Electronic Commerce or E-Commerce is gaining popularity more than ever. Many people now prefer ordering online due to their convenience, and customers can compare prices easily among the sellers. E-Commerce can be an excellent opportunity to enter into since statistics say that this industry has no sign of slowing down soon. However, before diving yourself and invest in e-commerce, you must consider the essential things for you to succeed in this competitive industry. Preparing a business plan will help you take the steps in a calculative but flexible manner. The business plan is not necessarily a lucrative one, but a straightforward output will do as long as it captures your business ideas and goals and what direction you plan to take. What should include in the business plan? We will discuss the major points below.
1.Market Aspect
- Product. Do you now have a concrete idea of what products to offer? By choosing the products to sell, do your research of the industry and identify those that have a demand and competitive market but not yet saturated.
- Target Market. Where and whom will you sell your products? It is also best to consider catering to a niche wherein the competition is lesser.
- Know your competitors in your chosen niche, and how will you compete with them. Plan how you will position yourself to gain a market share.
- Identify a pricing strategy that will make your product competitive in the market.
- Marketing Strategies. Marketing campaigns will play a significant role for you to be known in your chosen niche and reach out to your prospective customers. Consider social media campaign as it is one of the practical and cost-efficient marketing strategies to use. Other advertisements and promotions can be e-mail marketing, display ads, content marketing, and other methods that you think would be an effective way to promote your website and products.
- Distribution. Plan if you will do dropshipping or building your inventory and warehousing. Dropshipping would be suitable if you start with low capital. Just make sure that you have enough contact with sellers to drop ship for you. On the other hand, having your inventory will give you more control over what to sell.
2.Website Development. Make sure that your website has a great design and persona that can attract the users visiting your site and convert them into customers. If you are not useful in this field, hiring experts would be the best option for you to save time and produce an excellent result.
3.Make sure to devote ample time to your business. Always be open to new methods that will help you in managing the company and make it a successful one.
4.Financial Projections. Based on the projected sales and identified operating costs, create a business model to aid you in making assumptions and projections for your e-commerce business. To save the time of starting from scratch, there are readily available financial model templates that you can use.
After creating the business plan, you are now more confident in making the business decisions as you already have a guide of the actions to take in running the company and achieving your goals.
