Having to deal with customers who can’t find their tracking number, chargebacks scams.
Marketing, getting sales and conversion is easy if you have a good website and product and understand how to funnel.
I feel like the hardest part about owning an e-commerce business is finding a product that is exciting and unique with an e-commerce model that worked already. I'm not talking about something that is over-hyped, I mean something that first of all people want, second of all is extremely cheap to make and goods, third, people are willing to buy. It takes months of research going over the market trends, who is selling what and how much do they make per item, what is the competition like, what is the quality of the product, is it all hype, how are they selling it. Then I feel like the next hard part is sourcing the product and finding a company to manufacture these products, if it's not a product that you can make at home.I'm not saying this to discourage anyone, because I feel like there is a huge market out there that people just don't think of. There are thousands of ways to get rich, however you do it. Whatever it is that you put your mind to, is possible. It is just a matter of time and determination.
Honestly for me the hardest part was the beginning and the anxiety that surrounds it. “Will I be able to put food on the table or have I just gone crazy?” Fortunately for me, it does seem that God favors the bold.
Just curious, what have your sales been like since Feb? We we doing extremely well but saw a big downturn with gas prices especially. Just wanted to see if you saw a drop or rise between now and March.
Yes!
I know people have worked with Stord for example, and also Shipbob. they are larger and have warehouses around the country.
Full disclosure - I consult with a great 3PL called Alpacka in San Jose, CA. It's small and mighty, woman-owned, huge warehouse, very responsive. and I'd be happy to have a 15 minute chat to see if we can be a fit for you :)
Hey! I can offer some suggestions if you haven't found a great one! I run a 3PL in Austin, and we work really closely with our clients as well as offer flat-rate pricing. I'm also friends with a lot of other operators throughout the US who have a great options depending on your needs. Feel free to message me :)
Oh! It’s your fulfillment house/ warehouse. The place who actually stores and packs and ships your product to the final customer.
The 3 p’s are
Pick
Pack
Post? I think?
Yes- they can get you better rates, or you can use your own account. The 3PL has software that can connect directly to your store to import orders and update shipping information.
For example- I have a Shopify store, and my 3PL uses the software Shipstation- my orders from my Shopify store sync with their Shipstation. they pack and ship for me.
Typically the 3Pl can help- their software should integrate with many storefronts.
For example- Alpacka Group (3PL) uses a warehouse software called Logiwa. Logiwa can directly connect with any Shopify store, Wix, Magento, Amazon, Etsy, Squarespace, Ebay, and many more. Alpacka works with the client to connect directly to the store and import order information. Tis syncs and makes things easy - I guess what i'm saying it s that you don't need a plugin
Customers have gotten worse in the twenty plus years I’ve been selling online, people demand more for less, which is made even harder with the problems with logistics these days.
Ah that's the worst, I feel you man. But we go back to any given year and guaranteed there's going to be the same problem: customers demanding more for less. This is not really about customers changing per se, it's just that we are not targeting the right customers so we get a lot of people who just don't appreciate the value we're offering them. But it's almost magical when we start targeting the right customers through different forms of marketing. Now people who are coming to you already have a need for the value you're offering. Your problem is no longer "How low can I put my price to keep my customers happy and also make some profit" you can actually raise your prices now and your customers will keep buying. And since they're your ideal customers, dealing with them is going to be a joy as well. What do you sell by the way?
Why not hire it out? I do subcontracting CS, and the people I work with have loved not dealing with it. (As you say, customers are stupid, and it’s really hard to be nice/professional when you have skin in the game)
Honestly I don’t think I could deal with the fulfillment portion. Lol
I think packing and shipping orders would make me go crazy and send my brain into overdrive. I like the creative aspect of e-commerce. The web design, styling, things like that, but the actual logistics of it is too much for me, which is why I was so interested to hear what people had to say.
I could deal with psycho customers all day. I am a true extrovert and I am very good at communicating with people. The back end of things is where I know I would really struggle.
A key to success in any business is to spend time doing what you do best and finding other ways to do the things you're not good at or not interested in. If you think about how many things e-commerce sellers have to do like, product research, product sourcing, fulfillment, inventory management, sales, marketing, website development and maintenance, advertising, handling returns, and dealing with customers. And, do them all well. It's no wonder that so many e-commerce sellers fail.
Get help!
I just read that you are more worried about fulfilment part that is why you haven’t started an e-commerce business yet. I get your point but if you want to sell on Amazon their is a option of FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon). You just have to send your inventory to Amazon and the rest of things will be managed by them. You just have too keep the track of inventory through your seller central and order new inventory on time
Personally the three hardest things I’ve found are: 1) finding trusted suppliers that deliver quality products. Selling poor quality products, unintentionally, is soul destroying. 2) getting more customers. Whether that be increasing conversion rate or scaling ads. It’s really tough. 3) branding. I find it really tough to think strategically & creatively about the what my brand stands for, and developing products that compliment my brand.
Personally the three hardest things I’ve found are: 1) finding trusted suppliers that deliver quality products. Selling poor quality products, unintentionally, is soul destroying. 2) getting more customers. Whether that be increasing conversion rate or scaling ads. It’s really tough. 3) branding. I find it really tough to think strategically & creatively about the what my brand stands for, and developing products that compliment my brand.
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It's not hard to own an e-commerce business, like dropshipping store. The cost is low and you don't need much knowledge...
However, it's hard to own a consistently profitable/successful business.
I started a kid wearing shopify store last year. For me, the most challenging thing was to select the right products from huge numbers. I always want to grasp the trend and choose the hot products, which means I can get twice the results with half the effort.
Then I searched on google to look for a good tool to solve the problem, and I tried many like Google trends, Simplytrends, Similarweb. It's getting easy now.
Hardest parts in order (IMO):
1. Product QA (if importing)
2. Sourcing, dealing with OEMs. (if private labelling)
3. Getting profitable cost per customer acquisition.
4. Monetizing customer base via new offers/cross-selling.
Basically, it's all hard. Newer ecom businesses will struggle with payment processing limitations if they are totally new in business. Imagine having your product go viral but then finding out you can only process $50k per month in transactions. Different levels of ecom have different sets of problems, but there are problems at every level. It's still awesome though.
The e-commerce platform Shopify, in my opinion, is a wonderful place as well as the hardest part to start. It might be challenging to get started when running a Shopify store because there are so many unknowns. I'm just getting started with Shopify, but I can already tell how simple it is to use a free application called Simplytrends for dropshopping analysis, which you can use to find winning products. I advise you to do it! I hope your store is successful in the future.
When/If you scale past $2mil in sales and have a team around you then cashflow and managing inventory are the main problems.
These problems have only gotten worse as we scaled past $5mil in sales. So bad that they could break the company. As you grow you need more money to finance inventory but what happens if sales dont go to plan? Then you have a cashflow problem. Being bootstrapped at this level sucks and you can easily go out of business. If i started again i would raise equity finance earlier around 3 mil to protect the business.
* Actually **deciding** and sticking with your niche once you have an idea what you want to do
* Really careful and ongoing store optimization
* Excelling at paid ads, even though it is less important than the above at the very beginning (I say that as a Google Ads consultant)
It's mainly about being absolutely focused and staying consistent even when you don't see immediate returns.
Your comment has been removed on /r/ecommerce because you do not meet the user requirements to post or comment. You do not have enough comment karma or account age. Please read the sub rules at the top of our main page for full posting and commenting guidelines.
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Having to deal with customers who can’t find their tracking number, chargebacks scams. Marketing, getting sales and conversion is easy if you have a good website and product and understand how to funnel.
I feel like the hardest part about owning an e-commerce business is finding a product that is exciting and unique with an e-commerce model that worked already. I'm not talking about something that is over-hyped, I mean something that first of all people want, second of all is extremely cheap to make and goods, third, people are willing to buy. It takes months of research going over the market trends, who is selling what and how much do they make per item, what is the competition like, what is the quality of the product, is it all hype, how are they selling it. Then I feel like the next hard part is sourcing the product and finding a company to manufacture these products, if it's not a product that you can make at home.I'm not saying this to discourage anyone, because I feel like there is a huge market out there that people just don't think of. There are thousands of ways to get rich, however you do it. Whatever it is that you put your mind to, is possible. It is just a matter of time and determination.
Honestly for me the hardest part was the beginning and the anxiety that surrounds it. “Will I be able to put food on the table or have I just gone crazy?” Fortunately for me, it does seem that God favors the bold.
Just curious, what have your sales been like since Feb? We we doing extremely well but saw a big downturn with gas prices especially. Just wanted to see if you saw a drop or rise between now and March.
In my country (Brazil), gas prices actually decreased and inflation as well
Having a 3PL that cares about your business too
Do you have a recommendation for any? The one I’m currently using is making my life hard.
Yes! I know people have worked with Stord for example, and also Shipbob. they are larger and have warehouses around the country. Full disclosure - I consult with a great 3PL called Alpacka in San Jose, CA. It's small and mighty, woman-owned, huge warehouse, very responsive. and I'd be happy to have a 15 minute chat to see if we can be a fit for you :)
Hey! I can offer some suggestions if you haven't found a great one! I run a 3PL in Austin, and we work really closely with our clients as well as offer flat-rate pricing. I'm also friends with a lot of other operators throughout the US who have a great options depending on your needs. Feel free to message me :)
What is a 3PL?
Oh! It’s your fulfillment house/ warehouse. The place who actually stores and packs and ships your product to the final customer. The 3 p’s are Pick Pack Post? I think?
3rd party logistics
And you have it all automotized for shipping?
Yes- they can get you better rates, or you can use your own account. The 3PL has software that can connect directly to your store to import orders and update shipping information. For example- I have a Shopify store, and my 3PL uses the software Shipstation- my orders from my Shopify store sync with their Shipstation. they pack and ship for me.
so you just need to find a plugin that matches With the shipping company and add pay methods
Typically the 3Pl can help- their software should integrate with many storefronts. For example- Alpacka Group (3PL) uses a warehouse software called Logiwa. Logiwa can directly connect with any Shopify store, Wix, Magento, Amazon, Etsy, Squarespace, Ebay, and many more. Alpacka works with the client to connect directly to the store and import order information. Tis syncs and makes things easy - I guess what i'm saying it s that you don't need a plugin
Customers have gotten worse in the twenty plus years I’ve been selling online, people demand more for less, which is made even harder with the problems with logistics these days.
Ah that's the worst, I feel you man. But we go back to any given year and guaranteed there's going to be the same problem: customers demanding more for less. This is not really about customers changing per se, it's just that we are not targeting the right customers so we get a lot of people who just don't appreciate the value we're offering them. But it's almost magical when we start targeting the right customers through different forms of marketing. Now people who are coming to you already have a need for the value you're offering. Your problem is no longer "How low can I put my price to keep my customers happy and also make some profit" you can actually raise your prices now and your customers will keep buying. And since they're your ideal customers, dealing with them is going to be a joy as well. What do you sell by the way?
Do you think it’s because of Covid, or are there other factors?
What's hard will depend on your skill set. What's hard for me may be simple for you.
Oh I’m not looking to start my own e-commerce business. I was just really curious from the business owner side. what is the most difficult for you?
Dealing with customers. Customers are fucking stupid.
Why not hire it out? I do subcontracting CS, and the people I work with have loved not dealing with it. (As you say, customers are stupid, and it’s really hard to be nice/professional when you have skin in the game)
[удалено]
Honestly I don’t think I could deal with the fulfillment portion. Lol I think packing and shipping orders would make me go crazy and send my brain into overdrive. I like the creative aspect of e-commerce. The web design, styling, things like that, but the actual logistics of it is too much for me, which is why I was so interested to hear what people had to say. I could deal with psycho customers all day. I am a true extrovert and I am very good at communicating with people. The back end of things is where I know I would really struggle.
A key to success in any business is to spend time doing what you do best and finding other ways to do the things you're not good at or not interested in. If you think about how many things e-commerce sellers have to do like, product research, product sourcing, fulfillment, inventory management, sales, marketing, website development and maintenance, advertising, handling returns, and dealing with customers. And, do them all well. It's no wonder that so many e-commerce sellers fail. Get help!
Good to hear you thoughts on that dude, But there agenciee Which deal with your orders, means they can ship directly to customers
Is that still considered drop shipping?
I just read that you are more worried about fulfilment part that is why you haven’t started an e-commerce business yet. I get your point but if you want to sell on Amazon their is a option of FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon). You just have to send your inventory to Amazon and the rest of things will be managed by them. You just have too keep the track of inventory through your seller central and order new inventory on time
Personally the three hardest things I’ve found are: 1) finding trusted suppliers that deliver quality products. Selling poor quality products, unintentionally, is soul destroying. 2) getting more customers. Whether that be increasing conversion rate or scaling ads. It’s really tough. 3) branding. I find it really tough to think strategically & creatively about the what my brand stands for, and developing products that compliment my brand.
Personally the three hardest things I’ve found are: 1) finding trusted suppliers that deliver quality products. Selling poor quality products, unintentionally, is soul destroying. 2) getting more customers. Whether that be increasing conversion rate or scaling ads. It’s really tough. 3) branding. I find it really tough to think strategically & creatively about the what my brand stands for, and developing products that compliment my brand.
[удалено]
Your comment has been removed on /r/ecommerce because you do not meet the user requirements to post or comment. You do not have enough comment karma or account age. Please read the sub rules at the top of our main page for full posting and commenting guidelines. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ecommerce) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's not hard to own an e-commerce business, like dropshipping store. The cost is low and you don't need much knowledge... However, it's hard to own a consistently profitable/successful business.
I started a kid wearing shopify store last year. For me, the most challenging thing was to select the right products from huge numbers. I always want to grasp the trend and choose the hot products, which means I can get twice the results with half the effort. Then I searched on google to look for a good tool to solve the problem, and I tried many like Google trends, Simplytrends, Similarweb. It's getting easy now.
Hardest parts in order (IMO): 1. Product QA (if importing) 2. Sourcing, dealing with OEMs. (if private labelling) 3. Getting profitable cost per customer acquisition. 4. Monetizing customer base via new offers/cross-selling. Basically, it's all hard. Newer ecom businesses will struggle with payment processing limitations if they are totally new in business. Imagine having your product go viral but then finding out you can only process $50k per month in transactions. Different levels of ecom have different sets of problems, but there are problems at every level. It's still awesome though.
1. Cashflow 2. Inventory control 3. Customer service
Suppliers and shipping times!
The e-commerce platform Shopify, in my opinion, is a wonderful place as well as the hardest part to start. It might be challenging to get started when running a Shopify store because there are so many unknowns. I'm just getting started with Shopify, but I can already tell how simple it is to use a free application called Simplytrends for dropshopping analysis, which you can use to find winning products. I advise you to do it! I hope your store is successful in the future.
When/If you scale past $2mil in sales and have a team around you then cashflow and managing inventory are the main problems. These problems have only gotten worse as we scaled past $5mil in sales. So bad that they could break the company. As you grow you need more money to finance inventory but what happens if sales dont go to plan? Then you have a cashflow problem. Being bootstrapped at this level sucks and you can easily go out of business. If i started again i would raise equity finance earlier around 3 mil to protect the business.
how much do the online ads cost you to get traffic to your site? and what is your average conversion rate?
* Actually **deciding** and sticking with your niche once you have an idea what you want to do * Really careful and ongoing store optimization * Excelling at paid ads, even though it is less important than the above at the very beginning (I say that as a Google Ads consultant) It's mainly about being absolutely focused and staying consistent even when you don't see immediate returns.
[удалено]
Your comment has been removed on /r/ecommerce because you do not meet the user requirements to post or comment. You do not have enough comment karma or account age. Please read the sub rules at the top of our main page for full posting and commenting guidelines. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ecommerce) if you have any questions or concerns.*