How to start an E-commerce business in small way

Many of us want to start a business that could earn you good money and reputation but lot of us are either not sure what to start or if someone knows, same person don't know how to start and make money.

So, my advice here is always follow your passion, instead what others are doing and how they are making money. So, if money is the only criteria - drop that business plan and look for better options that works well with your passion.

One of the quick way to reach and expand your customer base is E-commerce business. But like all other businesses, e-commerce is also not different and it comes with it's own challenges, hard work and efforts. For this you can either open a website like Amazon or Flipkart or snap deal and work as an agent or mediator between direct seller and online buyer. However this option is already been aggressively controlled by these big players and running a business like them would be a big challenge. Thus, we would suggest the second option which is as under. Following below are few of the tips to start a small size e-commerce business.

1. First identify the product or item that you want to sell online via Amazon/ Flipkart.
2. Select only those products which you understand better or else do detailed research before you plan to sell something in market.
3. Check online or nearby area to understand the cost and product available in market.
4. Talk to Flipkart or Amazon helpline team to understand the charges/cut that you as an online seller have to pay them on sales made through them.
5. Decide from where you plan to purchase this product based on the quality, cost and possible margins available if product is sold online. Here an advice, always try to buy something that can be purchased easily or shipped to you at no or low cost. So buying from a local manufacturer located within same city or same state could be a good idea.
6. Before you buy and sell - understand all the legal and other requirement of selling with Amazon or Flipkart, like courier, packaging, commission, payment terms, return policies etc.
7. All these things are very easy to understand from these website or you can also call them at numbers given on websites. For instance you can call Amazon Seller team @ 1800-419-7355.
8. You can also compute the margins one can make on selling such selected products and items.
9. Register yourself under GST law by applying on https://reg.gst.gov.in/registration/ and obtain GSTIN before you plan selling online, because it's a must. For this you can do it of your own or you can also take help of a Chartered Accountant or other GST practitioners. 

Hope this article of mine, gives you a brief understanding on " How to start E-Commerce Business in a small way". 

However, do note there are plenty of people making a turnover of crores in a year and all of these started very small. Trust me India being such a huge country, e-commerce is still a huge business area to explore. Start early if you really see value in this business because internet is next big business future.

Connect back here if you have any question on this article or have any feedback, I will be happy to answer as soon as possible and share this post if you like or wants other to read this too.