How to start a profitable e-commerce business? The dream of every shop owner is to sell the products all the time. No leave and No weekends. It was not possible in the past. But, with the E-commerce solution, you can sell your products in all the conditions. Creating a profitable business is not an easy task, and it takes effort and consistency from your side. You should be disciplined about your business processes and should generate good value. To create an e-commerce store, you should have the following things; A product in demand. A supplier who can transport the products at a low cost. An online shop – E-commerce website. A pricing strategy. A good shipping company. Good customer support in case of refund and order cancellation. A good marketing plan. Every business is the same. If your business can not generate profit from each sale, you are in danger situation from the start. Once you set up everything, you only need to concentrate on your marketing plan. If you execute the marketing plan correctly, you can earn a great deal of satisfaction from your E-commerce store. The profit comes automatically. A good product catalog Each business creates value for its customers. And if your business can not create value, you should close it right away. And the truth is the same for the E-commerce store as well. You can not just start an E-commerce store and think of generating the revenue. It takes a lot of effort from your side. And, you start with a research of demanding products. For example, you can search Amazon and Flipkart – the largest online stores in India – and see what kinds of products users search for most, buy most, and can not find in the stores. You can create a list of products that are in demand. Now you can create a comprehensive study how these products. And you can answer the following questions; Am I interested in selling these products? Can I generate profit by selling these products in bulk or retail? What is the profit margin for each product unit? If you can not answer these questions, you should research more about these products. You will not regret your decision in the last. A small story about me: I researched about electronics components business and answered the first two questions. But I did forget about the profit margin. I started searching for suppliers and getting quotations from them. And later, I realized the lower profit margin from the business profit than I expected before. I lost valuable time creating a supplier list and contacting each of them separately. Lesson learned: Do not assume the profit margin. You get to calculate the base profit margin during products research. A good supplier list A good supplier makes your business great. You can not rely on a business partner. A supplier is your business partner in the sense of supplying all necessary products. You can find many product distributors in your local market while researching the product. And they start giving you a good impression about the business value. Never trust the business supplier blindly. You can create a supplier profile that should enhance your business value. The supplier should arrange and transport all the products on time and defect-free. During my research of electronics components, I found some local vendors in Indore who were very unprofessional. How should I suppose to partner with them for my business? I need a good supplier. A good supplier gives you products and a valuable lesson about the upcoming trends in your market. An E-commerce website The E-commerce website is the second-last valuable thing you need to perform before embarking on the online business. Till now, you have searched the products in demand and created a list of trustworthy suppliers. And you are ready to roll out your business. But wait a second. You need to answer three more questions; Are you going to create a self-hosted E-commerce website? Are you going to use an existing E-commerce platform to sell your products? Are you going to subscribe to the E-commerce platform service? What are the differences between them? You can understand the three modes in terms of the following flexibility and operations you can execute; Ownership. Product catalog management. Order management and reporting. Payment and transaction fees. I have written a detailed blog about the differences, and you can learn more from it. And I am sure you can make a reasonable decision after it. In the end, you need to understand an E-commerce store is not a quick make money solution. You work hard to promote your online store and create a reputable trust in your customers. Do not cheat them. Do not over-promise them. Many online stores had to shut down because of a bad customer experience. Your customer notices everything from the site's ease of use to order delivered in good packaging. I wish you the very best of luck on your new journey. If you need any support, you can message me from here.