Why 2021 is the Best Time to Start an E-Commerce Business

2020 brought us a major shift in consumer spending habits. This post will look to highlight some of those changes. I’ll also show you why you should be starting an e-commerce business in 2021 and point you in the right direction of some resources that can help get you started.

Impacts of the pandemic

Before the pandemic people were already slowly shifting their spending habits. What the Coronavirus did was accelerate this trend beyond expectations. There has been a lot of talk about the “new normal”. It seems shopping online is certainly a part of that new normal. Analysis firm McKinsey estimated that at the height of the pandemic, 10 years of e-commerce growth was seen in just 90 days in the United States!  

Source: McKinsey

Investors are also heavily backing e-commerce platforms, as can be seen by the rise of the likes of Amazon and Shopify.

Coronavirus and the subsequent economic crisis has severely affected the stability we’re so accustomed to.

If you are currently employed, starting an eCommerce business could provide you with a second income stream should your existing employer fall on hard times. Equally, if you already have an existing brick-and-mortar store, offering your products online will add another layer of stability through expanded distribution.

Coronavirus has accelerated the transition towards more remote working models. This means your potential customers are spending a lot more time behind the computers, and have more free time in which to do their shopping. 

To conclude, there’s more demand than ever before, and starting an eCommerce business might be a life-changing decision in difficult times. 

It’s also easier than ever before. 

Ease Of Access

While it’s not easy to start a successful e-commerce business, it is easier and more cost-effective than ever to get started. Here are some reasons for that: 

Website builders / Ecommerce platforms

As we looked at in our rundown of the best e-commerce platforms for 2021, it’s now very easy to build an attractive looking e-commerce storefront. On top of this, these platforms make it super simple to start accepting payments right away and they offer a variety of customisation options to make your business work the way you want it to. By the sheer popularity of these platforms, you can also find a variety of guides and tips online to help improve your operations.

Costs

Not only are these platforms relatively inexpensive, but the growth of dropshipping has also dramatically reduced start-up costs too. For the unfamiliar, dropshipping isn’t a popular e-commerce model that allows you to order directly from your supplier only once a customer places an order. This eliminates the need for you to buy stock upfront. 

Some of the major e-commerce platforms also have tight integrations with dropshipping tools such as Oberlo, a popular extension that allows you to seamlessly integrate your store with your dropshipping supplier to enable automatic order processing and stock notifications.

Communities

When looking to start an e-commerce business you will typically look to start within a niche. Luckily with a little bit of digging there will be an established online community for almost anything you can think of. Don’t believe us? Ask the nearly 6000 members of the “Extreme Ironing” group on Facebook. Extreme Ironing is a sport where people take their ironing boards to remote and often dangerous locations to do a bit of ironing… apparently.

Resources

Talking of communities, you won’t be the first person starting an e-commerce business this year. With so many online stores there is a blossoming community of people out there willing to help one another on their e-commerce journey.

Whether you are stuck setting up basic security for your website, finding suppliers or trying to optimize your landing page for conversions, there will be a guide or someone out there to support you.

Company Structure

Since 2014 the Estonian e-Residency program has become a lifesaver for many budding e-commerce entrepreneurs. This program allows you to set up and run your business from anywhere in the world while taking advantage of Estonia’s favourable taxes, digital services and access to the EU single market.

And in 2021, it will get easier to submit VAT declarations according to the new EU VAT changes for e-commerce companies. 

For a more comprehensive look at Estonian e-Residency, check out our comprehensive guide here.

What are you waiting for?

With the growth of e-commerce, the availability of resources and the ease of getting started, there has never been a better time to start your e-commerce business than in 2021.If you’d like some guidance on how the Estonian e-Residency program can help you reach your e-commerce goals, get in touch today!