How to Start a Meesho-Style Online Store with Cash on Delivery (Beginner's Guide)

Meesho showed India one thing very clearly: people in small towns will happily buy online if the price is low, Cash on Delivery is available and the product looks good in the photo. You don't need to be Meesho to use the same formula. Thousands of small sellers now run their own store and sell through WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.

Here is how to start one from scratch.

Why your own store (and not only a marketplace)?

Many sellers do both: list on marketplaces for reach and run their own store for repeat customers and better margins.

Step 1: Pick products that sell at low prices

The sweet spot for impulse buys in India is ₹49 to ₹199. Good starting categories:

• Women's ethnic: kurtis, dupattas, simple sarees.
• Gen Z fashion: oversized tees, cargos, bucket hats.
• Jewellery: oxidised jhumkas, earring sets.
• Home and kitchen: storage boxes, cleaning items, organisers.
• Festive: torans, diyas and lights before Diwali and weddings.

Step 2: Find suppliers

• Local wholesale markets in your city (best margins, and you can check quality yourself).
• Wholesale apps and B2B sites for fashion and home items.
• Resellers / dropshipping suppliers who ship directly to your customer. Lower margin, but no stock risk.

Always order samples first. Check stitching, colour against the photo and the size chart. Wrong size or "not like the photo" is the No. 1 reason for returns.

Step 3: Price it right

A simple pricing formula for COD products:

Selling price = product cost + shipping cost + packaging + expected RTO loss + your profit

Show a higher MRP with a clear discount, offer free delivery (build it into the price), and keep the final price at a "round" number such as ₹99, ₹149 or ₹199.

Step 4: Build the website

Your store needs a few things to feel like a real shopping app:

• Mobile-first design with category circles and price stores like "Under ₹99" and "Under ₹199".
• Product pages with several real photos, sizes, highlights and genuine reviews.
• A simple checkout: contact → address → confirm → Cash on Delivery.
• Order tracking for customers.
• An admin panel for orders, status, courier and AWB number, invoices and shipping labels.
• Policy pages: Shipping, Return, Privacy, Terms, About and Contact.

Our Shopping Store Script (Meesho-style) includes all of this, plus built-in ad spaces and an AdSense guide. You can place a test order on the live demo and open the demo admin to see the full flow.

Step 5: Cut RTO (returned COD orders)

RTO is the silent profit killer for COD sellers: you pay shipping both ways and get nothing. Do these four things from day one:

1. Confirm every order on WhatsApp before shipping. Fake and impulse orders get caught here.
2. Use real photos and an honest size chart.
3. Ship fast. The longer a COD parcel takes, the more likely the buyer changes their mind.
4. Share tracking so the buyer expects the delivery and keeps cash ready.

Step 6: Shipping

Shipping aggregators let you use many couriers through one account and usually support COD remittance. Compare rates for 0.5 kg parcels to your main states, and check how quickly they send COD money back to you.

Step 7: Get your first 100 orders

• WhatsApp Status and groups: post 3–5 products daily with price and link.
• Instagram Reels: "Under ₹199 haul" and try-on videos work very well.
• Facebook groups for your city or niche.
• Festive drops: Diwali, Rakhi, wedding season and Eid are your best weeks.
• Repeat buyers: message past customers (who agreed to updates) when new stock arrives.

Bonus: earn from ads on your store

Once your store has good traffic and its own content, you can apply for AdSense and show ads on product and category pages for extra income. Keep ads away from checkout and "Thank you" pages, because Google's policy does not allow ads in those places. See our AdSense approval checklist before applying.

Final word

A small store with 40 good products, honest photos and WhatsApp-confirmed COD orders can beat a big store full of random stock. Start small, track your RTO every week and add products that your customers ask for.