The net of misfortune that COVID-19 has laid across the entire world has not only crippled humans physically but is also making them economically weak triggering doubt and fear about survival. Well, yes, it is indeed a crisis, but remember, crisis don’t last forever. It may last longer but are temporary and hence; this too shall pass.
The hazardous effect of coronavirus is visible not just in humans but businesses around the world as well due to the total shutdown. Although for some online businesses it is causing partial damage, for offline businesses everything has come to a complete halt.
During such sorrowful times when there is negativity around, thinking and finding something positive is the right thing to do. So, if you are among those who had plans of starting a business in the year 2020, then don’t worry, let not the crisis stop you from doing what you want as an eCommerce platform is a light amidst the darkness.
Even though we are going through a worse situation right now, things will get better soon and hence utilising the time of crisis for creating something good is the right thing to do now than stressing about the future.
Drop the confusion
The biggest confusion that rises up when it comes to setting up an eCommerce business is whether to go B2B or B2C. Questions like; which one is ideal and can give more returns? Should I follow the trend? Which one will be worth and good for the long run? etc., start bombarding our mind the moment we decide to have a startup.
Well, both are equally doing great in the market and there’s good and bad in both, remember, no business is born perfect it is we who have to make it with our effort; hence, it is solely your decision and you have to pick.
It is true that B2C eCommerce is already popular and people usually prefer going with that but, B2B is also not far in the race. Trends and statistics are making it evident that B2B eCommerce is quickly moving from nascent eCommerce channel experimentation to full omnichannel sales approaches due to best B2B eCommerce solutions available out there in the market which is shaping it into a tough competitor for B2C eCommerce. So, the choice is yours.
Why go for eCommerce?
We can witness the power of various eCommerce business and online startups like grocery delivery app, pharmacy eCommerce app, online food delivery app and various online e-commerce marketplaces at the present scenario that have come to rescue. Therefore, planning a new eCommerce startup during the pandemic can be beneficial in the future for you and others and here’s how you can do it.
The market is full of eCommerce developers and companies. One such example of FME eCommerce website development Dubai that is offering complete remote services due to COVID-19 lockdown; either you live in UAE or any other part of the world. Therefore, you need to shortlist the best companies and contact the one that matches your requirement, budget, and comfort.
1. Decide what your app will be
The first and the foremost thing to do are to research. Study the market as the homework will help your business work and grow. Commit your lockdown time and energy into researching the sector you want to serve, products you want to offer, the target audience, and competitors.
2. Find an apt developing partner
The market is full of eCommerce developers who are now offering complete remote services due to COVID-19 lockdown; therefore, you need to shortlist the best among all and contact the one that matches your requirement, budget, and comfort.
3. Meet up virtually
Since COVID-19 has forced us to stay our homes, you may think about how is it possible to set up an eCommerce startup without meeting in person.
Will it be safe? Well, calm down, when we already in the era of virtualization, one thing that has got all the attention during the lockdown is the video conferencing apps. Businesses are flooding on video conferencing apps to team up while even individuals are using it to enjoy personal chats.
Some of the video conferencing tools that are power-packed with features and are enterprise platforms with free services for those on a budget are – Microsoft Teams, BlueJeans, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, Zoho Meeting, FreeConference.com, and Skype.
Each of them proves to be perfect for webinars and meetings and come with all necessary features like screen sharing, document sharing, moderator controls, real-time text chat, whiteboard, live stream to YouTube, video recording and more. Thus, you can easily team up with your development partner and discuss in detail the workflow just like in-person.
4. Fix upon what you want
After all the discussions and video conferencing, you and the developing company can come up with a final plan of how your mobile app or ecommerce store is going to be so that the developing team can start working on it with you in the loop.
Fix upon what you want in your app and whatnot. Decide features according to the nature of your app like if it is the spa/salon/laundry appointment booking app then you must have an appointment booking section in it, while for an online eCommerce marketplace you need to have separate vendor and customer section to manage them accordingly and so on.
5. Do your part
There’s also something you need to do yourself to make your new eCommerce startup step into the comp-etitive world without any uncertainties and concern; like, learn about website tracking because you should be able to track your website traffic and your conversion rates and know how to use Google Analytics to insert the code into your webpages to get the data from your analytics as it can create a huge impact on the success of your business.
Secondly, enlighten yourself about marketing basics and eCommerce business opportunities, because people need to know about your existence to stay put out there. You can gather information about email marketing and audience segmentation or can gear up for social media marketing to establish your presence long before you start selling and last but not least, learn to brand.
One of the most valuable tools in the eCommerce space, branding is necessary to differentiate you from your competitors and create your brand awareness to survive and stay ahead in the competition.
6. Test and go
COVID-19 may have stopped us physically from gathering around but thanks to digitalization, things can be done virtually and what we said above is a good example of it.
Now you know how easily you can make use of COVID-19 lockdown to set up your new eCommerce startup without stepping out of your home. So, once all is set and developed you can check the app for yourself, run tests, and approve it to go live all while staying safe.
Wrapping up
B2B or B2C, no matter what, don’t allow COVID-19 lockdown to put a break on your dream. In a nutshell, be it building a pharmacy eCommerce app, online food delivery app or grocery delivery app or a complete online eCommerce marketplace, anything is very much possible while staying home as we proved above and hence, now is the time for you to take action and approach the best eCommerce development services and solutions provider to do the needful.
