E-Commerce Is Booming Currently!

We won’t blame you if you are feeling a bit shellshocked and overwhelmed after the recent spate of events, globally and locally. Life as we knew it is no more. They say change is as good as a holiday but we humans are creatures of comfort. Yes, we are stuck in our routine and most times not prepared for it, we don’t want to change but sometimes we are forced to change due to outside forces. Sometimes life throws us curveballs.

I heard a quote about the applecart once, I can’t quite remember it fully, but it goes something like this “There are three forces that can upset our applecart, 1) Your boss or your employer, 2) Yourself and 3) God, the Universe or Yoda or whoever you believe in.

If you’ve been aware of all the incidents in recent years, so much has happened. Pandemics, Recessions, Protests, Floods, Listeriosis and so on. We can not depend on one stream of income, we need a Plan B.

Please consider sharing this post with someone who you think might benefit.

“To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” ― Dr. Seuss –

MAKE MONEY WHILE YOU SLEEP!

The world is changing into a digital economy. If ever you dreamed of starting your own online business, now is the time. Now, it’s easier and achievable more than ever. Whether you are a moms and pops, jeweller, fashion store, baking cupcakes or selling home-cooked meals. You can set up an online sales machine that will bring in the sales even while you are sleeping. It’s convenient and accept real-time payments.

CASE STUDY: NIKKI SELLING ONLINE DURING MATERNITY LEAVE

Nikki is a mom of 2 boys, 18 months and 2 weeks old. Like most newborn moms, finance is an issue and sometimes you have to wait for UIF to kick in. Nikki chose to not leave her earnings to chance and the government. During her pregnancy, she began sourcing cosmetic products to sell online. She has an account with a national courier company. The courier collects the sale items before 4 pm and they are received by the buyers the next morning.

Nikki is taking home her slice of the $511 billion beauty industry.

The global beauty industry is worth $511 billion. (Jan 2022)

Best E-Commerce Businesses to start in 2022.

Some of the best products to sell online are Beauty & Cosmetics, Clothing, Shoes, Food, Furniture and Appliances, Books, Toys, etc,

See below:

The next slide is even more interesting: Food & Personal Care is the fastest-growing category.

Platforms: Should I go with Shopify or Woocommerce?

Over the years we have implemented many shopping cart platforms, Joomla VirtueMart, OpenCart, and Magento but the best and preferred are Shopify and Woocommerce. There are others as well like Wix, Squarespace

Woocommerce is our choice because you own the platform, and you have full control to upgrade the behaviour, look and feel of your online store. The costs are premium themes and plugins and web hosting. The drawback of Woocommerce is it’s more technical than Shopify.

Shopify is implemented for larger companies that have many products. They charge a fee of $29pm and an additional 2% transaction fee over and above your Merchant Fees(PayFast). The drawback of Shopify is you need to pay to stay on, if you stop paying you will lose your shop.

We are Shopify and Woocommerce Specialists.

Do I source my own products?

You can source your own products or you can use “dropshipping”. If you source your own products you have to ensure you have enough stock to avoid delays in shipping.

Dropshipping, what is it?

Dropshipping is when you resell somebody else’s products. You do not hold any stock. The buyer purchases on your online store and the order is fulfilled by your supplier. It’s a good strategy.

Payments and Merchant Accounts:

There are many ways to collect money from your buyers, Credit Card, EFT & Instant EFT, Zapper, Snapscan and more. You can even collect payments on terms with no risk using PayFlex. We use Payfast, but there are other merchants like Peach Payments, YOCO & PayStack.

Online Shop Tips:

Use High-Quality Images and various different image shots of the same product,
Make the navigation as user friendly as possible,
Use the live chat to help buyers choose and make it as easy as possible for them to purchase,
Make sure your site is a user-friendly and intuitive browsing experience,
Offer FREE SHIPPING – South African consumers hate paying for shipping.

Assisting online retailers with easy and convenient solutions. E-Commerce Consulting, Creation and Marketing of eCommerce Selling Platforms. Setup of Merchant Services, Credit Card payments, Snapscan and InstantEFT.