Watch out for these Do’s and Don’ts of E-commerce Business before you start.

E-commerce, in simple words, is selling the products and services over the internet, and the fastest growing segment of our economy. It allows even the tiniest business to reach a global audience with its product with a bare minimum cost. Have you ever given a thought if an e-commerce website is right for your business? how to set up an online store, tips for developing a successful online business, how to manage search engine placement. So let's get started.

There are essentially three segments of E-Commerce you should be familiar with. The First one is, Online Shopping or Business to Customer (B2C) is the most well-known segment. The second one is Business to Business (B2B) where businesses sell to other businesses or wholesalers. The third one is the growing segment, Consumer to Consumer (C2C).

There is also this important question you need to address before starting your online business. Is an ecommerce website right for your business model?

Probably Yes. It mostly depends on the nature of your business. Websites such as Amazon.com or Flipkart or Snapdeal have an established place in the market, and their size, brand name recognition and the trust they have with their customers allows them to dominate this market with good pricing, steep discounts which they are providing is the key feature of attracting the customers, in addition to the remarkable customer loyalty.

Competition in e-commerce business is growing rapidly. Well, that’s a good thing, and you shouldn’t let it discourage you. If you have something of value to offer to customers, your startup has every chance of succeeding in the e-commerce business.

DO’S MARKET RESEARCH

Before you spend valuable time and money on a website and marketing, find out if your product is any good. If it is good, find out if there’s any demand for it.

Turn to acquaintances, friends and family members for product testing. Choose people who have a reputation for being brutally honest. Give away samples in return for completing a survey. Try to enlist as broad a selection of guinea pigs as possible. Apple, Microsoft, Dell and many such companies were all garage operations that became global, billion-dollar Businesses. Their founders weren’t necessarily Geniuses. They were just able to show that their products worked well and were in demand.

CREATE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT WORKS AND MAKES MONEY

The first thing investors will ask about is about your business model. Decide how every aspect of your company, like marketing, finance, and technology, will be structured and managed for the best results. You may gain initial market share by offering something for free. Still, you have to be able to show how your business will be profitable long term.

DESIGN A TOP-NOTCH WEBSITE OR LIST YOUR PRODUCT ON THE RIGHT ONLINE MARKETPLACE

According to GoDaddy, more than half of all small businesses are not yet online. Given that consumers are more tech-savvy than ever, that’s just crazy.

A professional website will give you an edge. Content should be attractive, extremely useful and somewhat entertaining. Would clients share your link with friends? If they wouldn’t, then your content is just not good enough. Check out competitors’ websites. Look for gaps in information, confusing graphics or poorly written content. Then, work on your website to make it better. There’s no shame in hiring an expert to design your site.

Don’t expect to get visitors out of thin air. Have a strategy for directing traffic your way. Unless you know a lot about algorithms and search engine optimization, you should probably hire an Expert for SEO and other such services.

TARGET THE RIGHT AUDIENCE

Every person out there is not your customer. The first step of Market research itself will give you an idea on who would be your customer and who would actually use the products you sell. Also, product recommendations deliver a personalized shopping experience and can increase your order value with as much as 40%. Out of 1000 online shoppers, 53% would like seeing products that are recommended based on their previous buying history and sometimes ratings & reviews given by others.  Any e-commerce site that wants to stay in the game has to come up with a personalized shopping experience for its customers.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PROMOTION

We cannot ignore the power of Social media on the Product Branding & image. Every ecommerce site should have a short term and long term strategy to gain more popularity on social networks. All social networks may not suit all business Model. However the two social networks Twitter and Facebook can be used for promoting any business model. Set your profiles and be as active as possible, without spamming your followers.

However, you have to avoid constantly trying to sell something. There is something called as Brand recalling. You need to focus on reminding your customers about your brand rather than selling the product all the time. People might also want to know the story behind the brand, interesting statistics regarding the business you’re in, how to use/style your products.

PACKAGING & SHIPPING

Attractive packaging and timely delivery can enhance your shopping experience by leaps and bounds. Exactly, it will! Customers love the presentation more & it is sure to bring a smile on their face when they receive neatly packaged orders on time. Ensure that every package has a clear invoice and accurate shipping details to avoid any confusions or delays in delivery. Also, having a good courier partner is a must! It is advised to have multiple courier choices to reduce costs on shipping. You can reach out to any such aggregator like ecourierz.com who will provide multiple options & reasonable prices. Ensure that you will leave no stone unturned in enhancing the customer’s shopping experience with your amazing packaging and unbeatable on time delivery.

DON’TS

DON’T THINK ON EXPANDING IMMEDIATELY

Wait until your business is profitable before you borrow money to expand or upgrade. Ideally, a business has to reach break even before you start thinking about expanding or scaling up. You’ll come across as far less of a risk if you’ve proven that your business is sustainable. You’ll also get a better interest rate.

It’s something like being a more desirable job candidate while you’re still employed than after you’ve lost a job.

DON’T TRY TO DO EVERYTHING RIGHT OFF THE BAT

Before you experiment with new ideas, get the kinks ironed out of your operation. Concentrate on providing excellent service. Get to know your customers so that you can market to their specific needs and tastes.

In short, don’t launch your own line of tennis shoes until you’re the best resource on the internet for athletic footwear.

DON’T IGNORE YOUR CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.

Feedback is the most valuable tool of all for building a loyal customer base.

You don’t just have to respond well to feedback. You have to continually ask for it. It may seem like we live in a world of whiners, but plenty of people would rather quietly take their business elsewhere than make a complaint.

Make it easy for clients to find your contact information. Encourage them to complete a customer satisfaction survey. When they have a problem, make it right. When they suggest improvements, take them seriously.

DON’T EXPECT OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

Like with most other things in life, achieving e-commerce success simply doesn’t happen overnight. From building your online store, establishing a reputable brand to earning trust, it can take months or even years of steady marketing & quality customer support to reach your goals. Meaning you shouldn’t get discouraged if orders don’t pour in immediately after launching your store. Always remember, getting noticed in the crowded online marketplace can take some time – achieving sales success can take even longer.

Final Point:
E-commerce is an excellent opportunity for any Individual or Small Scale and Medium Scale businesses to reach out to the global customers and sell the products. If you ensure to follow the guidelines, there is no doubt in achieving enormous growth in your business. Your business can be the next successful model in the market.