AN E-COMMERCE UNIQUENESS

With the rising costs of living and rise in unemployments, you may find yourself wondering what to do. Or,??you have a lot of business ideas and wondering where to start. There are those with interests and hobbies, wondering how do I take my ideas online? You’ve??probably read a book or an article that tells you , how to turn your hobbies into business but then you ask yourself , how do I start an online business? Some of you may have tried it before and gave up. For some, an online business seems massive, the technicality scares them or the costs is unachievable .

Besides all these and since covid pandemic, online shopping is now more popular than ever before, so be it for economics impact to your personal life or a venture to starting a new online business , in this article , I’m going to talk us??through how you can start just about anything online, with little or no cost using uniqueness to exhale .?

This article has two parts. The first part is for those with ideas and considering??starting??an e-commerce business but??with little or no financial investments. Second part is for those with certain amount of finance but don’t have enough to hire experts.?

First let’s look at the two main benefits of online business.

Less costs ;?no high street price tag for a shop. From about ￡20 a month for basic e-commerce package you can start an online business.

Wilder??reach :?As a local business you??gain the opportunity of reaching more audiences beyond your locality, sometimes spreading globally where you are ambitious and prepared to handle??such exposure in terms of supplies.??These are the two main benefits of an online business. Let’s dive in.

Starters with no finance.

So you have an idea, an interest, a hobby, you’re probably unemployed too, or recently out of job. Where do you begin with an online website with no finance.

First: Evaluate your interests, hobbies,??it is one thing to have an idea, it’s another for it to be a???sellable product to earn you income since this is the intention behind it.???A physical product or a service is a product when it becomes an exchange??for money. if??these ideas are what you’re bringing into the e-commerce world as a business, would other people be interested in it ? Just because you like something??doesn’t mean others would like it??and enough to spend money on. Notwithstanding, Jeff??Bezos , started??a book shop on Amazon, not everyone likes reading, but it was a market broad enough to engage book lovers to visit his website and spend money. This wasn’t all that it was, his business had a unique model that propelled him to success.?

So you want to start by asking yourself, my hobbies or my interests are they new? Many others probably have same interests trading as businesses? What??is going to make it stand out? What would make it unique???Do??I have a model? What are you going to offer your audiences??

There??are so many businesses??you can start online, with no financial??investments. Take for instance a ‘yoga class’. I do see and hear about yoga classes everywhere .Some come and soon disappear. To learn yoga is simple , take a course or search for??an online free course .?

When it gets down to business, and you’re setting up a yoga class , how would yours be different, what would attract clients to your class and??website .?

In our case??a yoga class with no financial investments. Business with no initial costs??are brilliant to start, no risks and if well managed, you’re in 100% profits.

First thing to put in place and ask yourself. Is yoga for you? Do you like yoga or is this just an adventure? Are you passionate about it? One thing successful people have in common is passion for what they do. There would be set backs, kicks, falls, mistakes but??the passion keeps you going, learning from those mistakes . This is not about??having a passion for something you don’t believe in or able to commit to,??majority of people??don’t like books or??reading??but someone made that into a success, going back to Jeff (Amazon) .?

So after??evaluating your level of commitment to your passion for your chosen business . And ready to go. Pick a name, do some research, get??friendly with neighbours, make new friends, make up with old ones, keep them all close by, you would need them as your first clients for testers .?

Get a unique name;?Now you are just starting out, soon you will learn the importance of keyword when you start advertising with paid search, Google etc. keyword is an important part of promoting your business , so getting a keyword name for your??business , that speaks of your product is a good way to start. Don’t name your business after your name, except??you are famous.??Even if you’re locally famous and want to reach beyond your locality, naming your business after your name isn’t going to push your business further with your own name. Think of the industry you are in,??the products or services you are offering. Let’s take Emily for instance, starting up??our yoga class , calling it ‘Emily’s yoga house’,???‘Emily’s meditation place’??or anything with Emily, will only make it common, cheap and not taken seriously expect she’s a famous Emily. Additionally, keep??your business name as short as possible with a phrase??that makes it easy to remember.?

So let’s brain storm for a business name for our Emily.??‘Yoga for all’, ‘simply yoga’, ‘yoga and more’ . Inserting yoga into her business name is a positive??initiative when it comes to keyword. Personally???I prefer ‘yoga and more’.??If Emily wants to bring uniqueness into her business, when her business name??shows up in SERP ( Search engine result page, E.g Google) , any client looking for a yoga class will instantly pause to have a look through??her website, for the??curiosity??of??yoga ‘ and more’ (the , ‘and more`’ bit ) then??depending on the content of her yoga website, curiosity will turn searchers into clients, clicks into conversion based on the ‘and more’ she offers.???More so, the ‘yoga and more’ makes it an exciting business name, as some people just??get bored with the name they’ve heard over and over again.??Something new or with the anticipation of getting something extra or different??are??exciting to??online shoppers. Especially when a name or an headline sounds different to what they’ve been used to seeing in search results.

After settling for our name??‘ yoga and more’ we move forward to bringing our E commerce website to live.?

Now you want to register your business name to a domain, two ways you can do??this,??either register with a domain registrar company or use a company that offers both registration and e-commerce platform . There are so many of these companies??that offers such??services together with an e-commerce platform to trade ,??godaddy, shopify etc.??if your desired domain name is already taken, some of the companies??would offer similar suggestions. Try to get a domain name with a??‘.com’,??‘.co.uk’. This??is also a vital point, because people are used to and??would easily??remember websites??ending with a .com and .co.uk for the Uk.?

Look for a low cost e-commerce platform, be aware to look for a platform that offers flexible features??for service providers if you’re providing a service, in our case, we’re dealing with yoga.???Majority??of the E commerce platforms are solely built around??products sales, but you want a platform, where you can customise the services you offer as a service provider or where you want your clients to be able to pay for varieties of sessions?or services. For instance if you’re a cleaner offering cleaning services and charging by the hour with additional ironing service charge by the hour. Your clients may not be able to book for a cleaning service and an ironing service in one transaction. They would have to book for a cleaning service in one transaction, then back to your website to book for an ironing service. Unfortunately?some e commerce platform,??don’t have such features for service providers, leading to clients being??unable to pay for??multiple??services??in one transaction.?So do make sure, you check that whatever e-commerce platform you choose to sell your services, its?features??are??flexible??enough to capture multiple choice or services??in one transaction like it does in shopping for products, where you?want a pair of shirt and a trouser, you’re able to pay for them in?one transaction .?Most service providers would hire a web developer to build one to their specification, in our instance with no initial financial investment, make inquiries to choose the right platform that works for the service you intend to provide.

Once we're done with choosing a platform , we begin building our website,??in this instance for our yoga class , we are not buying products, low financial??investments, however we need visuals for our yoga website, still we have no money to invest. So we look for free images, readily available online if you look properly. Internet is better than it used to be years ago , now??packed full of wealths of information if you know where to look.?

Get images –?you need little or no prior technical??knowledge to start your own online business, E commerce platforms??are ‘do it yourself’, simplified enough for no technical knowledge needed but to upload??photos as applicable to your business, in already pre defined sections with default??templates with categories that can easily be created to your services or products.??. For this, you??can get free photos??by searching online . Be sure to use license free photos and you can get some??of these from websites such as getty images, Freepick, unsplash, pexels etc, some of the??websites offer free trial, which you can take advantage of,??try first before subscribing or make a purchase. These such??websites make online businesses??easy to set up??, you don’t??have to hire your own models. So many pictures with great quality by models are available??at a low cost??than you would hire one for a photo shoot , and for a starter business, this cut costs significantly.??If you’re offering physical products, there are tones of good products photos online to search and use to promote your business at the starter stage, keeping costs low.

Work around with the images on your website, whilst you’re doing these, check on similar websites, see their??services and products display. Get the idea, don’t copy them and don’t be worried about yours not being professional as theirs. Keep searching for good photos, once you get good pictures, your website will be professionally presentable, as most of the E commerce platforms have??been built for businesses to look professional with predefined template when you upload??good quality??photos.

Flyers?: very essential when you’re a service provider . Take a look again??at our??our yoga class. A practical approach to business like yoga in addition to a website,??would be flyers sharing. Doesn’t cost much to print them in thousands pieces , you could design them yourself too, some websites offering printing services??have default pre designed templates , you choose your colours, designs??etc.??website like vista print. You can also have them??made cheaper yourself and print at home with little or no costs, where you already have a printer and papers??,??using Microsoft word with default template for brochures, flyers etc change the text and photos to suit your business, be creative with your texts then??print or search??for free designs online, input??your??texts and get printing.?

Having said that,??in terms of doing it yourself for less costs, bear in mind??you??would need to give time to making it all look good by diy, don’t just cut out papers or something hand written to distribute . It is fair??to say, you present your business to people how you want them to see you and treat your business . If you hand someone, just another cut out paper telling them of a business, that someone wouldn’t take??you seriously and end up??binning??your cut out paper or hand written note. If you hand a piece of information that looks good, such will be respected and treated well. If such flyers is left somewhere unattended , the eye catching details will attract attention to it. So do treat the information you give??to people about your business??with respect, in appearance and the level of seriousness you want them to treat such information.??

As we’re moving on, the??work begins, spread the word. Remember those neighbours??I mentioned earlier to keep them as friends? Well here’s??where they??are becoming??handy for launch day. Trying out as testers??etc.?

Uniqueness: Now time to make your business unique. Uniqueness sells in the world of E commerce, clients and customers are looking at other websites, 100’s of them??online in their thousands ,??why should they choose yours? What is different about your website??

There are lots of answers to these questions.

·???????Price

·???????Quality

·???????Content?

·???????Services?

·???????And the list goes on...?

When I mean unique, I meant unique. Online shoppers are always looking for an element of uniqueness either in a service or a product .?

So what do I mean by injecting uniqueness into your business , take our yoga class again, Emily is new in the market, she wants to attract clients and her??services are provided in person. On her lunch day , she offers 2 section for 3. With??that sounding good, some clients might not buy into it for various reasons. ( some may grumble at an extra class, as being too much , you know, you can’t always please everyone in this world of ours)???So this is where uniqueness comes in, but a strategic one.??

For uniqueness, Emily would offer a yoga session??on a Friday or Saturday??for half the price??but with an extra??event of ‘wine tasting??social event’ ,( after yoga??session) , say??for ￡5 each or as she wishes to charge ‘but’,??‘and’??exciting enough to attract interest . Now there’s a social opportunity??for her clients and something different??to entice??a new client???to book yoga class with Emily. Even though wine tasting is not everyone’s??cup of tea, Emily would??offer tea, offer drinks, make it a light social event to fit everyone in. Who doesn’t like an??excuse to socialise over??a glass of wine… Besides going to a yoga class for relaxation or meditation , we all love socialising and being with people, else we would??stay at home and do yoga by ourselves.??This being a strategy to maximise income, equally unique and??you’ve made more for the half a price discount you’ve given on yoga but??charging for the after yoga class , wine social event .?

If you want to create that urgency or to know how many people will attend for costs and profits analysis ahead. Ask for prior?confirmation of attendnce, create an urgency of limited spaces to get interests and forecast of profits.

Go further with your uniqueness if you offer an all ladies yoga class for instance. . Liaise with a pedicurist??or manicurist, offer a spa session??after a yoga class on a weekend. Match the extras??you offer to align with your business. . Spa is an aspect of relaxation, and to get a manicure / pedicure after a yoga class??aligns with relaxation.??People will gladly pay that extra charge. Play some soft relaxing background music to go with??the spa session, aligning with yoga . What do women like more than to chit chat, gossip, catch up over a cuppa… Now after a yoga class, you’re giving them a social time with pampering. Even those who don’t usually have time for??manicure or pedicure as??often, becomes an opportunity??for them??to get one , after a yoga class,??over a tea or wine. It’s??an opportunity, busy mums, working ladies would love to take on.??Liaise??with the pedicurist, what you’ll pay them for their services to your clients , put your costs together when charging???for the spa session, or arrange to split with the manicurist??on commission. When a service gets monotonous, spicing it up with a similar service keeps clients with you and coming for more.??If you feel more challenged, learn pedicure and manicure, offer it as a charged??additional service on certain time of the week or once a month event.??Put your costs together to ascertain your profits. Make sure to give a discount on something else attracting interest to a charged??extra service to be offered.?

Your idea shouldn’t stop there, get creative, offer what no one offers, put your business on the map with uniqueness.??Don’t be hesitant??to?concur and share your ideas with friends and relatives, sometimes inspirations comes from the most unexpected places.?

Jeff Bezzos??kept the uniqueness??of??his business going , didn’t stop at book selling. You don’t need to carry everything at once,??match it up as you go along, see it as an addition or strategy to make extra income and keep your business exciting . Find a uniqueness to match with your online services. Same goes for products and retails. In your industry, do research, is something missing???Is??everyone else??doing the same thing? What can I offer that my competitors aren’t offering???How??can I be unique??

Years back when I started an online business, I noticed something missing in my line of??industry , I checked on competitors website and noticed, delivery time to customers location took longer to fulfil . Not?these??days where Amazon does order??fulfilment for its retailer. Way back then, not so much of a free next day delivery in my industry. It was something lacking in that field of??business, that??instance of urgency when people decide they want that something now . I??took it up,??started offering a next day delivery, shortly afterwards , most competitors started??doing the same, then I also noticed the cut off time for their next day deliveries were earliest in the day, so I extended mine, to capture those who shop in the evening after work time. In business you have to be innovative, change with time, create your own uniqueness..?

And do remember, hard work pays off, a step at a time injecting creativity.?

In my next article would be talking on unique contents, social media engagements etc and subsequently take on e-commerce starters with little investments.

Happy E-commercing!?