The growth in the eCommerce industry is expected to continue throughout 2016 and beyond. Although often more than rewarding, running a business of this type doesn’t mean it comes without its own set of difficulties. Overcoming them requires getting properly introduced to the way this type of business is supposed to work. With this in mind, we present you with 3 key things to keep an eye on when it comes to maintaining a successful, lucrative eCommerce business.
Easy with the Launch
As a rule of thumb, startups either gain instant popularity or lose everything fast. With that in mind, an eCommerce entrepreneur should know that they get only one shot at launching their website – it’s their bread and butter. What this means is not rushing things, consequently endangering your business, but rather taking your time before launching. This is not to say, though, that purchasing your domain name shouldn’t be done as soon as possible – simply come up with a “Coming Soon” page and you’ve got plenty of time left to brainstorm. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t reveal your website before you’ve covered all the necessary basics, such as SEO, social media marketing, content marketing and other forms of paid advertising.
Inventory and Warehousing
ECommerce businesses benefit greatly from the fact that they can disregard inventory quantity. Nevertheless, seeing as how the fees are roughly on the same ground, regardless of the amount of stored items, you still need to work out where you will be storing your items. Of course, renting a storage space or having one built for your business is a possibility, but this perk can easily turn into an expensive one. Fortunately, there are other means of storage available out there, so consider finding an alternative. For example, 3pl logistics offer subscription storage, where they, as professionals, cover all warehousing and shipping fees and technicalities, even package tracking and delivery confirmations.
Focus on Your Customers
One of the biggest downsides to running an eCommerce business is not being able to personally deal with your customers, as well as the fact that your customers can’t touch, smell, see and ultimately get the feel of your product. Although there is no solution to this just yet, there are many ways in which you can help motivate your customers to opt for your product.
Among the best ways to appeal to the potential customers is coming up with an appropriate pricing to compensate for the lack of personal interaction. Keep in mind that everything on your website should be user-oriented; after all, you are in a business where your customers will purchase products online. Multiple, carefully taken high-quality images of the product that you have in offer should be available at all times on your website.
This way, a user will get more of a feel for your product (i.e. as much as humanly possible). A section of customer reviews and, perhaps, expert recommendations from third-party sources should also be made available. Search bar should be placed conveniently – in the upper right corner; suggestive search should also be made available, offering items similar to users’ pervious searches. This might not seem that important, but the frustration with badly-conceived websites has put many companies out of business.
Running an eCommerce business is somewhat different to other professional companies – you rely mostly on your online presence, what requires a different point of view. Keep the outlined items in check and make sure you maintain your online presence as user-friendly as possible and you are well on your way to reaching success.
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