Realize the Value of an eCommerce Business
By Avery T. Phillips
A lot of people want to know some secrets or hacks you can take advantage of by selling your products and services online. The answer to that is that you must view any ecommerce business the way that you view any other business. If you view it as less than, your success will be lower than your expectations. So, today, we’re going to talk about secrets of the trade that will affect the foundation of your ecommerce business. If you can master these tricks, you’ll have an ecommerce business you can be proud of.
There’s a Lot of Room for Sales Out There
First, here are some statistics that should inspire you. In 2017, Amazon’s consumer electronics section of the site sold around $8.5 billion in products. Other departments weren’t left out: home and kitchen items amassed about $5.5 billion. Books made a $5 billion profit, and sports and outdoor equipment sold around $4 billion. Although we know that Amazon is a giant among ecommerce sites, these statistics are meant to show you the value of individual niches within online sales. If Amazon can make such a profit in each section, you can undoubtedly create a successful ecommerce niche business as well.
Treat Your Online Business Like a Storefront
Next, I believe it’s important to take that inspiration and relate it to your business. If you think about your business as just an ecommerce business, you’ll find it difficult to achieve the level of success you want. Just because Amazon is an online business doesn’t mean anything to them. In fact, their entire business model is built around being an ecommerce site. So, take that as a lesson and see your online business, whether your business is half ecommerce and half brick-and-mortar or all ecommerce, as a full entity in itself. It deserves the attention and confidence that a storefront receives.
Get Adequate Help to Grow Your Business
Lastly, let’s roll that over to how you operate your business. It’s easy to think that just because you’re working with an ecommerce business that you should be able to do everything yourself. However, treating your ecommerce like any other business means that you will need to accept growth, and in turn help, in order to grow the way that you want to. If you’re already viewing it as its own thriving organism, you’ll need a team to help strategize your ecommerce business growth — just as you would with a storefront.
Use Customers to your Advantage
Engage With Your Customers Online
When you run an ecommerce business, the online community is your entire source of feedback. As such, it’s doubly important that you connect with them and create a network that is sharing information about what you have to offer, as compared to competitors. If there is a way for you to integrate social media into your website and make it easy for people to interact with you via networking sites, take advantage of that. For example, if someone buys your product, ask them to post a picture of it and tag you. Some business owners achieve this by having giveaways or other contests that get people excited about sharing the product. Get creative with it and engage your audience via social media.
Learn How to Get Positive Reviews
What’s more, you should always be thinking about how to give people a reason to leave a review. It’s proven that customers leave more negative reviews than positive ones. In order to counteract that, think of ways that you can go above and beyond to give each customer a stellar experience. Tell them thank you for their business in a deeply sincere way.
Offer them a discount with repeat business or through referrals. Give them exclusive access to certain deals or insights about products. Admit your mistakes, fix them quickly, and go above and beyond. You’ll feel good about it, and your customer will be delighted. After you’ve given them what you know to be superior customer service, ask them to share their experience with others. Eighty-four percent of people trust online reviews as much as friends, which means that working hard to get good reviews is crucial to the success of your business.
There is always so much more that can be learned from running an ecommerce business, but on its most basic level, the secrets of the industry that continue to ring true have to do with how you see your business. eCommerce business is clearly just as important as any other type of business out there, so first, you must see your potential for success and growth. Then, you can start the climb. Do what you do best to the largest degree. Put your talents into your ecommerce business and give your customers an outstanding experience. Encourage them to share it, and before you know it, you’ll have unexpected and incredible growth.
Avery T. Phillips is a freelance human being with too much to say. She loves nature and examining human interactions with the world. Comment or tweet her @a_taylorian with any questions or suggestions.
eCommerce stock photo by Aris Suwanmalee/Shutterstock
