The online businesses industry is expanding. However, we’ve seen that many online businesses in Sri Lanka have difficulty gaining a foothold. Learning how to build a successful and profitable online business takes time. There are numerous advantages to starting a business online. You can work from the comfort of your own home, establish your hours, and focus on a market you’re passionate about. Beginning an online business in Sri Lanka may be easier but in order to expand and sustain, you need to follow the same steps as starting a conventional firm. This five-step guide to creating an internet business will help you navigate and launch your new venture successfully.
1. Choose a business idea
Niche is a term used to describe your company’s “focus area,” which is a certain market group or demographic that you primarily serve. This can range from amateurs (such as gymnasts) to professionals (such as post-stamp collectors). Your new business must have a focus. What are the best ways to locate one? Check to see if your audience has the following:
- You have an issue that no one else has addressed enough.
- Customers should be willing to pay to resolve the issue.
- Sufficient disposable income to cover the cost of the solution.
2. Assess the viability of your company concept
After deciding to establish a business and developing an idea, you must validate it. This procedure might be as straightforward as speaking with prospective clients and inquiring about their requirements and willingness to consider your solution. However, when launching an online business in Sri Lanka, there are extra tools for market research.
- Examine customer Reviews
- A landing page should be created.
- Investigate prospective clients.
3. Begin drafting a business plan for your new venture
Once you’ve figured out how many people would be interested in your product or service, it’s time to put together a business strategy. Fortunately, you’ve already put out the foundations of your business strategy during the process of establishing and evaluating your concept. It’s time, though, to put it into a framework that you can use to seek investment, make financial projections, and return to when your company expands in size.
- Start with a Lean Business Plan
- Rather than waiting six weeks to get started, try a Lean Business Plan. A Lean Plan streamlines the planning process by eliminating unnecessary details.
- Analyze the market
- The research of your business concept has already provided you with some of the data needed to do a market analysis. SWOT analysis and detailed market research are important to verify the potential market for your goods and to locate your competitors. As you enter the market, it can also assist you in determining distribution strategies, price models, and other relevant competitive advantages.
- Consider how much money and how much success you’ve had
- Spend some time figuring out how much money you’ll need to get your business off the ground and how you’ll pay for it. Think about the indicators you should be watching in order to see if your online business is headed in the correct path, even if it’s only a side gig at the moment.
4. Create a website for your business
Now that you have your business plan in place, you may begin the process of launching your website. But trying to set up a demo landing page isn’t going to be as straightforward as that. In order to properly represent your company, you must make a lot of decisions about the platform, hosting, and design. An online business’s website is its most important marketing tool; thus, it must appropriately portray its products, services, and mission.
5. It should be made legal
You’ll need to take a few steps to ensure that your firm is lawful. There are some small distinctions between online and brick-and-mortar businesses, but in general, the principles remain the same.
- Learn about the rules that apply to your online business.
- Laws governing internet businesses are the most significant difference between conducting business online and doing business face-to-face, according to experts. Your customer’s personal information, as well as other matters of privacy and intellectual property, are all covered by these laws.
- Become a legal business entity.
- Make a decision about the legal form of your company. Forming a Private Limited Company is a popular choice for many online businesses in Sri Lanka, but you need to do your homework to see if it is right for you. You might need to have a business registration to get access to a payment gateway and even to buy an LK domain.
- Educate yourself on the tax responsibilities of operating an online business.
Please let us know if you have any further questions after reading this “7 easy steps to start online businesses in Sri Lanka” piece. If so, please forward it along to your friends and colleagues. With our expertise in SEO and Social Media Marketing, we’ve worked with countless business owners just like you to build their eCommerce websites and promote them online.
Please know that we at Gowoma Solutions wish you the best as you begin the process of developing your eCommerce website. To get your eCommerce website up and running in Sri Lanka, do not hesitate to contact us.