5 survival strategies for a new online store in the ecommerce battleground dominated by Amazon

What do you consider as the biggest threat to your new online store? Customer grievances, delayed delivery, low traffic and conversions- can’t choose one as lot many prospective threats passing through your mind in Brownian Motion?

Let us rephrase the query and ask which is the one competitor that can spell doom for your business? In the online survey conducted by StoreHippo, the unanimous response was Amazon. SMEs across diverse ecommerce verticals have the same fear- the immense potential and resources of Amazon takes away the level playing field in the ecommerce arena.

Right?

WRONG!

If you have been fearing the dominance of ecommerce giants like Amazon, eBay and FlipKart,take heart. Cheer up,as the recent forecasts clearly indicate that India is going to be the biggest ecommerce market by 2020 and there is room for every player who wants to start an ecommerce business India and make it successful.

The sheer volume and diversity of requirements of the great Indian population makes it the most thriving and lucrative ecommerce market. What’s even better is the fact that there is so much untapped territory to explore, both in terms of actual geographies and the needs.

Are you ready to challenge the mighty Amazon and reserve your very own spot in the thriving Indian ecommerce market? Let us analyse what we need to do to create a special place in the Indian ecommerce arena;

Understanding the Need

It’s virtually impossible to match the scale and prices of Amazon and the likes, that is a fact for sure. But, there is a lot of potential for SMEs and smaller players in the market if they play smart and manage to find and fill the gaps.

Go for the product and services that are either not offered by other players or that have a wide demand supply gap. Bring in fresh product segments or explore geographies which have the not yet joined mainstream ecommerce. Start thinking about everyday needs of millions and you will certainly find ideas to setup ecommerce business india that has been overlooked by giants like Amazon.

Building a Niche 

Fresh ideas have always created opportunities where none existed earlier. The best way to survive the ecommerce battle is to create a niche for yourself. The battle is no longer only with the resources and the prices of the ecommerce bigwigs. If you are able to offer superior quality products you can get a customer segment that is ready to pay premium prices for value added services and quality products.

Need a formula for success? Offer your customers the benefits that they are getting at Amazon along with the products or services that unavailable on that platform.How about offering the online shoppers competitive pricing and rich catalouge of products on your very own multi seller ecommerce platform powered by Storehippo? Yes, it’s possible, explore our multi seller features for your new business idea here.

Loyal Customer Base

If there is one factor that can ensure your survival in the midst of every competition, it is a loyal customer base of your brand. Every successful business relies on repeat orders to sustain the business in long run. New orders are essential for growth but, it is the old customers who keep coming back for more that truly makes your online business ideas successful.

Connect with your customers at a deeper level so that price and discounts no longer remain the only factors influencing their purchase decisions.If you cannot work deep discounts like Amazon, work on deeper relations and quality of your services. Create a strong customer support team and keep your customers informed at every stage of order and delivery process with email and SMS notifications.

StoreHippo offers easy to configure email and SMS gateways for new online stores which can be used to build a loyal customer base by offering value added services to the buyers.

Explore Mobile Commerce

Mobile commerce is no longer a fancy idea. It is mandatory for survival in the online market. Recent data from the latest  festive season sales across various ecommerce marketplaces,  clearly indicate that mobile channel played a crucial role in making these sales a huge success.

India is expected to have 600 million smartphone users by 2020. With improved internet connectivity and the preference of online shoppers for shopping on mobile devices mobile is going to outpace ecommerce in the near future. You can give a fight to your competitors-big and small- only if you have a mobile ready online store for your business.

If you are planning to setup ecommerce business India there is no need to spend extra on mobile site to create your presence in the market dominated by Amazon like brands. With StoreHippo platform you can create a webstore that doubles up as a mobile site at zero additional cost.

Devour the Data

Knowledge is power. Staying updated about your market and using analytics tools that interpret your everyday business data can give you greater insights into your business.

Along with the popular tools like Google analytics if you can get additional tools to analyze your traffic, conversions, customer behaviour and read between these trends you can plan better and chart a steady growth path your business. Proper planning and identification of trends can help you gain an edge over competitors.  This can even help you survive the marketing and price cuts offered by Amazon, eBay or the others.

When you build online store with StoreHippo you get a host of tools and analytics as part of the powerful Admin that is mobile ready and allows you to manage your business on the go. You can use these tools for understanding the nuances of your business and identifying new opportunities to scale your business.

Conclusion

Ecommerce is one of the most rapidly growing industries across the globe and especially in India. Despite the dominance and huge marketing budget of bigwigs like Amazon, there is still lots of potential and space for smaller businesses to start an ecommerce business india and make it a success with right tools, strategy and most important by choosing the best among ecommerce website builders.

Go for smarter, future ready technology and explore the potential of your new business idea. Start your free trial store right away on StoreHippo to experience the powerful tools that give your business a head start.