How to Create an Online Store in India – FAQs & Best Practices

How to create an online in store in India is something that thousands of people have been talking about. Today, shifting from a 100% offline business to a mix of both, offline and online is not as difficult a process as it was a decade back. We can extend our thanks to all those easy to use tools and softwares that have empowered everyone and helped each one to find out the best within. 

In fact, it is expected that Indian e-commerce market will reach US$ 99 billion by 2024, growing at a 27 per cent CAGR over 2019-24, with grocery and fashion/apparel likely to be the key drivers of incremental growth. 

There is a  massive growth on all the folds in the industry. Add to it the ease of the online marketplace and brought in for both – sellers and buyers. Well, it is clear that the future, for most of the businesses, is online. This article is aimed at answering all the questions in regards to how to create an online store in India. 

Come, let’s get the basics right! 

#01: How do I create my online store?

There are multiple ways you can choose to create an online store. Before you get started, sit back and list down all the things you would want your online business to have.

Some of the suggestions that you can add to your list are:

• Detailed product description: Decide how much detail you want to disclose for each of your products. If you want to add a one-pager, ensure that the platform you choose to create an online store allows you to do that. 
• Grid view to display products: Decide how you want to portray your products or services. It can be a listicle format, a grid format or the one where products are randomly placed. 
• Blog for your business: Spend some to understand at what stage would you want to create content and publish on your blog. Ensure your website builder has a CMS in place for it.

Having the basics clear will help you choose the right platform while ensuring that you pay only for what you want. A bizarre decision might cost you thousands of rupees every month. 

[Suggested Reading: How to Set up an Efficient Online Store]

After you have a list ready, you will have two ways to choose from – using a website builder or developing the website with the help of a developer. If you decide to go ahead with the former, run detailed market research and analysis to understand what fits your requirement. For the second option, you can discuss your needs with the developer and work together to get the basic structure in place. 

However, you might need a little developer assistance to add special effects or functionalities. 

Razorpay Payment Pages

In case you are looking for a comprehensive no-code platform wherein you can enter the basic details and get started, you can explore Razorpay Payment Pages. Here’s a quick highlight of this product:

• Quick on-boarding & minimal documentation requirement 
• No credit card details required, i.e. no setup and annual maintenance charges 
• Access to personalised URL that is easy to share on any platform 
• Unlimited product listings and 100+ payment options 
• Supports international payments and has on-call support 

Insider: Over thousand people with minimal tech knowledge bumped into this solution while searching for how to create an online store in India and haven’t looked for a change since then. 

#02: How much does it cost to build an online store in India?

The answer is – it all depends on how you plan to take your store online. It can be free of cost, as mentioned above with Razorpay Payment Pages wherein you only pay for every successful transaction that happens via your store. 

If you choose to use a website builder to create an online store, it can cost you anything between INR 1,500-INR 30,000 month-on-month depending on the level of customisations, plugins and services used. These are just the website hosting platform charges. You will also be charged for the domain you secure for your business. 

Alternatively, if you choose to develop your website with the help of a developer, you will have to pay a one-time lump sum amount. Further, either you can build an in-house CMS or hire a developer to make minute edits. 

It isn’t easy to give a numerical answer to this question since a lot of factors like functionalities needed, add-on services and customisations come into the picture. 

#03 What products can I sell online?

Everything. The year 2020 has been a significant turning point for businesses from every fold in India. Who would have thought that a nearby laundry fellow or a kirana store owner would take orders via WhatsApp and send a link to make the payment? But here we are. 

A mix of all these tools have made life simple and products accessible to everyone.

All you need to build a stronghold in the market is a smooth and accessible customer experience, visibility and variety of products. Use a multi-channel approach to get maximum eyeballs. Decode the potential that different social media channels have, run offers and leverage the age-old tool called word-of-mouth well. 

Pro-tip: If you have just started with an online business and are looking for a payments partner, you can use Razorpay Payment Buttons. It is one of the easiest ways to accept payments. You quickly create a button, copy the code and paste it wherever you want to accept payments from. In fact, with this, you can offer 100+ payment modes to your customers. 

#04 Is online selling profitable?

Of course, it is. One of the misconceptions that a lot of businesspeople have is that if they go online, their profit margins will reduce. Well, that isn’t true. Businesses have saved a considerable amount of money when they moved 100% online. 

All your overhead expenses like commute, electricity bill, maintenance of the store come down to zero. You can run your entire business from home while managing your team remotely. 

It is wrong to say that online selling is not profitable because there’s significantly less scope to bargain. Payments can be asked for in advance within a secure ecosystem like Razorpay Payment Gateway. 

#05 Why is my online store not selling?

With a plethora of options in the market for everyone’s needs, it is becoming difficult to be found. There might be times, especially in the initial times of your online business journey that you might feel that the sales are not increasing, visitors are not converting and so on. 

It might get challenging to make a space for yourself in the online market. At a point where you feel stuck, brainstorm on what can be done differently. Listed below are some of the options you can explore and experiment with to boost your sales: 

• Run an online contest and offer goodies or discounts to the winners 
• Offer limited time deals like buy one, get one 
• Onboard an influencer, sign a contract with them and run a week long campaign
• Partner with a brand in the same market as yours and cross sell the products

If you have time and resources, try to delve deeper to understand why a significant chunk of the traffic prefers a competitor above you and once you find out, try something that is a step ahead from them. 

[Also Read: How to Sell Online Without a Website]

For a broader audience, across geographies, you can choose to experiment with influencer marketers.

Pro-tip: One of the reports suggest that the reasons people decide to buy include competitive pricing (36%), preferred website (30%), best delivery options and price (17%), stock availability (14%).

#06 What do people buy most online?

This is one of the questions that has no accurate answers. In the world we are living in, people buy almost everything online. Call it the laziness to step out to buy the things or the lucrative offers that are available online, the fact is everything ranging from the toiletries, clothes and groceries are purchased online. 

Yet if we are to answer this, one of the top things that especially that the millennial generation looks for online is groceries and clothing. A recent report suggested that shoppers from all age groups across India are looking at health & beauty products, home decor materials, hobbies and craft products, mobile accessories and pet products. 

But if you are looking at starting an online business, take some time off to think about the location you will be catering to, the age group, the level of accessibility and so on and accordingly invest in your next big idea. 

#07 How do I advertise my online store?

If you are an individual or a business with an online store in place already, you can choose to explore platforms like Instagram and Facebook depending on where your audience is majorly active. Evaluate and see if running ads is a thing for your business. 

Some of the ways to advertise your online store can be: 

• Getting in touch with local publishers to get an ad published in local and national newspaper to increase awareness
• Understand the scope of running paid ads on social media channels like LinkedIn, Quora, Facebook & so on
• Explore target communities and market your product and services to get in touch with the right set of audience 

Other marketing channels that you can explore are influencer marketing, email marketing, referral marketing and so on. 

#08 How do online stores work?

Online stores enable businesses to reach diverse audiences across borders. There is a list of online store builders that assist individuals in setting up a store within minutes. Both the business owner and the customer need to have internet access to make use of an online store. 

Usually, an online store has a payments partner like Razorpay that helps a customer place an order and make the payment.

Well, for now, this is it. 

Are you a business owner looking to simplify digital payments for your customer? Explore Razorpay payments suite to get the industry best success rates and allow us to assist you in the best possible way. 

If you have any more questions, please write to us in the comment section, and we shall answer them soon!