In the last decade or so and especially over the last two years since the world got thrown off its course due to the pandemic, there has been a visible surge in people turning to entrepreneurship.
I have been an entrepreneur since 2010, and throughout my journey, I have seen a lot of amazing women start brilliant businesses. While a lot of these businesses flourish, many perish somewhere along the way.
One of the most common reasons is – there is a dearth of knowledge on the dos and don’ts of entrepreneurship amongst a lot of us. In addition to that, we do not know what platforms and opportunities are out there when it comes to the basics of running a business. And as is quite natural, many of us have not planned to be entrepreneurs – entrepreneurship happened to us somewhere in our lives.
Looking at the broader picture, India is home to over 60 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), who contribute around 29 percent to the country’s GDP, according to industry estimates. These figures are encouraging. Take into consideration the fact that the digital age has opened up a new growth avenue for these MSMEs, in the form of e-commerce.
For an entrepreneur, this is an exciting time and if you are thinking of taking the plunge, here are a few things you should consider.
1. Solve problems: The idea behind your product or service should not stem from ‘What new can I give to the buyers?’, rather, it should be an answer to ‘Is it solving a problem?’ Only something that has a demand (which will come from need) will need a supply.
For this, you need data-driven insights and being on a seller platform like Flipkart helps immensely. You have real-time data on search trends as well as customer feedback. This helps identify market gaps and new business opportunities for sellers. You would be able to tailor your products to better suit customer needs and in turn make your business more effective.
2. Look for a level playing field: As an entrant in the market, you would take years to build a brand and compete with other established players. Again, e-commerce helps here.
By being a part of a seller platform, where your USP is the value you provide the customer, you would be able to compete in a truly democratic way.
3. Market access and expansion: Look for a platform that helps you reach a pan-India customer base. Quick market expansion will help you scale your business, getting in enough profits to keep your venture running.
4. Cost-effective selling solutions: Early on, look for solutions that help you start and run your business without it being very capital intensive. Warehousing is one large expense that you can avoid by opting to sell through an e-commerce platform like Flipkart. You don’t need to invest in storage space or even set up your supply chain.
The entire cycle from order to delivery to return and exchanges are taken care of by the platform. The entire process is backed by technology, which businesses can manage easily through one facility.
5. Ease of Payments: Online marketplaces provide the perfect solution when it comes to getting payments from customers. The entire process is automated and reliable, with clear redressal mechanisms. This also aligns your business with the government’s initiatives to make India a more digital and cashless economy.
With the rise in #ECommerceInnovation, it has become supremely easy for new entrepreneurs to put their products out there for buyers, reducing the gap between buyers and sellers, and thus increasing sales.
Having a business offline is always great, but in the time, and age we are in when lifestyle is fast and social distancing is still a requirement, a lot of shopping happens online and the number will only keep increasing. Business hours are flexible and one can do it from the comfort of one's own home without compromising on other things in life. The future of women entrepreneurs is bright as a shining sun and the world better put on its sunglasses because #ECommerceInnovation is going to take every small business to unimaginable heights.
Such helpful post for anyone planning to take the dive. Solving problems is the key I feel, without that nothing would happen. If one is able to find a problem and a give a solution for it, they do have something at hand.
While I have everything in place, I have still not enabled digital payments on my site as mine is a service based business. But I think, I need to do that immediately after reading your post.
If you’re selling through platforms like Flipkart, you don’t need to invest in storage space or even set up your supply chain.
Warehousing is such a large expense and it’s great that ecommerce platforms like Flipkart are opening their doors to small vendors!
Ease of payments is definitely a must when you think about growing a business. Thanks for this article!
Planning on starting my own business and stumbled upon this article at the right time. Thanks, Samarpita!
Warehousing is such a large expense and it’s great that ecommerce platforms like Flipkart are opening their doors to small vendors!
With easy and secure payment service, e-commerce has become easy for every independent business today.
Having gone through this article, it sounds like now is the best time for one to launch their own business!
Truly said here. being a part of seller program is important as I start my business.
There’s so much information on the internet that I got confused what to follow. I am happy I opened this blog post with exact information I was looking for.
These difficult times call for unusual measures. Many of my friends turned to their own business because of uncertain job scenario. A very helpful post.
That is true, as much as traditional offline businesses are what we’re used to we must make use of the digital shift.
Wonderful post. I am sharing ahead with my friend who has started her business recently.
Being part of an online platform ensures there are no payment hassles for the small business owner.
You are right, a lot of shopping happens online now and so entrepreneurs must think of partnering with ecommerce platforms.
Ecommerce has made shopping much easier now!
Very informative blog post with valid reasoning. I was looking for something like this only before I start my own small business.
I want to venture into handicraft business so this was helpful.
Ecommerce has made shopping much easier now!
It is crucial to have data-driven insights when you are starting out or want to expand. Many of us make a mistake here.
A great post not only for new entrepreneurs but also thise who have been in this area for some time.
Thank you for giving so much information about what the first time entrepreneur should keep in mind.
Ease of payments is definitely a must when you think about growing a business. Thanks for this article!
A very useful and informative post and something every entrepreneur should read..
as someone who has been an entrepreneur, I would also add, network … you need the right network, to have the right access to the right markets. Build that network.
I totally agree that the future of women entrepreneurs is bright as a shining sun because of ecommerce