If you're running an ecommerce business startup, your interest is in optimizing the experience for both you and your customers. These three tips will make all the difference for e-commerce entrepreneurs...
The Essential Steps E-Commerce Entrepreneurs Should Not Avoid
How ecommerce is useful for entrepreneurs?
The total U.S. e-commerce sales have increased almost 5-fold, from 167 billion US dollars in 2010, to 525 billion dollars in 2018. That is huge growth, and many entrepreneurs are looking to cash-in on the trend.
It is worth stating that the likelihood you will become a behemoth like Amazon is relatively slim. But you can still run a successful and profitable online business if you take an intelligent, considerate approach.
Let's take a closer look at how with these three tips for new e-commerce entrepreneurs.
1. E-Commerce Entrepreneurs, Don't Get Over-Excited
This may sound redundant but getting too excited and ambitious causes many companies to fail. If you have a great idea, take your time to research.
Launching a website when it is not ready can be a detriment to your brand before you even begin - For many reasons. You only have one opportunity to launch a site, and everything should be perfect. In turn, you only have one opportunity to make a first impression upon any website visitors that may become customers.
Prior to launch you should have a detailed SEO strategy. Consider content marketing and social media, as well as paid advertising. If you attract users to your site and they see a website that seems amateurish and ill-prepared, your brand’s value will hit rock bottom. The only remedy is that you could rebrand and go through the process again (which can be costly).
2. Get Testy
A website can be expensive to build. However, don’t be tempted to cut costs by avoiding the need for analytics and testing. An un-analyzed website can lead to breakages and embarrassing faults and failures. Also missed revenue opportunities.
Take the time to think like the customer and identify what is working for you as a user, and what is not. With A/B testing and other clever testing strategies, you can discover where on the page a user spends most of their time, as well as how to make your links and products more attractive.
3. Know How To Handle The Non-Virtual Side Of The Business
If you’re selling products, you should have a clear understanding of:
- How to manage the product stock
- When to order more products
- The scale at which you should order
Some companies don’t give this the requisite attention and suffer as a result.
In an ideal world, unless it’s part of an elaborate marketing strategy, nothing should be out of stock. If someone wants to buy something from you, you should be able to sell to them.
That’s why you should pay specific attention to your reorder point. If your customer is happy with their experience, they could potentially return to purchase again and again. An unsatisfactory experience, and you risk harming your brand and negative PR from a consumer that may never return.
Summary Thoughts
There are countless tips for managing your e-commerce business, but these three require special consideration, as they are often considered less exciting uses of time. That said, discounting them would be a big mistake.
It is important to:
- Develop an attractive brand
- Incorporate social elements
- Nurture a social media presence
- Do a lot of PR
But your company will likely fail online if it has a website that is hard to navigate and does not prioritize the user.
You will indeed lose money if you can’t handle your stock. The less-glamorous sides of your business are the internal components that keep your business machine running, so don’t neglect them.
