10 Tips to Scale Your Ecommerce Startup in 2024
eCommerce is one of the most profitable business ventures today. Online purchases have become the way to go in this age and day. eCommerce has made life simpler with online shopping, starting from clothing to groceries and everything in between.
According to Statista, retail eCommerce sales are likely to grow by 50% over the next few years. It is expected to touch 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. It means that despite competition in this sector, there is plenty of room for the eCommerce startups to join the party.
So, if you have already joined the party, you are probably aware of the vast opportunities that this sector has to offer.
However, what next? How can you take your eCommerce startup to the next level? What must you do to keep it flourishing?
If you do not scale your online business, it could stagnate and become a financial burden. Your business growth would falter, and you would lose your customers even before they become loyal to your brand.
Hence you need to have an eagle’s eye for the best strategies to scale your eCommerce business.
Scaling an eCommerce startup can convert a small and steady business into a unique online brand. Having said that, before you think about ways to scale your eCommerce business, ensure you have got a solid foundation.
Like your house, your business also needs a strong base. In the case of an eCommerce startup, ensure you have a robust website, strong customer service, and great product quality before you start thinking of business expansion.
Once you are convinced of your business foundation, the limit to scaling your eCommerce is endless.
This article will explore some of the fundamental steps you can take to scale your eCommerce startup for the best results.
Implement a Marketing Strategy
A business will never grow unless people know about it. Hence, implementing a winning marketing strategy is necessary. While there is no standard strategy that fits how marketing for your business is to be done, there are certain main areas to focus on, which can likely lead to success. This includes:
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a way of optimizing your website so that it appears in all relevant search engine results. You can do the optimization of the websites by adding applicable keywords to your content, creating a great customer experience, and building a backlink for your eCommerce website.
The higher your website appears on the search engine pages for relevant searches, you will likely get more traffic to your web page, thus increasing the chance of more business.
Paid Marketing
If you have a budget for marketing, do not forget to keep a certain portion aside for paid marketing. It could be in the form of pay-per-clicks to enhance the Google ranking of your eCommerce page or social media advertisements on popular platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. You can also create banner ads on relevant web pages.
This form of information is a great way to attract new customers and offers data-based support for analyzing your business progress.
Re-Targeting
We mostly talk about new customers in a business. However, customers who have visited your store but have not yet purchased should also be targeted. You can re-target customers who have visited your store or not completed the shopping through email campaigns and social media advertisements.
Enhance Your Customer Service
Exemplary customer service can be a game-changer for your eCommerce store. When customers start having confidence in your post-sales service, they would most likely return for additional purchases simply because they prefer peace of mind to anxiety.
The present world is about instant gratification. So customers who visit your eCommerce websites should have the facility to interact with people representing the eCommerce store so that their queries are resolved immediately. Chatbots are an excellent way to interact with customers and visitors to the store.
Other modes of customer point of contact include emails and phone numbers that should be active at all times. It is essential to remember that customers can make or break your eCommerce startup, so they are the key to your success.
Publish Newsletters and Blogs
Content on the internet is one of the most effective ways to grow your eCommerce business. However, many business owners do not give much importance to leveraging content. They ignore this strategy because it takes time, and the results are not instant.
Writing and publishing content on your webpage or blog can enhance your organic SEO. If implemented correctly, it would be read by more online visitors who, in turn, can be converted into customers for your eStore.
Publishing two or three posts would never serve your purpose. You should post your content on relevant topics at regular intervals, and it should be engaging enough to trigger interest in the visitors.
You can also send weekly or bi-monthly newsletters with educational and informative content related to your eCommerce business or products.
Post on Social Media
Like blogs and newsletters, social media can be an excellent tool to influence online shoppers and bring them to your eCommerce store.
A strong presence of your business page on Instagram and Facebook, describing your products and services, and talking about special deals can attract customers. However, just talking about special deals will not help. Your posts should also have information about the products you sell through your eCommerce startup.
Use All Channel Marketing
All channel marketing or Omni Channel marketing is nothing but streamlining your marketing plans. This marketing format focuses on a smooth customer experience, whether your customer is shopping from their desktop, mobile device, or a tab.
For example, a customer is shopping from your eStore through a desktop. But he does not complete his shopping because he gets distracted. A few days later, he surfs your website from his mobile device and completes his shopping. Since your omnichannel marketing plan was in place, the customer did not have to repeat his shopping process.
Omnichannel marketing, or all-channel marketing, stops repeat activities and helps in faster customer conversions.
Try Google Shopping
Google shopping advertisements help you get your eCommerce products in front of potential customers as it is a sort of comparison search engine. These comparisons are visual, and they provide information on the product price, your business name, and availability.
When a customer is shopping online and searches for a product, your relevant product appears in front of the customer with all details. You only pay Google when someone clicks on the product for further information.
Grow Your Email Contact List
An important aspect of increasing online sales is staying in touch with your customers through promotional emails. If your eCommerce business does not have a way to capture customers’ email addresses during an interaction or while checking out, you are making a great mistake.
Email marketing is a straightforward way of boosting your eStore sales through product promotions and special offers. The more your email list grows, the more you build relationships and enjoy more sales conversion.
Sell Internationally
One of the key ingredients for scaling your eCommerce startup is expanding your eStore internationally. Cross-border eCommerce is amplifying, and with fast internet services, buyers worldwide will have broader access to online stores, including yours.
However, to succeed in international markets, you might have to tweak your products to suit the requirements of that particular country, including the language of communication.
Personalize Your Customer’s Experience
The days of the “one size fit all” approach no longer works in the eCommerce world. Today customers prefer customized services. It is seen that majority of the customers prefer purchasing from an online store that provides a personalized experience.
So, how do you give personalized services? You can do it through various marketing activities like sending customized emails to customers, showcasing products that the customer had shown interest in at an earlier visit, or showing products as per their mood. As explained in a market insight for the Netherlands, Dutch people love it when you personalize your offer, e.g. with a thank you note, as personal contact is important to them.
Ensure Your eCommerce Store is Mobile-Ready
Last but not least, your eCommerce website should be compatible with the mobile. In today’s market, most online shopping happens on the mobile. Always ensure your eCommerce app never lags. Hence optimize your eCommerce for mCommerce.
Wrapping Up
As an eCommerce startup founder, you must ensure that your online store is always growing. In these fast-moving times, change is the only thing constant. If you do not change your business tactics with time, it will not scale and become stagnant.
It is necessary to understand the pulse of your customers. Experiment with all the advanced technology available to give your customers a great experience. You will be able to escalate your eCommerce startup only when your customers are loyal to you.
Starting an eCommerce business is a great career move. Growing your company as you serve more customers is rewarding but hard work. Eventually, if you can scale your eCommerce startup, all your hard work will pay off.
