Best Startup
With 20.8% of retail purchases set to take place online this year, and 24% by 2026, there’s never been a better time to launch an ecommerce startup. That said, entrepreneurship is challenging with 90% of startups across all industries ultimately failing. Implementing smart strategies to successfully launch and grow your ecommerce startup is therefore essential for long-term business success.
Choose the right ecommerce platform
Choosing the right ecommerce platform for your business depends on your unique needs for your website, sales, marketing, and general operations. WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce, and Shopify, for example, are some of the most popular options, but be sure to compare and contrast different platforms to find the right fit for you. Integrations and plugs are a key consideration, and not all platforms offer every integration, so be clear on your needs first.
Additionally, having the right team in place to manage your ecommerce platform is crucial for success. See here for nearshore machine learning engineers and services who can help optimize your platform for maximum efficiency and customer satisfaction. These professionals can provide customized solutions and support to ensure that your ecommerce platform is running smoothly and driving revenue for your business.
Accounting plugins let you easily keep track of financial information, including profits, sales, and taxes, while payment and shipping plugins facilitate quick and easy payment processing and product shipping. Also, check how many customers the platform can manage at peak traffic times. Nothing will have customers leaving your site faster than slow load times, 404 errors, and generally poor performance.
Use a customer relationship management tool
Attracting and retaining customers is key to business success – over 70% of customers rank helpful and friendly staff as one of the qualities they value most in a business, while 1 in 3 customers will boycott a favorite brand after just one negative experience. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool, in particular, can help fuel a customer-centric experience, which, in turn, strengthens customer service and customer relationships and boosts revenue. Salesforce, for example, is a cloud-based CRM tool that effectively compiles all historical customer data in one place. In turn, you’ll have an easier time managing customer relationships. By taking time to check out a Salesforce tutorial for beginners step by step, you can learn the basics of creating and managing a Salesforce application, as well as how to use Salesforce lightning and classic components.
Create a memorable brand
By creating a memorable brand, you can ensure your ecommerce business stands out from the competition, and attracts repeat customers. Start by defining a unique brand identity – which is essentially the personality of your business. Your brand identity encompasses your business name, logo, color palette, values, tone of voice, and how people feel when they interact with your business. So, when deciding on your voice, for example, try thinking about the personality your brand would have if they were human – are they fun, elegant, knowledgeable, or friendly, for example. Ultimately, your brand voice needs to sound authentic, rather than contrived. Take Missguided as an example. By adopting a slightly cheeky and colloquial voice across their website and marketing efforts, they successfully resonate with their younger target audience.
With the right strategies, launching a successful ecommerce business is well within your reach. By choosing the right ecommerce platform, using a customer relationship management tool, and creating a memorable brand, you can set yourself up for long-term business success.
