By Erin Wawok

Feb

26

Learn How to Build a Successful E-Commerce Store

Are you looking to start or grow a business? Do you want to know how to build a successful ecommerce store? Whether your e-Commerce store is in it’s 2nd month or its 20th year, there are always new avenues for success and strategies for growth and expansion. In this article, we will take a quick look at five of the most universally effective ways of reaching new audiences and finding new customers:

1. Understand the Competition

If you want to know how to build a successful e-commerce store, look at who is doing it already. Taking a good long look at what your competitors are doing is a great way of improving upon what you are doing. If you are analytically-minded, you may find that making a list of their strengths and weaknesses alongside your strengths and weaknesses helps put things into perspective. What advantages can you capitalize on? What potential weak points should you be patching?

The competition can be stiffer in the world of e-Commerce, as you may find yourself competing with companies from around the globe. At the same time, the market is also larger in the online world, and if you can find ways to differentiate yourself and establish a niche, the opportunities can be virtually endless.

2. Define (and Express) Your Core Values

What sparks the very heart of your brand? What makes you sell the products and services that you do? Think back to the beginning of your business, especially if you have been at this e-commerce business for awhile. Try to find the same passion you used to fuel your takeoff, and channel that into the message you are expressing online.

The bottom line is that, if you created a product or a service, it’s likely because you viewed that product or service as something that you might potentially want. And if that’s the case, then marketing and sales can become significantly easier.

3. Successfully Drum Up Store Excitement

With each iteration and evolution that your company makes, let your current base know that you will be expanding soon out of your comfort zone! If you are already selling online, great. Your base still needs to know that they are going to be growing with you in this expansion process. Creating an experience for new customers across the entire web should not push your loyal customers out of the way– it should get the excited.

However, if you are starting e-commerce right now with no true base: begin pushing through normal marketing avenues about what is coming, and explore new avenues such as social media and PR stunts. This will increase exposure and traffic whenever the time does come.

4. Find New Markets for Successful eCommerce

There are many activities to help build a successful eCommerce store, and going into new markets is low-hanging fruit. Selling on your respective website may be a strain and a hassle, but adding on other shopping platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Wal-Mart, and Etsy is simple. Use a multi-channel integration software such as Listing Mirror. A third-party specialization program that eradicates the stress of your e-commerce operations, all the while providing a large increase in sales, revenue, and exposure (Amazon alone has 197 million monthly visitors). The people who are loyal to you shop on these places, the people who are occasionally stop by are there too, and the people who you have never reached… well, that’s where they are! Get to them.

5. Stay on Top of Store Inventory

The inventory you handle is the lifeblood of your business. Ensure that the flow between selling, stocking, and shipping is optimized. If your unsold items are sitting in storage collecting dust, for example, they are costing you money in terms of storage space, management, and obsoletion. And overselling can be just as harmful, as it causes companies to halt growth while possibly frustrating potential customers.

Again, software can be part of the solution. Listing Mirror, for example, covers your e-commerce operations can prevent inventory problems by allowing you to synchronize inventory tracking across every platform you sell on. When a customer orders an item from you  and then has to wait hours, even days, to hear word that it was sold out before the purchase– they are gone. Syncing inventory with across all of your channels ensures an up-to-date experience for everyone.

To learn more about how Listing Mirror can help your e-Commerce store dominate across multiple channels, check out our free demo today!

Sell More. Work Less.

Erin Wawok

Erin is the Co-Founder of Listing Mirror.