- Insights This article was written by a TIA community member. Insights pieces undergo the same rigorous editorial process that newsroom-produced articles have.
Valentin Radu · · 10 min read3 crucial lessons I learned after spending 10 years in ecommerce
Photo credit: Robbert Noordzij.
“Is this the way to Ecommerce Failure Park?”
“Yeah, continue straight to Spending Avenue, pass the point of the Lowest ROI Ever, and you will find it right there, on the shore of the Red Ocean.”
The naked truth is that it’s hard to stand out nowadays in the ecommerce game. There’s a lot of noise, high customer acquisition costs, increasing competition and, on top of all that, low conversion rates.
I’ve played this game for 10 years. After I struggled and managed to build my own ecommerce business (with more than 100,000 customers), I have also had the immense opportunity to consult and assist nine different growth marketing teams from various industries such as fashion, cosmetics, electronics, and home and decoration. I suffered beside entrepreneurs who, despite their drive, passion, and commitment, had failed because they started data-driven decision management too late.
I also have the immense opportunity to see hundreds of experiments that ecommerce websites have been making with our conversion rate optimization platform (CRO), Omniconvert, which I built in 2013. That convinced me that there’s plenty of room to grow for ecommerce sites. Ecommerce is the only trillion-dollar industry growing at a double-digit percentage each year.
From assortment to user experience and from demand generation to fulfilment, there’s always a missed opportunity to tackle.
In my journey so far, I’ve identified three important lessons to keep in mind if you want to grow your ecommerce website.
1. Ask yourself the right questions
This is the very first thing you should do if you want to grow. What are the factors that will grow your business the most?
Usually, marketers tend to focus on a few obvious metrics: number of products, traffic, average order value, conversion rate, and revenue per visitor.
But! Let’s take a step back. What is ecommerce?
It’s a digital store that covers needs or fulfills desires by delivering products at a fair price to customers to satisfy them, making them come back, buy again, and refer your business to their friends.
2. Build a growth ideas backlog aka growth ecommerce matrix
3. Forget about traffic, conversions, customers, products, and your team. Focus on the system itself.
Wrapping up
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
