Tips to be mindful of while starting entrepreneurial e-commerce journey

The e-commerce industry is currently one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. The field is ever-changing with rapidly evolving technologies, trends and competitive environments -- resulting in both positive and negative effects for all. The digital revolution has completely changed consumer behaviour and brands need to respond accordingly. 

Deepak Jain, founder, The Fragrance People, said that consumers completely altered their method of buying items during the lockdown, forcing companies to invest aggressively in digital marketing and other growth strategies. 

He said that product quality matter a lot, The quality metric and price should meet the consumer's expectation. This way the business will see rampant returns.

Simplifying checkout can boost order rates and give a better chance of creating repeat customers. Adding carts to every sales or product page and providing fast payment and guest checkout options empower visitors to buy as well. These steps and other universalization efforts can improve operations. 

Standardizing of product packaging and box sizes, for example, can make it easier to control shipping costs.

According to Deepak, determining a target is another crucial factor behind the successful entrepreneurial e-commerce journey. 

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"Many businesses find it difficult to understand who their target market is online and convert them even if they have a well-optimized website. Even if you promote the website through various social media channels or through paid advertisements, it is tough to reach the target," he said.

"Figure out the target and check if you are serving the right people for the products," he said, adding that "focusing on creating a strategy that will increase conversion rates is key".

He suggested treating an e-commerce platform as a 'physical store' online because this is where the business operates. 

"There are different e-commerce platforms... Eliminate ineffective ads to scale the performance. The budget can be optimized and the best advertising price for customers can be achieved," he said.

Although selling online may be quite easy than selling offline, but "the efforts in maintaining it should be the same", he said. "Every missed comment, every positive review left unheard, is a missed opportunity. A simple response can make a difference when it comes to customer engagement," he said.