Ecommerce is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and none more so than in Singapore. However, even though starting one can increase your success rate in the country, most people do not realize that it takes more than just setting up a payment portal and website.
A significant amount of preplanning, market research and creativity are just some of the elements that make a successful marketing campaign for online buyers and significant amount of capital. However, research takes precedence since your plan will hinge on the idea your brand will based on.
Step 1 – Research the native market
If you are an expatriate to Singapore and wish to start an ecommerce business in the country then market research should be your first order of business. Your potential audience may be broad, but you will need to figure out a particular niche they are interested in to attract them in greater numbers. For this purpose, it is vital that you analyze whether your idea is viable or not before spending your hard earned capital on a fruitless endeavor. The research and its analysis will help you hone in on a viable idea, fine tune it and implement/discard it according to your brand’s needs.
Step 2 – Create a business plan accordingly
Once the brainstorming session comes to an end with a practical business idea, the next step should be to come up with a feasible business plan that can complement it. It should address the following queries:
- Key benefits and features of your products/services
- Sales and marketing strategy to pinpoint your potential customers and determine processes to reach out to them.
- Determine products/services that have the best value proposition and which you can offer with limited resources. This includes identifying the least number of resources you will need to attract your first customers. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect, you just need to know what your potential customers need and cater to them. You can plan your cash flows to aid you during worse case scenarios as you go along.
- Speaking of cash flow, you will also need to determine costs for your start up, its operations, revenue and profits before setting a budget you can stick to realistically. Being overly optimistic about prospects can backfire and so can being miserly with expenditures.
- Determine how your brand can fare against competitors by examining their services and to get an idea on how you can set your prices to compete on even ground. This includes targeting relevant customers particularly in a crowded marketplace.
Step 3 – Incorporate according to Singapore’s business requirements
Before you can implement your business plan in Singapore, you need to incorporate your online business according to the country’s rules and regulations. A simple analysis will determine liability risks, tax requirements and even your capability of raising capital to operate it. Doing so will take a day at least but it would be a good idea to hire a service that is experienced to keep to this timeline.