Looking forward to opening a tea store online? Here is a step-by-step guide on how to start a profitable online tea business with low investment.
Tea is probably the most widely consumed beverage in the world and the demand is ever-increasing. Starting an online tea business is potentially a profitable business if properly planned.
Selling tea online is much easier than selling physically. This is because the startup cost to start online is far less than setting up retail stores. Additionally, the market for selling is much bigger with the growth of online buyers on the internet globally.
7 Steps to Start a Successful Online Tea Business
1. Create a Business Plan
The very first thing to do before jumping into an online tea business is to write a business plan. Detailed market research is advised by most experts before one plans to draft the plan.
The information received from researching the online and offline tea market will help you a lot in creating an effective business plan document.
Some of the key issues your online te business plan must include are the following:
- Initial and recurring costs
- Target customers
- Pricing strategy
- Operational plan
- How do you plan to promote your tea items?
2. Make your Business Legally Compliant
If you are planning to run a hassle-free online tea business, it is essential to register your business. Also, obtain the required licenses and/or registration needed to start the online tea trading business.
3. Name Your Online Tea Shop
It is essential to select a catchy name for your online tea shop as it not only helps in creating a distinct brand personality but also helps in finding more customers. You can check our detailed guide on the steps to create a business name to learn more.
Suggested Read: Catchy Tea Shop Business Names
4. Source Tea Products
Find wholesalers or suppliers for the supply of the tea products you plan to sell online. Talk to as many suppliers as possible to learn more about which tea products are selling best and who can give you the best price. Remember, if you are a licensed tea trader, suppliers will take you more seriously.
Once you finalize your suppliers and the products to sell, it is now time to set up your online shop.
5. Ways to Start Online Tea Business
You have mainly two options when it comes to selling online:
- Sell on Marketplaces like Amazon, and eBay.
- Sell from your own Niche Online Store
6. Marketplace vs Your Own Small Online Tea Store
Marketplaces have customers because of their brand and the ability to invest money in promoting products. They invest heavily in marketing, and infrastructure, and take care of support and other important stuff. You just need to upload your products there and the rest is taken care of by them.
Creating a small online store requires a lot more effort. You not only sell here but also build a brand of your own You are not lost in the marketplaces with other merchants. The marketplace might be a cheap option initially but in the long run, you compromise a lot of profit when compared to selling with your own niche product-based online store.
7. How to Create Your Own Online Tea Shop
However, for building niche online stores revolving around the one-man operation, my two favorites are Shopify and WooCommerce. Other popular alternatives are Zepo, OpenCart, and Magento.
For small businesses involving one or two persons, Shopify is the best option as per most online business experts.
Shopify is a self-hosted platform with low-cost pricing. Plans start at just $29/month. You don’t have to think about it. Just choose one of the themes, upload products add a payment gateway and you have your operation. Every technical and back-end operation including designing, development, and hosting is taken care of by Shopify.
If you want to try Shopify absolutely free for 14 days, Click here
You don’t have to be a programmer or even hire a programmer to build your store. Its knowledge base is extensive and the support guys are awesome and help you at every point.
Also Read: Best Online Store Builders for Your Small Business
Scaling is easy. You don’t have to worry about switching boats when you get large, just opt for a higher plan and you’re done.
Promote your tea products from your website. Also, you can promote on social media pages. You can also supply your product to local retailers. You can also start tea selling from marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc
About the Author: 99businessideas.com led by Rupak Chakrabarty is committed to helping beginners, entrepreneurs, and small business owners in starting, managing, and growing their business. Our aim is to educate the entrepreneur on the various stages of entrepreneurship.
