Before making my point, let me ask this straight – Are you here for the Aloe Vera you need to heal the burn you suffer from an E-commerce business failure? “Let’s kill‘em all who advised me to start one!” Your words. Not Mine!
Or maybe you are just super interested in opening one or another e-store but weighing all the factors for S.W.O.T analysis? Aha! Hello Genius!
Decision onward to open an online store with hopes, dreams and sporting entrepreneurial spirit gets even more accelerated when you hit search engines. All of the netizens rush to support you and come as real handy in figuring out the best process and tools.
Facts and stats such as ‘By 2021, global retail e-commerce sales will reach $4.5 trillion’ (Shopify Plus, 2018) or ‘In 2018, over 1.79 billion people worldwide bought goods and services online’ (Statista) allure pretty good. However, much of these sales will be in the pockets of eCommerce giants.
Sure you can challenge the Alibabas/Amazons of the world and I’ll get my popcorn!
Retail Shops are found in abundant on planet earth. A lot of them offer the same kind of products yet enjoy good sales. It’s no quantum physics to crack that convenience of location for customers, helps them. Internet, in this subject matter is ruthless since it’s accessible to all. Established e-retailers are doing a great job in providing individualized shopping experience with the stunning user interface. They have mapped a great journey and are not steps but miles ahead of you.
Polarization is so on!
So if you can’t really provide something unique, chances are high that people won’t even be considering your e-store and maybe you’ll decide to sell your products through Amazon and such. This makes up to be a solid reason why 90% online businesses have failed.
Sure products can be ‘unique’ but uniqueness unfolds in different manners. It can undoubtedly change the game. What works for one business may not work for another. This is that exact UNIQUE VALUE you must identify that deters you from taking shelter in e-commerce giants’ umbrella.
Special ways in building customer loyalty, already having a large base of shoppers, extensive and infinite knowledge in your business area, variety of potential sell-able stock, cost-effectiveness, exceptional customer service, and hunger to grow serves as substantial Unique Values.
The strong unique value will not only help you kick-start but when all the measures have been taken to drive customers at your e-store, your Business Core and its Unique Value will then do its magic.
I’ll take a moment and a brief share of my blog words to salute the heroism of entrepreneurs who have arrived at a decision to make money by their own online shop followed by chuckles. Teehee! But, talking in terms of true business spirit, this is 0.1% of the journey you’ve embarked on since the challenges ahead are daunting. Efforts required for online business building and development are no less than opening a retail store.
Let’s go through the TO DO’S –
• User-Friendly Website
• Attractive Website Copy
• Product Tagging & Detailing
• Organic & Paid Marketing
• Complying With Laws & Regulations
• Customer’s Preferred Payment Gateways
• Engaging New Users & Driving Conversions
• Personalizing Shopping Experience
• Building Customer Relationships
• Developing Brand’s Reputation & Goodwill
• Managing Inventory & Logistics
• Right Tech For Better Control Over Business
• Planning Next Business Steps and most importantly,
• Ability & Potential To Make Right Decisions
This is one heck of a TO-DO list that has infinite background to-do’s! Interestingly, all pose as great challenges meant to stop you from succeeding. Choosing a strong partner in this critical journey helps you load off and scale up faster which is what we envision for our partners and strive hard to make it possible for them. Remember, speed bumps are always critically placed.
Here’s a walk-through of how the journey unfolds for 10,000 people with dreams of having their own online store. Do all of them make it?
..you get the picture!
Today, we are living our lives in ‘e-boom’. Education, Healthcare, Art, Shopping and all such quality life aspects have upgraded to the internet. Which is why e-commerce business seems logical and rewarding. But because there is always a ‘but’, the dreamy and rosy picture has been a let down for many.
