Ecommerce Priorities Depend on Lifecycle

Knowing your company’s lifecycle is vital. Before you purchase a new ecommerce platform, or make decisions based on the most recent ecommerce trends, make sure you know where you’re in the lifecycle of your company.

Why is the business lifecycle significant? There are numerous reasons.

• Objectives change. Your business objectives will be different once you’re starting out versus 10 years to the company.
• Resources change. Your inner resources will improve over time, letting you execute more complex technology and marketing strategies.
• Platform needs change. Your ecommerce platform and supporting systems will differ during your different levels of maturity.
• Budgets grow bigger. Assuming your business is successful, you will have the ability to invest in more complex strategies.

Let us assume there are four levels of ecommerce maturity:”Beginner,””Novice,””Intermediate,” and”Expert.” Further, let us assume you run one or more online shops in the business-to-consumer markets.

What follows are examples of the kinds of investments and priorities you may have in various levels of your company lifecycle.

Beginner

Initially, you will probably be focused on these kinds of investments and objectives.

• Products, providers. Finding providers and choosing products that somebody will purchase.
• Hiring a group. Hire employees to design and operate your business.
• Platform, systems. Choosing the ideal ecommerce platform and systems to support your company.
• Launch. Branding and planning the launch of your organization.
• Visibility. Designing a method to get visibility for your new shop, such as search engine optimization and marketing.
• Populating products. Getting all your products to your new online shop with content, pictures, pricing, and other information.
• Metrics. Tracking key metrics which involve visitors, visits, unique visitors, bounces, and referrals.
• Fulfillment. Piecing together a fulfillment system, learning as you go.
• Physical distance. Leasing an office you can spend.

That’s lots of work, and possibly a substantial investment. As soon as you’ve got everything built out, you’ll be focused on successfully fulfilling your orders and then learning about what sells and what doesn’t.

Novice: 1 to 2 Years in Operation

As a newcomer, you probably have a fledgling enterprise. You will have clients, search engine visibility, and a revenue stream. Your objectives and investments will probably proceed to increasing revenue. You may also begin to tackle operating inefficiencies.

Here are some priorities you’ll likely have.

• More clients. Expanding your customer base to expand earnings.
• Adding more goods to boost revenue.
• SEO. Gaining visibility in search engines.
• Monitor key metrics. Paying focus on key metrics associated with conversation prices, cart and checkout abandonment, new clients, average order value, and acquisition cost.
• Customer Services. Dealing with more customer support problems and enhancing your turnaround time. You might have to automate your processes with a client management system.
• Supply chain. Broadening your supply chain and working to optimize your inventory levels and reorder points.
• Hiring specialists. Hiring more in-house experience for your platforms, systems, and advertising
• System efficiencies. Integrating or updating your shopping cart, order management, and fiscal systems.
• Advertising. Email, social networking, Pay-per-click advertising, and remarketing.

Intermediate: 3 to 7 Years in Operation

At the intermediate level, your organization could experience growing pains, but you probably have a reasonably prosperous company. This is when companies frequently have to update or change their shopping carts. You’ll also begin to concentrate more on profitability and seek out new markets for products as opposed to continue with a single online approach. Here are some other important priorities and investment actions.

• New sales channels. Seeking new markets with market stores, selling in marketplaces, or expanding to entirely new markets, such as business-to-business or international.
• Continued product growth. This may include private label products to boost your margins and competitive edge.
• Focus on gain. Key performance indicators will concentrate on profit.
• Enriched analytics. You will use enhanced analytics and business intelligence tools to drive decision making
• Staffing. You will probably hire professional managers to develop and train your growing team.
• Funding. You’ll have to secure larger lines of credit to back up your inventory requirements.
• Physical distance. Don’t invest in your own building.
• Platforms. Ecommerce platforms will soon be updated for scalability and new attributes and to become competitive with larger retailers. This may include integration with a client management system.
• Advertising. Digital advertising will be ultracompetitive. You will handle it carefully, making certain you reach target customers.

Pro: Over 7 Years in Operation

Now, you’re head-to-head with the best 500 etailers. You likely have a seasoned management team, with constant recruitment of new talent. Your margins might be smaller than ever as your overhead has grown to support your growing operations. Your investments will be based on profitability.

• Consistent customer support. Ensuring your customer experience is consistent across all touch points: mobile devices to social media interactions.
• Global. Possibly launch international stores to further expand your markets.
• Personalization. You can use data mining to personalize advertising programs.
• Supply chain automation. Automating your supply chain, in case you haven’t already done so.
• Complex platforms. Your ecommerce platforms will be highly scalable and integrated with the other systems.
• More stations. Depending upon your products, you may further expand into additional stations.