Have you heard of Justin Wong? He’s the guy who made $12,000 within a month of setting up his e-commerce store, So Aesthetic. At one point in time, he was working full-time to fund his studies. But it wasn’t enough. He tried a bunch of money-making options until he hit the jackpot with e-commerce.
Needless to say, he started his e-commerce store with zero investment. You might be thinking this is a one-off case. But what if I told you that you too can start an online store with zero investment? Does that pique your interest?
Don’t worry, it’s not a gimmick to get you to read this. Instead, I’m going to share some tried and tested strategies for starting an online store with zero capital investment. I’ve seen many of my friends and acquaintances use them successfully to start a side-hustle. And some of them even went on to quit their jobs to focus more on their successful e-commerce stores.
So let’s jump right into these four options you can try to start an online store with zero investment, shall we?
1. Try Dropshipping
If you haven’t heard about this before, let me break it down for you. Dropshipping is a model used by many e-commerce businesses where you don’t handle the products yourself. Instead, you buy them from a third-party vendor and have it shipped directly to the customer.
The advantages? You don’t need to keep any inventory with you, so you can eliminate the cost of acquiring and storing these products. And you need not worry about shipping either.
In fact, going back to the guy we were talking about earlier, Justin, he started his venture with dropshipping. You can look up dropshipping marketplaces like AliExpress or Dropship Direct to get started with your online store.
2. Use A Ready-To-Use Platform
When it comes to setting up an online store, there are essentially two ways you can go about it. The first is to set up a self-hosted store. Definitely not an option if you’re looking to start a business with zero investment. The other option, and the one I recommend, is to host your store on a ready-to-use e-commerce platform.
Platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce or Etsy allow you to set up an online store using their built-in designs and templates. So you don’t need to worry about buying a domain and hiring a website designer to create a visually-appealing store.
These sites allow you to customize your store according to your needs and manage your payments and shipping easily. You don’t even need to know a word of computer programming to set up your store using them. And these sites have standard content that you can use on your “About Us” or “Terms and Conditions” pages.
All you need to do is create an account on any of these platforms and set up your store. There is usually a monthly fee that you need to pay them. However, it isn’t an exorbitant amount, and some of these sites even offer free trials.
3. Leverage Micro-Influencers On Instagram
I’m sure you must have an Instagram account in your name. Of course, whether you’re active or not is a different question altogether. Even if you’re inactive on Instagram, you can definitely leverage micro-influencers to promote your products. And you can work with them without having to pay for their posts.
Set up an affiliate program with your micro-influencers — nothing too elaborate and nothing that requires any complex tools or mechanisms. Simply send them a message with a discount or coupon code. And let them know that you’ll pay them a certain percentage as an affiliate fee for every sale that comes through.
Influencer recommendations can directly bring in sales. There are numerous studies to prove that, and I’ve seen multiple real-life examples too. And most micro-influencers believe that Instagram is the most effective at engaging their followers.
You can use tools like Iconosquare or BuzzSumo to identify the micro-influencers who might be relevant. And then send them your message with the discount code. In fact, this is the strategy that helped Justin make $12,000 from his e-commerce store in the first month.
The best part is that these platforms offer free trials so you can get started without an investment.
4. Pick Products That Are In Demand
To make your online store truly successful, sell products that people want to buy. Some easy ways of finding out what products are in demand:
1. Look up best-selling items on Amazon or eBay.
2. Check out Google Trends and see how those products are faring.
Make sure that these products are in stock on your dropshipping databases and have free delivery. Also, ensure that you are choosing products that are inexpensive, as this will give your customers a reason to buy. Be sure to choose suppliers who have good ratings when sourcing products.
I’m certainly not saying that these tips will help you become the next Amazon. But that was never your intention anyway, was it? This is simply an easy, low-cost (actually no cost) approach to setting up a side-hustle. Something to get the ball rolling. And the steps I’ve mentioned above will help you set up an online store in no time at all.
Can you think of any other ways in which you can start an online store with zero investment? Let me know in the comments below.
