So, you own a retail store or are probably planning to start a new e-commerce business. You invested in a lot of right products and even tried the traditional methods of marketing your store. But, all in vain. You didn’t receive that much of a response, and your sales were not that high. What could be the reason? Probably you are missing out on something very crucial, that is, an e-commerce website!
Yes, you heard it right! An e-commerce website is the best source in today’s digital time to reach more audiences and grow your sales exponentially.
It is no surprise that people today spend more time on the internet and mobiles than on anything else. That’s why the e-commerce website, which was supposed to be a luxury, has become necessary for retailers to survive in today’s digital market. Here are some stats that will clear the importance of e-commerce websites in today’s digital era.
- There are more than 2 billion people who prefer to buy products online. This number is expected to grow in the coming years.
- In 2019, e-retail sales accounted for 14% of all retail sales. This percentage is expected to reach 22% by the year 2023.
- In the USA alone, the e-commerce segment generated a whopping revenue of $ 343.15 billion in 2019. This number is also expected to reach $476 billion by the year 2024.
Retail e-commerce sales in the United States from 2017 to 2024 (in a million US dollars)
Hence, it is inevitable that an online e-commerce business is the most profitable thing to invest in today’s competitive world. But, how to make that e-commerce business successful is the main question!
That’s why we have brought you some crucial aspects that you need to follow to make your e-commerce business successful in 2020. Read on to know more!
How to Start a Profitable eCommerce Business?
Now that you are aware of the importance of an e-commerce site in today’s digital world, let us quickly examine how you can start a profitable e-commerce store in 2020.
Step 1: Choose your Business Model
Selecting a proper business model can impact the overall success and future strategies of your e-commerce business. Now, selling physical products, or service-based business are just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much below it.
For instance, if you don’t want to invest much in the starting and want to generate sustainable profits, drop-shipping maybe your business model. Meaning, you can provide a specific range of products directly from the manufacturers to the customers.
Another business model you may be interested in is the Uber model. With it, you can provide services to deliver particular products like food services, taxi services, etc. Remember, the profits in such business models may not be instant, but it can surely make you a successful marketer after some time.
Additionally, selling a particular set of products under your brand name could also work these days. You only need to focus on partnering with manufacturers or wholesalers and branding partners.
Content marketing and affiliate programs would help you achieve the expected sales and customers for your e-commerce brand!
Step 2: Find Perfect Products to Sell
Once you have determined your perfect e-commerce business model, the next step would be to finalize the products you are going to sell. Now, a big mistake that many e-commerce dealers make is they deal with a lot of different products. As a result, they lose their focus from the main thing their business is based on.
Unless high investment value, you should never turn your e-commerce business into the next Amazon, or Walmart! Instead, you should understand and identify a perfect niche that you want to deal with. Research on the companies that are dealing in your e-commerce niche, and determine what products are selling.
Ensure that the items you choose should have some kind of highly targeted keywords; otherwise, if not, it does not have any market value. Also, try to avoid any highly competitive brand, and drill down to less specific products with market demand so that you can seamlessly grow your e-commerce store.
Remember, the more specific and useful your products will be, the more users will come, and more will be your e-commerce sales! So, pick a product category with a maximum of 1000 keywords and then target a specific niche on marketing platforms to promote your products and online store.
Step 3: Invest in a Good Website Development Firm
The next big thing after confirming the products and business model is to launch your online e-commerce store. Now, that’s something very crucial and vital aspect of your e-commerce business. In today’s mobile world, having an online presence is a must for retailers. People tend to buy things they see online, and launching an online e-commerce site or mobile app is the best way to achieve that!
Whether for a website or a mobile e-commerce app, you need to hire experienced e-commerce developers from a trusted software engineering firm. Now, why I am saying experienced developers from a trusted firm, and why not freelancers. Well, it has specific reasons:
- Firstly, experienced developers from a trusted company will have complete knowledge of the latest trends and the problems that might come during the website or app development. Indeed, they will also have the answers to all those issues.
- Secondly, an experienced software engineering firm has all the high-end resources like project managers, front-end developers, back-end developers, testers, designers readily available with them. Freelancers would not have all those resources available.
- Ecommerce developers from an experienced website development company can also provide you with an error-free and SEO friendly website and app that would make the marketing work a lot easier.
- Basically, SEO enhances the visibility of your brand on the online platform. Thus, people see your brand more often on the top search results, and eventually, the traffic and leads increase.
Those were some of the reasons you should pick an experienced software engineering firm for your e-commerce website or app development rather than a freelancer!
Are you still confused? Read our additional articles below to get all your answers on website development and e-commerce app development!
Additional Resources : How to develop an eCommerce Android app- A simplified guide
Step 4: eCommerce Shipping and Customer Service
Customer service and better inventory management are the two most crucial aspects that you need to take care of while starting an e-commerce business. Now, you may have certain products at your end, and managing them properly in your warehouse is a vital task; otherwise, you may suffer financial losses.
For that, an inventory management software would do best. With inventory management software, you could do the following task:
- Inventory Control
- Barcode Data Collection
- Returns Tracking
- Packaging and Consolidation
- Transportation Management
- Photo Audits
On the other hand, for enhanced customer services, you could seamlessly leverage AI-driven chatbots to automate the customer service process. With natural language processing and an advanced ML system, chatbots could be an excellent tool for your e-commerce website. You could save a lot of money, and your employees could focus on other vital tasks besides solving the customer’s queries!
Read More: How AI-Powered Chatbots are Crucial for Business?
Step 5: Attract Users to your Online Store
Now, here’s something very crucial for your online store. Driving people to your site, and converting them to leads and eventually to valuable customers is the foremost aim of every retail owner. And to be very true, traditional marketing methods do not work much these days.
In today’s digital era, people tend to spend more time on the internet and social media, and that’s why social media marketing has become a crucial aspect for global businesses. Whether a new healthcare system or any product, everybody makes the use of social media pl; platforms to promote their products and services. So, why not you? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, are some of the popular social media platforms where you can post about your online store.
You can leverage those channels to market your products or services or update your recent offers. People today tend to buy what they see online, so they will have the golden opportunity to increase sales.
Social media marketing helps you reach more audiences and saves a lot of costs that would otherwise be wasted on costly marketing campaigns! So, utilize that valuable platform to market your online store and increase your reach.
Also Read: How to Generate More Leads from Social Media
Step 6: Final Tips for a Successful eCommerce Business
Finally, when you are done with all the strategies mentioned above, you will have a successful e-commerce business ready for generating sales and profits! But, before launching your online store, and making big profits out of it, here are some other crucial things that you need to take care of. These small things can make a significant change in your business and set you apart from other e-commerce businesses.
First, begin collecting the email of your users because email marketing is also crucial for expanding your user reach and generating more leads seamlessly. Secondly, communicate clearly. Even a little communication gap could lead to wrong information delivery, which could eventually result in customer loss. So, try effective ways like email, or chatbots for enhancing your communications with the users.
Track everything to know the exact area that needs improvement, and that could even save you from huge losses and headaches. Lastly, don’t feel confident. Well, there’s no doubt that eCommerce is an ever-growing successful business niche. But sometimes, things don’t go well, or they need some time. In such a scenario, it’s better to seek expert help or wait for things to become good. Eventually, if you follow all our steps mentioned above, then chances are very less that you will ever face any serious problems while operating your e-commerce business.
Read more: How to Build a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Marketplace Website?
Ready to Build an eCommerce Website with Matellio?
Those were some of the top aspects that one needs to follow to start a successful e-commerce business. To conclude, we can say that e-commerce is a growing field, and investing in such a trending niche is undoubtedly a profitable deal for you!
We, at Matellio, have years-long experience in developing error-free and user-friendly e-commerce websites and mobile apps. Our expert developers and testers ensure a smooth and SEO-friendly website and mobile app, that is a sure-shot way of generating leads and increasing your profits and revenues. We also have a multitude of projects that could show our capabilities and past work. Got an idea for your e-commerce website? Reach us today! Our experts will help you convert your ideas into products. Plus, you will get a free 30-min consultation on your project from our e-commerce experts. So, hurry up!
