Growing your e-commerce business is not something that comes in time or with the increase in profit. What this requires is an improvement in your business model and an approach that leads to inevitable growth and expansion. When choosing these methods, you need to put scalability in the first place. So, what you choose to go for needs to be adjustable to the size of your organization, seeing as how making a systemic change, later on, might be too much of a trouble. With that in mind and without further ado, here are five steps that will get you there the fastest.
1. Think about return customers
The first thing you need to understand, when it comes to e-commerce business, is the fact that each subsequent purchase tends to be a more valuable one. In other words, what you need are return customers. Make no mistake, you should always give your buyers a chance to make a purchase without registering. However, if you offer a good enough incentive for them to do so (most commonly a point-based loyalty program), you can easily gather their private information and customize your offer in a way that improves their customer experience.
2. Categories are more important than you think
The next thing you should keep in mind is that it’s incredibly important for your customers to know how to navigate your e-store. This is where categories come in handy. By allowing them to follow the breadcrumb trail that you have left behind, you’ll give them a chance to see what else is in your offer. Also, you can use this scenario in order to make your best-sellers even more appealing by placing them next to several times more expensive items. This is similar to the method that’s used in brick and mortar retail but it’s much simpler to pull off in this environment.
3. Improve your delivery system
Other than this, you also need to settle the issue of delivery as soon as possible. Some decide to go for the drop-shipping model, which means that you’re basically an intermediary between the seller and the buyer. You never get in touch with the actual product, you’re merely getting a small fee for closing the sale. While this is simpler, from a logistical standpoint, the profit is smaller, as well. Even if you do not own a fleet of your own, it’s possible to outsource this task to someone else. In this day and age, you can even trade internationally (even as a relatively small Australian e-commerce business) if you were just to find reliable Sydney freight services to team up with.
4. Upselling and cross-selling
Another thing you can do is try to make some immediate surplus in your budget by attempting an upsell or a cross-sell during every transaction. Think about it, the person in question is already willing to buy from you, so why not sell them an upgrade for the product that they’ve just bought (for instance, more RAM memory for their laptop) or something related (a laptop bag). Needless to say, other than making some extra profit, this also diversifies your streams of income and takes you one step closer to making a return customer (something we’ve already discussed).
5. Narrow down your niche
Lastly, don’t be afraid to narrow down your niche. Sure, sticking to just one type of products, you’re losing some potential customers, nonetheless, this also makes your logistics much simpler and it makes you appear more reputable in the eyes of your audience. Think about it, if there’s one retailer focusing on all tennis equipment and another selling just headbands, who would you turn to when looking for a quality headband? This is, more or less, applicable across all industries.
Conclusion
As you can see, by slightly altering your outreach, making an improvement to your post-sale follow-up and by making an important decision in the business world, you can ensure growth in a foreseeable future. Of course, there’s no such thing as a guarantee but at least you’ll know that you’re on the right track.
Guest article written by: Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.