The United Kingdom is the 4th largest market for e-commerce with annual revenue of $117.7 billion in 2021. With an increase of 12%, the e-commerce market contributed to the worldwide growth rate of 15% in 2021. 

 The biggest e-commerce player in the Uk is Amazon. In 2020 Amazon achieved $14.7 billion in sales. It is followed by Tesco with $7.6 billion in sales and Argos with a turnover of $5.4 billion. In total, the top three stores account for 25% of Uk online sales.

From the market growth, you have probably understood that e-commerce’ potential is huge. Before setting up your own e-commerce brand, Elon Musk suggested young people develop a set of skills to survive in the highly competitive market.

E-commerce essential skill set:

  • Time management: planning priorities carefully, setting goals, carrying them out, and iterating are all crucial. Without the proper project management and time allocation approach that gets the job done, none of that would result in progress.
  • Efficiency: high performance is required when trying to solve a problem, using alternative methods such as the 80/20 rule to get better outcomes faster. Changing between different tasks and making effective daily progress.
  • Communication: each and every encounter with clients, partners, peers, clients, and prospects requires clear and straightforward communication.
  • Sales: have no trouble reaching out to new people and generating new business prospects. Identifying the most effective sales channels and making significant development investments in them. Building prospects for growth through reliable revenue streams and sales funnels.

 How to start your own e-commerce company? Here are 10 steps to help you:

Step 1: choose your e-commerce business model. The following are the conventional business models:

 

B2B (Business-to-Business): Online sales of products or services by businesses to other businesses. Examples of large e-commerce companies that use this business model include CRM software supplier Salesforce and VoIP phone service RingCentral.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is the most popular type and involves online transactions between companies and consumers. Successful B2C brands include ASOS, HelloFresh, and Tenzing.

Online transactions between customers are part of C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) e-commerce. Typically, a middleman platform like Etsy, PayPal, or eBay facilitates it.

C2B (Consumer-to-Business): This e-commerce paradigm, made popular by the freelancer hiring site UpWork, refers to customers who offer services to companies.

Step 2: Select your value delivery method. For example:

– Dropshipping

– Wholesaling and Warehousing

–  Private labelling 

– Subscription 

Step 3: Do your market research. Take your time looking at your target market, competitors, your audience, suppliers, product, shipping

Step 4: Write your e-commerce business plan 

Step 5: Choose the legal status of your business. Here, you can choose to sign up as a:

  • As a sole trader, you are completely responsible for all gains and losses.
  • Partnership (you and another individual will split control and earnings)
  • Limited liability partnership (a partnership in which the company and its finances are a separate entity to your own)
  • Limited liability company (a private corporation in which the assets of the shareholders are protected and the scope of the shareholders’ liability to the creditors of the company is constrained)

Step 6: Choose and set up your company name

Step 7: Develop your business’s online shop. For this, you can hire a developer or use tools like Shopify or Wix.

Step 8: Start taking payments. The most common providers are Paypal, WorldPay and SumUp. 

Step 9: Market your business: 

  • Social media ( Facebook/Instagram/Tik-Tok ads)
  • Influencers 
  • Ambassadors 

 

Step 10: Outsource your order fulfilment

Congratulations!!!

You now have a fully functional e-commerce store.

You did your homework, carefully selecting your business model, value delivery method, and market niche. You learned about your target market, your competitors, and the seemingly endless red tape that comes with registering an e-commerce business.

You transformed your creative vision into a functional commercial website. You are now prepared to drive growth through ongoing marketing efforts as well as by refining and streamlining your order fulfilment process.

The only thing left to do is to begin selling.

Best wishes!