{"id":19191,"date":"2022-04-19T16:14:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T20:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sanctuarymg.com\/academy\/?p=19191"},"modified":"2022-07-29T11:48:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T15:48:45","slug":"ecommerce-what-to-consider-when-youre-getting-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sanctuarymg.com\/academy\/websites\/ecommerce-what-to-consider-when-youre-getting-started\/","title":{"rendered":"E-Commerce – What to consider when you’re getting started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was recently hanging out with my dad and we started talking about a trip that he took with my mother to pick up baking supplies from a small retailer that’s close to their house. My mom is an amazing baker and actually used to own a store called Chris’s Candies and Cakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, as we were talking, I had a proud moment when my 81 year old dad said, “This company should be working with you because they need to put all their products online. That’s where they’ll really be successful.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, when your elderly father gets<\/em> that ordering online is much better and easier than driving a half-hour to a local store, you know that e-commerce has finally hit it big time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I told him that yes, e-commerce is a great way for a business to increase their reach, their revenue, increase convenience for their customers and many other tangible benefits. He’s absolutely right. But what I didn’t want to get into are all the things you need to consider when you’re setting up an e-commerce site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate that he gets<\/em> it. I appreciate that there are a lot of good options these days, and it doesn’t have to be rocket science if you’re only selling a few products. But he’s talking about a local company that potentially sells tens of thousands of products. It’s definitely possible, but it’s not as simple as flipping a switch and then counting the orders that come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So with that said, here are some things that you should think about if you’re going to get into the business of eCommerce…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Have an ongoing marketing budget<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Make sure that you don’t invest all of your budget into building the website itself. Many people still think that if you build it, they will come, but the internet is massive and just setting up a store is not going to get the job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t count the number of people that I’ve talked with over the years that do have a budget to build an eCommerce website, but they haven’t budgeted any money to actually create awareness and drive traffic to their website through ongoing digital marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to have a budget to market your website and grow its traffic. Without that, you’re going to have the equivalent of a Porsche sitting in your driveway with no engine. Or a physical storefront located down a long, dark alley with no sign letting people know you’re there. It’s just not worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Decide if you’re going to need help.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you’re selling a few products and you just happen to be an end-to-end expert in digital marketing, then by all means setup a store and hit the ground running yourself with one of the out-of-the-box solutions available out there. There are many options, like shopify.com<\/a> or even setting up shop on Amazon, or a niche website like Etsy.com<\/a>. There will be recurring fees for the service. In fact, there will be fees for everything you sell. There will be a cost for every extra feature, so be careful. But if you’re looking for something that’s quick and easy, there is no better, easier way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you need something a little more custom, you’ll likely want to engage a professional web design<\/a> team. Here are just a few things that an established company can help with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n