E-commerce is a line of business that has gained a lot of attraction in Nigeria and other parts of the World. One would ask, is E-commerce really profitable? In Nigeria today, we have lots of E-commerce websites and stores like Jumia, Konga, making a hell lot of money, so yeah it is something that is really profitable. You must have heard of Amazon, Amazon is an e-commerce platform and Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon is currently the richest man in the World with a Net worth of about $108.9 billion. Don’t be much amazed at the figure, he didn’t get there in a day, it took hard work and persistence. If you have the idea of running an E-commerce store and you need information on how to get started and make profit as well, this article is for you.
How to make money in the E-commerce industry
First of all, E-commerce just like every other business venture requires capital, so make sure you have the funds. Also, you have to decide which product or products you want to sell. E-commerce is just like any other buying and selling business where you buy at low cost and make profit by selling at a higher price. You need to research to know what your target customers need and would want to buy and also know where to get them. If you have these two things sorted out – The Funds and What you want to Sell – then read on to know how you can make money in the booming E-commerce industry;
- Register your business
This should be the first thing to do because in Nigeria, business registration is very important. You need to register your E-commerce company with CAC Nigeria so it appears authentic in the eyes of your customers.
- Get an Office
Your business is supposed to have an address so it is important that you have an office, no matter how small it appears. For a start, your home could do.
- Get a Website (E-commerce Store)
E-commerce is an online business venture so you need to have an online website where the buying and selling will take place. First you pick a domain name to buy, something like http://www.myecommercestore.com. Next you pay for hosting and then you design your website. If you happen to be knowledgeable about website designing and the rest, then this would be a lot easier. WordPress is currently the best website building platform you can use to set up an e-commerce website, the popular Woocommerce plugin makes the process a whole lot easier. Your website should also include a secure payment platform where you will receive payments from and everything should be automated.
- Advertising
After your E-commerce store is up and running online, the best way to get noticed, start making sales and making money is to advertise. It is common that you give to get, If you don’t tell people that, you don’t tell people about your business, no one will know about it. Both online and offline advertisement is important but online is best because that is actually where your store is. Paid advertisement on popular networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others are good options.
- Start Making Sales and Profit
Once your E-commerce store gets noticed, customers are likely to start patronizing you and that is how you make money. Make sure you maintain a good business relationship with all your customers so as to make them come back.
Conclusion
E-commerce is a demanding business, so it would be difficult for one person to run. You may be the owner of the idea but make sure you have people working with you.