TOP TIPS FOR ECOMMERCE START-UPS
Thursday, July 16, 2015Global Administrator
How to Succeed as an eCommerce Startup
With eCommerce stores popping up every minute, it’s no surprise that today’s entrepreneurs are moving in that direction. It has become so simple to start your own store for your product or service. In addition, it has become the most cost effective option for today’s business owners.
As they say,
with great power comes great responsibility. There are a lot of decisions to make as an eCommerce start-up, and as a beginner, you may not know where to start. Make the responsible decision to do your research, and have some background knowledge before jumping the gun.
Here are some of our top tips for eCommerce start-ups:
Focus on your Niche
We tend to harp on this a bit, but it’s extremely important to know what your advantage is over your competition. Keep in mind that chances are your idea has already been done ten times by the point you want to start. Find that competitive advantage – Focus on it, own it, and be the best!
Once you’ve established yourself as within the market, have the foundation and experience, you can move into other related areas. It’s all about getting started!
Your customers need more than just words!
Remember that your customers are unable to see, touch, taste, smell or experience your product. They go off the picture and description. So you best have some high quality images and descriptions to bring your product to life. Using high quality adjectives, good quality photos and having an overall good user experience really helps with conversion. It’s about creating an experience so your customers can get a feel for the product and want it!
Looks aren’t everything
Designing the site is the fun part. Picking your colours and designs is usually one of the most enjoyable steps in the building process. While doing this however, you need to keep in mind load times and user experience. Remember that every 2 seconds of load time on your online store is equal to an 8 percent abandonment rate (
Mashable). Did you know that retailers lose
$18 billion annually due to shopping cart abandonment? Don’t become a statistic!
You won’t be rich…..yet!
Be patient! You shouldn’t expect to get rich right away. There are a number of entry barriers that you need to keep in mind. Remember that a plant can’t grow without the seed and you can’t expect to make money without hitting a few pain points. Remember to track everything and learn from your mistakes.
Some other things you may want to consider along the way include:
- Customer support
- Marketing automation
- Social media
- Taxes and other fees
- Shipping and international customers
- SEO
- Analytics tracking
- Your competition
- Payment options
- Establishing a good system and relationship with your vendors
The time will never be just right and conditions will never be perfect. Remember that there is always a degree of risk when starting you own business. That’s half the fun though, and there are always decisions you can make to minimize that risk. Do your research!