by Lina Martinez
Right now, the world of online shopping is exploding in popularity. The sector continues to expand at double-digit rates, even as the traditional brick-and-mortar retailers struggle. There are, therefore, plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs to enter the space and start making money.
If you’ve got no money, though, there’s a problem. All businesses, even eCommerce companies, need startup capital, right?
Well, not exactly. Entry requirements in the eCommerce space are surprisingly low. So low, in fact, that you can pretty much get started without spending any money at all.
Use A Free Website Builder Tool
Setting up an eCommerce business is way easier than you might imagine. It’s so easy you will wonder why more people aren’t doing it.
Free website builders are a significant driver of this phenomenon. Third-party companies offer services that take care of your internet presence for you, giving you tools to build product pages and receive payments. What’s more, some of these services are free until you start selling. You often don’t need any capital in the bank at all to get started. The platform providers make their money by taking a cut from customers.
Use Influencers On Tik-Tok And Instagram For Marketing
Social media giants want small businesses like yours to spend massive chunks of their budget on paid marketing. It’s how they make their money. But if you create a compelling or beautiful product, you might not have to go down that route at all.
Another strategy is to look for micro-influencers or platforms like Instagram and Tik-Tok and use them as conduits for your products. Approaching these people is easy: just send them a message and some photos or samples of your product if it is relevant to their audience. They should hopefully take the bait, showcase your products, and slap them in from of their audiences for free.
Look For Cheap Or Free Shipping Services
Strictly speaking, shipping isn’t a cost borne by your business, but by your customers. Even so, it pays to get great UPS shipping rates. The lower you can get your delivery prices, the happier your customers will be.
What if you’re not doing fulfillment yourself? What then? The good news is that you still have options - all with a similar financial model to that of the eCommerce website builders we discussed above. Called “dropshipping,” this is a service whereby a third-party provider will both fulfill and ship orders made through your website. Again, many of these providers offer a pricing model where you only start paying when you begin selling.
Sell The Best-Selling Products First
If you’ve got no money, you need to drum up cash fast. While you might be tempted to sell a “niche” product, we wouldn’t recommend it. The problem with this approach is that it slows the whole process down and hampers your cash flow.
Look instead for the most popular products on Amazon and eBay. Then start stocking those in your inventor. You’ll find that products soon begin flying off the shelves.