How To Manage A Small Business In India?

Small business in India has the potential to become ‘the’ thing, especially now during the lockdown.

Not only has social media come in full support of home-based businesses, but they’re also encouraging more business owners to step into the eCommerce world.

There are many pros and cons of running a small business  of your own, especially if you don’t quite have the resources to do so.

You will face many challenges when it comes to shipping, packaging, costs, etc. To make things simpler, we offer some tips for small businesses to help you initiate the process smoothly.

Tips For Small Business In India That Will Help You

 

Manage Your Shipping Costs.

First, it is important to understand the calculation of the costs involved in the shipping and fulfilment process.

Some factors contribute to assessing the costs that derive your shipping rates. So let’s see what these are:

Optimise Speed Of Delivery.

After placing an order, invest in and research strategies for a faster mode of delivery. Customers will acknowledge and appreciate such deliveries. In fact, it gives a much-needed boost to your small scale business in India.

These days, as it is, the real user is fast enough to put any service review online. Therefore, if you want the customers to spread positive (+ve) word of mouth for your business, have a quick delivery service.

Besides that, they often also expect free and cheaper delivery.

That said, you need to come up with a strategy where you include the shipping cost in the price and make it free for your customers.

You can also develop a plan where you can offer free shipping of products that are greater in value. This will make customers happy to know that their purchases are adding value to your small business in India.

You can also create coupons that waive off additional shipping charges. Otherwise, opt to offer a discount.

Set a validity date for customers to redeem these coupons. For instance, they can use coupons just once within the stipulated time.

Invest In Real-Time Tracking.

Real-time tracking tells the customer precisely about their parcel’s location and estimated delivery time. It acts like assurance and only adds to building trust with your customer.

So, for making your small business in India authentic and reliable to new customers, you must invest in a real-time tracking feature.

Know That The Shipping Cost Also Depends On The Parcel Weight.

Courier services usually calculate the shipping cost based on your package’s weight.

Sometimes they also charge a fee on the dimensions of the package. In other words, larger and heavier parcels will be more expensive as opposed to smaller and lighter ones.

So, you can decide the pricing of the product for your customer based on its dimension and weight. For this, you need a quote sheet from your logistics or supply chain manager.

Once you know that, you can adjust the prices for the end-customer.

Calculate, Manage, and Optimise Shipping Charges Per Order.

This is nothing but the distance from where the parcel is sent to the recipient’s address. Shipping charges will be higher if the distance is more and lower for a shorter period.

This is owing to the transportation costs!

So, it’s better you tie-up with a logistics vendor in your area for optimising each order. This will smoothen your sales, irrespective of high or low season. Moreover, if you can collaborate with these vendors, your loyal and premium customers won’t bear a hefty shipping charge.

Also Read:  Financial Situation Improvement Tips

Control & Organise The Volume Of Your Shipping.

Essentially, choosing the right logistics aggregator will make a massive difference to your small business in India. 

From helping you select the right courier service to others like insurance, measures taken for packaging, 3PL insurance, and managing the returns, it is crucial.

You must handle all these factors with care to earn your customer’s loyalty.

Offer them an experience that not only makes them come back to you but also helps you cut additional costs like labour, damaged goods, transportation, etc.

Focus On Green And Efficient Packaging.

Packaging is a significant part as you want to avoid damages and purchase returns.

These are just added costs that you will have to bear, so avoid them in the first place.

Figure out feasible, green, and safe methods of packaging so that both the customer and you are happy.

Other Strategies To Help Your Indian Small Business

Sell Your Products For Free.

You can also adopt other strategies to help your small business grow considerably.

As a small scale business owner, learn continuously how to sell a product online for free and take it as an essential strategy.

Many Indian platforms already allow their users to sell products for free. You should research well about the services and features of the platform before you sign up.

Find out about the payment gateway that they’re associated with, how active the customer service is, the website’s design, how it will help your brand, etc.

Examples of such platforms are Shop101, Shopify, WooCommerce, allowing you to sell your products using their unique eCommerce features.

In fact, in the case of Shop101, you can even create a customised website and sell your products on it.

Just follow the steps:

• Sign up at their official website, 
• Create your store, 
• Pick products from their catalogue, 
• Share them everywhere, 
• Earn margins. 

In WooCommerce’s case, you can purchase your domain and hosting and build your website.

You don’t even need to know the technicality behind building a website from scratch. Just pick the template, add features, and get it going!

Read Other Article: Free Online Course Importance

Sell Through Multiple Channels.

It is always more beneficial if you opt for more than one channel for reselling your products.

A multi-channel approach works brilliantly. As mentioned above, this can include signing-up with an app and social media networks, creating a website, and promoting or selling your products online.

The more digital visibility you can offer to your customers, the more you can expect them to recognise your brand.

Outsource The Management Of Your Fulfilment Process.

It’s overwhelming for small businesses in India when it comes to managing the fulfilment process. At such times, go for a logistics aggregator that can get the job done for you.

For needs related to logistics, there’s Dash101 Logistics that you can check out. They are tied up with 8 courier partners and are spread across 27,000+ pin codes in the country. They’re also cost-effective and are more of a business partner than just a logistics one.

End Note:

 

 

Well, we hope these pointers will help you and your business rise above the industrial benchmarks. Not just that, by following these tips, it will also be easy for you to manage your small business in India without facing many usual hiccups or glitches.