5 Hard Lessons for E-commerce Entrepreneurs
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Henry Hernandez is the leading strategist for a Dallas SEO Company. This Christian Internet Marketing Company aims to take your digital marketing strategy to the next level by bringing in a holistic approach to sustained growth in market saturation. |
As an entrepreneur myself, I always strive to look for things that I can adapt to my website, along with my clients’ websites. With today’s innovations, there’s certainly no excuse for delivering top-notch service to our customers.
Running an ecommerce site can be challenging with the tough competition whether on a local scale or internationally. But before you take the plunge, here are some things that I want you to be forewarned. Consider this as a post of five things I wish I knew before opening an ecommerce store.
1. You should treat your online store the same way as if it’s an offline store.
I know that sounds incomprehensible, but let me ask you something. How do you see your ecommerce business? Is it a part-time income? Do you only accept orders during your spare time?
Selling online may be quite easy than selling offline, but the efforts in maintaining it should be the same. You need to look at it as a big investment requiring copious amounts of effort.
Setting up an ecommerce store will already cost you a hefty price; shouldn’t you be serious in managing it to get returns on your investment as soon as possible?
Don’t wait for it to grow to treat it as a big business. Treat your ecommerce website as a big deal that you shouldn’t neglect.
2. Determine if you’re targeting the right customers.
Believe it or not, 72% of businesses don’t know who their target market is online.
Because of this problem, many businesses find it difficult to convert even if they have a well-optimized website. Even if you promote your website through various social media channels, or through paid advertisements, you won’t reach your target ROI if you’re not talking to the right people about your business.
Take a step back and check if you’re indeed serving the right people for your products. Figure out your target market and you’d be able to see the direction where your marketing should take place. If you’re targeting parents for your business, why not invest in marketing in Pinterest? If you’re looking for opportunities to convert to your online clothing store, Instagram is a good avenue to showcase your wares.
Once you know which type of audiences you should serve, it’ll be easier to create a strategy that will increase your conversion rates.
3. You should select the right ecommerce platform for your needs.
An ecommerce platform is your “physical store” online. This is where you operate your business, this is where you work on your business. There are different ecommerce platforms designed to suit different needs; for example, if you prefer to run your ecommerce store on WordPress, there’s an ecommerce platform suited for your preference. If you own a large ecommerce store, some may recommend something more complicated as your store is getting bigger.
CS-Cart is an ecommerce shopping cart software that is scalable, user-friendly, and secure — it hosts a multitude of features that can get your ecommerce website going set up. Aside from basic ecommerce functions, you can also expect cross-selling tools, website security, and a fast website. All that under the hood when you use CS-Cart as your ecommerce platform.
4. You should have straightened out the kinks in your checkout process.
Aside from a slow loading website, another ecommerce website killer is an abandoned cart.
An abandoned cart may stem from different factors, but a difficult checkout process can hamper conversion. According to Baymard Institute, 28% of online shoppers abandoned their carts because of a “too long/complicated checkout process”.
If you want to sell your products, you should check out your checkout process and start straightening.
5. You should have taken brand engagement seriously.
You might have missed that thank you for a message from a customer who loved your product. You might have missed that negative review on Facebook and had let it slide.
Every missed comment, every positive review left unheard, is a missed opportunity for your website. A simple response can make a difference when it comes to customer engagement. No matter what you say about your business, it’s still the customers’ reviews that matter.
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Sooner or later, you might find yourself in a bind; let these five lessons in ecommerce entrepreneurship teach you how important it is to keep yourself in focus to reach your go
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Yan Anderson is the Head of Content Marketing at CS-Cart with over 10 years of experience in the eCommerce industry. He's passionate about explaining complicated things in simple terms. Yan has expertise in building, running and growing eCommerce marketplaces. He loves to educate people about best practices, new technologies, and trends in the global eCommerce industry.