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Today, you will be hard-pressed to seek out a one who hasn’t at least considered starting an e-commerce company. The United States is the world leader in estimates 14 million e-commerce sites, and this number will proceed to grow as online sales gain popularity among everyone from existing brick-and-mortar businesses to individuals taking their first steps into entrepreneurship.
While yes, starting an e-commerce store is easier than ever before, unfortunately getting sales and achieving success is just as difficult as ever. Perhaps much more, given the increasing competition. As CEO of an on-demand consumer goods platform, I have a front row seat to the trials and triumphs of today’s digital enterprises. I’ve witnessed first-timers achieve life-changing successes and seen great ideas burn out because of poor execution and every little thing in between.
I have noticed that people succeed in many alternative ways, but often fail in the same ways. It’s hard to identify a success story before it happens, but it is simple to inform if a company will struggle. With that in mind, here are the 4 most common mistakes people make that it is best to avoid when starting an e-commerce business.
Giving in to the paralysis of perfection
Some great products never see the light of day simply because the business owner couldn’t find the perfect button color for his website. It sounds absurd – until you end up in that situation and spend countless hours worrying about the little things, attempting to make every little thing perfect.
Perfectionism is a common flaw, especially among aspiring entrepreneurs because they have no idea what “good enough” means. People go to great lengths to emulate the best examples in the industry, forgetting that larger corporations often have entire teams of programmers, designers and copywriters who do what the entrepreneur tries to administer alone. (*4*) is simply unrealistic.
Instead, it could be wiser to take a page out of the product developer’s book and focus on MVP – the minimum viable product. The idea behind an MVP is that you do the minimum required to find yourself with a functional product or, in our case, a store. And then, once it’s ready and working, you may iterate, improve, and refine it as much as you would like. This will enable you to overcome perfection paralysis and focus on what really moves the needle.
I sell to anyone
Speaking of moving needles, building a brand without understanding your customer is like navigating without a compass. Sure, you may go, but in what direction? What challenges will you encounter? Should you bring mountain climbing shoes or a boat?
The ABC of entrepreneurship will inform you that for your company to achieve success, it must reply to a real need. But it’s as much as you to find out who exactly has such a need. Most often it is a small part of individuals. (And if it is not, that’s a red flag that you could be biting off greater than you may chew.)
This audience will have unique characteristics, including demographics, preferences, pain points, and more. Successful corporations use these aspects to create tailored messages, select the best promoting platforms and further develop their offerings. Conversely, corporations that are not successful are unaware of who these high-potential customers are and as a substitute select a general message aimed at everyone and no one in particular.
Experience shows that a laser-focused approach at all times produces higher results.
Refusal to adapt or admit mistakes
Failure is an inevitable a part of early entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, it is also at this early stage that people are most idealistic. They have strong expectations about how things will work and have tunnel vision in bringing this particular idea to life reasonably than building a successful business.
As you may expect, this initial vision is often mistaken. Want to face out with a super distinct brand voice? There’s a reason no one else does this. Do you desire to introduce your product to latest audiences? There is a reason why this audience was not interested in this product.
The hallmark of a high-potential company is the ability to acknowledge when its idea is not working and pivot toward an alternative. Yes, it’s hard to kill your family members, but if you do not, you will start beating your head against the wall, hemorrhaging resources on a failed concept.
Remember that it is not just about the business idea, but about all business activities, including design, marketing, product, etc. If something is not working, adapt.
I’m attempting to reconcile every little thing myself
Going from idea to first sale requires a number of skills, which implies solopreneurs have to wear many hats. They have to be designers, copywriters, web developers, user experience experts, accountants, partnership managers, and marketers – all of this without even mentioning the product itself, which incorporates design, sourcing, logistics, photography, and more.
Some people succeed and that is admirable. But you do not have to do it alone.
For example, I repeatedly see aspiring entrepreneurs get suckered into learning peripheral skills like graphic design, when in reality they need little greater than a logo that you may get from a freelancer at your workplace for $5. Worse still, people get burned out by constant learning and abandon their business ideas just because they can not handle something they might pay another person a few dollars to do.
Sure, those that struggle prefer to wear their adversity as a badge of honor. It’s human nature to take pride in doing things the hard way. But this is not necessarily good business.