Start Your Ecommerce Business in Lebanon

Are you planning to start your own business in Lebanon? Then you came to the right place! We will discuss and share with you the features and specifications that you need to consider before starting your own business in Lebanon. But first let’s discuss the prevailing situation.

Using social media is like a hobby, since it keeps the vendor limited when it comes to brand promotion or any other sales-boosting tool, it does not give accessibility to order management, SEO, follow-ups, reports, branding, etc. But luckily things are changing and now, having your own professional store for a minimal cost is easier than ever before; and Ecomz specifically, has a big presence in the region and more explicitly in Lebanon.

Everything you need to consider

We have curated a list of all the things that you should consider while you tweak your plan towards success.

Do I need a registered company to sell online?

If you are simply experimenting market as a startup, for a limited time to test your product or service, then in that case you do not need a registered business to start in Lebanon. But, if you are here for the long run, you have to be a legitimate business or collaboration with one, because it is necessary in order to accept credit card payments since your ecommerce website will require a payment gateway, issue invoices, and to allow shipping through renowned shipping providers such as Aramex or DHL who might offer you a business-specific deal!

In order to legitimize your business and avoid any compliance issues with the law or the banks, you have to operate under a company. Social media can help you start selling online but the recommended way is to grow beyond it.

Which is the Most Popular Payment Method?

The most famous payment option in Lebanon is Cash On Delivery (COD) people still feel safer in paying directly upon receipt of the product which technically prevents scams. Nevertheless, if your business is already established and your brand is already known offline, it is better for you to offer the credit card payment option since people are catching up, and credit card payment methods are becoming more popular by the day.

For COD payments, shippers such as Aramex are already offering tools and options to collect the money for you. As for credit cards, the two recommended payment methods that are growing fast in Lebanon are Payfort and Cybersource. Both methods are includedfor the best and easy to use ecomz platform and for more details you can contact www.payfort.com or Blom bank ecommerce department.

Who are the best shipping providers?

Historically and geographically, Lebanon has been described as a link that connects east to the west and when it comes to trading Aramex, is the name recommended in shipping, to and from Lebanon. They offer cash on delivery option, in addition to online payments of course. Ecomz already has the Aramex app integrated in the software which means that the merchant can activate the “automatic cash collection” option offered only by ecomz to its merchant as a result of the partnership between the two companies.

Local shipping cost start from 4$ per shipment for small packages and can go up to 20$ for larger packages. As for COD, charges some shippers don't charge extras for collecting the cash however you can expect up to 1% fee with a minimum of 1$ per shipment. In all cases, these are only estimates and you should shop around and compare the services and costs for shipping.

Do I Need to Hire an Expert?

Wel, normally if you would choose to build your own online store would require you to have great designing skills, a lot of free time, and great knowledge and experience in website building, as well as some coding skills that would make things difficult when you are trying to set your business and grow side by side. Ecomz on the other hand offers a do-it-all plan that is cheaper and will cost merchants something between 1,000 USD and 5,000 USD for standard projects, depending on the website’s customizations. This offer includes store setup, SEO, design, payment setup, marketing, content, store management, shipping configuration, and a lot more.

Choosing Safe Platform

One of the primary needs is to choose a platform that is secured, constantly updated, and is not managed by random agencies with no legitimate background. This is critical to avoid hacks, scams, or frauds since you’ll be risking your money and your business.

Ecomz, for example, is PCI level 1 compliant and uses the standard security measures adopted by banks and governments so everything you store or earn will inevitably stay secured. All credit card payments are tokenized and will never be revealed or stored at anypoint in time while processing transactions. In addition, Ecomz supports a fraud analysis system which will detect and flag any suspicious order on your online store and pause it for manual verification and processing.

 How much will it cost?

When it comes to online shopping, appearances can make the real difference between a purchase and simple surf. This is why people invest, directly or indirectly, in the look and functionality of their online store to offer maximum options to their customers.

Choosing to do the whole work from scratch will cost you a lot if you don’t have the skills to build it yourself. It will require you hiring a large team of employees or contractors to form your website, design your layout and themes, manage the store, fix bugs, work on SEO, market the products, operate the customer service department and tech support, etc.

Ecomz, on the other hand offers all of the above functions and features for a small monthly fee of 24$/month for the startup store including hosting and support. With a hosted platform like Ecomz, you will be saving thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars for a better quality service and a worry-free online business and invest in growing your business instead of dealing with technical issues.

Multiple Currencies

The main currency that is used in Lebanon’s online business scene is the international currency of eCommerce which is the USD. The Lebanese pound (LBP) is also very important but it’s mostly used by local merchants since it can be a bit more profitable. It is rare to find a platform that lets you switch and accept different currencies, but Ecomz has it as an option in case you want to offer both currencies. That’s not all, ecomz supports all major world currencies and you can add them based on your business needs with the options of controlling the conversion rate automatically or manually.

Should I have my content in English or in Arabic?

The main language in the ecommerce business in Lebanon is still English, which is a good thing since it’s a common language that almost all the world uses to communicate in the business domain. When dealing with countries other than Lebanon but in the same region, Arabic is also common. But there is nothing to worry about the language you want to choose as ecomz is a multilingual platform which allows you to add up to 20 languages to your ecommerce website and choose between automatic or manual translation methods for the content of the website.

How long does it take?

Despite being radically different than normal shopping, building an online store on the fundamental level is almost same but more demanding. You have to invest your time, your money and yourself into your store.

The most challenging part of moving your business online is to build your digital product catalogue. This is a lengthy process since all products have to be properly and professionally photographed and images should be edited and compressed before being ready to be uploaded. In addition, all product contents should be properly classified in categories or collections. Product titles must be simple and descriptive and optimized for search engines. All product variations (such as color, size, and shape) and product attributes should be well thought out as well. In general, you should have all the content in an excel file and ready to be imported to your platform.

Assuming you have all that is needed including content and your catalogue, you can by hiring ecomz expert can expect your online store to be ready within a week or two. And if you plan to do all the tasks yourself you can expect the same results in two to three months.

When should I start? Stop wasting time!

Ecommerce is here to stay. If you are still hesitant about starting or moving your business online, keep in mind that thousands of online stores are already selling in Lebanon and the most successful ones can reach tens of thousands of dollars in revenues per day.

The first movers advantage applies when it comes for online presence. The earlier you launch your store, visitors will get to know your business first, the higher you will be ranked on Google.

So bottom line, when is the time to start? By now, you should know the answer.

Prepare a good cup of coffee and start your online store NOW with ecomz! If you want us to help you build it together, request a call of an expert by clicking here and let’s start the journey together.

It’s time to sell online!