5 Tips for Starting an E-Commerce Business

Did you know that global e-commerce is projected to reach a staggering $6.3 trillion in 2023? In fact, the United States surpassed the $1 trillion mark in 2022, experiencing a remarkable 7.7% year-over-year growth. These impressive statistics highlight the undeniable influence and opportunities presented by e-commerce. Whether you’re a small business or a multinational corporation, the online realm has become an indispensable platform for success.

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5 Tips for E-Commerce Business Transcript

Did you know, global e-commerce is expected to total $6.3 trillion in 2023. The U.S. alone broke $1 trillion in 2022 after a 7.7% growth year over year. With stats like this, it’s no surprise that businesses of all sizes are moving to e-commerce or adding an online focus to their business model. Hello, my name is Daniel and welcome to 1981 Digital.

Just this last week in meetings or talking about how almost all of the sites we’ve built in the last two years have been entirely e-commerce focused. This wasn’t necessarily our focus when 1981 was getting started, but we have found ourselves working in this space time and time again, and we really do love it. We have learned some things along the way, however, and today we’re going to dive into some of those learning experiences.

Identifying your target audience probably seems like marketing 101 but keep in mind, this is a whole new segment of business and because of this it requires different efforts than a brick and mortar typically would. So bear in mind, though, your target audience is a little bit different than your target market. Target audiences are more specific, so you might be targeting men ages 18 to 25, but your target audience might take that a step further and target men ages 18 to 25 with an interest in health and fitness supplements.

Identifying your target audience helps you to position not only your products and services to that group, but also your design, your user experience and your creative as well. Whether expanding business to have an online element or starting from the ground up. Make sure you perform quality market research to identify your audience, but also to alleviate any pain points that audience may have.

Using this information will guide all of your decisions about product selection, marketing strategies, website design and more. There are so many platforms for e-commerce options now that it makes deciding on one platform so much more difficult. And there’s just so many factors to consider. Like what’s your budget? How much functionality do you need? Can you integrate that system with a CRM or another website or another source?

and that list just goes on and on, but keep in mind what’s most important to you when deciding on a platform. Consider things like ease of use, how customizable it is, how how scalable it is to your business, and maybe even payment gateway options, just to name a few of these things. But some of the most popular options out there are WooCommerce, Shopify and Square.

At 1981, we really love working in the WooCommerce ecosystem because it checks all of our boxes and it is so easy to clients to use. But not only that, it’s so scalable and customizable as well. Developing a strong brand identity directly leads to growth in sales. Two thirds of businesses say brand consistency has contributed to revenue growth of at least 10%.

This means it’s important to take the time to really develop your brand’s values and personality. Defining your mission, vision, and voice and be consistent in your branding and develop a voice that resonates with your audience. Cohesive tone and brand identity will help you stand out in a saturated e-commerce market and build a loyal customer base. By the time you decide on a platform, you spend the time building it up and the money to build it up.

You’d probably like to start driving people to your store and getting paid. There are a variety of channels to consider and whether that’s organic social posts on Instagram and TikTok or hiring influencers to promote your products, or maybe even Google search ads or any other channel, it’s really important to determine which channels are most effective for your target audience.

This helps to inform decisions on things like ad spend for each channel. Keep in mind each of these channels have their own pros and cons and make sure to find what’s best for your audience. Remember to keep a close eye on your marketing campaigns for your store. This way you can continue to optimize throughout those campaigns. And if you really want to be successful in e-commerce, you have to have to have to prioritize customer experience.

86% of consumers believe a brand after his view is too poor experiences. So there there really isn’t room to neglect customer experience on your site. And with e-commerce, there are even more layers to that customer experience. You need to make sure the product or information a user is after is easy to find on your site, and they make sure there aren’t any page issues because this is a leading cause of increase bounce rate and you need to sure your e-commerce site is mobile friendly and much, much more.

Continue to optimize your site’s loading speed and always is secure payment gateways to set your customers at ease. Once you’ve made a sale offer the best customer service imaginable. Be ready to answer any questions and intercede however necessary. E-commerce is expected to total over $8.1 trillion by the year 2026, and we expect to see more businesses starting up in e-commerce and expanding the business model to include more e-commerce efforts.

So make sure your brand stands out among the rest as your quality customer experience and focus on your target audience. The rest will fall into place. And maybe this whole e-commerce building and branding is a bit overwhelming. And if that’s the case, that’s totally, totally okay. Reach out to us. We would love to be a part of setting you up for success online by building your next e-commerce site.

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