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Winning concepts in Ecommerce (12)

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@nrthrnlghts asked me some advice on what to avoid in Ecommerce - at a higher level.

I think though, that your success will not come from what you avoid. It will come from doing things that work. Over and over again. And improving - day in, day out.

Which is why I replied with the concepts that work for me:

I think there's more to learn from what did work and became a success than what didn't (there's quite a list for that too).

1 - Create a brand that stands out in the market

You don't want to spend a fortune on "branding", but you do want be recognisable in the market.

So a good logo, domain name and colour use.

And good means distinctive, not different for the sake of being different

We didn't do that well enough from a domain perspective, which has lead to confusion sometimes. Using your product as part of the domain name is recognisable for the customer in terms o fwhat they can expect.
But it limits you if you broaden your range and makes you often too similar to others, as everyone tries to cram in a product name in the url.

We are going throught the process of rebranding, where we slowly tie everything together.

2 - Have a testing culture (hypothesis, test small scale, then either quit or continue / scale up).

What works for me in terms of pricing, products etc might not work for you. And that goes for the advice from gurus as well.

Which is why you need to test.

The point is not to just knock it out of the park. it's also about improving, tweaking the whole chain to better results.

And then focus on what works for your business, forget about what works for others (there's no need to chase trends, only to make money / profit)

- Focus on a niche and become the #1

You want to become the #1 both in customers minds as well as in volume.

In the customer's mind, you want to become the go-to place for X.

For your suppliers, you establish your top position by how much you sell. And when you are #1 for a manufacturer, you get better margins and a are in a better position in general, which helps with negotiating about whatever you need from them (marketing support, lower prices, special deals etc)

Once you have your #1 position,. expand from there in width of your offers.

Focus on profitable volume. It's OK to take a loss if it serves a strategic purpose and you have the resources.
It's never OK to lose money because you weren't aware of ALL your cost.

- Set big goals and tell others about them

I set a few goals when I started, with exact turnover numbers and hit those exactly. Numbers that sounded ridiculously high before.

Told people about them and saw them materialise.

This also helped suppliers and employees know where we were going.

Still, because we hit the numbers, maybe I set the goals too low ;-)

- Know your products / customers / market better than anyone else

You don't have to be a technical expert or become one.

What you do want is the knowledge that will give you an edge over your competitors. Help you identify opportunities you can test and save you from time wasted.

That edge can be found in the overlap of knowledge of your products, customers and the market in general.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't test. But knowning what to test and which opportunities there are.

So build up your knowledge, because most will be too lazy to do so.
This is a concept in itself, as the amount of discomfort you can bear in following your goals contributes directly to your level of success.
And this discomfort is can be mental or physical and can be as simple as the painful process of learning something new.


Hope this helps.

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Solid points @pekadis!

This is absolutely true especially when you consider that this kind of business requires many skills, including products procurement, operations, marketing, customer service as well as accounting. One way or another each of these specialties can become a competitive advantage or a weakness.

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thanks @platinum

You're right - all these things can become an advantage or a weakness.

To add to that - I have found that there's a real challenge in letting go as well.

So when you start, you're involved with everything. You know everything better than anyone else, because you are in the trenches.
But at some point, you have to let go of certain areas as a person. This means finding staff, outsourcing or automating.

Only then will you be able to make room for further growth. And in that sense, your personal growth is the company's growth.

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Fantastic! Going straight into this week's newsletter!

Thanks pekadis!



Amy

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Not sure how I haven't found this yet, but where do we go to get the newsletter?

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Thanks for the question! You can get it at stmforum.com/blog.

It is also emailed to all current and past members of STM every week. Perhaps check your junk folder and whitelist the email. If you can't find them please let me know here and I'll check.




Amy

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Awesome, thanks Amy, let me bookmark that page right now

Nothing came up in my junk folder so I'm unsure what happened there!

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Thanks for letting me know! I'll look into why you're not receiving the email. (Obvious question: You're checking the email you signed up to STM with, correct?)



Amy

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You should start getting the newsletter next week! If you don't see it next Wednesday please let me know.



Amy

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using STM Forums mobile app

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Hi Amy,

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve never received the newsletter since I joined STM.
I’ve checked my junk folder and nothing is in there.


Sent from my iPad using STM Forums mobile app

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Hey Amy, apologies, I did not notice your previous reply (and yes, checking same address as I signed up with)!

Thanks for fixing things up for me :-)

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Checking with my colleagues to make sure you're included! Thanks for letting me know!

I'm putting together the next newsletter as we speak - it's scheduled to go out tomorrow. If you don't see it in say 48 hours, please let me know!

(Apologies to pekadis for hijacking this thread! On the bright side, we're bumping this valuable thread so more people has a chance to see it. )



Amy

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