That’s right, the title of this says it all – I’m starting an e-commerce store. To be honest, I already know, much like my last business venture (the technology repair business in Latin America), it will fail. E-Commerce is very much outside of my normal realm when it comes to online business. However, I know that if I can successfully navigate the world of e-commerce, it will just add another important tool to my online business belt, adding to the B2B online world that I’m already familiar with.
There are a few reasons why I think I will fail at this:
First, I legit have no idea what I’m doing aside from building the website. I’ve built e-commerce websites before for clients, but I have no idea how to do product research, e-commerce checkout optimization, ads, etc.
Second, I’m absolutely terrible at branding. I’m not great at building a brand in any way, which means I probably am unable to charge the premium price tag that I wish I could charge. Branding is something that takes years, but unfortunately I don’t even know the building blocks to start with today.
Lastly, I have no idea how to make an online ad for the things that I’m selling. I can sell website design services all day, but when it comes to B2C products, I’m at a loss. I don’t know what the average consumer wants, primarily because I struggle to put myself in the shoes of the average consumer. I’m not an average consumer besides buying Apple products and plane tickets. I rarely buy clothes for myself, let alone impulse buy from a social media ad.
There are two things though that I think I have going for me:
I have designed e-commerce stores in the past. Because of this, I’m avoiding Shopify and using the more expert WooCommerce to build the site. The hosting fees are minimal while I still retain full control of the site. Lower overhead = more lean business, right? I know how to setup a checkout, I know how to do user testing, I know how to setup an email list.
The most significant thing that I’ve done that will help is the fact that I’ve hired an outside agency to run the ads, an agency that has ran digital marketing for other e-commerce stores. Although this doesn’t guarantee success, it does allow a better expert to take over what I don’t know.
When I started outsourcing my direct outreach on LinkedIn when I was a freelancer, it quadrupled my business within 3 months. I believe that if I stick with hiring an agency or two that it will increase my chances of success.
With that being said, I have a feeling that I’m the underdog here as I venture into unknown waters, once again. However, I’m eager for the learning curve that awaits me.
My first ever e-commerce store opens in June. I’ll post the results later this summer to see what I learned!