Before the digital technology boom, starting a business was nerve-wracking. You needed a lot of patience and money.
You had to find resources and a way to secure funding, which could only be possible if you knew all the right entrepreneurial know-how.
Today, it’s completely a different story. Thanks to constant advancements in digital technology and the rapidly growing demand for e-commerce, individuals from all walks of life can build an online business.
You’d be surprised to know that in the last 2-3 years, the e-commerce boom has been significant, with total online sales surpassing the 50% mark. It’s staggering to see that e-commerce represents more than 13% of all retail sales in the United States of America.
But while starting an online business is comparatively easier, sustaining it is a whole different ball game. In light of this, we’re going to talk about different strategies you should consider to keep your online business intact.
5 Ways To Make Sure Your E-commerce Business Continues To Thrive
1.) Keep A Bird’s Eye View Of Your Cash Flow
When it comes to an e-commerce business, especially when you’re selling products and services, one of the most important things to consider is understanding your cash flow.
You need to be able to estimate your accounts receivables accurately. You need to know when you will be getting paid throughout the month.
Doing this will help optimize your willingness to implement strategies that can help propel your business into the future. It will help secure your business’s future, knowing when to buy supplies, inventory, materials, etc.
You will know when to pay for your operational expenses, and you’ll be able to take more proactive steps toward avoiding potential deadlocks. Such as outstanding payments to the bank, vendors, suppliers, etc.
2.) Be Prepared In Case Of A Rainy Day
Granted that knowing what the future has in store for us is impossible, we can predict and pre-empt. If you’re a small online business, you need to look at the bigger picture and play the long game. It’s all about making money and re-investing it to scale your resources and operations gradually.
This, of course, must also take into account certain types of emergencies. It’s hard to estimate when the economy may tank. You never know when you may need to replace damaged goods or add to your bad debts.
The point is you should always expect the unexpected without having to dip into your finances. You have to create a snug cushion to fall into when things get rough, when you get ill, or when you’re breaking even.
Having an emergency nest egg is going to go a long way in helping your business stand tall in the face of adversity and unexpected economic or socioeconomic challenges.
3.) Know Your Customer
If you’re on the precipice of launching a small online business venture, stop and ask yourself; Do I truly know my target audience? If you can’t think of an answer in a couple of seconds, there’s something wrong. The solution? Extensive market research!
Jumping the gun should never be an option. Do thorough research into your target audience. Understand their psychology.
Identify their pain points. Determine how you plan to present and sell your intent to them.
Understand your competitors who’re in the same niche. Figure out what makes their customers tick. Why do they shop with them?
Once you gain authentic insights into the buying journey and the modern customer’s buying behavior, offer the solution.
4.) Develop A Collaborative Affiliate Marketing Program
This is another way of solidifying the growth trajectory of your online business.
It is a great way to enhance your cash flow into the business. Affiliate marketing is a form of referral marketing. This is where the affiliate platform pays you a commission to represent or advertise their product or service.
Honeygain is a great example. It is a reputed crowdsourced proxy data-sharing company that pays you for using your internet data and bandwidth.
However, Honeygain also has a good referral operation where the same member will be paid commissions for referring the company to other people.
5.) Make Use Of Powerful Webmaster Tool
Unfortunately, modern entrepreneurs, especially online startups, lean more towards basing their growth plans on nothing but educated guesses.
Why lay the foundations of your growth strategies on guesswork when you can use powerful data analytical tools like Google Analytics to do that for you?
What’s so beautiful about Google Analytics is that the tool helps you identify the number and frequency of potential leads landing on your website.
It shows you their journey (i.e. other websites they come from), how long they remain on your website, and what they see there.
Google Analytics is a fascinating tool that provides in-depth information and data on your target audience.
Bottom Line
All in all, these are some fantastic ways you should consider when planning your company’s growth strategies.
