On March 11th, 2020, I had the pleasure to speak in front of a group of SCORE mentors. The purpose of this presentation was to train this group on the value eCommerce has for an entrepreneur and the technical tools that are available to assist people to get started.
At the time of the presentation, there was clear growth suggesting that eCommerce would generate $6.5 trillion ins sales by 2023 and that is trending to 70% of all transactions being facilitated by a mobile device. This data shows that the new storefront is a digital one.
The Key to eCommerce is to collect data on transactions. This data can then be converted into information that you can use to make core business decisions.
The basic process that an eCommerce site needs to facilitate is:
- Place an Order
- Payment Charged
- Complete Order (Notify Customer and Merchant)
- Send for Fulfillment **
- Order Shipped **
** To get started you do not need a fulfillment center set-up. Fulfillment and shipment is something you can handle yourself in the short-term while you learn.
COVID-19
I have always recommended holding off to inject a technology solution until you are hitting a pain point in your process. Simultaneously this pain point also needs to be aligned with a customer pain point and then you will be introducing digital solutions that provide greater value. With the current pandemic circumstances, this is causing a lot of pain points and providing for the opportunity for businesses to redesign how they operate. My advice is not to just throw technology at the problem, make sure it is aligning with a customer need as well.
