Are you sick of your nine-to-five job? If so, you’ve probably put some thought into running your own business. The Internet has opened up a whole world of opportunities for individuals to carve out their niche and create a profitable business, but it’s a sad fact that 90 percent of online businesses fail. How can you make sure that your business is one of the ten percent that succeed?
Easy to Start Doesn’t Mean Easy Profits
The reason so many online businesses fail isn’t so much down to the difficulty of running an online business, but more the ease with which they can be started. Anyone can purchase a domain name and a turnkey (ready-made) website. They don’t need a lot of money, any technical knowledge, or a sound business plan. Starting a bricks and mortar business takes a lot of effort. Starting a website is something you can do on your smartphone while you’re at the pub with your friends.
Most online businesses never get beyond the template website and Google adwords marketing stages of development. They might get a few orders here and there, but if the website creator hasn’t planned for how they’ll deal with the orders, they could end up with frustrated customers, shipping problems, or cash-flow issues. After a few months of stress and frustration, the site will probably get shut down.
Plan to Succeed
The old adage of “If you fail to plan, plan to fail”, rings true when it comes to eCommerce. If you want to succeed, then you’ll need to know what your plans are for the short, medium, and long term. This plan needs to be more detailed than “I’ll sell hand-made Christmas cards on my own shop, and also on Etsy”, or “I’ll drop-ship gloves and ski-socks”. How will you handle those orders? Do you have an eCommerce fulfillment plan that will cover illness, shipping delays, and times you go on holiday?
If your business takes off, and you end up with a high volume of orders, will you be able to cope? You may want to outsource your eCommerce fulfillment to protect yourself from those issues. Ask yourself the same about your web hosting. Do you know enough about the technologies that power your website to handle any problems that might crop up? Have you thought about how you will handle complaints and queries? There’s a big difference between being an eBay seller and running a full-sized company. Customers are a lot more tolerant about slow responses and minor issues when they think they’re dealing with a private seller.
Start Small, but Think Big
There’s plenty of room for you to start a profitable eCommerce business, as long as you know your niche. If you’ve never tried running your own business before, it’s a good idea to start small. Don’t over-commit yourself, and don’t try to launch with a huge marketing campaign. Try having a “soft launch” to iron out any issues with your website and your business processes before hitting the marketing hard. You may be able to run your business as a side-line to your main job (assuming your employer doesn’t mind), while you find your feet. Good luck with your plans!
This article was written by James Harper on behalf of Hallmark Consumer Services, who offer eCommerce fulfillment amongst other fulfillment services. James is interested in how to make money online and is currently weighing up his various options.