How much does it cost to start an e-Commerce Business?

How much does it cost to start an e-Commerce Business?

The eCommerce Business is one of the best businesses nowadays which can be started from a single person even or two people together can start this eCommerce Business?

If they plan and follow the path carefully and in deep while understanding the basic requirements to run this eCommerce Business then I am damn sure that these two people and even a person can run this business successfully.


Costs Involve starting an eCommerce Business-


The below table contains the information regarding the total cost involves in starting an eCommerce Business.

Items

Who do you need to set up this?

How much will it cost?


Company Incorporation (MOA, AOA, PAN Card, Company Legal Entity, Bank Account)


CA, Accountant or Company Secretary

USD 135 (India)

Payment Gateway (To accept Credit Card, Net Banking or Debit Card Online)

EBS, CC Avenue, your Bank (Axis, HDFC, etc.)

USD 350 (Initiation Fee) 2 – 4% Transaction Fee (Negotiable) 
------------------------------
USD 7- USD 20 Monthly Fee (can get this waived)


eCommerce Software

Shopping Cart Software Companies (Shopify, Big Commerce, MartJack, IQecommerce) + Do the Catalog Setup Yourself


USD 13 to USD 135 per Month Starting

eCommerce Team (Optional If You Use off-the-shelf Hosted Software)


Build your own team of 2 People to custom Build eCommerce Storefront

USD 2000 to Rs. USD 3500 per Month

Computer, Machines, Servers for Developers (If you are building a Team)


Go, Daddy, Big Rock, your Local PC Reseller

USD 679 + USD 135 per Month for Hosting (Basic Plan)

Office Space (If you have a Team that wants to work in an office)

Get a small, Cheap shared Space instead of a Big Swanking Office

USD 68 per Month

Shipping

Blue Dart, Aramex or Fed Ex (AFL)

USD 270 (Setup Account, Negotiable to Zero) + USD  per Shipment (Up to 500 Grams in Weight)


Initial Marketing

Do It Yourself (Poster, Flyers, Send Email to Friends)


Typically Zero, but Budget USD 270

Computer (Desktop or Laptop) + Internet + Phone


Assuming You don’t have one already

USD  400 + USD 30 per Month (for a good Internet Connection)

Total Starting Costs
 
Minimum: USD 1358 plus USD 340 per Month (using Hosted Shopping Cart Software) Maximum: USD 5500 plus USD 2700 per month (Building a Team and Hosting Yourself)


About eCommerce

If you are doing eCommerce business then you are getting job independence, life satisfaction, and financial success through this business. So business is providing success to an individual person but if he is really making efforts to get the positive results through this business.

To run an eCommerce business, you need to prepare a lot of plans and then you need to make a lot of decisions like you need to choose the right product for your eCommerce store, its promotions, and many more things you need to do.

We understand that this is not as easy as it looks likes. But this is not so hard that we cannot do. But we need to use our efforts to make it true.


Domain

You need to purchase a domain as well that will cost you around USD 0 to USD 14 for your business. You need to choose the right domain on the basis of your business that you are running on your own. Normally, your domain must match your business.

You should purchase your domain from reputed websites such as GoDaddy, Domain.com, and Namecheap.com, BlueHost.com, HostGator.com, etc. You can buy your domain from this website.

Hosting

Hosting also plays an important role here, because, without a hosting plan, you can never make your website live on the Internet. So to make it live you need to purchase a Hosting plan. There are websites for example: - BlueHost.com, GoDaddy.com, HostGator, etc.

With BlueHost, you may get an option and that is a one-year free domain with your hosting plan.

Also read: 7 Best Hosting for E-commerce companies 

Branding

For this, the total cost involves is from USD 0 to USD 20,000. As the name specifies itself, branding is a key that represents your complete business as a whole. Brand specifies a company's value, its identity in the market, and its audience in the market. You can easily make a brand to your business by doing some promotional things for example – creating a business logo, Visual Assets, etc. You will require to create a brochure that completely represents your business and provides all necessary information about your business.

Store Design

For this purpose, the total cost involves USD 0 to USD 500,000. Store Design stands for your website design, once you have purchased your domain name and hosting plan then your need to hire a website designer who will design your website on the basis of your business requirements. Your designer will design your website as an eCommerce store and will display there all the products available for sale.

The designer will design the store templates as well which will display the product information as well. Please advise your designer to add HTML, CSS, and Javascript all-around your website.


Manufacturing

This is too much costly than other things. The cost involves here from USD 1,000 to USD 100,000 and maybe more. Creating the product page is something, where you need to take some stress to think over it and to plan about it, and process the same.


Photography

You need to hire a photographer or else you need to purchase photography equipment. The cost per photo will cost you around USD 25 per photo. Through an online photos gallery, you may not find relevant photos of your products so to get publish a real image of your product; you need to purchase excellent and high-quality photography equipment. With the real photos, the visitors who are coming to your eCommerce website to purchase the products will be able to get the actual information about the products and so a clear picture of your product will help you to understand the products completely.


Inventory and Logistics

The cost involving in this depends on your business’s products, total sales volume, and your customer location. Inventory and Logistics, both are very important parts of the Retailer business. Now Inventory Management has become so easy because today modern features are available.

To manage your Logistics, a transportation company will solve your all issues regarding pickup and delivery. Nowadays, many professional companies are providing both inventory and logistics services.

Software Tools

The cost involves in this, depends on the number of tools you are purchasing for your eCommerce business to run. To run your business smartly, you will require to purchase some software as well which are mandatory and important as well for your business to run smoothly. Such as you will require software for finance, account, inventory, marketing, operations, and for others as well. You can check these software tools on Shopify’s App Platform. It might be that you will require to purchase this software by paying some cost as well as it depends on its manufacturers.

Also read: Other E-commerce Platforms/Marketplaces Vs Your Own E-commerce Site: Which is Better?

For each software tool, the cost will differ depending on their category and requirements.

Accounting Software Tools

XERO – USD 20 to USD 40 per month
WAVE – USD 0
INTUIT- USD 10 to USD 75 per month



List Building

SUMO – Normally, this is free of cost but for its advance version, you will require to pay USD 40 per month
optinmonster – USD 9 to USD 49 per month
THRIVE LEADS – USD 67 for one License

Also read: How to do E-commerce SEO


Email Marketing

MAILCHIMP – Free for Basic Accounts

KLAVIYO – This is free for up to 250 contacts; the basic plan will start from USD 20 per month.
Campaign Monitor – Basic Plan start with USD 9 per month

Also Read: Best E-mail Marketing Strategies


Customer Support

LiveChat – USD 16 to USD 50 per month
InterCom - USD 38 to USD 78 per month
Olark – USD 17 per month per agent

Must read: 15 Reasons why E-commerce companies need HubSpot?


As you can see above some tools information is most important for you while running your own eCommerce business. But you may require other software as well depending on your business category.

With this, you need to hire your office staff as well, because you only cannot perform all the tasks so you will require a complete team to run the system and to run your company. The cost will differ depending on your company size, your business requirements, and other factors too. These staff may your Company Account Manager, Content Manager, Web Designer, Software Developer, Marketing Manager, Finance Manager, etc.

You will require spending the money on marketing as well. Again depending on your company size, your company products, and your budget as well, you will require making expenses on this marketing.


Conclusion

Hence, as you have seen above, then things are clear that you need to spend a lot of money to start your own eCommerce business. So this is not an easy task and cannot be worked out easily by anyone. You will require more money, patience, skills, and experience to get started with an eCommerce business and then to start earning with this business.