Transcription
In this video, I'm going over the seven things you absolutely have to know before starting a successful e-commerce business that brings great profits. These are the things I wish I knew before starting because if I did, it would have made my life a lot easier.
If you follow these tips, I guarantee you that you'll have:
1. A better vision,
2. A more successful launch, and
3. A long-lasting company that pays you for years and years.
This video is sponsored by Alibaba.com, so I want to say thanks to them.
Anyways, let's get started.
The first thing you need to know about e-commerce is that the opportunities are vast. A lot of people think that e-commerce is oversaturated and that it'd be impossible for them to start up a successful business. The truth is that yes, it is harder to start an e-commerce business today than it was maybe five years ago, but there is still so much more opportunity available.
I really want to make this point clear because I think a lot of people are on the edge of starting a business but just never follow through with it because they get discouraged.
Let's take a look at this chart, which shows the e-commerce share of total global retail sales from 2015 all the way to 2023. As you can see, e-commerce has been growing very, very strongly since 2015, with the year-to-year growth getting higher and higher and higher. This shows that there is more opportunity today than there was maybe five years ago.
I think that if I had known this, I would have put a lot more time and effort into my own e-commerce ventures, which I do now on the side, but they aren't my main focus. Make sure to check out my "10 Sources of Income at Age 28" video if you want to see what other things I do.
But yes, e-commerce is one of my side hustles. It's not one of my main businesses, but seeing this growth of e-commerce absolutely makes me think, "Hey, maybe I should spend more time on my e-commerce businesses."
The fact is that direct-to-consumer and private labeling is growing at an extremely fast pace. Manufacturers and brands are realizing that they don't need to work with these retail partners; they can bypass them, keep their profits high, and be more in control of their brand and their audience.
So that is where you come in. That's where you come in with that private labeling. There are so many different opportunities in this field, and I suggest you guys, if you're interested in e-commerce in any way, do some more research into this business model. It's such a great way to make money.
And it's not just the U.S.; global e-commerce sales will top 4 trillion dollars in 2020 and reach 6.5 trillion dollars by the year 2021. Every retailer is shifting more and more towards e-commerce, investing more in their digital footprint as well as their online presence.
Even Chipotle is investing heavily in their online platform. So if restaurants are doing it, then of course retail is like ten times more likely to.
Basically, my point is that there is so much opportunity for you to do well in this space. There's always going to be way more consumers than there are creators and sellers, and there is a never-ending and growing group of people who buy everything online.
So take advantage of this huge shift to start your own business. This first point should really speak to you if you've been on the fence about starting your own e-commerce business and think that e-commerce is something that is one, too late to get into, or two, too hard to get into.
It's not too late. People are starting e-commerce businesses today, and a lot of them are seeing success.
And two, regarding the concern that it might be too hard, well yes, it is a hard business to get right, but if you are able to succeed, it's going to change your life completely and create a whole new stream of income for you.
It's also extremely scalable, which is one of the most important things I look into before starting a business.
All right, next up is the fact that marketing is king. This is stuff that you really should know yourself before you hire it out to other people.
First, there are hundreds of ways to market and get sales, and it's a field that's always evolving. So you constantly have to be experimenting or learning in order to get the best ROI (return on investment).
Now, why is marketing so important? I think the main factor is visibility. Without visibility, no one will buy your product because no one will see and no one will know that it exists.
It could literally be the best product in the world, but without adequate marketing, it's going to be very hard to succeed.
I've learned this personally the hard way with my first clothing business called Charge Athletics. This company ultimately failed because I just did not understand the importance of marketing.
I spent so much time building the brand, building the clothes, designing them, getting them made, that I didn't apply any effort into the marketing side.
So while I think that my products were pretty good, the fact is that not enough people knew about the brand. I was also very stingy with my marketing dollars. I'd run one campaign, stop it after spending maybe 20, and just be like, "Why don't more people know about my brand?"
Well, it was because of the lack of marketing. I really wish I had these expectations before starting my own first e-commerce brand because it affects your priorities.
I always like to say that marketing is first and your product is a close second.
There are two types of marketing: the first is to raise brand awareness, and the second is to increase your sales. You want to have a marketing plan, and this marketing plan totally depends on your type of business and product.
For some, Instagram influencer marketing might be the best ROI; for some, YouTube ads, Google ads, sponsored posts, social media—those could be a lot better.
It does involve a fair degree of trial and error, so you have to enter with the expectation that the first few dollars that you spend on marketing aren't going to fully work out.
But if you keep trying and trying, you will stumble upon a type of marketing strategy that works for your brand or company.
A mentor will for sure help, and a marketing agency would be great, but that's only if you have the money to spend.
There's going to be a time when every dollar you put into your marketing strategy is going to generate, let's say, three, five, even ten dollars of profit. When this does happen, you can scale this campaign, and that's really going to help you make your brand successful.
All right, so now let's talk about Alibaba.com, who's the sponsor of this video. They're the first company I've ever worked with to sponsor a video, and I'm super happy because I use Alibaba.com to find all my product suppliers, and chances are 99% of you guys will as well.
We'll go over two events that they're hosting for e-commerce sellers that you guys will find super helpful. Basically, they connect buyers all across the world with over 100,000 suppliers on their e-commerce marketplace.
They have over 40 different product categories, and you can search for good products to sell, send buying requests, get quotes, and work directly and safely with suppliers.
Right now, they are having their Super September annual event, which helps small and medium-sized businesses find great deals on new products to sell.
It's a live stream event where you can connect directly with suppliers. As a buyer, you can browse new product assortments and design solutions in 3D reality and virtual showrooms.
So if you're thinking about starting your own e-commerce business, then this is the perfect event for you, and I totally wish I had something like this when I first started.
They'll have tons of big discounts for buyers during the Super September event, so I'm positive that it can save you a lot of money.
For example, they do have benefits like reduced transaction fees, 60-day payment terms without any fees, as well as big discounts on shipping costs.
The second thing I want to talk about is that they are giving away $50,000 to spend on products, as well as 30 other winners of smaller products. It's called their 50K Challenge 2020 campaign.
To enter, follow Alibaba.com on Facebook and then share your own 2020 business story. So basically, like what your business is, how you got started, the roadblocks you faced, your successes, and pretty much anything else you want to share.
Share the post with your network and then take a screenshot of your post and send it to them by the deadline that is listed on their Facebook page.
The 20 posts with the most likes by September 21st will move on to the next round. A panel of judges will select one winner who will win that $50,000 to spend on products, and they're also picking 10 best stories every week for other special prizes.
So if you potentially want to win $50,000 to start off your e-commerce business, then this is a pretty cool opportunity. I'll post a link to their Facebook page below so that you guys can enter.
All right, back to the video.
Next up is that your customers should not be everyone. This is a very important part because I think that a lot of new e-commerce people think that if they make a product that appeals to everyone, then everyone will want to buy it.
The truth, however, is that if you do have a product that appeals to everyone, that product will likely only appeal to everyone a little bit—certainly not enough to get them to buy.
There's a certain tipping point or a hump that the customer has to get over in order to buy your product, and based on past experience, general products are just not likely to make that cut.
Instead, that customer is likely to just purchase something that's more specialized or more directed at a certain need.
The most successful products, and this is especially true for private labeling, are niche products. This is a type of product that you don't think there would be too much demand for, but there actually is.
So when you are creating your first product, just note that it does not need to appeal to everyone. And like I said before, it actually should not appeal to everyone.
It should be a product that clearly fits the bill for a small group of people. For example, rose gold rimmed plastic cups or a journal with specific prompts or questions that only a small subset of people would like.
Aiming your product at a smaller audience also helps with your marketing return on investment. No one has enough money to market to everyone in the world, so don't even think about it.
Instead, what you want to do is market towards a specific crowd of people, and for most, the more narrow this crowd is, the better.
Not only does it make your marketing budget smaller, but it also makes it far more effective and it makes your conversion rate way better as well.
So think about your ideal buyer—their age, their demographic, their interests, their location, their gender, their values—and that is something you need to have in mind when developing that product.
If you can pinpoint a certain type of person that is most likely to buy a product, then that is a great sign.
The next thing I want to talk about is the fact that your pre-launch is more important than you think. A lot of people think that if they make a good product, then sales will start flowing in the moment they launch it.
However, you guys, this is just not true. There's just too many different products, brands, or services in the world, and the fact is that without a proper pre-launch strategy, no one is going to buy your product on the first day it's launched.
One crucial thing that a lot of companies miss is starting to market before they create the product. This can be done by creating an audience, a newsletter, a website, or a social media account before the product is ready to sell.
A lot of successful e-commerce companies are started way after that initial audience is created, and this is why I'm such a big fan of personal branding.
This is one of the most powerful ways to build an audience before you ever start a company, and by having a successful personal brand, you have this pre-built audience who's going to support whatever business you have in the future.
The same goes for a popular website or a social media account with a lot of followers. As long as these accounts are targeted to specific interests, then they should react pretty well to any future marketing for a company that you create.
This sort ties into marketing, but this type of marketing is done way before a product is built and even before a product is conceptualized.
This is the number one way to guarantee that your company has a successful launch and sees sales at the beginning.
As you guessed, my company Charge did not have a good pre-launch strategy, so on the first day we launched, I got zero sales.
All right, so the next thing on my list is when you find a product and you start building a product, you have to change at least one thing about it.
This differentiating factor is probably going to be tied to some type of solution for a problem, but I have to emphasize that you don't need to completely reinvent the wheel.
If you're trying to create a product, you know what you want to do is take an existing product and ask yourself, "Is there one thing that I can change about this that is going to make it better?"
It can be the price, the design, the color, dimensions, functionality, etc. We don't need more sellers selling the exact same product. What we do need is more sellers finding solutions to existing problems, creating something that is a little bit better, and then selling that.
That is when you create real value, and that is also when you can differentiate your product from the competition.
So how do you do this? Well, one of the best ways to do this is to look at reviews of the types of products you're trying to sell. Look for certain pain points or common feedback that you see in multiple reviews.
Take that and use it as free market research for your type of product, and then of course implement it.
Before starting e-commerce, you just need to know that differentiation essentially keeps your competition farther away and gives value to your customer.
You aren't giving value to your customer if you're selling them the exact same thing that everyone else sells, but you are if yours is a little bit different—aka it matches their needs a little bit better or is just an improved product overall.
All the products I've ever sold in my entire life have always had some type of differentiating factor. I've done bundles, I've done different dimensions and sizes that I thought would work better, and I've also made cheaper alternatives, to name a few.
This is an important strategy that I definitely recommend implementing in your first e-commerce business because without it, your life is going to be a lot more tough.
All right, another thing that is imperative to the success of any brand, especially its long-term success, is creating a story around that brand.
I know this sounds sort of cliché, but storytelling plays such a vital part in creating an identity as well as an authentic relationship with the buyer.
Not only does it help with your brand loyalty, but it also helps with your marketing. So when you are marketing using a story or emotions, this allows that ad or whatever it is you're using to connect with the audience on a whole different level.
So that's really why I wish I knew this before I started; it would have changed the way that I shaped the brand—for example, the motives, the brand slogan, and images, and probably most importantly, the website.
For the website, I totally would have changed the way that I portrayed the brand. For example, with my clothing company Charge, instead of selling the clothes and how great they were, I should have tried to sell the story and experience of actually wearing the clothes.
People like to buy not only a product but also the story behind it, and when they do participate in the story, that creates a big win for you.
For example, take a look at the brand Patagonia, who does such a good job at this. Their buyers completely feel like part of the brand when they wear their clothes.
So this will not only boost your short-term growth, although it is harder to market initially with a story than versus just peer marketing, but it also ensures that your products and your brand last a long time.
A story is hard to create, but it's like building equity in your company. The stronger your story, the more efficient your marketing will be, and hence you will have a better return on investment.
It also encourages people to share the story and the brand. This word of mouth will pay huge dividends throughout the course of your business.
All right, the last thing you guys need to know before starting your e-commerce business is that customer service is key.
If you take a look at some of the most successful e-commerce businesses, one key reason why they succeed is because of their customer service.
For example, take a look at Zappos and their CEO, Tony. Seventy-five percent of their purchases are from returning customers, so you can see that they are extremely loyal.
Also, about 44% of the customers heard about them through word of mouth. A huge contributor to this is how they treat their customers.
Their CEO, Tony Hsieh, is known for his unconventional approach to customer service. He has said that his goal with customer service is not to save money, and it's not to be highly efficient.
Instead, the only metric that he uses is how happy and how satisfied that customer is at the end of that service interaction.
I wish I knew this before starting my own e-commerce businesses because, you know, lots of businesses just don't prioritize customer satisfaction as they should.
And this is another means of differentiation, but it's more on the company level and not really the product level.
Placing your customer first places money into your future business and gratitude bank account. The more positive customer service interactions, the more full this jar gets.
So this point is crucial for both you as the CEO as well as any customer service representatives that you hire in the future. You have to train them well, and you have to make the priority of top-notch customer service extremely, extremely clear.
I guarantee you that any of those extra minutes you spend making the customer happy or any extra dollars you spend making them happy will pay off in the long run. Plus, it's just a better way of running a business.
So yeah, you guys, those are my biggest takeaways—things that you need to know before starting your own e-commerce business.
It's not easy, and it certainly takes a lot of time to set up any good business, but the more you wait, the harder it's going to be.
So, you know, I just really encourage you guys to take that leap and learn from the process. I'm so grateful that I took the chances with my own e-commerce businesses, and yes, some of them have failed and some of them have been successful, but really, you don't know until you try.
So yeah, hopefully, you guys found this video helpful. If you did, make sure to share it with a friend who's thinking about starting their own e-commerce business.
And hey, drop a like and subscribe if you want to see more content just like this. I make a ton of videos about personal finance, investing, and entrepreneurship.
Thank you so much, and I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace!