How to Start a Successful E-commerce Business in 2025

E-commerce in Southeast Asia has surged over the past decade, with digital adoption and the COVID-19 pandemic driving significant growth. According to ResearchGate, Southeast Asia’s Gross Merchant Value (GMV) hit USD 100 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 175 billion by 2028. Market leaders Shopee and Lazada continue to dominate, with Shopee achieving a GMV of USD 73.5 billion and Lazada at USD 21 billion in 2022. Meanwhile, TikTok Shop has rapidly gained popularity, leveraging its social commerce features to capture a growing share of the market.

For entrepreneurs or businesses looking to capitalise on this dynamic market, understanding evolving trends and strategic insights is crucial. Success requires more than just listing products, it demands a solid plan, extensive product knowledge, strategic use of platform capabilities, and outstanding customer service.

In this blog we will go through the strategies on starting a successful e-commerce business. Let's dive in and investigate each critical step:

1. Setting specific goals and KPIs.
2. Creating an attractive website.
3. Sell on marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, and the most recent trendy platform, TikTok Shop.
4. Product success strategy through attractive product information and product design pages.
5. Making use of platform campaigns.
6. Using advertising to boost your brand's visibility
7. Offering great customer service.
8. Reporting and Analytics

Let's explore each step and uncover the keys to success in the digital e-commerce market of 2024.

Taking advantage of these campaigns can be incredibly helpful, as they often bring in a larger audience and greatly boost your store's visibility. By using these features into your marketing strategy, you can expand your reach to a wider range of customers and take advantage of the increased traffic during these prominent events. This will ultimately lead to more sales and contribute to the growth of your business.

Setting Clear Objectives and KPIs

To have a strong and growing business, the business owners must have dedication and discipline. Every successful business starts with clearly defined objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in order to maximise sales, expand customer reach, and improve customer satisfaction. Specific goals help businesses to track progress and enable more informed decision-making. For example, aiming for a 20% increase in monthly sales or lowering cart abandonment rates by 15% are specific goals that provide direction and emphasis.

“Define your business goals clearly so that others can see them as you do.”— George Burns

Create an Attractive Website

In 2024, having an appealing website is critical for launching a business since it acts as the initial point of contact with potential clients, establishing credibility and trust. A well-designed website improves the user experience by providing easy navigation, fast loading times, and mobile responsiveness, all of which are necessary for visitor retention and SEO improvement. It expresses your brand identity, sets you out from competition, and boosts customer engagement and conversion rates. Furthermore, a modern website has the ability to adapt and evolve with your company, making it an essential component for long term success.

Sell on Marketplaces Like Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop

It is important to establish a business in Southeast Asia (SEA) by selling on marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, and the hottest TikTok Shop in 2024, which have established customer bases and a wide reach. These platforms offer immediate access to millions of potential customers without the necessity of a major initial investment in infrastructure and marketing. They enable the establishment of credibility for new businesses by providing secure payment systems, robust logistical support, and built-in trust. Furthermore, the social commerce trend on TikTok Shop utilises viral marketing and engaging content to facilitate the connection between businesses and younger, tech-savvy consumers in innovative ways. In general, these marketplaces are crucial for the success of businesses in Southeast Asia, as they enable rapid market entry, brand visibility, and sales growth.

Strategising Product Success with Compelling Product Information & Product Design Page

Mastering Product Information

Accurate and detailed product information is important for successfully converting potential buyers into confirmed sales. To boost your product visibility and searchable, you must make sure your product listings contain:

1. Good product titles with relevant keywords

2. Effective product descriptions with unique selling points (USP)

3. High-quality photos

4. Clear specifications

Enhance SEO for your products and services by refining product titles, descriptions, and tags using relevant keyword research that correlates with potential customers' search queries.

Regularly update listings to align with current search trends. Businesses should also encourage customer reviews and feedback to boost organic search rankings. Use tools like Semrush to identify trends that occur within your industry niche while improving your pages.

Additionally, use alt text for images and ensure your product pages load quickly to improve your search engine rankings. Remember, well-informed customers are prone to buy.

Create a Captivating and Distinctive Product Design Page

“Did you know that the human brain can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds – 60,000 times faster than text, the average attention span is 8 seconds, and 65% of us are visual learners” (Robert Jerus, SPHR - Always on Your Mind).

Take advantage of the benefits of high quality for your product design page (PDP). Building an engaging PDP demands visual consistency with your brand, which means applying high-quality images such as professional pictures and interactive 3D models where necessary. Inspire user interest with insightful product descriptions, detailed specifications, and compelling storytelling about the product's creation process. Maintain consistency in your brand's colours, fonts, and logo positioning. Concentrate on technical performance, including fast page load times, SEO optimisation, and accessibility for all users. By following these steps and using the right tools, you can develop a product design page that effectively highlights your product's distinguishing features and appeals to your target audience. Additionally, interesting features like slideshows and other interactive components can help viewers become more engaged. Displaying customer reviews, testimonials, and trust signals such as certificates or security badges increases credibility

Use Advertising to Improve Your Brand's Visibility

On-Platform Advertising

On-platform advertising involves promoting products or services within specific e-commerce platforms like Shopee, TikTok Shop, and Lazada. This strategy leverages the platform's ecosystem to target a specific audience, increasing product visibility and boosting sales. Forms of on-platform advertising include sponsored product ads and banner ads. Sponsored product ads enhance visibility by promoting products in search results and listings. Banner ads are placed on the homepage or category pages to attract user attention. To optimise on-platform advertising, leverage keyword search ads for SEO, ensuring your listings appear prominently when customers search for them. This increases visibility and search ranking, leading to higher chances of sales and more traffic to your listings. Both banner and sponsored ads boost brand awareness by consistently presenting your brand to users. Additionally, targeted ads can enhance conversion rates by reaching users interested in related products. Platforms' comprehensive analytics enable campaign optimisation using real-time data.

Affiliate Marketing

On top of that, making use of platform affiliate marketing entails establishing partnerships with influencers or other vendors who generate sales through the creation of content to promote products, receiving commissions on the sales generated through their referral links. This mutually advantageous relationship allows sellers to use affiliates' huge networks and influence, while affiliates receive a reward for effectively promoting items or services. By leveraging on-platform advertising and keyword search advertisements, you can significantly boost your product visibility and brand recognition, leading to increased sales and customer engagement.

Off-Platform Advertising

Off-platform ads offer products outside of specific e-commerce platforms, through channels such as Google Ads and META (Facebook and Instagram) ads. Merchants must stay up to date on trends and keywords in order to effectively reach their target demographic and avoid limiting marketing efforts to the marketplace. Retargeting strategies, such as social network ads, email marketing, and Google Ads, assist contact potential customers who have expressed interest but have not purchased, boosting the possibility of conversion. Merchants should also use social live commerce, particularly TikTok Shop, which increases engagement and purchases through live videos and interactive content. Monitor and review ad campaign success, and alter strategy depending on data, to improve results and ROI. Staying current with trends, adopting retargeting tactics, leveraging TikTok Shop, and regularly optimising campaigns all improve total marketing efforts and drive sales successfully.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service

While providing outstanding customer service may appear to be a given, it is still critical to business success in 2024. Building a solid knowledge base is critical for offering excellent customer service. Provide yourself and your employees with correct information on your products and policies so that you can respond to client inquiries efficiently. A well-maintained FAQ section can also play an important role in answering common questions, increasing consumer happiness and trust. Furthermore, implementing a solid business strategy to retain customers is critical. For existing customers, prioritise building a devoted relationship—what we would call a 'business-ship'—by aggressively soliciting feedback on their purchasing experience. This can be accomplished using surveys or personalised follow-up messages. Furthermore, retargeting methods such as sending updates with news on new products can keep customers informed and interested in your offerings. Businesses can boost customer loyalty and drive long-term success by respecting both potential and existing buyers through effective communication and personalised involvement.

Reporting and Analytics

Take use of data on your business's performance by conducting proactive reporting. Use analytics tools like Sellercraft Data & Analytics tool to monitor sales, consumer behaviour, and marketing campaign effectiveness. Identify trends and patterns that can help guide your strategy. Detailed reports assist you in making informed decisions and refining your strategy for maximum performance.Finally, building an optimisation strategy ensures continuous improvement. Regularly analyse your performance data, customer feedback, and market trends. Experiment with different marketing tactics, product offerings, and pricing strategies to find what works best. Optimization is an ongoing process that requires flexibility and a willingness to adapt.

Conclusion

In 2024, the Southeast Asian e-commerce market promises enormous prospects, but capitalising on them will necessitate a smart and determined strategy. Businesses may construct a solid foundation for success by establishing clear objectives and KPIs, putting in place a comprehensive performance and development strategy, and mastering product knowledge. Leveraging platform campaigns, running both on- and off-platform ads, and offering excellent customer service can boost visibility and loyalty. Consistent reporting and analytics, along with a dedication to continual optimisation, help firms remain nimble and responsive to market movements. By adhering to these detailed guidelines and incorporating solutions like Sellercraft’s, you may negotiate the competitive e-commerce environment and establish a flourishing business in this vibrant region.