From taking orders on WhatsApp to setting up my online store — how I boosted growth for my business

4 min readOct 22, 2020

The digital era has opened up a new paradigm for businesses by allowing them to operate their business online through digital channels like WhatsApp or setting up an online store on Facebook or Instagram. The online channels certainly provided a boost to my business by expanding my reach and targeting interested customers in a much better way.

I own a Saree boutique in a small town in India. One of the major challenges that I faced earlier was deciding which platform to use to do my business. To keep things less complicated and direct, initially, I started using WhatsApp to reach out to my customers.

But then later I had to switch to an online store when I scaled up my business, as it was difficult to manage business solely through WhatsApp.

When I decided to go online

For small business owners like me, WhatsApp had been phenomenal in generating sales and providing better customer service. One of the biggest advantages of using WhatsApp was that it provided a direct way to communicate with the customer and an easy to use interface that the consumers were already familiar with.

However, as my business expanded, it became difficult to handle things using WhatsApp. Managing 5 to 10 orders daily using WhatsApp was convenient for me, but as the daily order count grew, it became a bit complicated. Also keeping track of payments used to be my another problem while I used WhatsApp as customers used different payment methods. It was difficult & time-consuming to do so.

I realized that I needed to set things in order and build an online store that could help me effectively manage my boutique business.

As someone who isn’t aware of the technicalities involved in creating an online store, I needed a simple solution that could help me create an online shopping website without any complicated coding.

After a few days of rigorous research, I came across Ecwid, an online platform that allows owners to create their own online store in the simplest way possible.

Selling on a website not only helped me manage my business better, but it also boosted my sales drastically as customers perceived my business as a reliable one.

Features by Ecwid That Helped Me with My Online Business

Liberty To Sell Anywhere

Ecwid provides you with the liberty to sell anywhere and leverage all effective digital channels. You can create an online store and sync it with a website, social media channels, marketplaces, etc. to reach your target audience.

Centralized Management

You won’t have to scratch your head when the order counts grow exponentially. Ecwid allows you to control and manage all your business operations from a single dashboard, be it inventory, order management, or pricing.

Grow Your Sales Exponentially

You can easily use Google and Facebook to promote the online store website that’ll help you boost your sales exponentially.

Ecwid proved to be a game-changer for my growing business. It was easy to set up an online store since I got Ecwid integrated with Open. In addition to the online store, my experience was made better by this integrated online payment solution that came along.

Ecwid with Open — For launching the right online store

Ecwid with Open helped me take care of the payment aspects of my business by providing me with an online bank account from Open. Open’s online bank account allowed me to accept payments from my customers via cards, net banking, UPI, and more.

In addition to this, it also allowed me to pay my suppliers and manufacturers directly using the online bank account. The simplicity and clarity that Open provided my business was a boon considering the kind of growth that I was looking forward to.

Now, I could easily track payments as my customers too loved using the online portal for payments. I don’t have to spend time navigating between different bank’s applications, as everything is visible on a single dashboard which makes my job a whole lot easier.

I was able to effectively manage the banking, payments, and accounting using this remarkable payment solution by Open.

Yes, setting up an online store is critical for your business!

In the modern digital age, small businesses have plenty of options to reach their customers and boost their sales. Choosing the best platform makes all the difference when it comes to selling online. WhatsApp helped my business a lot during my initial days, but it became difficult to manage a growing business using the same.

Creating an online store is indispensable in today’s digital era if you want to build a long term business. Ecwid with Open’s online bank account bundle is a boon for any growing business and it had certainly changed my business’ fortune!