We’re starting a brand new series on Ecommerce Strategies and Tactics that we believe will be vital to your store and business. Our first topic is on what we often don’t realize, but always starts out to be the Ecommerce Desert.
Pioneers in the West used to have to cross a great desert before reaching water. The journey was long and hard, and there were many chances of traveling astray or running out of resources.
If we look at our ecommerce business, it starts the same way. We all work hard to become a leader in what it is we sell one day, but if we don’t earn enough to pay for the time, energy, and money that’s expended, then we no longer feel the effort was worthwhile.
Those that are misled by the size of the desert can often fail and become very upset. Perhaps we felt we’ve expended enough time, energy and money, but we are still not seeing the results we like.
Most ecommerce stores will lose money (yes, lose) in the first 60 to 90 days. Often, the negative earning is a big confidence killer as most don’t feel the results is enough to justify the time and money spent.
The reality is, online stores almost always have to lose money in the beginning in order to become a successful business down the road. We are spending time and money towards marketing, provide discounts, customer services, (at least we’re saving you time and money to open a store) so that your customers will come back and refer their friends.
Crossing the Ecommerce Desert
While the journey seems harsh and risky, knowing these three keys will make your journey a success:
- Reward Yourself: If you are building your store to make money, and its just not making money yet, focus on an objective such as increasing traffic to your store. Reward yourself (appropriately) when your store reaches a certain number of visitors. Know that you can still re-focus on monetary objectives when you begin to have sales.
- Size the Desert: Know that what you are selling could be in a desert much larger than you thought. Did you commit enough time, effort, money? Research stories on how others did it will help you assess what it takes.
- Hard Enough to Cross: The desert has to be hard enough to cross so that only those that are serious about it will cross it. Imagine if it was too easy, then it would be easy for others to do the same as well.
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