We are in the final lap of 2022 and look forward to a brand new year.

If you’re thinking about starting an e-commerce business, now may be a perfect time. But how do you know where to start? I’ve got your back.

Here are 10 great ideas for e-commerce businesses in 2023.

Dropshipping store

Dropshipping is an e-commerce business model wherein entrepreneurs do not need to hold the physical inventory of the products sold on their website or social marketplace. As a Dropshipper, you will work closely with a supplier, who will be responsible for procuring, packing, and shipping the products to your customers on your behalf.

Here’s how you can start your Dropshipping store from scratch.

Top Dropshipping niches to consider for 2023:

• Coffee
• Pet supplies
• Gaming accessories
• Baby products
• Oxidised jewellery
• Beauty products
• Gifts for all occasions

Artisanal foods

This is a hot trend that’s only going to get hotter.

Unlike mainstream and mass-produced foods, they are made using traditional methods, often by hand, in limited quantities. Artisan food is crafted without ‘nasties’ — ingredients that include preservatives, colourants, or chemicals, which can make them a healthier alternative.

Artisanal products are also highly sought, and there is massive scope for growth.

The market for artisanal foods in Australia is worth over US$1 billion and is predicted to grow by 20 per cent per year in the next five years.

Consumers are looking for quality and transparency, and food is no exception. Start an online store selling locally sourced artisanal foods and beverages.

Print-on-demand store

Print-on-demand, or POD, is an order fulfilment method where designs are printed on items as soon as an order is received. While POD stores share many similarities with Dropshipping businesses, the vastness of the business requires it to be categorised separately.

You can start on-demand printing services without needing to hold any inventory in reserve. You don’t even need the printing machinery to start a POD store. Tie up with a fulfilment partner like Printful or Printify, and you are good to go.

Fashion or costume jewellery

This is another hot category that has a lot of potential. Shoulder dusters, drip earrings, sculptured silver, Hammered dangle earrings, Shells, crystals, and rhinestones are all popular jewellery items that have dazzled in Spring 2023.

Also Read: A walk through the growth of e-commerce in Singapore

Whether you want to start selling fashion or costume jewellery, if this is the market you’re looking for, then it’s worth considering starting an e-commerce business in 2023.

Natural organic products

Consumers have become more conscious about their life choices, and hence they have become increasingly interested in natural, organic products.

The market for natural organic products is expected to reach US$87 billion by 2024.

Start selling daily items for cleaning, beauty, and personal hygiene using clean and safe ingredients. If you like to formulate safe, organic cosmetics partnering with a private-label manufacturer is ideal.

Virtual assistant services

E-commerce business is not just limited to selling products and items, it also includes selling services.

Virtual personal assistant services help business owners, executives and entrepreneurs outsource their time-consuming tasks and responsibilities.

You can set up various services, including bookkeeping, email management, social media engagement, and more. These services can be especially helpful for small business owners who don’t have the resources or time to devote to these tasks themselves.

For busy entrepreneurs, you can also help with administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, booking travel, and researching information.

Now, isn’t that a good idea?

Sell NFTs

NFTs or Non-fungible tokens can represent ownership of unique items such as art, collectibles, or even real estate. Simply put, NFTs are digital files that can be bought and sold online.

You can use your online store to sell your NFT projects under various categories:

• Games
• Concept arts
• Videos
• Music
• Photos
• Event tickets, and more…

Sell ebooks

Do you have a flair for spinning stories? eBooks cover a variety of categories, from non-fiction to fiction content. If you are a blogger and specialise in writing about gadgets and other tech products, you can curate all your helpful articles and self-publish an eBook that could prove beneficial for your readers.

eBooks can be published on giant publishing portals like Amazon’s kindle direct publishing, more commonly known as KDP, or you can sell the eBooks directly on your e-store as a downloadable product.

Meal delivery

You can start a meal delivery service without even creating a website. If you are selling home-cooked food, all you need is a direct channel like WhatsApp for businesses to receive orders from your customers and keep them informed about the delivery timeline.

Here are some ideas for meal delivery services to get you started:

• Mid-night food delivery
• Healthy meals delivery
• Daily essentials delivery
• Food delivery for pets
• Meal kits or set meals

Wedding services

No. We are not asking you to play cupid. When we say wedding services, we mean bringing all vendors to your website or platform to provide a comprehensive wedding planning service.

From event planners, photographers to caterers, and decorators, you can bring all your local vendors under one roof.

Also Read: Why do most online stores fall flat and how you can improve it?

And there you have it! 10 viable e-commerce business ideas that you can start in 2023. Before you are on your way to starting your online business, think about how you can stand out from the millions of other e-commerce players.

Tips to scale your e-commerce store sustainably

Upgrade your digital experience

Customers don’t just land in a store, purchase an item and leave. They take their time, explore their options and find out everything they need to before adding an item to the cart. Take the opportunity to proactively engage with these shoppers and guide them through the buying process in your store.

Don’t rush the customers. Add a CTA button under the product description page to allow your customers to connect with product experts who could assist them over live chat, call, or even video call.

Tailor product pages to match customers’ needs

Improve product page experience to match your customers’ expectations from your store. Here are some tips for doing that:

• Use high-quality product images, write descriptive information about your product, and allow your customers to see the product from all angles.

• If possible, make use of AR or augmented reality and allow the customer to experience the product in their regular environment. For example, IKEA allows users to virtually place a true-to-scale 3D model of their furniture in their environment.

• Provide real-time stock updates to your customers. If an item is out of stock, then place a ‘notify me’ CTA button to alert the customers when the product is back in stock.

Create a seamless omnichannel experience

Your customers are everywhere. Just updating your social media feed with daily promotional posts isn’t going to cut it. You also need to open the channels for dialogue to flow seamlessly between your customers and your business.

From Facebook Messenger and Live Chat on the website to providing self-assistance through IVR and the option to reach your customer support team over the call or video, you need to be equipped with the right CX solution to create opportunities for your business.

Personalise customer experience

Most businesses fail to make a personal connection with their customers as they adopt the town crier’s communication approach of carpet bombing their customers with announcements and promotions without opening the door for dialogue.

Your website may receive thousands of website visitors, but it is imperative for your business to create an individualised experience for every one of those visitors to stand a chance to retain their interest.

You can do this by engaging with your customers proactively, optimising their buying experience, providing real-time personalised communication through live chat, and offering additional discounts via pop-ups that get automatically triggered when a visitor decides to bounce or abandon the cart.

Final thoughts

You don’t need to be a millionaire to start an online venture. You can easily monetise your skills or work with third-party suppliers and vendors to fulfil on-demand orders and run a functional e-commerce store from the comfort of your home.

This leaves you more time to concentrate on your core competencies and create exceptional shopping experiences for your customers.

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The collapse of several high-profile exchanges and the contagion effect that followed them have plunged the crypto industry into a longer, deeper winter. When the FTX house of cards came tumbling down, they destroyed whatever minute hopes many of us might have harboured about the crypto market being well on its way to recovery.

While it may be tempting to demonise now crypto’s volatility and the space’s lack of regulation, we must bear in mind that FTX’s collapse was caused not by crypto as an asset class but by the company’s shocking lack of transparency and corporate governance. 

The full extent of the damage caused by FTX’s demise is still unknown, but one thing is for sure: the industry now has to work much harder to regain both retail and institutional investors’ trust.

So, is winter the best time to do so? For us at Bitstamp, there is no doubt the answer is a yes. 

Warming up to regulators

With spooked investors pulling funds from crypto, analysts are saying that more pain is bound to come our way. In short, the “crypto winter” is about to get even more bitter.

However, some say that this winter is also doing the industry a favour: flushing out players who have taken advantage of their customers’ trust in them to misuse funds and who have little to no regard for risk.  

The FTX saga demonstrated the importance of consistently placing your customers first. At Bitstamp, customer assets are held separately from corporate assets, and we do not, and will never, lend or stake any funds without our customers’ permission.

As the crypto winter draws on, we at the world’s longest-standing crypto exchange believe it is time for crypto players to reassess their values and implement more compliant and transparent business practices.

Crypto is growing, and to solidify its investment use case within the ranks of securities, properties, and other investment-grade assets, working with regulators becomes inevitable.

For firms that are serious about their offering and how they can drive mainstream adoption of crypto, there is a lot of incentive to innovate and work within regulatory frameworks designed to create a level playing field for a market to thrive.

Also Read:  Temasek says FTX could have duped it

To deliver top-rated crypto services, it certainly helps to have a global regulatory footprint and the appetite to invest in growing one. This has always been a major investment for Bitstamp. In our 11 years in business, we have always sought out licenses in the markets we operate in and currently have 50 licenses globally.

Deliver on your education agenda

Even as regulators worldwide are increasing their scrutiny of crypto, market participants must not think that regulation equals a sure return on their investment.

It is worthwhile mentioning here that retail participants need to have a balanced view of regulation, how it mitigates some of the risks they face, and what self-responsibility they also need to take.

Crypto education goes beyond basic investment know-how and the fundamentals of blockchain technology. It is also about understanding what regulations can and cannot achieve. When discussing crypto literacy, we must also consider inculcating the right frame of mind towards the asset class.

To achieve consumer protection outcomes, it is essential to help customers be aware of the risks and understand the investment thesis.

Many investors may have entered the market under the wrong impression that crypto could be their ticket to getting rich quickly. Crypto companies must correct this.

In Bitstamp’s last Crypto Pulse survey, 38 per cent of retail investors cited “they really don’t know enough to get started” as a barrier to entering the market.

Crypto and Web3 should not be an exclusive playground for the tech-savvy or investors from a certain demographic. At the end of the day, the company that succeeds in educating the average person on the street about crypto will win because education drives trust, and trust drives adoption.

Turn on your crypto now

When the market is down, running and taking cover is tempting. However, one cannot ignore the macro shift happening before our eyes. Increasingly institutions include crypto as part of their offerings to their clients. Those who wish to be part of this growing movement should undoubtedly take the opportunity to build their crypto capabilities. 

Also Read: What you should know about the correlation between crypto and the macro environment

The journey to operationalising your crypto business can be daunting and resource-heavy, from tech to KYC processes and regulatory requirements. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Access to crypto can be easily achieved with white-label solutions that include KYC capabilities and the necessary licenses. 

And here’s where it is important to find the right partner. When looking for a crypto partner, it’s important to identify one with a proven track record, strong compliance history, and a customer-centric approach.

By adopting the right white-label solution, companies can continue evolving their capabilities while owning the customer relationship. 

It’ll be too late if your business waits until the next bull market to start building your crypto offering. Don’t underestimate the time and effort it will take to create products and services that are safe, secure, and user-friendly.

Adopting a plug-and-play solution such as Bitstamp-as-a-Service could dramatically speed up your institution’s crypto adoption. 

The road ahead is long, but…

We must remember that markets, including the crypto market, are cyclical. That means that when the markets are down, it’s time to build. Business leaders should be preparing to meet the demand for Web3’s next boom.

By investing in a compliance-forward strategy, building out your capabilities, and educating your customers, you’ll be well-positioned to emerge from this crypto winter stronger and better able to capture new markets in the months and years ahead.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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‘Focus on your north-star vision’: 30 startups speak of their learnings in 2022
What these Southeast Asian companies did do to weather the many crises that defined the year 2022 and still stay relevant

Is Singapore the ideal place for Web3?
Singapore provides stability and easy access to traditional finance and funds, but takes a tough stance against speculative assets

Does Malaysia have the potential to become a 5G hub of SEA?
A major innovation with 5G is fixed-line networking being integrated into wireless standardisation, enabling end-to-end connectivity.

How are data science and AI are fuelling smart city goals
The key feature of a smart city is intelligent use of data to enhance lifestyle and improve the livelihoods of the communities.

How Dubai is competing with Singapore in the Web3 race
Dubai has the upcoming infrastructure, regulation and, most importantly, access to banking for Web3 projects.

Lessons from the collapse of FTX and why self-custody is of utmost importance
As the saying goes, “not your keys, not your coins”, security is important; this article talks about three key factors to consider when securing coins.

A review of Singapore’s business and tech landscape for 2022: who are the winners and losers?
As the year ends, let us look back at the good, the bad and the ugly in the tech and startup scene that has greeted our shores.

India-based D2C wellness brand banks US$10M in Series B round
Wellbeing Nutrition aims to be a one-stop shop for organic products, whole foods, and multivitamins. The company is headquartered in India.

AnyMind delays Tokyo IPO citing ‘risks and disclosures’
Previously, the company announced a listing date of December 15 after receiving approval from the bourse.

China e-commerce firm Vipshop launches in SEA
The New York Stock Exchange-listed firm’s Southeast Asian unit is based in Singapore and currently has 46 employees, according to its LinkedIn page.

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As the digitalisation trend continues to advance across the world, information technologies such as cloud, 5G, and computing services, which power the digital transformation are in exceptionally high demand. For example, iResearch predicts that the size of the edge cloud market in China will reach 55 billion in 2025 and increase to 250 billion in 2030. In addition, research firm Research and Markets projects that the global 5G core market will grow to nearly $9.5 billion by 2025.

In terms of computing power, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China reports that China’s total computing power has exceeded 140 EFLOPS, ranking second in the world, with an average annual growth rate of more than 30% in the past five years.

Also read: Achieving a sustainable future by harnessing IoT and data

To meet the surging market demand for digital transformation across different industries, China Mobile International (CMI) offers a one-stop enterprise solution, iSolutions, which covers cloud, network, data centre, Internet of Things (IoT) and integrated information and communications services. CMI’s iSolutions is known for “Professionalism, Innovation, and Mutual Benefits”. It greatly contributes to CMI’s digital and intelligent strategy and provides cross-industry enterprise solutions with seamless computing, 5G, and cloud integration.

CMI iSolutions Carnival is launched from November 3^rd to December 31^st, 2022, with the theme of “Embrace the Digital Universe”. The campaign aims to share CMI’s insight on transformation and offer incentive programmes to support enterprises and partners across industries in their digital transformation journey next year.

Enterprise customers can visit CMI’s product page to access the integrated online sales promotion programme and experience iSolutions EXPO online exhibition which offers a series of cloud service privileges, free-trials, gifts, and other benefits.

Free trials of diverse solutions with special offers

CMI leverages its rich resources including 80+ terrestrial and submarine cable resources, with a total international transmission bandwidth of over 117T, and a total of 227 PoPs (Points of Presence) covering 86 countries and regions, to tailor solutions for different industries. During the iSolutions Carnival, CMI iSolutions runs a series of special offers that allow enterprise customers to experience comprehensive iSolutions services that seamlessly integrate cloud-network, IoT, industrial solutions, and other leading technologies.

To serve industry customers with innovative services, CMI iSolutions has also offered customers who place orders for cloud-network products free cloud consultation support and free MSP professional services. These services cover a wide range of cloud services, including cloud pre-sales consultation services and cloud experience services, and are worth up to 10% of the total annual project amount. Free trials of cloud management tools such as cloud security, edge computing, and more are also provided to customers who have ordered cloud-network products.

Also read: Airwallex: making business transactions easier than ever with physical cards launch

Customers have a chance to win up to US$2,400 multi-cloud service vouchers* which cover the world’s major cloud service providers.

Customers can also leverage a “Try First, Buy Later” program which allows customers to enjoy up to 60-day free trials of cloud connection and SD-WAN services, 30-day free trials of application acceleration (AAN&AAS) services, 2,000 Cloud SMS free trial packages, and free trials of IoT cards and applications.

Customers who place orders will also receive iSolutions gift pack, which includes unique iSolutions NFT and other online gifts such as gift vouchers from JegoTrip and Uber as well as membership card from Baidu Netdisk and iQIYI.

Diverse range of solutions to satisfy business needs

Since enterprises have diverse business needs, CMI iSolutions, as a reliable service provider, offers a series of innovative solutions to penetrate the markets of different industries quickly.

CMI iSolutions have more than 50 solutions spanning finance, Internet, logistics, manufacturing, retail, and more to support diverse global industries.

At the same time, CMI iSolutions strengthens the partner ecosystem and deepens collaboration with more than 200 partners to innovate new solutions and platforms.

Also read: Lalamove’s Customisable Solutions: a game-changer for delivery

CMI iSolutions is committed to supporting its global customers in their digital-intelligent journey with richer and tailored solutions while facilitating them to capture business opportunities brought by the metaverse and other emerging technologies.

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*The service is applicable to Alibaba Cloud, AWS (overseas and China regions), Microsoft Azure (overseas regions), Google Cloud, Huawei Cloud (international station), Tencent Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Baidu Smart Cloud.

Promotion period: From November 3 to December 31, 2022

The offer is subject to the relevant terms and conditions, and the final interpretation right of this activity belongs to CMI.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by China Mobile International

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Everyone loves an unsuspecting goldmine, and you might just be sitting on one if you’re an outsourced payroll service provider. 

Payroll is often considered a cost centre for accountants, bookkeepers and BPOs, given the manual nature of the processes involved. Still, in its position as a critical support system for a business, it has the potential to be so much more. Namely, a well-managed and profitable operation can help grow your business. 

The complexities and inefficiencies of payroll aren’t secrets to anyone in the industry. However, these challenges were further highlighted during the pandemic when a lack of remote access to payroll processes put intense pressure on organisations worldwide.

While some solutions have entered the market to assist accountants and bookkeepers, many businesses still traditionally process payroll fairly, resulting in issues surrounding compliance and, unfortunately, errors.  

People are the driving force that carries a business forward, and ensuring they are paid correctly, transparently, and effectively can be challenging for accountants but necessary to get right.

Investing in tools that help to tackle the end-to-end requirements of payroll and people management effectively might be the area accounting practices and service providers need to look into to support their clients – and their businesses better.

Why is payroll still so complicated?

Traditional manual systems for payroll processing can be summarised as unproductive at best and for a good reason.

Many businesses still operate on systems that aren’t fully integrated, leaving the payroll provider to acquire the relevant timesheet data from their clients via email, which is then manually keyed into the payroll system.

Also Read: How AI and automation can shape the future of farms

Not only is this an inefficient way of working, but it also greatly increases the risk of error in payroll from the get-go.  

On top of this, service providers need to ensure they keep up to date with local legislations while managing unique employment agreements that are growing increasingly complex, with many individual employee agreements having specific overtime rates and leave entitlements that make the process of calculating timesheet data into payroll difficult, time-consuming, and prone to error.

Given this unique set of challenges, implementing an automated and integrated payroll system is critical to stay competitive.

How automation can give you a competitive edge

Through our work with outsourced service providers, we see an increasing demand for these businesses to provide more advisory services in addition to the transactional manual work.

Since payroll might be one of the most tedious and time-consuming processes, having an integrated, automated payroll solution can free up time for businesses to focus on more value-adding processes while still fulfilling their payroll service obligations.

Additionally, with the rise of remote working and the subsequent increase of cross-border payment processing, many payroll providers are experiencing the added pressure of adhering to ever-changing, complex legislation.

Fully integrated and automated payroll solutions can play a critical role in safeguarding businesses from compliance issues, reducing human error and aiding organisational efficiency. 

While these issues might seem trivial to some, the impact of implementing these changes and automating payroll processes in accounting firms and other payroll providers can make a great difference to a business’s bottom line. 

With increased productivity through a reduction of manual tasks, these businesses are free to take on more consulting, business development and human-centric tasks,  resulting in a more efficient and profitable business. 

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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