Do we need E-commerce Strategy

Better understanding of e-commerce and its impact on local and global economies as well as local businesses. E-commerce retailers such as Amazon.com, eBay, and Walmart.com have dominated the virtual market-space and changed how consumers shop and how enterprises conduct business. You also learned more about its history than you probably wanted to know, but it helped you understand the foundation upon which the e-commerce that we know today is based. After reviewing its history and its current state, there is no denying that advances in technology have brought us to a place many never thought was possible. By now, you probably have already determined that you need to add e-commerce to your business, but you still might be unclear as to how to do that. Where should you begin?

Why Create an E-commerce Strategy?

The appeal of e-commerce’s low startup costs, ease of entry, and potential profits can make anyone want to immediately launch a web page with some PayPal “Buy” buttons on it and begin selling products and services online. Although this approach might yield some short-term sales, it might not be as successful in the long term. Why? It wasn’t based on a solid foundation that was well thought out and will eventually fail. Does the saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” ring a bell?

When deciding to implement an e-commerce strategy, planning is crucial. It allows you to take an eagle-eye view of your company and its products and services to determine the best way to present and sell them to your target audience. It also helps determine whether your products or services would be a good fit to sell online. Even though technology gives us the ability to create online stores to sell anything to anyone doesn’t necessarily mean that we should. Some things don’t sell well online. As a result, money and time are wasted trying to entice people to buy things that don’t interest them when it could have been better used elsewhere.

So, what makes a good plan? Before the days of global positioning systems (GPS) in cars and on mobile devices, we used good old-fashioned maps or an atlas to help guide us to our destinations. We’d unfold it, spread it out, and chart our course by identifying our starting as well as ending location. As we drove along, we would review the map to verify that we were traveling in the right direction before we veered too far off course. If we found ourselves lost, we would either pull over and look at the map again or ask for directions (depending on your sex). Once we were back on track, we felt confident and assured that we would reach our destination.

The same way that you would use a map or GPS for a trip, your e-commerce strategy would be your map. It will guide you to your end goal so that you can be successful. Along the way, you might venture off course, but you can always review your strategy and make the necessary corrections to get back on track. The good thing about your approach is that it not only meets your current needs, but it also anticipates and grows with your future needs. This is called scalability. According to Techopedia.com, scalability is “an attribute that describes the ability of a process, network, software or organization to grow and manage increased demand.” For instance, you might only have physical products to sell right now, but what if you want to sell digital products? Did you plan for this? Could your e-commerce solution handle this? These are the types of things that your strategy can help you identify so that you can acquire the necessary resources. A good strategy or plan is never complete. It is always a work in progress that must continuously be reviewed and updated.

Planning your e-commerce strategy also helps your business adapt to changing market conditions so that you can stay competitive. Within the e-commerce market space, competition is fierce and continuously evolving. Many brick and mortar businesses are steadily transitioning themselves into click and brick stores. Click and brick stores have physical store locations but also offer customers the ability to shop online and have items either shipped to their homes or picked up at a store location. Trends change so rapidly that you must stay well-informed of what is going on in the-market to compete for and hold on to your market share. Otherwise, you and your business could get left behind without a chance to recover. Before you know it, you could be forced out of business and left wondering what happened

Creating Your E-commerce Strategy

Before you begin creating your e-commerce strategy, you need first to ask yourself one vital question: Why do you want to sell items online? In other words, what’s your purpose for creating an online store? You might be wondering why you should ask yourself this question, but depending on your answer, it could save you some time and money and help predetermine your business’s e-commerce success or failure. E-commerce is not for the faint of heart. To be successful, it will involve a lot of research along with hard work. We look at success stories such as Amazon.com and think that we can do it too.

There is nothing wrong with having that positive vision, but we must realize that everyone wants to become the next Amazon. Just like Amazon didn’t become a success overnight, neither will you. Competition in the e-commerce marketspace is fierce. Success comes at a cost. You will pay your dues through trial and error, sweat, and tears until you perfect your strategy. Even though today’s e-commerce solutions such as Shopify and PayPal make it easier than ever to set up online stores, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. It will still take time to see success. Many businesses want to sell products or services online but haven’t thoroughly planned their strategy. This is like building a house without a blueprint. Who does that? Even though you might make a home, you don’t know if it was built correctly or how long it will remain standing. The same principle applies to creating an online store. By understanding your purpose for starting an online store, it will keep you focused on your end goal and not just profits. Not to say that gains are not essential, but to keep them consistently flowing, you must be diligent.