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In spring 2020, I co-created an e-commerce site for women-owned businesses. Like most individuals, I saw the news daily about how women were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Women were leaving or losing their jobs as schools and businesses closed and the world moved to online shopping. I knew I needed to be proactive and that there needed to be a spot for girls to begin, change or grow their business through e-commerce.
- “I can start my e-commerce business for just $19.00 a month and begin selling immediately.”
- “People will find my site and begin buying my products as soon because it goes live.”
- “Starting an e-commerce site offers you quick income!”
Like many others, I believed these quotes and launched my online business. As I looked deeper and learned the fact of starting an internet business, I felt I needed to share what I learned. I would like to guard entrepreneurs focused on constructing and running a business from costly mistakes. Claims of easy, profitable and immediate sale don’t reflect reality. Starting and maintaining an e-commerce business is complicated, expensive and time-consuming.
Almost three years later, here’s what I’ve learned:
Myth #1: I can start my ecommerce business for just $19.00 a month and begin selling instantly
Many e-commerce services simplify and streamline the creation and maintenance of an internet store. The initial fees for these services may be very low, starting from $0 to $10 monthly. But after adding website hosting, paying for a site name, ensuring your website (and customer data) is secure, purchasing or updating a theme to your store, selecting a payment gateway for bank card processing, and any variety of optional extensions to boost the feel and look of your shop in your site after which add extensions to extend discovery through SEO (search engine optimisation), all of which averages between $600 and $5,000 per yr. And that does not include a penny of selling.
Related: Thinking of Starting an Online Business? 2023 is the suitable time to do it. This is why.
Myth #2: People will find my website and buy my products once I launch my online store
I hear this loads from latest entrepreneurs and it sounds very reasonable. We are ALWAYS online and connected. There is a relentless stream of shopping opportunities, so it seems all you have got to do is show your products to people to purchase them. In e-commerce terms, that is “traffic driving,” and driving traffic may be costly, time-consuming, and disproportionately expensive. But how else will customers find you?
If you have got a big following on social media, you may tell your community that you simply sell products and that they need to test it out. But if you happen to’re growing your social media presence with what you are promoting, you almost certainly must buy ads on those social media platforms to be found. This is dear and time consuming and doesn’t give guaranteed results. I do know famous brands that spend tens of hundreds of dollars monthly to drive website traffic.
Cutting through the internet marketing hype to drive customers to your website might be the toughest a part of e-commerce. For small businesses, the fee of social media or other internet marketing is prohibitive; constructing successors takes money and time. Most entrepreneurs do not have the time to spend trying to supply a services or products at the middle of their business.
Related: 12 Amazing Tips From Ecommerce Experts
Myth #3: Starting an e-commerce site offers you quick income
If only it were. It sounds easy enough, but see myths 1 and a pair of. You run a business because you might be enthusiastic about the services or products you provide and you might be good at it. Being distracted out of your core business is dangerous, and learning to master e-commerce is usually a steep learning curve. The time you spend learning search engine optimisation, establishing search engine ads, creating digital marketing assets, and troubleshooting that wonderful online store-bought app is time you are not specializing in your core business.
The Internet is increasingly the way in which consumers shop, and it’s crowded. Breaking through the net hype is not quick, easy, or low cost. Finding a community and resources to support your e-commerce transition or online growth is crucial for small businesses. There are several sales channels and markets that may be an ideal start line. You pay commissions on sales, membership and promotional fees and turn out to be part of a bigger organization that gives an internet structure, domain, security, payment gateway and marketing support and opportunities to advertise or present yourself to a wider audience.
Related: 5 things to know before starting an ecommerce business
Each channel or market has its nuances and it is extremely necessary to take a look at all the main points to search out the most effective fit to your products, budget, time and brand. Customer traffic to your products can cost you a whole lot of time, money and margins. More on that.
The bottom line is that yes, you may technically run an internet site using online tools for around $20.00 a month. But to sell your services or products in your website, be found by customers outside your immediate network, and grow what you are promoting? This requires an investment of science, money and time. It’s your job as a business owner to do your research before deciding what, when and the way is the most effective channel to grow your brand online.
No one understands higher than an entrepreneur that in business nothing is easy, low cost and overnight. Despite the hype, this may be doubly true for e-commerce. So, do your homework again, do your research, and make certain what you are promoting is e-commerce ready.
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