Your Guide to Success in eCommerce Business
Setting up a business is everyone’s dream, and in today’s world we have more opportunities than ever to turn our dreams into reality. Ecommerce entrepreneurs are successfully doing it every day and have turned their dreams into multi-million-dollar realities.
So, what is the secret recipe of a successful e-commerce entrepreneur? It is not very different than any other entrepreneurial endeavor; all you need is an idea (something that you believe will take off), determination, an agile business plan, a focused team, flawless execution, and a little bit of luck.
Although there is no shortcut to success, there are a few things you can do in your business to improve your chances of becoming a successful e-commerce entrepreneur:
Know what your customer wants:
An online customer is very well informed, and you need to make sure your product is solving their problem by providing them with what they want, how they want it, and when they want it. Essentially, you have to able to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and make every step of the buying experience attractive in exactly the way you would desire when you purchase the same thing for yourself – be it the price and quality of the product, shipping time, customer service, or return process.
Target the right audience:
In ecommerce, in particular, you have to be precise in defining your target market and focusing on it. You have to spend your time and money in reaching the right audience for your offering. The audience that actually cares about what you are offering. It also entails choosing the right social media platforms to focus on.
What you see is what sells: Much of e-commerce success comes from telling a good story.
An online buyer buys a product just by looking at the digital footprint of that product and not physically, so you need to make sure what you are showing on your product page is visually persuasive: that is high-quality pictures or video focusing on the purpose of the product, illustrations and infographics, animations, and video ads. Great e-commerce companies thrive because people like their imagery and description enough to buy their products. Trust and repeat customers follow from there
Agile Business Plan:
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail (Benjamin Franklin): you need a business plan that starts with your strengths but also includes steps to take when things get tough (which happens in all businesses). You need a flexible and reliable plan to fall back on, which helps you keep moving forward when things happen outside of your comfort zone,
Embrace Failure:
A healthy, successful business is built on the numerous failure cycles that it has gone through, so the sooner you start to embrace failure, the closer you get to success.
Focused Team:
You cannot do everything by yourself. Be aware of your area of expertise and, for the rest, build a focused and motivated team that understands the purpose of your product or business. A lot of startups fail, not because they do not have good ideas; they fail because they are unable to execute their business plan in the absence of an efficient, competent, and focused team with a mindset of continuous improvement and troubleshooting skills. Hire the right people around you, to whom you can delegate in order to use your time more strategically.
Data Driven Decisions:
You need to make decisions based on data. Being an ecommerce entrepreneur, capturing and analyzing data at every step of the customer journey is the core of your business success. You need to be aware of latest trends, social media platforms, and your presence on them. Use cutting-edge analytical tools like Google Analytics or Brand Analytics for your online search optimization and, once you are used to these tools, review the data every day to decide what improvements you can make to your business and product.
Customer Service:
Almost every unhappy customer will write feedback on your product, while only 1% of happy customers will do so of their own initiative. You have to get them to express their view about your offering. Make sure you have a great customer centric after sales service team to answer any customer queries and resolve their issues as per customer expectations.
Of course, there are a lot of other things that can help you become a successful e-commerce entrepreneur, but the foregoing encapsulates the basics, implementing which will lead you onto the path to your business success. Thereon, you will uphold your own growth and learning.
About the Author
Farhan is an e-commerce thought leader and catalyst for change and innovation. A result-oriented and versatile leader with over 20+ years of progressive and diverse experience, he thrives on building amazing teams and creating exciting products in a creative and innovative environment.
