E-commerce has reshaped the way how we sell goods and services in recent years thanks to the advancements in internet technology. With the increasing demand for online purchasing, more and more businesses are moving to e-stores from brick and mortar stores.

Providing customers with 24*7 access to their products and business updates is what every business looking to do. But before getting all pumped up already, there are few things, or rather questions you should ask yourself before proceeding, let’s take a look at those:

1. What problem are you going to solve?

There are many problems and pain points in the market that you are going to serve. So, it's better to start with a solution in mind and work your way up. What problem do you want to solve? And how you are going to solve it better than your competitors? 
If you are able to help out your customers with those, your sales can skyrocket instantly. Look for ways in which you can solve the problem in the simplest of the way and put that solution/services on your e-commerce store/website.

2. Which market are you targeting? 

Note down the traits of the market customers you are willing to target. What are their needs? What do they look for? What are their problems? Now try to align these values with your product and service offerings. 
It's important to realize that no matter how hard you try; you cannot entertain all the customers from your target market. So best is to target a particular category of buyers and prepare your strategy according to that. 

3. Are you offering your product/service at the right price?

Buyers always look for good 'value-for-money' products and will easily give up their favourite brand if they find something of the same quality at a lesser price. So, your goal should be to price your item just right enough to get into the league with your competitors. 
Once customers start trusting your brand and your product quality, they will be willing to pay whatever price tag you put. But of course, the quality of your product/service is the main deciding factor here.

4. How will you host your e-commerce website?

It is very important to choose the hosting provider for your e-commerce website wisely. Dedicated hosting is another thing you may consider which means that you will get your own server all to yourself giving you full control to the machine-level configurations.
Whereas, if you decide to go for shared hosting, you will be sharing the server with other websites and your server space will be limited, but it is cheaper than dedicated hosting.

5. How will you handle the payment processing?
You can allow your customers to pay via different means – credit card, debit card, COD or the store wallet. Along with making sure you're providing them with the freedom to choose any of the supported means, you also need to consider several other things as well, such as the plugins and extensions you may need in order to support whichever payment option you decide to go for, the payment gateway, or how this payment option will impact your e-commerce website?

Getting your own e-commerce website designed and set up could be a complex task, but keeping in mind the above-mentioned things could really help you out. However, if you’re looking to start your own online store and sell on an online marketplace, then Apni Market is the right platform for you. Do reach us at [email protected] to know more.