How to Get Your First Online Order in Bangladesh: A 7-Day Plan

Short answer: your first online order usually comes from someone who already knows you, and it comes after you personally send them your store link. Get 5 to 10 products ready with real photos and prices, write your delivery charge clearly, then spend one week sharing the link in a few places and answering every message fast.

This is a plan for a new seller who has made a page or a store and is waiting for the first order. Most new sellers get stuck at the same two points. They put up one product, and they never share the link widely. The plan below fixes both, one day at a time.

What should you have ready before day one?

Do these four things before you tell anyone about your shop.

1. Choose one narrow thing to sell. "Women's three-piece for office" is easier to sell than "all kinds of clothes". A narrow shop is easier to remember and easier to recommend. If you are still choosing, our guide to starting an online business goes through it.
2. List 5 to 10 products. One product looks like a test. Ten products look like a shop. Each one needs its own photo and a real price.
3. Write the price on every product. "Inbox for price" sends a customer away, because most people do not want to ask. If you do not want to show the price, you are not ready to sell yet.
4. Decide delivery charge and payment. Write the charge inside Dhaka and outside Dhaka in one place the customer can see. Decide whether you take cash on delivery, or advance by bKash or Nagad, or both. Check what couriers charge in our courier charges comparison so your number is not a guess.

Photos can be taken on a phone near a window, on a plain background. Take each one in daylight, from the front, and keep the product in the middle. We are writing a phone photography guide with more detail.

Where do you put your products so customers can see them in one place?

If your products are scattered across Facebook posts and old photos, every customer has to scroll and ask. You want one link that shows everything with prices, so you can send that link instead of re-typing the same details.

You have a few options, and none of them is the only right one.

• A Facebook page with an album per category. It costs nothing, but customers still have to message you to order.
• A WhatsApp Business catalogue. It works inside WhatsApp, which is good if all your customers already chat with you there. Our post on selling on WhatsApp in Bangladesh covers it.
• A store link. One page lists all products and customers order from it. We cover this in how to get a website for your Facebook page.

We make Kommercly, which is one way to do the third option. You add products from your phone, the free plan gives you a store link (something like yourshop.kommercly.com) with up to 20 products, and when a customer orders, the order arrives in your WhatsApp with the product, quantity, address and total. Use it or use something else. What matters is that you have one link to share.

How do you share your link without spamming people?

This is where most new sellers stop. The store is ready, but the link stays on the seller's phone. Share it in these places, in this order.

Your WhatsApp status

Post one product photo with the price, and the store link in the text. People who have your number see it, and these are the people most likely to buy first. Post a different product each day.

Friends and family, one by one

Send the link as a personal message, not as a group blast. People answer a message with their name in it. They ignore a forwarded broadcast. A message like this works:

"আপু, আমি একটা ছোট অনলাইন শপ শুরু করেছি, [আপনার শপের নাম]। এই লিংকে সব প্রোডাক্ট আর দাম দেওয়া আছে। একবার দেখে বলবেন কেমন লাগল? পছন্দ হলে অর্ডার করতে পারেন, আর কাউকে দরকার হলে শেয়ার করে দিলে খুব উপকার হবে।"

In English: I have started a small online shop. All products and prices are on this link. Please look and tell me what you think. If you like something you can order, and it would help a lot if you shared it.

Asking for an opinion first is easier for people than asking them to buy. Many will order anyway.

Your Facebook profile and page

Post the link on your own profile with one product photo and one line about what you sell. If you have a page, pin the same post at the top, and put the link in the page's Links or website section so anyone who opens the page can find it.

Facebook groups that allow selling

Many buy-and-sell and category groups (for example a group for women's clothing or for homemade food) allow seller posts. Read each group's rules first. Some want a post on a fixed day, some ask you to put the price in the post, and some do not allow links in the post itself. Post once, with a good photo and a clear price, and answer every comment. Do not post the same thing in ten groups in one afternoon.

What is a simple 7-day plan?

Here is one way to use the week. Change it to fit your own work, but keep the order: products first, people you know second, strangers last.

While you do this, add a product or two every day. Stores with more products give visitors more reasons to stay and order.

How do you make the first order easy to say yes to?

• Reply fast. A customer who messages you is asking several shops at once. The first shop to reply with a clear answer often gets the order. Try to reply within a few minutes during the day.
• Confirm every order. When an order comes in, call or message the customer to confirm the product, address and total. It takes two minutes and removes most mistakes. Our order confirmation message templates have the exact words.
• Keep fake orders in mind, lightly. You do not need to treat your first customers like suspects. Do ask for the delivery charge in advance on orders from strangers outside Dhaka. Read COD vs bKash advance and fake orders, and learn the courier check in Fraud Checker BD before you ship your first parcel to someone new.
• Pack it neatly. A clean parcel with a thank-you note is what people remember and mention to others.

What happens after the first order?

The first orders often come from people who know you. That is normal. Family, friends and old colleagues buy because they trust you, and it still counts as proof that your shop works.

Once the parcel arrives, do three small things:

1. Message the customer after delivery and ask if the product is fine.
2. Ask for one photo of the product in use, and for permission to post it.
3. Ask them to share your link with one friend who might like it.

Photos from real customers do more than any caption you write. A seller with five photos of happy customers looks more trustworthy than a seller with a long description. Never invent a review, and never post one without the customer's permission.

What if you get no order after a week?

It happens, and it does not mean the idea is wrong. Go through this list in order and change only one thing at a time, so you can see what worked.

1. Who did you share with? If you only posted on your page and it has few followers, almost nobody saw it. Send the link to 20 people directly.
2. Are the photos clear? Blurry or dark photos lose people in seconds. Retake the top 3 products in daylight.
3. Is the price fair? Look at what a few similar sellers charge for the same item. If you are much higher, say why (quality, material). If you are lower than your own cost, stop and recalculate.
4. Is the delivery charge a surprise? A charge the customer sees only at the end is a common reason people leave. Show it on the page, up front.
5. Did anyone ask a question and get no reply? Check old messages and comments. A late reply is often a lost order.
6. Do you have enough products? If you still have 2 or 3, add more, since people who like one product often want to see a few more.

Ask two or three friends to open your link on their phones and tell you what they would do next. Their answers will show you more than guessing.

Quick answers

Want one link for all your products, with orders arriving in your WhatsApp? Create my free store. It takes a few minutes from your phone, and you can add your first products right after.