eCommerce businesses are growing at an exponential rate. It’s not surprising, given how much time people spend online and the convenience of ordering goods from home.
An eCommerce business involves selling goods or services online through websites or marketplaces.
The benefits of owning an eCommerce business are numerous, including not having to deal with customers directly, being able to target more customers than a physical store could reach, and selling products online instead of storing them somewhere.
If you love shopping and have the skills to create something people want to buy, then starting an eCommerce business could be an excellent opportunity to monetize your talent while meeting new people.
However, it’s more complicated than setting up a website and waiting for sales to roll in. There are some challenges that you need to be prepared for and be aware of before diving into this E-business venture
Until the 1900s, every transaction was made offline. Retailers back then had two options: sell from their boutique stores or wholesale. Today, there is a third option available E-commerce.
At its core, E-commerce, also known as Internet commerce or electronic commerce, is basically everything people did back then but online. However, when dealing directly with consumers online, the term is frequently used to describe a seller’s entire effort. It starts with a potential customer discovering a product and progresses to purchase, use, and, ideally, ongoing customer loyalty.
The additional benefit to E-Commerce is data, which can later be used to target audiences using email marketing, marketing automation, emailing leads and tailored audience segmentation. E.g., Sending a reminder to a potential customer after adding things to the cart can help boost sales.
Occasionally, the lines between e-commerce and traditional retail blur. It isn’t easy to categorize the experience as either one or the other when a customer is browsing physical products in a brick-and-mortar store while performing comparison shopping on her smartphone.
E-commerce business has many benefits:
Compared with a brick-and-mortar store, E-commerce’s building and operational costs are far less. You need not worry about rent and even employees.
Unlike a physical store, an online platform gives your customers the freedom to purchase whenever and from wherever they want.
With everything going online and people wanting to sign up everywhere, your eCommerce business gives access to a plethora of data to aid your marketing strategies. Use this data wisely though.
A physical store can only hold so much, but no such issues with an online platform. The inventory can keep inventing and inviting(customers).
Benefits never come alone; they always bring along their less likely cousin –drawbacks. Below are some of the cons of Ecommerce:
Because you are an online portal, there is a minimal personal touch, unlike your local traditional retail shop. Less interaction means less connection.
Customers cannot physically touch or see the product they want to buy, which creates apprehension and a lack of trust among the buyers.
Because your customers can order from anywhere, you will have to up your logistics games and deliver them on time. Also, customers have to wait for days before they get their hands on the product, unlike a physical store.
You can offer exceptional solutions, but you will only be able to retain customers or build brand loyalty if you provide first-class customer service. This is usually one of the most significant drawbacks of an E-Commerce business.
Any business can open an e-commerce store or sell online. However, the relationship between the owner and buyer differs depending on their industry and business model. Below is a list of a few common e-commerce business examples.
Online sales of products to customers directly. Consider shopping sites such as
Direct online sales of large quantities of goods to customers. Consider websites like
Repeated payments received in exchange for a good or service. Consider platforms such as
Platforms offer products that must be purchased to be used, such as software and courses. Consider portals like
An e-commerce business can be run by a single person working from home and selling their artistic talent or crafts, or it can be a digital extension of a large retail outlet or a physical store.
There is a significant difference between these examples. Depending on the type of E-commerce model, the sale and transactions differ wildly.
The following are the different types of eCommerce businesses:
When a company purchases goods or services online from another company, this is referred to as B2B e-commerce. Two examples of such a trade are a cafe buying a coffee machine or a corporation using an oracle tool.
This model encourages business between two well-established brands. However, this type of dealing is primarily complex due to its nature of business.
B2B includes business software such as all in one CRM platforms and payment processing companies.
The B2C eCommerce model operates exactly as the name implies. In the B2C e-commerce model, a company sells goods or services directly to individual customers via the internet.
Using the B2C model, customers can view and purchase desired products from the retailer’s online store. When an online retailer receives an order, he processes it and ships the goods to the customer directly.
Amazon is an excellent example of a B2C eCommerce model. Many B2C companies, including IKEA and Netflix, have taken the market by storm.
Although B2C e-commerce appears more prevalent, it is only about half the size of the global B2B e-commerce market.
This model is ideal for today’s digital world. It allows one customer to sell goods or services to another via the internet. It is also referred to as mobile commerce.
It enables you to market your assets to another person through online platforms. Sellers can use models like eBay or OLX to post an ad about the product they want to sell, along with relevant information. Multiple buyers can contact the seller through this ad and reach an agreement.
Consider this as a yard sale or auction but digital.
This is one of the most intriguing and booming types of E-Commerce business. In this module, an individual sells goods and services to a company. You can call it an inverse B2C.
For example, if you are a software developer, you can showcase your skill set to potential employers on platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork. If your skills entice the company, they will buy the software from you and may even hire you. C2B can be as simple as a customer leaving a positive review for a company or a stock photography website buying images from freelancers.
This arrangement occurs when a business enters into a contract with a government agency to perform a mandated service. For example, an IT firm may respond to a project to oversee a town’s computer hardware. It is also known as Business-to-administration (B2A) sales.
Have you ever paid a toll using FastTag? Then you’ve experienced C2G. This model also accounts for online tax payments and e-auction purchases made by government agencies. C2G E-Commerce occurs when you transfer funds to a government agency via the internet.
The thriving E-commerce industry has made living simpler for everyone. Nobody wants to give up the ease of shopping online. These benefits, however, come with their own set of obstacles. Customers and marketers both face issues that have an impact on the overall experience. Let’s take a closer look at those challenges:
As previously stated, customer service is critical to the success of your online business. Shoppers nowadays are tech-savvy, so they quickly upload and share feedback. Particularly the negative ones.
One can skip the delightful experience, but no one will ever forget the difficulties your business caused them. These negative comments pose a significant challenge.
Concentrate on providing the best of the best at every step and stage. Compromise on sleep if necessary, but not on customer experience.
As your company grows, so will your operations, such as integration with other platforms like payment gateways, which is one of the significant E-commerce challenges. Avoid treating e-commerce as an afterthought in your business.
Rather than working on assumptions, collect systematic data from all customer touchpoints and repurpose it.
With guaranteed one-day delivery options, it is becoming increasingly difficult for emerging commerce channels to meet their customers’ rising expectations. Tackle this issue by focusing on quality and making your customer feel valued at every point of interaction.
Another challenge that E-commerce businesses face is failing to adapt to ever-changing trends. One of the most critical aspects of the commerce domain is digital presence.
And if we know one thing about digital, it is constantly changing. If you want to stay relevant, you must be able to adapt and be agile.
It is critical for your online business to have an effective marketing campaign in place. Your product can be genuine and inexpensive, but if no one knows about you, it’s all for no use.
Influencer marketing is the most effective way to address this issue. Influencers are at the heart of the success of companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. Find your influencers and begin planning your viral campaign as soon as possible!
One of our most popular E-commerce products is Slip Slips by Woke Nutrition. During the launch phase, we sold 1600+ units at a 2.6X ROAS. How did we manage this? Given the nature of the business, it took a lot of work to make the brand visible. Still, we succeeded by focusing on essential yet critical vital points such as a Clean UI, minimizing abandoned carts, focusing on user touchpoints, and, most importantly-listening to feedback and providing excellent customer service.
To comprehend adequately, let’s divide this case study into four sections.
Slip Slips by Woke Nutrition is a revolutionary nutrition supplement that uses nano-science to make health fun and easy. It’s a stunning product that addresses massive issues by making proper nutrition simple and accessible. Slip Slips are small oral nano strips that dissolve instantly on your tongue, providing you with all the nutrients and vitamins you need to solve specific problems such as hangovers, hair loss, insomnia, and PMS, among others.
Introducing a new product to the market is one of the startup’s most complicated challenges. It becomes even more tricky when the product is a health product. We had no previous credibility, endorsement, or reviews. All of this was necessary for others to take us seriously.
Another stumbling block in the Jenga of challenges was marketing a severe health product while sounding uber-cool and funky. Furthermore, we had to be extra cautious when communicating the product’s consumption, accessibility, and portability. Finally, we wanted to position ourselves as a lifestyle product for Millennials and Generation Z.
These challenges were like scattered puzzle pieces (or like trying to read a book your dog chewed up), but we at Brandemic enjoy solving problems in unusual ways. So we decided to toss the old puzzle and devise a plan that we thought would work (and it did!).
We began with small, baby steps. We shifted one Jenga block at a time to not upset the game’s inherent uncertainty.
Before moving forward with brand awareness, we decided to concentrate on product packaging. For us, this was a game changer. The product was not only easy to carry, transport, or consume, but it was also funky, classy, and uber-cool. The magnetic flap on the 30s pack and the flap-lock system on the 10s pack was particularly useful.
Before moving forward with brand awareness, we decided to concentrate on product packaging. For us, this was a game changer. The product was not only easy to carry, transport, or consume, but it was also funky, classy, and uber-cool. The magnetic flap on the 30s pack and the flap-lock system on the 10s pack was particularly useful.
We made sure that the packaging reflected our brand personality. With just one look at the product, you can tell who it is intended for. To directly connect with the audience aged 20 to 35, we ensured the product had a precise positioning that set it apart from all other brands on the market. As a result, the entire brand had a remarkably youthful tone, pop-colored packaging and theme, and a conversational communication style.
As a result, we began to receive the attention we required, and once people had one, they simply kept returning for more!
The final task was to communicate about consumption practices and brand awareness. To address this, we created high-performing yet low-cost ads for the masses, shot with a phone camera, that educated people about its benefits in a fun and engaging way (watch it for yourself). A scripting framework was gradually developed, resulting in a 2.6X ROAS and the sale of over 1600 units.
We also received positive feedback about the advertisements from the general public, as evidenced by the engagement and subsequent results. It increased public credibility and trust while also assisting in the development of the brand.
The final task was to communicate about consumption practices and brand awareness. To address this, we created high-performing yet low-cost ads for the masses, shot with a phone camera, that educated people about its benefits in a fun and engaging way (watch it for yourself). A scripting framework was gradually developed, resulting in a 2.6X ROAS and the sale of over 1600 units.
We also received positive feedback about the advertisements from the general public, as evidenced by the engagement and subsequent results. It increased public credibility and trust while also assisting in the development of the brand.
To check out our Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka, you can visit us at Instagram handle or www.wokenutrition.com
At Brandemic, we have successfully built more than 300+ no of brands from scratch to success. Reach out to us at [email protected] to make your next marketing campaign viral.
Until then, we are going to pop slip slips and party hard!
