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How to Find Investors as an e-Commerce Shop

Finding investors for an e-commerce business is a challenging but often necessary task for entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses. There are many potential sources of funding, so it's important to approach the process with a clear understanding of your business's needs and the types of investors that will help you meet them. This article provides an overview of the steps you need to take to find investors and offers some tips to help you secure the funding you need.

Step 1: Develop a Pitch

A clear and compelling pitch is one of the fundamental tools you will need for attracting the interest of potential investors. Your pitch should provide investors with an overview of your business and accurately describe your company’s unique position.

Your pitch should discuss the following aspects of your business:

  • product or service offered
  • target market
  • unique value proposition
  • your team and partners
  • growth potential
  • financial needs

A strong pitch not only explains your company’s potential and role within its market; it also incorporates the needs and goals of your target investors. To clearly understand these needs and goals, spend some time conducting market research. Your research should help you identify key trends and opportunities in the e-commerce market as well as the investment preferences and criteria of potential investors. This information will allow you to tailor your pitch in a way that shows how your business is prepared to meet the needs of both the market and your investors.

While developing your pitch, make sure you are prepared to demonstrate your business’s potential for financial return on investment and to provide evidence of its progress and potential for growth. A well-crafted pitch can help capture the attention of potential investors and set the stage for a successful funding round.

 

Step 2: Identify Potential Investors

Once you have developed your pitch, the next step is to identify potential investors. Some examples of funding sources for e-commerce businesses include angel investors, venture capitalists, and crowdfunding platforms.

When researching potential investors, it's important to consider their expertise and connections within the e-commerce industry. Align yourself with investors that have a track record of investing in e-commerce businesses that reflect your own business's needs and goals. An investor with a strong network and strong industry knowledge can provide valuable resources beyond their financial investment.

It's also important to consider the terms of the investment, including the valuation of your business and the percentage of equity being offered. Consulting with experienced professionals, such as lawyers and financial advisors, can help you identify potential investors.

Step 3: Contact and Connect with Investors

The next step is to reach out and make a connection. This can be done through networking events, online platforms, or introductions made through mutual connections. It's important to be professional and persistent in your outreach efforts, as it can take time to secure a meeting with a potential investor.

Once you have scheduled a meeting, be prepared to discuss your business in detail and answer any questions that may arise. Remember that you want to develop a strong professional relationship with anyone who chooses to invest in your business, and the key element for such a relationship is trust.

To foster trust between you and potential investors:

  • Show that you are committed to your business and that you have the skills and expertise to succeed.
  • Be transparent about your financials, operations, and business model.
  • Be open to feedback and suggestions from investors.

A meeting with an investor is also the time to negotiate the terms of the investment. As part of these negotiations, you will want to discuss the valuation of your business, the percentage of equity being offered, and the terms of the investment agreement. It's important to approach these negotiations with a clear understanding of your business's needs and goals and to be willing to compromise in order to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Compromise, openness, and trust all help to build a strong relationship with investors who in turn can provide the support you need to grow your business.

Final Thoughts

Another option to take into consideration is whether to seek funding beyond traditional investors and financing services. Jenfi offers an alternative to traditional structures. Jenfi financing is non-dilutive and flexible, meaning that your payment fluctuates depending on your revenue. If you have a low-revenue month, you'll see your repayment rate drop. If you're interested in learning more just visit the Jenfi homepage here and apply for a loan.

Whatever route you take, securing funds is an important step for entrepreneurs in the process of growing their businesses. Developing a clear and compelling pitch, identifying potential investors, and building a relationship of trust, are fundamental steps to securing the funding you need to see your business grow.

Nicky Minh

CTO and co-founder

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Lazada Logo

The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Lazada in 2023

Are you looking to tap into Singapore's e-commerce market by selling on Lazada, the largest online shopping and selling destination in the country? Look no further! We'll go over everything you need to know to get started and start making sales on Lazada.

Step 1: Create your Lazada seller account

The first step to selling on Lazada is to sign up as a seller on its platform. You can do this by visiting the Lazada Seller Center. On this page you'll notice the navigation bar provides you with three options: Local Seller, Lazmall Seller, and LazGlobal Seller. It's important to read through the different types of accounts and choose one that matches your business type as closely as possible. If you want to sell using a LazGlobal Seller account, we recommend having an Alipay account set up in advance as Lazada will request an Alipay with a minimum balance of 3000 RBM for margin payment.

Before you sign up, familiarize yourself with Lazada's seller policies and terms of service. These outline the rules and guidelines you need to follow as a seller on their platform, including: the types of products you can sell, how to handle returns and refunds, and how to resolve disputes. By understanding these policies upfront, you can ensure that your account is compliant with Lazada and prevent any complications that would arise from failing to meet Lazada terms and conditions.

Step 2: List your products

Now it's time to start adding your products to the Lazada platform. You will do this using Lazada's Seller Center. Lazada recommends adding a minimum of ten products before you begin making sales through their platform. You'll need to provide detailed information about each product. This includes photos, descriptions, pricing, and shipping information. High-quality photos are especially important, as they will be the first thing potential customers see when they come across your products. Make sure to include as much detail as possible in the product descriptions to help customers make informed decisions. The better information your customers have, the more confident they feel about their purchases. Having informed and confident customers results in increased sales, diminished customer queries (which prolong the sales process), and reduced returns of items purchased due to unclear product descriptions.

When listing your products, it's important to choose the right categories and subcategories to ensure that your products are easy to find. You should also consider what keywords to use in your titles and descriptions to improve your products' visibility when customers search Lazada. The Seller Center will provide you with a content score that can assist you in this process. This score is calculated based on four key areas: mandatory attributes, key product information, photos, and the number of words used in your product description.

Lazada provides a general content score that takes into consideration all products in your inventory. Your general content score can be accessed under the performance section of your Seller Center's homepage. A content score can also be viewed at the individual product level, giving you a more granular understanding of your inventory. This score is found by navigating to the products page, selecting 'manage products', and then finally clicking 'edit details'. According to Lazada's data, improving your content score can help you improve sales! Remember to pay attention to the four key areas Lazada uses to calculate your score when using this tool.

You should also consider offering different variations of your products, such as different sizes or colors, to give customers more options.

In addition to basic product information, you need to provide your inventory levels and lead times. This helps customers know whether the product is in stock and how long it will take for them to receive their order. You will be prompted to provide the address of your warehouse when setting up your Seller Center. Lazada will use this address to help you calculate these logistics as well as shipping cost.

Step 3: Set up payment and shipping options

In order to start making sales, you'll need to set up payment and shipping options for your products. One of Lazada's many strengths is that it offers a variety of payment options, including credit card, bank transfer, and cash on delivery. You'll also need to decide how you'll handle shipping and delivery of your products. Will you offer free shipping, or will you charge a fee? Will you use a third-party logistics provider, or will you handle shipping in-house? It's important to consider these factors when setting up your payment and shipping options so that your customers receive a smooth and seamless shopping experience.

You should also consider offering different shipping options, such as standard and expedited shipping, to give customers more flexibility. It's a good idea to clearly communicate your shipping policies, delivery times, and restrictions to avoid misunderstandings or disappointment.

Step 4: Promote your products

Once your products are listed on Lazada, it's important to promote them to potential customers. You can do this by utilizing Lazada's marketing tools, such as sponsored ads and promotional banners. These tools allow you to target specific demographics and interests and can be an effective way to reach a wider audience. You can also use social media and other online channels to promote your products and drive traffic to your Lazada listings.

In addition to paid advertising, there are many other ways to promote your products on Lazada. One effective strategy is to offer discounts or promotions to incentivize customers to make a purchase. You can also participate in Lazada's sales and event campaigns, such as the annual 11.11 Shopping Festival, to take advantage of increased traffic and sales opportunities.

Free shipping is another option to consider when weighing your options for incentivizing customers. Offering free shipping can increase traffic to your store as this is one of the criteria that customers can use to search Lazada. Another benefit of free shipping is that customers won’t be discouraged by an additional shipping fee calculated at checkout. As a result, once a customer has an item in their cart, they’re more likely to complete the purchase.

Step 5: Monitor and optimize your listings

To maximize your sales on Lazada, it's important to continuously monitor and optimize your listings. This may involve adjusting your prices, updating product descriptions, or adding new products to your catalog. By staying up-to-date and responsive to customer needs, you'll be able to increase your sales and grow your business on the platform. You can also use Lazada's analytics and reporting tools to track your performance and identify areas for improvement.

It's essential to keep an eye on your competition and see what they are offering, as well as monitoring trends in your market. By staying on top of these factors, you can keep your products competitive and attractive to customers. Customer feedback and reviews are another way to find out what changes you can make to improve the customer experience.

Key Points to Remember When Using Lazada:

  • Take the time to set up your seller account and product listings carefully, as this will help you establish trust with potential customers and increase your chances of making sales.
  • Utilize Lazada's marketing tools and utilize other online channels to promote your products and drive traffic to your listings.
  • Monitor and optimize your listings on an ongoing basis to ensure that you are meeting the needs of your customers and maximizing your sales potential.

Selling on Lazada can be a lucrative and rewarding opportunity for businesses of all sizes. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can set up a successful seller account and start making sales on the platform. And with a little bit of effort and the right strategies in place, you can build a successful business on Lazada and tap into the growing e-commerce market in Singapore. Good luck!

Nicky Minh

CTO and co-founder

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Measuring The Advertising Effectiveness Of A Marketing Campaign - 8 Vital Metrics For Marketers

Advertising Metrics

Measuring the advertising effectiveness of a marketing campaign is the foundation for growth marketers. Using ad metrics reasonably, we can determine how well our performance is and what factors it needs to drive better results.

So, how well do you understand the advertising metrics? Explore 8 critical advertising KPIs in this article with Jenfi Capital.

What Are Advertising Metrics?

Advertising Metrics

Advertising metrics, also known as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), are standards used to measure and track the performance of digital marketing campaigns.

These indicators are measured with exact values. Through that, the marketing team will determine whether their marketing campaign has brought significant results or not. 

With the explosion of social networks, various marketing methods, and many separate tools, advertising channels, and techniques, determining advertising performance metrics is paramount to defining the victory of marketing campaigns.

The Importance Of Using Advertising Metrics 

Advertising Metrics

It is very easy to lose time and money in digital marketing if you do not know clearly your goals. This happens when you use many advertising tools but do not collect and analyze metrics in each stage.

Deploying a series of advertising activities takes up as much financial as human resources. Understanding and managing advertising indicators will help us measure efficiency and use the money wisely.

Advertising metrics also help businesses determine the progress of running marketing campaigns. Also, they help figure out which campaigns are performing well and which ones need to be reevaluated. Eventually, it ensures your company is spending valuable budgets in the right way

Jenfi Insights - An all-in-one tool that helps your company to grow with higher ROAS

Optimize your digital ad spend with actionable insights designed to help you scale. Make sure you're always getting the best return on your e-Commerce campaigns with personalized recommendations.

jenfi insights

Sign up today for exclusive access to Jenfi Insights.

According to The CMO Survey, 72% of marketing chiefs said the "importance of marketing" has grown in their companies over the last year, but only 39% rate their strategies as effective.

Digital Marketing takes place on many platforms: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google Analytics or Google Sheet, CRM, etc., and each platform will have different metric standards. If you are doing online marketing campaigns on a few of them, then a good knowledge of ad indicators will help you to maximize your efforts. 

8 Important Advertising Metrics For Any Marketers 

Advertising Metrics

If you want your business' marketing campaigns to be effective, you need to pay close attention to the following 8 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

ROI - Return On Investment

ROI (Return On Investment) is an indicator that measures the ratio of profits earned to the costs spent on a marketing campaign. In other words, this is the ratio of the profit made to the initial cost of the investment.

ROI is one of the most important KPIs to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This is strictly the first number that you need to know. This metric helps you measure the sales revenue based on your business's budget.

Almost every effort in marketing campaigns has the final purpose: The craving to increase the profit on the cost spent.

If the positive ROI is high, your marketing campaign is doing well. On the contrary, you need to find the right solution to immediately adjust your marketing campaign.

CPM (Cost Per Mile) – Cost per thousand

CPM (Cost Per Mile) is a metric reflecting the cost per one thousand impressions/ views on an ad. Simply speaking, if the CPM of a particular keyword is $1.00, that means you must pay $1.00 for every 1,000 impressions to show your ads for this keyword.

CPM helps you measure the performance of your campaigns within and across different platforms. For instance, if you want to place an ad banner on website A, but then you discover that website B has more potential, then you can use CPM to make cost comparisons between these media (at both stages: preparing and reviewing stage)

CPL (Cost-per-Lead) – Cost pay for 1 potential customer

CPL (Cost-per-Lead) is a metric that helps measure marketing campaigns' effectiveness based on the leads generated. CPL focuses on the number of potential customers from marketing campaigns. The price per lead depends on the type of strategy you use for each lead generation channel.

Cost Per Lead (CPL) = Total Marketing Spend / Total New Leads 

To achieve the most accurate measurement results, the CPL needs to be combined with other factors affecting the business's profitability. Cost per lead enables you to set the sales goals, calculate potential ROI, and determine advertising budgets.

CR – Conversion Rate

CR can be understood as the conversion rate from visitors to customers. CR is critical because it allows you to lower your customer acquisition costs by getting more value from the visitors and users you already have. 

For example, if you need $1,000 to double your website traffic at the CR of 2.5%, but you only need $500 to improve the CR from 2.5% to 5%, then the second choice makes more sense.

CRR – Customer Retention Rate

CRR is an indispensable advertising measurement indicator to evaluate whether a marketing strategy is successful or not in many ways.

Customer retention measures how successful a company is at acquiring new customers and how successful they are at satisfying existing customers. It also increases ROI, boosts loyalty, and brings in new customers.

If the CRR is higher, your campaign is well enough to satisfy your customers and vice versa.

RR (Run Rate) – Goal achievement rate

RR (Run Rate) is an indicator that reflects the speed of completing the goal of the entire campaign compared to the original overall plan. RR helps marketers identify precisely how much budget they have spent to accomplish a part of a goal. Then, decide to add a method to accelerate or maintain the growth momentum.

CLV – Customer Lifetime Value 

CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) is an indicator that reflects the lifetime value. In other words, this indicator tells you how much profit a customer will bring to you over their lifetime.

CLV analysis helps businesses see which marketing activities are the most useful in bringing in the best customers.

Customers' economic value is not just in 1-time purchases. It lasts as long as they are buying from your company. Knowing CLV, companies can determine which customer groups will bring the most value to the company, which products customers want the most, and then fine-tune the company's effort to retain these high-value customers.

Social Media Reach

Marketing through social networking platforms has solid viral power. If you have creative ideas that drive customer actions, the cost of social marketing is insignificant compared to the potential results.

Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have very high conversion rates. Using Social Media Reach metrics helps businesses measure how effectively social media contributes to online conversion rates.

In addition to these indicators, you also need to pay attention to others, such as Impression (Display Index), CTR (click-through rate); CPC (Cost per click); CAC (Cost of finding customers), etc.

Important Notices In Measuring Digital Marketing Campaigns

Advertising Metrics

Do not be complacent with "appealing" indicators

Marketing is the overall combination of many different activities. Sometimes, the indicator is stunning, but in reality, the effect it brings is trivial. Without experience in analyzing metrics, businesses are easily misinterpreted that their campaigns are running well, but the results obtained do not bring considerable impacts.

For example, a low CPL is great, but it does not mean that the potential leads can be converted into actual buyers. It just means how much money you are getting leads, and there will be many further activities to bring these leads to qualified customers.

Break down your goals into phases

An overall marketing campaign will be divided into several stages. Each stage can be organized into a small campaign. It is necessary to clearly define the overall goals and the sub-goals for each stage.

Selecting a reliable data source to measure marketing effectiveness

Many social networking platforms allow running digital ads, such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Google Ads, Google Analytics, etc. These channels have different ways of calculating metrics.

Because of the data source, each channel's metrics are different. If your business is running on Omni-channels, you need to find an experienced marketer to measure the effectiveness of your marketing in the most accurate way.

Limit the use of unnecessary data 

With a massive amount of data available with a few clicks, marketers need to determine which metrics their business is interested in. Which metrics matter to which campaign.

Regularly checking the metrics in the overview report will give you an accurate view of the status of your marketing campaign.

Choosing the right metrics really matters in digital marketing. We hope this article's information on advertising metrics will reconcile your marketing efforts and the available budgets to reach the maximal results. 

Nicky Minh

CTO and co-founder

Stand Out As A Desirable VC Investment Opportunity

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Measuring The Advertising Effectiveness Of A Marketing Campaign - 8 Vital Metrics For Marketers

Advertising Metrics

Measuring the advertising effectiveness of a marketing campaign is the foundation for growth marketers. Using ad metrics reasonably, we can determine how well our performance is and what factors it needs to drive better results.

So, how well do you understand the advertising metrics? Explore 8 critical advertising KPIs in this article with Jenfi Capital.

What Are Advertising Metrics?

Advertising Metrics

Advertising metrics, also known as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), are standards used to measure and track the performance of digital marketing campaigns.

These indicators are measured with exact values. Through that, the marketing team will determine whether their marketing campaign has brought significant results or not. 

With the explosion of social networks, various marketing methods, and many separate tools, advertising channels, and techniques, determining advertising performance metrics is paramount to defining the victory of marketing campaigns.

The Importance Of Using Advertising Metrics 

Advertising Metrics

It is very easy to lose time and money in digital marketing if you do not know clearly your goals. This happens when you use many advertising tools but do not collect and analyze metrics in each stage.

Deploying a series of advertising activities takes up as much financial as human resources. Understanding and managing advertising indicators will help us measure efficiency and use the money wisely.

Advertising metrics also help businesses determine the progress of running marketing campaigns. Also, they help figure out which campaigns are performing well and which ones need to be reevaluated. Eventually, it ensures your company is spending valuable budgets in the right way. 

Jenfi Insights - An all-in-one tool that helps your company to grow with higher ROAS

Optimize your digital ad spend with actionable insights designed to help you scale. Make sure you're always getting the best return on your e-Commerce campaigns with personalized recommendations.

jenfi insights

Sign up today for exclusive access to Jenfi Insights.

According to The CMO Survey, 72% of marketing chiefs said the "importance of marketing" has grown in their companies over the last year, but only 39% rate their strategies as effective.

Digital Marketing takes place on many platforms: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google Analytics or Google Sheet, CRM, etc., and each platform will have different metric standards. If you are doing online marketing campaigns on a few of them, then a good knowledge of ad indicators will help you to maximize your efforts. 

8 Important Advertising Metrics For Any Marketers 

Advertising Metrics

If you want your business' marketing campaigns to be effective, you need to pay close attention to the following 8 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

ROI - Return On Investment

ROI (Return On Investment) is an indicator that measures the ratio of profits earned to the costs spent on a marketing campaign. In other words, this is the ratio of the profit made to the initial cost of the investment.

ROI is one of the most important KPIs to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This is strictly the first number that you need to know. This metric helps you measure the sales revenue based on your business's budget.

Almost every effort in marketing campaigns has the final purpose: The craving to increase the profit on the cost spent.

If the positive ROI is high, your marketing campaign is doing well. On the contrary, you need to find the right solution to immediately adjust your marketing campaign.

CPM (Cost Per Mile) – Cost per thousand

CPM (Cost Per Mile) is a metric reflecting the cost per one thousand impressions/ views on an ad. Simply speaking, if the CPM of a particular keyword is $1.00, that means you must pay $1.00 for every 1,000 impressions to show your ads for this keyword.

CPM helps you measure the performance of your campaigns within and across different platforms. For instance, if you want to place an ad banner on website A, but then you discover that website B has more potential, then you can use CPM to make cost comparisons between these media (at both stages: preparing and reviewing stage)

CPL (Cost-per-Lead) – Cost pay for 1 potential customer

CPL (Cost-per-Lead) is a metric that helps measure marketing campaigns' effectiveness based on the leads generated. CPL focuses on the number of potential customers from marketing campaigns. The price per lead depends on the type of strategy you use for each lead generation channel.

Cost Per Lead (CPL) = Total Marketing Spend / Total New Leads 

To achieve the most accurate measurement results, the CPL needs to be combined with other factors affecting the business's profitability. Cost per lead enables you to set the sales goals, calculate potential ROI, and determine advertising budgets.

CR – Conversion Rate

CR can be understood as the conversion rate from visitors to customers. CR is critical because it allows you to lower your customer acquisition costs by getting more value from the visitors and users you already have. 

For example, if you need $1,000 to double your website traffic at the CR of 2.5%, but you only need $500 to improve the CR from 2.5% to 5%, then the second choice makes more sense.

CRR – Customer Retention Rate

CRR is an indispensable advertising measurement indicator to evaluate whether a marketing strategy is successful or not in many ways.

Customer retention measures how successful a company is at acquiring new customers and how successful they are at satisfying existing customers. It also increases ROI, boosts loyalty, and brings in new customers.

If the CRR is higher, your campaign is well enough to satisfy your customers and vice versa.

RR (Run Rate) – Goal achievement rate

RR (Run Rate) is an indicator that reflects the speed of completing the goal of the entire campaign compared to the original overall plan. RR helps marketers identify precisely how much budget they have spent to accomplish a part of a goal. Then, decide to add a method to accelerate or maintain the growth momentum.

CLV – Customer Lifetime Value 

CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) is an indicator that reflects the lifetime value. In other words, this indicator tells you how much profit a customer will bring to you over their lifetime.

CLV analysis helps businesses see which marketing activities are the most useful in bringing in the best customers.

Customers' economic value is not just in 1-time purchases. It lasts as long as they are buying from your company. Knowing CLV, companies can determine which customer groups will bring the most value to the company, which products customers want the most, and then fine-tune the company's effort to retain these high-value customers.

Social Media Reach

Marketing through social networking platforms has solid viral power. If you have creative ideas that drive customer actions, the cost of social marketing is insignificant compared to the potential results.

Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have very high conversion rates. Using Social Media Reach metrics helps businesses measure how effectively social media contributes to online conversion rates.

In addition to these indicators, you also need to pay attention to others, such as Impression (Display Index), CTR (click-through rate); CPC (Cost per click); CAC (Cost of finding customers), etc.

Important Notices In Measuring Digital Marketing Campaigns

Advertising Metrics

Do not be complacent with "appealing" indicators

Marketing is the overall combination of many different activities. Sometimes, the indicator is stunning, but in reality, the effect it brings is trivial. Without experience in analyzing metrics, businesses are easily misinterpreted that their campaigns are running well, but the results obtained do not bring considerable impacts.

For example, a low CPL is great, but it does not mean that the potential leads can be converted into actual buyers. It just means how much money you are getting leads, and there will be many further activities to bring these leads to qualified customers.

Break down your goals into phases

An overall marketing campaign will be divided into several stages. Each stage can be organized into a small campaign. It is necessary to clearly define the overall goals and the sub-goals for each stage.

Selecting a reliable data source to measure marketing effectiveness

Many social networking platforms allow running digital ads, such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Google Ads, Google Analytics, etc. These channels have different ways of calculating metrics.

Because of the data source, each channel's metrics are different. If your business is running on Omni-channels, you need to find an experienced marketer to measure the effectiveness of your marketing in the most accurate way.

Limit the use of unnecessary data 

With a massive amount of data available with a few clicks, marketers need to determine which metrics their business is interested in. Which metrics matter to which campaign.

Regularly checking the metrics in the overview report will give you an accurate view of the status of your marketing campaign.

Choosing the right metrics really matters in digital marketing. We hope this article's information on advertising metrics will reconcile your marketing efforts and the available budgets to reach the maximal results. 

Nicky Minh

CTO and co-founder

Start Your E-Commerce Business In Singapore The Right Way

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I think many people can agree that Singapore embodies the phrase “small but mighty,” and when it comes to e-commerce, there is no exception. Singapore boasts a young, tech-savvy population and some of the fastest internet in the world, being almost three times the speed of the global average, according to JP Morgan.

This powerful combination bodes well for the future of e-commerce in Singapore and Southeast Asia. With the Singaporean government making efforts to make shopping online a more effortless endeavor by providing 24/7 access to public parcel lockers, there’s no doubt e-commerce will continue to dominate for years to come.

Clearly, the time is now to dive into this rapidly growing market, so stick around to find out how you can open an e-commerce business of your own.

Perform Market Research in Your Niche

If you have a product idea in mind already, that’s great! If you’re still trying to figure out how you can break into e-commerce with a fresh product and moderate competition, doing a little research into your preferred niche will likely give you the confidence you need to launch a profitable online store.

The best way to do this is to start with knowing your niche inside and out. X-cart suggests you scrutinize groups of forums in your niche to get your information straight from the horse’s mouth, your potential future customers.

You can also look at trending products on popular shipping platforms such as Amazon or opt for third-party product research tools to get the metrics on trending products in your market.

Choose Your Business Model

Once you feel comfortable in your niche, you have to begin defining who your ideal customers are. A significant part of this is simply choosing one of the many options for conducting sales in use today.

Business to Business, or B2B

This refers to a company that sells to other companies, such as wholesalers to retailers.

Consumer to Consumer, or C2C

With this model, consumers might re-sell products they’ve purchased from other retailers they’ve never used, previously used, or even modified.

Business to Consumer, or B2C

One of the more widely used business models in e-commerce, B2C companies sell their products or services directly to their customers without any 3rd party involvement.

Consumer to Business, or C2B

This model has gained significant popularity in recent years with the rise of influencer marketing, which involves internet personalities selling advertising space to companies.

Find the E-commerce Platform That Suits You Best

E-commerce platforms are arguably the most straightforward way of setting up your online store, and Singapore is home to some of the leading websites dominating e-commerce today. Platforms are attractive mainly in part due to their convenient integrated customer retention features.

Qoo10

  • Free to register your store
  • Live chat feature for customers to communicate directly with sellers
  • Sales Manager feature tracks all orders, product listings, and shipping

Lazada

  • High user traffic in Southeast Asia
  • In-house shipping assistance with any of their warehouses in Hong Kong, China, or Singapore
  • Comprehensive courses on effective marketing with Lazada Academy

Shopify

  • Mobile-ready
  • Fully customizable store-front
  • Powerful SEO features to get your store noticed

Carousell

  • Can sell used items
  • Cash-on-delivery payment option
  • Two-way reviews and rating system

Develop Your Reliable Marketing Plan

Now that you’ve set up shop, you have to think about how you’re going to get the word out that you’re open for business.

There is an array of options for driving traffic to your store that converts into sales, and choosing the right ones depends on your brand voice and your sales goals. These can include pay-per-click ads, social media, or sponsored content.

But the very first step, according to internet marketing expert Darren DeMatas on ecommerceCEO, is to create an email list through the use of an opt-in freebie on your website. He says, “Running a giveaway is my go-to marketing tactic to get traffic and subscribers quickly. Giveaways have the added benefit of increasing your brand presence and product visibility. Building an email list gives you a group of warm leads to work with, making the sales process much easier”.

No matter which marketing route you choose to take, finding the funding necessary to run these campaigns is the next vital step to launching your online business. With Jenfi, you can find out if you qualify for a loan in as little as 24 hours! Visit Jenfi, and fill out our fast and secure online application to get up to $200,000 to start marketing your business the right way.

Nicky Minh

CTO and co-founder

How fast can your business grow with growth funding?

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