7 Common Myths to Watch Out in 2015 Before Planning Online store

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Undoubtedly, ecommerce sector has boomed in recent years and has started luring many business entrepreneurs towards it. With big names like Amazon, Walmart that have already established many milestones for the startup ecommerce owners, having an online store is becoming an obsession among the reputed business entrepreneurs. Many big names are planning to jump onto the Ecommerce industry owing to the billions of sales generated by the popular online stores in past few years.

However, it’s not so easy to get assured success in ecommerce domain. With intense competition in this industry, it is vital to know the misconceptions surrounding the ecommerce business before jumping in to this sector for grabbing maximum profit. Here are 7 common myths every business owner who is planning to own an online store must know for assuring success:

1.Create an Online Store and Profit Will Come on Its Own

Most of the inexperienced business owners hold this myth that having a beautifully designed ecommerce website will automatically start generating revenue on its own. But this is not true at all, since, the big names like Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba have also struggled a lot to achieve success and reputation among their target customers.

Before creating an online store, you should be clear of three important goals of your online store, which are:

• Increased Traffic

• Increased Sales

• Increased Profit

It is important for them to understand that the ecommerce industry is flooded with various well-established online stores and there is a tough competition to win the race with your newly launched online store. Hence, it is important to do some good research on the various tips of acquiring success in ecommerce industry before planning to build your own online store. It will not only save your valuable investment from getting wasted, but will also help in increasing traffic, sales and profit of your online store.

2.You Will Offer End-To-End Ecommerce Solutions

Having a perfectly executed supply chain is the primary thought of every ecommerce store owners, but for the startup owners, it is important for them to understand that the supply chain is far more than simply a chain of delivering products to the customers on their doorstep. It follows certain crucial steps such as:

• Sourcing the raw materials for production

• Adequate distribution

• Order management

• Fulfillment and delivery across various regions of the globe

• Return and refund policy

All of these require proper experience and knowledge of taxation, law, and logistics for navigation.

At first, it is not vital to offer end-to end solutions to your customers, but it is important to keep their interest and engagement for longer duration on your site, which will ultimately enhance your site’s sales. It is not so easy for any startup ecommerce store to follow this tough supply chain with their launch. Instead, they should pay more attention on that segment of their store where their cutthroat benefit offers an edge. It will help them in focusing only on those segments that will ensure maximized sales and profits of their online store.

3.Following the Global Market Instead of Niche

This myth is similar to death warrant in ecommerce industry for the startup owners. For retail oriented startups, this myth is common that following the global market will result in maximum profit, but similar to following the complete supply chain, following the global market will result in death of your startup online store at its launch.

Instead, it is better to follow your home or niche market because many reputed online stores have emerged as winner of this competition by starting in their niche market, then expanding their horizons across the globe as through adequate learning.

On the other hand, some online store owners have paid more focus towards developing their brand identity by enhancing its awareness and visibility because even if the potential global market is large, it is not easy to get a foothold for everyone. That’s why, to start your online store effectively, it is better to start focusing on niche market first to gain more value and profit for your brand.

4.Exclusive Partnership Will Help You Stand Out

This is again a universal myth about getting success in ecommerce industry as a startup online store. Partnering with exclusive contractors will not help in establishing your brand’s identity as unique among your target customers. Being the owner of a startup ecommerce store, you have to understand that you should have to try using different acquisition channels for setting up your online store’s reputation and for enhancing your sales significantly.

Customers through various acquisition channels have different anticipations from your website that impacts your site’s overall sales.

Partnering with a third party website or your competitor’s brand will not be going to help you much to stand out of crowd. Use your own creative thoughts and vital tips to use the different digital promotional channels to promote your business online.

5.Having Physical Location is Must for Hosting Events

If you think that having a physical location is necessary for hosting events, then you are wrong. This is not true for every ecommerce business owner to have a physical location for hosting events because you can promote your products and services efficiently by hosting your events offline with the help of Pop-up shops. These Pop-Up shops are emerging everywhere and as a startup ecommerce website owner; you could easily try this pop-up shop option for testing your new products and creating your brand’s buzz among your target audience.

The physical location of the pop-up shops would be temporary and transient but you could make it permanent if your business demands later.

6.Ecommerce Stores Generate Tremendous Profit

Most of the startup ecommerce business owners think that having an online store is enough to generate tremendous profit from the customers. Thousands of entrepreneurs have the flimsy thinking that an online store can make them rich overnight, but this is a wrong concept. Only to create an impressive online store and make it live over internet is not sufficient to get success in ecommerce industry, but you have to put your extra efforts in this domain to beat up your competitors and emerge as the true winner.

Here are some common steps that you can follow for getting profit instead of having a good looking store with fancy domain name:

• Research on the latest tactics for promoting your online store amidst the target audience

• Create and understand goals before launching your online store

• Update your site’ regularly to attract customers and generate better user engagement

7.Running an Online Store Is Despicable Than Offline Store

Most often this myth is conceptualized by the web development and designing agencies that having an online store is much cheaper than having an offline store as the offline store requires physical location that might costs more than your expectations.

However, the concept of ecommerce store is greater than having a simple shopping cart and catalogue. It requires a sequential experience of enhancing customer satisfaction. The efforts required to fuel up your online sales needs a long time investment and focus. It’s more than just putting money to increase your inventory stock. Instead of investing on physical location, you have to put down your investments for promoting your brand among your target customers via different digital channels that requires both sound knowledge and budget.

Therefore, if you are planning for breaking into the ecommerce sector, you must have to research thoroughly to know what is required for successfully running your ecommerce store and how to set realistic goals. Avoid these common myths about executing a startup online store and focus on your goals to understand how you can best fit your business in the ecommerce domain to maximize your sales and profits.

Jyoti Wadhwa
Jyoti Wadhwa is an entrepreneur. She is a web programmer and developer by profession. She is an Avid member of Design/Development community. She loves talking on several technical topics related to designing and programming.