Ultimate Guidelines for Building a Successful E-Commerce Business in Tanzania
In 1979, when Michael Aldrich designed a system to connect modified domestic TV to real-time transactions, having an online business was still a dream. The Internet opened up to commercial use in the 1990s and thousands of businesses took up residence on websites.
Web technology changed the way businesses operate and how customers purchase goods and services. Buyers can easily search through a large database of products and services. They can compare prices with a click of a mouse and buy a selected product at the best prices.
Similar to the growing activities in Kariakoo market in Dar es Salaam; the popularity of online marketplaces shows no signs of slowing down, so starting your own e-commerce business in Tanzania might just be your best move.
You can develop an e-commerce site that looks and functions exactly the way you want, helping you to meet the needs of your customers and your business more effectively.
In this article, we will be looking at the core requirements for building e-commerce websites for businesses in Tanzania.
First, What is an e-commerce?
E-commerce, or electronic commerce, refers to transactions conducted via the Internet. Every time individuals and companies are buying or selling products and services online they’re engaging in e-commerce. The term e-commerce also encompasses other activities including online auctions, Internet banking, payment gateways, and online ticketing.
Before Building an e-commerce Website
Over the past 10 years, e-commerce has been one of the fast-growing segments of the retail industry, the size and speed of the boom have been truly astounding.
There are already several online stores existing on the world wide web. However, there is still a wider range of opportunities in creating a successful e-commerce site than ever before. But first, it’s important to create a clear e-commerce business plan.
What are you selling?, Who is your target market? How much money will you need to invest to get your e-commerce business off the ground?. These questions may seem like no-brainers, but it’s worth taking some time to sit down and map out a clear strategy.
Developing Your E-Commerce platform
Determine the tools you need to use to design, develop and operate your site.
After you have your business plan in place and ready to focus on your new online investment, it’s time to start creating your e-commerce web site. Your e-commerce platform is the most important technological component of your store.
You can decide to develop your e-commerce platform from scratch by working with experienced software developers or by using e-commerce development tools.
The top factors that you should consider when you’re looking for the right model to build an e-commerce platform are;
- Time
- Money
- Nature of your business
When you’re considering which website building tools to use, make sure that the applications you choose, support all of the functionalities that you want on your website.
Selecting Your Web Host for E-commerce
It is important to find a hosting provider that can accommodate all tools and features you need.
Now that you’ve got an idea about how you’re going to build your website, you need to think about where to host it. In order for your online business to be successful, you need to pay special attention to the type of hosting you’ll go for, and the provider.
There are hundreds of different web hosting providers to choose from, so how can you be sure you’re making the best decision? Here is a list of the most important things you need to keep in mind before you commit to a hosting option:
- Host-based security services — How secure the credit card payments are on that particular server.
- Access to an email server is critical — If you’re interested in having email addresses that match your domain name.
- Solid customer and technical support — A good hosting provider will be able to answer your questions and help you quickly address any day-to-day problems that may arise.
- Bandwidth — Be sure it offers the bandwidth to support all of the traffic to your site and meets your needs for guaranteed uptime
- Frequent backups — Just in case your site goes down and you need to recover your files.
Remember, It’s often said that the best things in life are free, but when it comes to web hosting, this may not be the case. If you’re running an e-commerce site, a free hosting provider may not give you the reliability or features you need to keep your customers happy.
Register a Domain Name
Domain name is a web address for visitors to find your business on the Internet e.g. www.nameofyourstore.co.tz
Apart from Web Hosting, a website needs a domain name which is the address through which visitors find it on the Internet. It is through this address that your visitors access your business website on the Internet.
Pick something that your customers will find easy to remember, your domain name should tell people what you’re about, for example, a name like “ViatuStore.com” clearly tells people that it’s a shoe retailer.
You’ll need to pay domain registration fees, which will vary depending on which domain name you choose and the service provider. You can buy or register a domain name through a local domain name registration service in Tanzania or you can buy from any international domain name registrar.
Picking a Payment Solution
Weigh your options to choose the right payment gateway for you.
Before you can get paid, you need to set up your accepted payment methods. That’s why you’ll want to make sure that you not only choose the right payment gateway but that it works well with your e-commerce platform.
What is a payment gateway?
A payment gateway is a merchant service that authorizes and processes payments for online and offline retailers. Simply put, payment gateways enable you to accept payments on your website.
There are several payment gateways in the market, and some of the top ones are PayPal, 2Checkout, and Stripe. The primary factors to look at when deciding on a payment gateway are the following:
- Fees
- Payment types
- E-Commerce integration
It is vital to select a payment gateway that accommodates your customers; it would make sense for a Tanzanian based e-commerce to select a payment gateway that integrates mobile payment solutions and cash on delivery as alternatives.
Integrating a Shopping Cart for your E-Commerce Site
Your customers are going to need a way to select items and buy them, so find a shopping cart solution that meets your needs.
At brick-and-mortar stores, shoppers pick items from shelves and usually bring them to a cashier when they’re finished shopping. You’ll need to set up a similar system commonly called a shopping cart solution for your online store.
Typically, shopping cart software allows people to select items from web pages, add them to their “cart,” and walk them through the purchase process when they are ready to check out.
When choosing a shopping cart to go with your payment processing solution, make sure it’s supported by your hosting provider and look to see if the cart offers the payment and shipping options you need.
There are a number of open-source carts with active communities like WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento. You can also create your own shopping cart by programming it from scratch using PHP, MySQL and other programming languages or by hiring professionals.
Obtain Credible Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Security
SSL provides authentication of your website and enables an encrypted connection.
Having a nice website design and seamless integration with a payment system is great, but that won’t mean a thing if you and your customers aren’t protected from fraud and theft.
To build a successful e-commerce website, you need a secure server that encrypts information between you and client devices used by your customers, preventing it from being intercepted by malicious people.
You need to acquire an SSL certificate, which would be used for encrypting your data and providing a more secure shopping environment for your customers.
If customers don’t believe that a site is secure, they won’t choose to spend their hard-earned money there. By using a reliable SSL certificate provider, you’ll be able to arm your site against online threats and send your customers a clear message that your company can be trusted.
What is an SSL Certificate?
SSL certificates are small data files that you install on your site that will encrypt logins, passwords, credit card numbers and other information so that hackers can’t intercept the data and decode it. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser.
Marketing Your E-Commerce Site
Using email marketing and social media together for e-commerce.
Congratulations! You have successfully built your own e-commerce platform — but that means nothing — unless you know how to properly market your online business.
E-Commerce, like every other business, must be marketed to potential buyers and users. You will need to develop strategies to use when you market your e-commerce site based on time and money. Remember there’s a lot of noise on the Internet but you can stand up by picking a niche and focus your efforts in reaching out to your customers.
Social media sites are a huge asset in establishing your online presence due to it’s limitless potential.
Social media marketing is all about consistency — posting regularly at times that fit with your customers’ schedules allows you to frequently reach and engage buyers.
Most website visits begin on search engines such as Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and the like. You can maximize the chances of your brand being discovered through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies when people visit and use search engines. SEO strategies will help you target buyers by positioning your brand on top of search engine results by using common phrases and popular keywords.
Another effective strategy you can employ to market your e-commerce website is using Emails. Email marketing can be used to target buyers with promotions, offers, ads etc that are designed to cater to specific needs of your contacts.
Conclusion
E-commerce has made it possible for entrepreneurs to extend their reach further than they could ever imagined. You’ve just read about all of the different components that go into creating a successful e-commerce website.
If you need additional advice or insights, we’re here to help.
Entrepreneurs who want to start a new e-commerce project and need professionals to discuss their ideas with or solve an issue can contact us at any time. Our experienced e-commerce professionals can help new businesses implement the right strategy in this fast growing industry.
Written by Bernard Mwakililo who is an author at Ellipsis Digital. He write tech related topics that explore better ways to use technology to improve businesses.
