If there’s one thing that never goes out of demand in the Indian market, it’s dry fruits and nuts. We Indians have always given a special status for these delicacies, especially during festive seasons. Dry fruits have come to symbolise prosperity and happiness.
Thinking about starting an eCommerce business to sell dry fruits online? In this blog, you will learn about everything you need to know on starting an online dry fruits business in India. We have also included online businesses to take inspiration from.
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Is selling dry fruits online profitable?
Before starting, let’s see if dry fruits will be a profitable eCommerce business for you. To check how many people search for dry fruit shops online, you can check Google Trends for a rough estimate.
As you can see, ‘buy dry fruits online’ is a popular keyword throughout the year.
What is the scope of dry fruits business is India? As per a report, the market value of dry fruits in India stands at a whopping 30,000 crore rupees in 2021. And, this value is expected to triple in the next two years. So, yes, there is a lot of scope for you to sell dry fruits online in India.
As for the profit margins, they are as good as 10 to 30% annually. Business will be higher during festive seasons, so this may increase.
List of most in-demand dry fruits and nuts to sell online in India
There is a wide range of products that you can sell in this category. Here are the most popular ones:
- Cashews
- walnuts
- Almonds
- Dates
- Raisins
- Prunes
- Figs
- Blueberries
- Cranberries
Licenses and registrations needed
Being a food business in India, you need to abide by the rules of FDA. Also, you need to apply for FSSAI license before you start your dry fruits business. Gaining this license will give you access to several legal benefits and increase customer trust.
Some other licenses to apply for when starting a dry fruits business online:
- Trade license
- MSME registration
- IEC registration
- GST registration
Related read: 5 Legal Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Business
How to sell dry fruits online in India: everything you need to know
Read on to find out how you can start your own dry fruits business online and start selling in no time!
- Source dry fruits and manage inventory
- Get the equipments and storage
- Get an online store to sell dry fruits
- Market your dry fruits business
- Setup social media
Source dry fruits and manage inventory
Sourcing products is probably the hardest part for any online business. You need to ensure that the dry fruits you source are of good quality. Also, the retailer must be regular in their supply.
You can source nuts such as cashews directly from the factories if you are located near one. For instance, if you are in Kerala, you will have access to cashew factories and processing centres, as Kerala is the largest producer of cashews in India.
For example, Noorali, an online store on Instamojo, sells dry fruits sourced directly from the valleys of Kashmir. Their high quality products are loved by customers because of its purity.
Want to get your own online store to sell dry fruits? Sign up on Instamojo for free and create the store of your dreams!
Another option is to partner with a wholesale dealer and get dry fruits supplies in bulk. If you are selling exotic dry fruits like dates or blueberries, then you will have to partner with importers.
There are online sources where you can get bulk orders. Here are some resources:
You could also use Google maps to check out wholesale dealers near your location.
Get the equipments
You won’t be needing much equipments for your dry fruits business. For packaging, you will need to have a few things, unless you partner with an external agency for that.
Food packaging is as important as the product, especially for online businesses. This is because people need to visually appreciate a product before buying them.
So, make sure that your brand has good packaging, and make the product beautiful inside out!
Another idea is to offer gift-worthy packaging. Since dry fruits is a good gifting option, you want to attract your customers aesthetically. Thehampermarche does this well by packaging their products in beautiful baskets.
View this post on Instagram
Get an online store to sell dry fruits
Now that you know how to sell dry fruits online, you have to decide where you will display your products and find customers. You could start out by selling on social media platforms such as Instagram.
But, as an eCommerce business, the best option is to start an online store. This will help you build a long-term business and help grow it further.
Nowadays, it’s more than easy to create your own online store. For that, you need to choose an eCommerce platform. There are many out there that can help you build an eCommerce website. Instead of choosing one that is popular, make sure that you carefully go through each feature and see if it’s a good match for your business.
A good eCommerce platform will have a secure in-built payment gateway, offer beautiful themes, marketing tools, amongst others. Instamojo online store platform is specially built for small businesses. So, if you are a small business looking to scale online, sign up on Instamojo to get you online store.
What’s more, you can get an online store for free! You can use a basic online store on Instamojo and start selling. Once you upgrade to the premium version, you can choose a theme for your store.
To know more about setting up your online store on Instamojo, read this.
Market your dry fruits business online
Here are some tips to get your first sales online.
You can start off by using social media to market your dry fruits business online. You can use aesthetic photos and videos to post on Instagram and increase your engagement.
View this post on Instagram
Also, you could do influencer marketing to get more reach and gain leads. Read this blog post to know more about launching your business on social media. You could also use paid ads on Instagram to scale your business quickly.
You can also use SEO to get your online store more traffic and more customers. If you have an online store on Instamojo, you will have SEO features to help get your store more leads.
To Conclude
There is a lot of potential in starting a dry fruits business online. Being an evergreen product loved by all, you will get a good customer base.
Now that you know the details on how to sell dry fruits online, you already have head start. Now it’s time to take the first step in building a successful online business. Sign up on Instamojo for free and get your online store. This will help you make your dreams come true. Here’s a short video to get you started:
