A Prelude to Your eCommerce Business

Rohan Date -

Being human, we all know those begrudging, yet elated feelings when you hear about 'those' people making excess amounts of money online overnight. 'I mean, how? How can that be me? I want'.

It surges excitement and creates a sense of conceivability too all aspiring entrepreneurs thrilled at the prospect of starting their own eCommerce store.

During the process of conceivability, our limbic system aides in generating such elevated excitement, that it clouds the rational part of the brain (prefrontal cortex) resulting in wide spread 'premature thinking' in eCommerce business start ups. How many people fail to consider all the preliminaries before even beginning the process of building an eCommerce site?

Inception

Your idea needs to be one of those ‘finger tapping the temple’ whilst grinning instances.


  • What is your new venture about?
  • What are you selling?  

You can brainstorm, research businesses for inspiration, do a survey, or even chatter with your friends for inspiration. Above all, within you, the faith’s got to be absolute.



Call it dogmatism, nothing sells better than when it is spoken with conviction, it is transmissible. You need to convince your customers that whatever it is that you are selling, that they need it. People buy from people, if you love what you sell, persuasion is complete.


Three main focuses that can lend a hand in finding a suitable product:

  • Is it easy to get? The more popular the product, the less successful you will be
  • Look for a niche, your main task is to find an under filled niche, and supply to that
  • Solve a customer problem, another approach to finding the right product is finding the problems customers have

Know your ship - ABC

Once technicalities have concluded, it’s time to blow the whistle. E-commerce marketing can be tricky, but there are a few immediate recommendations we can advise. The key to an eCommerce marketing strategy is finding the right channels:

  • Find where your customers are gathering
  • Advertise yourself there
  • Blow up your sales

Google Analytics and tools like Enhanced eCommerce Google Analytics Plugin helps you to track all your sales and see where your customers are appropriated too.

After such foresights, you can start planning your ad campaigns - Facebook, Google Ads, Instagram, or anything else. If we haven't said it before, we shall say it again, through trial and error, you will be confident as to what works the best.

Don’t forget to implement SEO for better search results and keep an active social media presence for better brand recognition. Go on, do it for the ‘gram’..


Metamorphosis


In a world acknowledged of such change, the biggest shift in retail has been the rapid growth and acceleration of eCommerce. Becoming the most favoured buying method for shoppers across generations, especially for those reluctant to leave the house and preferred the safety of delivery during the pandemic.

Without being too transparent, the future of retail is eCommerce. Brands and retailers are ready to adapt, evolve and mutate these new 'behaviours'. One would liken it to a virus. Ha..

Camaraderie

The shift from concentrating solely on profit and skewing more towards customer centricity has helped numerous businesses raise the bar. Hallelujah.

A customer-centric e-commerce business would require features like:

  • A strong relationship with the customer, built through educational content, virtual events, and personalised offers
  • All the product information needed by the customer and an easy-to-use checkout process
  • Alerts reminding the clients about abandoned carts and related product suggestions
  • Easy payment options, full delivery, and last-mile CX
  • A simple returns policy, and nothing less than excellent customer support

Worthwhile to implement for your own e-commerce business? Full disclosure, the answer is yes.  

Success nonetheless

If e-commerce businesses are the killers of brick-and-mortar success, what makes an e-commerce store successful in the long term?

One of the biggest advantages of an e-commerce business, without a doubt, is the low barrier to entry. The proliferation of software platforms and tools in the last 10 years makes it really easy to set up, launch and operate an e-commerce store in a matter of hours, for less than US$10.

Getting started in e-commerce may be easier than other businesses. Achieving long term e-commerce business success, defined as operating a profitable ongoing concern, is another narrative. Follow the prelude and the rest is up to you.

May the force be with you..