Want to sell online? These tech solutions can help

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The importance of being online

The mantra for every business, particularly small and medium ones, to go online has been doing the rounds for a while now. This became a necessity during the pandemic. The need to have a website or an app also gained momentum when Amazon, earlier this year, announced plans to digitally enable micro, small, and medium businesses across the country as part of a $1 billion investment pledge. The company has launched Local Shops on Amazon.in, offering shopkeepers and retailers with physical stores the ability to register to serve more customers from their local areas. Since the launch, more than 11,000 sellers have enrolled in the program. However, Amazon is not the only one. Here’s a look at some of the companies who can help you go online.

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Opt for Shopify

Founded in 2006, this Canadian company allows people to set up an online store and sell their products. Facebook Shops relies a great deal on a partnership with Shopify Inc. and its array of commerce tools for small businesses. Shopify has also made a deal with TikTok enabling merchants to create “shoppable” video ads that drive customers to online stores. The company which has its presence in 175 countries, started operating in India 2013. It lists more than 1000 partners across India. The numbers grew significantly during the pandemic. Small sellers, which retail mainly through Flipkart and Amazon, have now joined hands with Shopify to directly connect with consumers. The All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) has partnered with Shopify to help its around 4,500 members set up their own online storefronts. (Pic: Shopify/Facebook)

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Shopmatic’s success story

A Singapore-based company, Shopmatic, struck gold during the pandemic when small businesses rushed to go online. The company, which started its operations in India five years ago, crossed 5,00,000 merchants by June 2020. What went in their favour is the fact that there was a huge digital shift in Tier-2 and 3 towns and cities. Today, 40% of the Shopmatic’s customers come from Bharat and its app has more than a million downloads. Shopmatic offers different online mediums for individual entrepreneurs and SMEs to operate such as customized online stores, selling through social and chat commerce, selling on multiple marketplaces with integrated global payment options and shipping solutions. (Text: Garima Bora)

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Get registered at GoDaddy

One of the most popular names in web hosting services, GoDaddy came into existence in 1997 and launched its operations in India in 2012. It came up with Hindi, Marathi and Tamil language services in 2017. As of June 2020, GoDaddy has more than 20 million customers. The company offers products ranging from domain names, hosting, website building, email marketing, security protections and an online store. In July this year, GoDaddy and joined hands with India’s crowdfunding platform Ketto to support local businesses recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling them to start crowdfunding campaigns on Ketto and raise funds to support their essential business expenses. The company’s current brand ambassador is MS Dhoni who has been encouraging small businesses to build an online presence. (Pic: GoDaddy/Facebook)

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Making e-commerce easy

Magento provides a complete set of services needed for building e-commerce stores. It designs and develops web stores that are tailored to match the needs of the clients. It has over 400 clients from the US, UK, Australia, India. The company has launched Magento 2 which claims to give the merchants complete control over their online stores. As a part of Magento 2 development services the company provides customized solutions that align with needs and objectives of businesses. (Pic: Magento/Facebook)

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Create your website

Wix allows users to create websites and mobile sites. Its advertisements are mostly visible on YouTube. The company was launched in 2006 and has offices in the United States, Canada, Germany and India. Wix has 189 million subscribers after 7.8 million joined in the quarter for a 42% year over year rise. It added 302,000 premium subscriptions, up 164%, to 5.3 million. Users can choose from over 500 design templates and use the easy drag and drop method to create their website. The company primarily helps small businesses in building and operating their websites. (Pic: Wix/Facebook)