channels that you can leverage.

Social media is one of the best ways to promote your business online. Additionally, sharing promotional materials created using business flyer templates on social media can significantly enhance your marketing efforts. Most of the top ecommerce businesses are utilizing it as much as they can for their business growth.

Tip: Prepare a marketing strategy by keeping the target audience in mind; it will lead you to reach them quickly. The best way to start is with limited products. Once people know you add more products for promotion.

Ecommerce Platforms to Consider for Starting an E-commerce Business   

Do not just go with the thoughts that you need to start the online business, and things will be sorted out. Think about the future aspect of it, like- What kind of tools do you require?

How much does it cost to develop an ecommerce website?

What about the scalability of the business and more?

All these things depend on one, and that is how you develop an e-commerce mobile app or website. So, here are some top ecommerce platforms that you can consider to start an ecommerce business in 2024.

Let’s traverse the list.

Platforms to Starting E-commerce Business

1- Shopify  

One of the top-most and easiest options if you are looking to start your e-commerce business in 2024. Shopify is a SaaS (Software-as-a-service) e-commerce platform that allows one to create a creation of an online store in no time with no-code experience.

It offers multiple tools and features such as multichannel selling, drop shipping, payment integrations, social media integration, and more.

Although it offers 3 plans, i.e.,

  • Basic ($39/month)
  • Shopify ($105/month)
  • Advanced Shopify ($399/month) but you can start with $5 as a starter plan.    

2- NopCommerce 

ASP.NET is such a fantastic technology, and it serves as one technology for multiple purposes. Regarding eCommerce development, the ASP.NET-powered platform is NopCommerce, and you can also call it ASP.NET Core Shopping Cart.

It offers solutions for small & medium, enterprises, and global businesses. It is open source and available for all. The other associated advantages are PCI DSS compliance, unlimited customization, tech support, and more.

For developing a NopCommerce-based ecommerce, it would be best to consult with a certified NopCommerce development company.    

3- Kentico 

If you aim to deliver a differentiated ecommerce experience, then Kentico is one of the best eCommerce platforms available to consider for developing an e-commerce website in 2024 for business.

It helps in multiple ways, such as facilitating the customers to find the right product, helping businesses to showcase and sell the products, checkout customization, payment integrations, handling multiple stores, promotion for sales, and more.

You can leverage Kentico technology not only for ecommerce development but also for CMS development.      

4- WooCommerce 

WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform that helps businesses, merchants, and developers to build a desired ecommerce store.

Millions of brands are using WooCommerce technology for their online business. 23% of the top one million ecommerce websites are WooCommerce-based.

It offers multiple features, functionalities, and integrations to create a successful ecommerce shop. It works best in combination with the WordPress platform.      

5- BigCommerce 

If your business is enterprise-level and you are looking to develop an ecommerce store in 2024, then BigCommerce is for you.

It is known as one of the best ecommerce development platforms for B2C and B2B businesses. BigCommerce is SaaS-based and offers ultimate flexibility to scale the business online.

Its features include international selling, headless commerce, multi-storefront, omnichannel sales, commerce-as-a-service, and more.      

6- Adobe Commerce 

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento, is a fantastic ecommerce platform for developing ecommerce apps and websites to start an online business.

Whatever business model you follow, you can use Adobe Commerce to build your store to sell products from electronics to clothes. Including features and functionalities, it offers multiple extensions to extend ecommerce capabilities like back-office integration, ERP integration, order management systems, and others.

Some of the top brands using Adobe Commerce are T-Mobile, Coca-Cola, KrispyKreme Doughnuts, and more.   

 7- Salesforce     

Salesforce is also a perfect option for developing an online ecommerce store. It helps in achieving goals faster and unlocking new opportunities.

AI-guided automation is one of the top advantages of it. Using Salesforce, you can create digital storefronts leveraging commerce AI and Data Cloud-powered intelligence. Its offerings are storefront templates, composable storefronts, headless commerce, order management, and others.

how to start ecommerce business

How Much Money is Required to Start an Ecommerce Store?  

Most of the readers may have a question- How much does it cost to start an ecommerce business? So, it varies on multiple factors which decide the cost. These are:   

  • E-commerce development  

One of the biggest factors in the cost of starting an e-commerce store is the cost of developing an ecommerce app like noon or website.  It covers a major portion of the budget to start the business. The e-commerce development cost could be like-   

1- E-commerce website development costs- $15,000 and $40,000.

2- E-commerce app development costs- $10,000 and $20,000.

  • Payment Processing Fee

Different payment processing platforms charge different fees per use, but the average chargeable payment fee is 3% of each transaction.

  • License & Permits

You need to obtain a license & permit to run a legal business from an authority that also requires cost based on business type, location, products, and others.

  • Product & Inventory Management  

If you are selling your products directly to the customers, then you need to maintain an inventory and manage products. So, here is the cost of managing a warehouse or storage space for products.

  • Shipping & Logistics

Either you are managing shipping on your own or hire third-party shipping services provider; with both options, cost is associated. It contributes to the overall cost of starting an ecommerce business.

  • Marketing & Promotion

Marketing & promotion acquire a good portion of the cost. Suppose you want to run a PPC ad or social media ad, then there is cost associated based on the ad volume and requirements.

  • Staff

If you are a small business, then you can handle operations on your own, but if its size is big, then you need a good-sized team to handle your ecommerce business.

The Final Thoughts 

Starting an ecommerce business is the ultimate excitement, but it is also challenging. Therefore, you need to take each step carefully and with patience. You can refer to this blog as one of the useful guides on how to start an ecommerce business in 2024.

The key conclusion is that it requires lots of effort, but in the end, your business will get established. The foundation of online business depends on how you develop your ecommerce website.

So, instead of trying multiple options, you must choose an ecommerce platform that meets your requirements. You can also consult an experienced ecommerce development services provider for the best results.   

Being one of the reputed ecommerce development companies, you can connect with experts at ARKA Softwares anytime to learn more than what you can do to start an ecommerce business and how we are flexible to help you for achieving your goal, that is- starting an ecommerce business in 2024.

Nancy Bhargava

Nancy works as an IT consulting professional with Arka Softwares. She has an in-depth knowledge of trending tech and consumer affairs. She loves to put her observations and insights of the industry to reveal interesting stories prompting the latest domain practice and trends.

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