COVID-19 has accelerated the trend of online shopping among customers. The offline businesses nearly shut down and suffered massive losses during that period. It was the online e-commerce businesses that backed the community’s needs and took charge of everyone’s daily needs and survival to a great extent.
According to the US Census Bureau, global e-commerce sales reached $5.7 trillion in 2022. It accounted for 14.8% of total sales by September 2022.
E-commerce has grown steadily since and shows no signs of slowing down. It has persuaded businesses worldwide to establish an online presence, but doing so requires significant efforts. It takes a lot of work and time as you need to start building things from the ground. If you own a small business in your community and want to get online, too, read ahead, and we will make this journey easier for you.
In this article, we will elaborate on the roadmap to e-commerce from scratch for your business.
Read on.
Plan Your E-Commerce Model
Before starting any business online, you must ask yourself, “What do you wish to sell?“
The answer isn’t enough to start your business right away. Here are other major elements that are added to the list following this critical step.
- Does your business model fill a gap in the market?
- Are you uniquely qualified to fill the gap?
- Does it solve a big problem prevailing in the market?
- What are the milestones you’ve reached if you’ve been doing business offline? For instance, orders fulfilled, revenue generated, and more.
- Have you considered the market trends that can affect your business?
- Have you considered the size and demand for your product?
- Did you investigate the market competition and what distinguishes your e-commerce model from theirs?
- Do you have enough funds in your bank account to get your online platform running, considering all direct and indirect costs?
These are some of the most realistic questions one should answer before taking the next step. It will help you set up concrete business goals for which you will be able to take measurable actions.
You also need to get ready to hire ecommerce developers like Magento e commerce developers or Shopify developers or anything so that they can build your store. But, before moving to that step, you need to make sure these points are followed properly.
Recognize Your Target Audience
It is one of the most important steps on the roadmap to e-commerce for a small business. This is where data analysis will take the burden off your shoulders and help you learn more about the perfect and potential audience for your business.
Businesses can leverage insights like what people are buying, how they are locating your website, their demographics, and more. Once you have all the information about them, utilise the statistics to put forward what the customer wants through various campaigns. Conduct regular data analysis on your customer base to adapt your marketing campaigns to market changes.
Generating Organic Traffic is crucial for e-commerce businesses as Organic Google search results account for 43% of the total traffic in the e-commerce sector. Here SEO plays an important role in optimizing websites to get better results. Unlike Paid Ads, SEO has a high Return on Investment (ROI). There are many important tools for SEO like Google Analytics, Afrefs, SEOKart, Ubersuggest and etc. These tools assist digital marketers in running a successful SEO campaign. An SEO campaign comprises three components: On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, and Technical SEO. SEO is not a one-man game. It requires the efforts of team members specialized in different roles. The best solution is to outsource to a successful Ecommerce SEO Agency.
Incorporate Intelligent Guided Selling
Customer experience is more important than ever before. With the increasing competition in the market, it has become more crucial to customise a personalised journey for every customer. Businesses must excel at their online experience for their customers to help them find what they are searching for and secure brand loyalty with them.
To do so, put in the best e-commerce UX practices with intelligent guided selling that will transform the entire customer journey on your website.
Intelligently guided selling offers seamless assistance to fulfil this purpose. It guides the customer to exactly what they require and other things that are relevant to them. This enhances the shopping experience for your brand online, which is a must in this fast-paced world.
Thorough Competition Analysis
The fact that there is competition in the market does not preclude you from entering it. It’s all about a thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of others that can help you make your brand stand out in the market and craft the ideal e-commerce roadmap for your business.
Start by recognizing your direct and indirect competitors. Understand the segments and markets they serve and why customers buy from them. You’ll gain a better sense of the advantages they provide and the marketing techniques they employ to draw in their target market.
Research all the publicly available information about them. Try exploring their website, placing an order, and experiencing the journey a customer has with your competitors. It will allow you to walk through the advantages and disadvantages of your competitors’ websites.
Once you have all their information, think about how you can differentiate your business idea from your competitors to persuade the target audience easily. Make a list of all the USPs of your e-commerce business and use them wisely in your marketing strategies.
Establish a Financial Plan From the Start
The fund in your bank account is the backbone of your e-commerce business and will get it running. It is the fuel you need to use wisely to prove the feasibility of your business idea.
Consider keeping an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement from the first day of your business. An income statement will help you forecast the company’s revenue and expenses incurred by primary and secondary activities. A balance sheet will summarize your company’s assets, liabilities, and equity and enable you to calculate your net worth. Additionally, the cash flow statement will give you insights into the cash generated and spent over a time period and calculate the positive cash flow and profit margins.
If you need additional finance, explore business loan options that would suit you best.
It’s Time for Action
A comprehensive business plan requires days and months of research. It’s all about staying on track, keeping up with your motivation and passion, and nurturing them like a child. It may require hard work, but it will be extraordinary rewarding once things start aligning well. We would recommend that you start small, be aware of market trends, experiment with marketing, and leverage multichannel strategies and partnerships for long-term success. This is all you need to get started on your e-commerce roadmap.
Author bio
Rajesh Bhimani is the Founder of Skynet Technologies, a Website Design and Development Agency. He has 21 years of experience in the Technology and Marketing industry. When he isn’t working, you can find him cooking for his family or reading some fiction. You can connect with him on Twitter.
