3 Mistakes to Avoid if You’re Running an Online Store(s)

Startups that are online stores are fun and full of promise and risk. It’s one of the cheapest ways to start a business. The rollercoaster ride of rewards and challenges will keep you engaged and motivated to succeed. Plus, with an eCommerce business, you can work from anywhere and enjoy a work-life balance.

However, if running an online store was easy, everyone would be doing it. There are three common mistakes you can avoid making yourself by reading this business blog. Learn from the errors other people make and move forward.

Rushing the Math

Of course, one of the most important skills any entrepreneur should have while running any business is math. When starting out, most people run their online businesses as a hobby or side hustle and do not pay much attention to math as they should.

The result is, hopefully, good demand but a lack of enough revenue to make the business venture worthwhile.

You are probably selling your products very cheap, but you have to deal more to make some decent money. To find out how profitable your online business is, use the formula; Profit is Demand multiplied by (Revenue minus Expenses).

Using the formula, you can tell what you are really in for. For example, your online store might have a high average order value (AOV), but the margins are so thin that you do not make enough money after you factor in costs.

Not Having a Content Plan

Lacking a content plan is another common mistake many new online entrepreneurs make. They simply do not put enough thought into content marketing, which makes getting social and organic traffic difficult.

For starters, writing about a boring niche is, admittedly, difficult. After all, how much can anyone manage to write about fountain ink pens? However, the key is not to create content according to your products but according to your target customers.

Continuing the fountain ink pens example, consider people who would potentially use them, probably someone that is into modern writing instruments and environmentally conscious. It is also possible that your target customer is also into luxury items, natural wellness, and working out. You can confirm these initial hooks with a bit of research.

When you build a content marketing strategy around such an ideal client, rather than the product, you get plenty to write about and connect with your target. Even for a very technical niche, you must have something in common with the customer apart from the product you are selling.

Wasting Time with Menial Tasks

Once you choose an opportunity, the cost is that you will no longer have time for other options. In other words, every additional opportunity you have is the price of a single possibility.

If you are bootstrapping your online business, chances are that you want to do everything for yourself, from setting up the website and tinkering with it to uploading products, writing descriptions,s and doing all the marketing. You have successfully become a one-man/woman show.

Doing everything by yourself is great, but it also takes away too much of your time. The time you could have spent with family, creating new ideas, or establishing business relationships.

What you need to do is automate as many of those menial tasks. In addition, you can also find people who will do menial tasks like data entry and inventory uploading for a reasonable sum.

More Recommendations

Avoiding these errors is a good start however you will need to do a lot more and invest in the right infrastructure to give your online store the best opportunity to compete with your competitors. Today your online store doesn’t stand a chance of winning over customers if unless it has:

• Internet and cybersecurity covered with policies, and systems
• Customer discovery – know your customer
• Customer service – fast and efficient pre and after-sales support

Conclusion

Each mistake made running your business sets you up to do better in the future, as long as you take time to reflect on what you ought to have done differently. By identifying the three common missteps above, you can avoid them and achieve online and financial success even faster!