Facebook has been an integral part of connecting people all over the globe. But the impact of Facebook is not limited to only connecting people. With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook is one of the strong platforms to reach out to prospective customers for your business. In Bangladesh, the utilization of this social networking platform in business has increased significantly since the pandemic.  The F commerce in Bangladesh has seen rapid growth in the last few years. The current market cap stands at around 312 crore BDT which contributes a significant amount to the e-commerce revenue. So, do you think you have something to sell online? Here’s our detailed guideline to get you going on your F-commerce venture.  Read GP Accelerator Program 3.0: Paving the Way for Successful Startups How to open a Facebook shop from Bangladesh? To keep things short and not make them boring, we won't be diving into the step-by-step process of opening a page itself. Rather we will focus on what most people miss or get wrong while opening a page. The process is pretty self-explanatory and intuitive.  A catchy name  Do you know what gets the attention of the potential customers right away? The name. Your business should have a unique and catchy name that grabs the attention of the customers. Something that the customers would remember for a long time.  Try and come up with something catchy and relevant to your product. Go along with something that creates a self-brand centering you or the product range. The end goal is to grab the attention of the customer. If it’s a niche-based business, try to go for something relevant to the niche.  Read:Pickaboo: Story of successful electronics eCommerce platform And if you own an established business with some form of customer base, you can stick with the ‘name’ that has already worked for your business.  Getting the Right Display/ Cover Picture   When you have got the name for your business, you have overcome a massive hurdle. Now let's talk about getting the page started.  After naming your Facebook shop page, you need to move on to choosing a display picture. Typically, everyone goes with the business logo. And if you don’t have one, get one. The logo can be something simple that embodies who you are and what you are trying to sell.  Read Best Business Ideas Amidst the Pandemic and New Normal Choosing an appropriate cover picture is equally important as well. Use it to highlight the customer-centric approach and all the other aspects of the business. Create a multipoint contact space for the customers and highlight them on the cover picture.  Adding Business Details  This is probably the most important aspect when it comes to setting up a page. Up until this point, whatever you did was either guided or intuitive, but things get a bit more intricate from here. Whatever you put forth from here it can either make or break your online business.  The first thing to sort is what type of business you are offering. This is important as Facebook has a set of algorithms that will promote your business to an industry-specific niche. Let's say you're a business that plans to sell ready-made clothes. Make sure to select "clothing line” from the list of businesses. Correct selection of the sector is important to reach the target customer.  Read How to Test and Validate Your Startup Idea? Business Description  Ever heard of a minute to win it? Well, this is something similar except you get 250 characters to showcase your business. Be crafty and decisive about your words as this is what your prospective clients will be seeing the first thing. The proverb goes, the first impression is the last impression. You need to be convincing about your business so that you can convert a prospective lead to a real buyer.  Categories  Categories are something similar to selecting your business niche. You get to add multiple categories depending on the services you’re offering. Now don't go overboard with the tags though. We suggest you be concise about your category selection as they play a huge role when you boost your page or post.  Read: E-commerce Scams: Ways to Protect Your Investment from Online Frauds Contact  This is also another important aspect. This is where the personal touch of your marketing comes into play. Typically, you should provide your phone number along with an email ID to tag along with the contact list. Make sure to have contacts active as this also acts as a first impression to the customer service.  Timing  When are your business hours? People often differ on this point. Many think an online business should follow the traditional business hours whereas others think it should cater around 24/7 since there virtually is no constraint when everything is online.  We think it's impossible to cater to your customer 24/7 unless you have a dedicated team for that. However, most mainstream businesses won't even need that sort of extreme timing. We suggest sticking with the schedule when you can ensure optimum customer support without personal disruption.  Read 7 Ways to Become a Genuine Expert in Your Chosen Field Follow a Theme  You should set up a theme for your business. What we mean is, whatever you're posting or sharing online from your page, make sure they follow the same structure or design elements. This will help to bring consistency across the page feed making it pleasing for potential customers. A theme also helps to stand out from the others creating a unique distinction for the business.  The key here is to stand out from the rest. The more the elements stand out, the more chances for the business to get noticed and create better customer traffic. Read: Agro-Tech Startups in Bangladesh: Tech revolution in Agriculture Sector Tell Your Story  Every business has a story to tell and this is your poetic moment of glory. Talk about your vision, your ideas, what prompted this business and where do you see your business in the near future. In short, tell stories to which the potential customers can relate. Make it engaging so that they feel a part of your business. The key here is to captivate the emotion of your potential customer and use it to expand on the sales front. Post Post Post  Keep your clients engaged with regular updates and posts. We cannot stress the importance of this point enough. You need to keep your customers hooked with your page so that they are constantly reminded of your presence. The more they think about you, the more they’ll be prompted to buy your product.  Read: Bangla QR Payment: The Contactless Payment System of EBL Self-Branding  Spread the word of your business yourself because no one else will. Invite friends and families to like your page to make it more engaging. That’s how a business grows, through word of mouth and exceptional service.  Final Thoughts  The influence of Facebook is immense. The traffic it holds is unprecedented and the opportunities are virtually untapped. There is no better time than now to take your business to the online platform through F-commerce and other social handles.  As you grow to get started with the entrepreneurial venture, Facebook can be your next big tool to expand the business to new dimensions. Read Truck Lagbe raises $4 mln Series A fund to transform trucking market of Bangladesh

As Bangladesh tackles the Covid-19 situation, the impact left behind by the pandemic has been quite significant. Not just in terms of loss of lives but economic downtrend as well. Many people lost jobs and many businesses saw themselves on the brink of shut down. However, many businesses are opting to shift their offerings to what’s known as Facebook Commerce or F-commerce. With 22% of the population of Bangladesh being active users of Facebook, the platform can provide a strong foothold to reach customers on a far wider and diverse scale. In this article, we will take a look at some of the best small business ideas for F-commerce in Bangladesh during a pandemic. Small business ideas for F-commerce in Bangladesh Clothing Line With a country of festivities, we sure do have a knack for clothing. That is reflected in the apparel market as the market cap stands at around BDT 250 billion. There is a huge opportunity of taking this apparel market to the online platform. As a startup, you can source apparel locally from wholesale dealers and create an apparel niche of your own. With the Flexibility of F-commerce, it becomes very easy to reach your target customer base. You can even jump-start your business with little to no capital. You can start by having a small exclusive line of collection or simply set up a system of pre-order. That will ensure that there isn’t any loss to your startup venture. Also Read A Bangladesh startup that aims at saving the world! Book Store Nothing like a good book in days of lockdown, right? There is a high number of book readers in Bangladesh. The numbers add up as the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela saw a 70 crore BDT jump in sales from 2013-2018. With a growing demand for books, selling them on an online platform can be a good startup venture. The goal here is to find the targeted customer base and set up your business to attract them. Just like the apparel line, you can list your collections or simply deliver on a pre-order basis. Nilkhet being one of the largest markets of all sorts of books, sourcing shouldn’t be an issue and you can make a profit straight away with very little investment. Read How to Earn Money from Facebook Consumer Electronics The consumer electronic market is another potential sector for F-commerce startups. In 2017, the total market cap on consumer electronics stood at 1.38 billion BDT. However, as a startup, it's not possible to sell large-scale consumer electronics because of regulation and investment. You can start with smart gadgets and portable electronic items. The pandemic has seen people shift to online platforms for their gadget fix. You can either start by offering a certain product category or you can add multiples depending on your investment scale. The most important thing here is to plan. You should have a definitive F-commerce marketing strategy to attract customers. And since this is a consumer electronic sector, there should be ample focus on the after-sales service as well to ensure customer retention. Read 24pc of female online entrepreneurs shut businesses in June: Study Home-Based Catering There is a huge untapped opportunity in the home-based catering service in our country. With the easy parcel delivery services in Bangladesh, it is now possible for the home cooks to deliver on-demand food items concurrent to the restaurants. A home-cooked meal is not only a healthier choice for many but also a comparatively cheaper alternative to restaurants and takeaways. Just like the other F-commerce ventures we have mentioned in this article, the capital investment in home-based catering is little to nothing. The variety of cuisines on demand is what makes this start-up idea a thriving one. Based on expertise, a home cook can significantly monetize their skills and convert them into a functional earning source. And with the pandemic in question, the demand is also at an all-time high. Also Read: What Is Passive Income? Pros and Cons of Passive Earning Online Grocery Store An online grocery store is another business idea that has been propelled to the forefront in light of the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. The idea of having all the daily necessities right at your fingertip is lucrative for many. This not only reduces the hassle but also ensures that you won't have to risk your safety by visiting crowded places. As a small business, focus can be put on a certain niche of groceries. It can be cooking essentials, dairy items to frozen goods. This solely depends on the target market. It is possible to source goods from wholesalers depending on the niche. As long as you can ensure competitive pricing, the F-commerce platform can be the perfect place to kickstart your venture. Read Zero Investment Business Ideas to Try Amidst the Pandemic Cosmetic Line Beauty products have a considerable market cap in Bangladesh. In addition to local brands, there is a high demand for the international cosmetic brands and their products. A cosmetic line can be a good small business idea because the online market is still in its budding state. People are getting more and more used to buying goods from online stores as the pandemic has reshaped the idea of how we shop. Depending on your niche, you can source products from the local market or use importers to source products from an international brand. Needless to say, the latter would require a significantly larger investment. But the ROI of this venture is high and considering there is no sunk cost involved, you stand to make a profit in a considerably short time. Art & Craft Recent trends show that the millennials of Bangladesh are significantly interested in local arts and crafts. It can be attributed to the widespread cultural promotion and in the general interest of the mass. If you are someone who is an artist, you can sell your work on the F-commerce platform. Not just art itself, there is a huge of demand for local craft utensils. Whether it's for home decoration or part of utility needs, as a business, you can produce or source these local crafts for online clients. Also Read: Domestic electronics, technology products should get priority in govt procurement: Speakers Sell Your Expertise If you are an expert in your trade, you can set up your online consulting firm. There are endless niches where there is a demand for expert consultation on different subjects. The same stands true for skills as well. If you are good with graphics designing or web content development, you can sell your expertise on the F-commerce platform depending on your niche. This doesn’t require any investment to begin with and also makes communicating with the clients easier. Bottom Line There is a huge untapped opportunity when it comes to the startups in the F-commerce sector of Bangladesh. The pandemic has paved a way for many new Facebook-based business ideas in the existing niche as well as creating demand for new ones. Sure enough, you won't see success upfront, and you would need to develop a sizeable community around your product. But the efforts and investment are much more risk-free when it comes to F-commerce and has a high ROI. Read Bangladesh Cloud Kitchen Business Heralds Improved Food Delivery Services