When planning to start a business, getting funding is usually the biggest challenge. You may have a wonderful business idea, but without funding, you will be stuck with the idea. As more and more people embrace online shopping, starting an eCommerce business is a wonderful business idea. However, you will need the best hardware and software technology as well as an effective customer support team to help you achieve success.
You will also need a high quality website that loads fast and has impressive security to assure shoppers of security of their financial and personal information while shopping on your site. Fulfillment of orders and delivery are also important components of an eCommerce business. To boost your chances of success, you should think about investing in the best tech equipment.
Why Invest in Your Own Tech Equipment?
The main requirements for eCommerce businesses is a great website, reliable website hosting and an efficient fulfillment service. While you can use third party web hosting services, you should think of hosting your own eCommerce websites and sub domains on your own servers. This will give you complete control of your business. In terms of hardware, you will need a web server with a high-speed CPU having multiple cores. A 3.2GHz Quadcore CPU with 16GB RAM and over 100GB storage space should be the basic minimum. To ensure network redundancy, you should connect your servers to multiple network connections. You will also need to connect the server to the grid, a standby generator, solar panels and UPS to ensure power redundancy.
How to Finance Acquisition of Tech Equipment for Your eCommerce Business
There are many options for financing the purchase of new tech equipment. Buying the highest-quality equipment will be costly, but you can consider the following funding options:
i) Bank Loans
Once you have started a business and it’s generating some revenue, most banks will be happy to lend you some money to purchase the equipment you need. While the financing terms and conditions may be strict, you can be assured of getting funding based on your ability to repay.
ii) Angel Investors
There are many high net worth individuals who are always willing to help budding entrepreneurs get financing for their businesses. You only need to get their audience and make your pitch. Some of these investors even accept online submissions. Please note, however, that you may need to part with a piece of your business. This is crucial as exchanging a piece of your business for capital injection will reduce your share, but will give your business a higher market valuation.
iii) Venture Capital
If you search the internet for local venture capitalist, you will find a long list of private equity firms and other investors who are targeting eCommerce businesses. In addition to financing your tech investments, a venture capitalist can also offer advice and help steer your business to greater heights to grow their equity investment.
iv) Government Grants
The government offers grants to small businesses because this type of investment has a greater return than other forms of investments. This includes; creation of employment, growing the country’s GDP and increasing tax revenues. In other words, one more successful business in the economy is great news for the government. However, there are usually strict requirements, so be sure to do some research to confirm that you qualify for government grants.
That said, having the best eCommerce business tech will not guarantee business success, it only gives you a great platform. You will still need to invest in marketing, run promotions, engage customers online and offer coupons among other things to attract and retain customers.
