How to Create an Online Store for Your Offline Business

An online store can be made free of cost. That is the best way to take your offline business to the online world. An online store has several substantial benefits and can be a game-changer for your business. Plus, it is also easy.

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If you look at the nouveau riche in India, America, or China, you’ll see that most of them come from the world of technology. In India, businesses like Zomato, Paytm, Flipkart, and BYJU’s have attracted public attention with the revenue they’re mining each day. While purely offline businesses are hardly producing new billionaires, tech businesses are creating new unicorns every month. It would be best if you take your offline business online too, and the best way to do that is to start an online store. Create an online store for your online business and get into this high growth bandwagon.

This same pattern is seen even in the life of smaller businesses. Companies who have realized the top benefits of selling products online are approaching more customers virtually and are taking home more profits. Often, they are unwilling to share their simple secrets with more people. But it is easy to create an online store for your online business.

However, you don’t need to wait any longer to begin your journey to a technology revolution. With apps like aasaan, you can easily create an online store for your online business for free and attract more customers to your business. In the end, you and your business can also get more recognition for your contribution to society.

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So, what are the top 5 benefits of selling products online?

1. Make online sales without compromising on your offline sales.
2. The sales that you generate through an online store will not come in the way of your existing offline business. On the contrary, it will boost your net sales. So, we recommend that you create an online store for your online business now!
3. Create an online store for your online business and attract more customers
4. Several customers go online to first identify a shop for the product/service they want to buy (whether online or offline). If you have an online store, you’ll get more customer traffic who were, until now, going to your competitors with their online presence.
5. Retaining existing customers
6. Now is the age when big online stores sell everything online and acquire customers who earlier went to independent, small stores. Therefore, you must have an active online store so that your existing customers see that you are also valued online.
7. Moreover, with this, you will also get customers who would only go to big online stores. Several customers want to go local and support small businesses, but they need to find you first! Selling your products online gets customers to notice your brand.
8. Big opportunity for little investment
9. With an offline store, you invest more in rent, furniture, overhead charges, and staff. In comparison, you can start an online store at a lower cost and with lesser capital. Plus, your offline store only reaches out to a select group of people. However, once you create an online store for your online business — who knows, you may be the next Sachin Bansal (entrepreneur and co-founder of Flipkart) or Jack Ma (co-founder of Alibaba Group)!
10. Prestige and branding
11. For an entrepreneur, respect and social standing are of utmost importance. A businessperson spends money sponsoring programs, conducting functions, and distributing pamphlets to stay relevant in their customers’ minds.
12. In comparison, creating an online store is free and saves the time and effort that otherwise goes into creating social awareness for your business.

Often a customer judges you by your online presence. If they can find you through online searches, it makes you seem credible, and they are more likely to engage in business with you. On the other hand, if he sees next to nothing about you online, they might not be convinced of your genuineness and be more inclined to take their business elsewhere. The good news is that you can decide to make yourself credible by taking some simple steps as it is not difficult to create an online store for your online business.

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Now, let’s get down to how you can start your online store. You can succeed with the basic step of creating an online shopping website. However, some businesses reap more benefits when they adopt some additional online marketing strategies.

3 basic steps to create an online store for free

1. Get in touch with aasaan and ask them to make an online store
2. Yes, it’s just that simple! It is ‘aasaan’ but powerful. Just provide them with as many details as you can about your business. The team will create the online shopping website and release it to countless possible customers. You can even receive payments online.
3. Create social media profiles for your online store
4. You can market your online store better by creating Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram handles for it. This will help your business to have a better online presence. Apparel, gifting, bakery, books, jewellery, education are some areas in which social media marketing reigns. For instance, business coach Ankur Warikoo relies purely on social media for marketing.
5. Register your business in online business directories: There are various online business directories such as JustDial, Sulekha, and IndiaMart. Register your business there once you create an online store for your online business.

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Is there more you could do online to boost sales?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Once your online store starts producing results, your confidence in the potential of going online will rise. You’ll want to get more sales and make some necessary expenditures to grow your online business.

So, now you can undertake these additional steps to boost your business:

1. Digital marketing campaign: You can conduct a digital marketing strategy or exercise to enhance your online presence. It can include posting regularly on your social media handles. Castiko conducts music classes, and they almost purely market on Instagram to talk to their prospective students. Darjeeling tea retailer, Nathmulls, sells tea to customers worldwide through their website. It is one of the most noteworthy retailers of connoisseur tea. It is one business that has smoothly transitioned into the online world. Another instance is of Rupi Kaur, one of the world’s most famous living poets. Although a popular literary figure, when her book was rejected by everyone, she self-published it, became a sensation through Instagram, and the sale of her books has created history. You can only do a digital marketing campaign if you create an online store for your offline business!
2. Google Ads and leads: Features such as Google Ads generate leads for you. For a nominal amount, they will get customers to notice your business and walk into your online store. So once you create an online store for your online business, you can do very effective and accountable marketing.
3. Stores in online marketplaces: Amazon, Snapdeal, and Shopclues, enable you to sell your products through their platforms. This can exponentially boost your sales.

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In conclusion

Firstly, you must realize that an online store built for free can be very effective. While there are several ways to spend more on creating and promoting an online store, it is entirely optional.

Even if you create an online store for your online business for free and promote it without spending anything, you can still increase your sales. Some entrepreneurs are lucky enough to earn much more from made-for-free online stores than their offline stores. Vajra Handicrafts from Nepal is one such store. It caters to customers from all across the world through its online presence. Often, we don’t value activities or products we get for free, which may be a mistake. Take it seriously, and it can bring the additional sales you need.

In the pandemic era, we need to take more initiatives to continue our growth in the digital space. For those who have not gone for it yet, an online store may be the answer. Aasaan gives you an option to create your online shopping app for free. You need not spend much time planning anymore, as you can just do it by downloading this app to create your very own online store!