How to Become an Ecommerce Entrepreneur

11 min read

So you have a dream: to start your own online business. Welcome to the exciting world of entrepreneurism. If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that anyone with an idea, the right tools, and good guidance can start a business online and succeed as an ecommerce entrepreneur. You have an idea. You have the desire. So let’s dive right in.

What Does it Take to be a Successful Entrepreneur?

Passion. People with dreams are always the most exciting to talk to because they radiate enthusiasm for something they’ve created, while simultaneously wanting to fill a need they see in the world. Your passion, convincingly communicated, will draw customers to you. This leads to our next point…

Articulation. It can sometimes feel like good communication is a lost art. But successful entrepreneurs rely on people understanding their vision and wanting to be part of it. One of the best skills to learn as you pursue your dream is how to write compelling copy that’s both informational and exciting to your audiences.

Being detail-oriented. From your idea to your choice of ecommerce, and from fulfillment to finances, there are a lot of things to keep track of. But don’t worry—we’re here to help. There are countless resources available to help you get your online business up and running. Once your online presence is live, your job will be to spend as much time on our next point:

A sense of the big picture. There are a lot of details to keep track of when you start your ecommerce business. In order to continually build on your success, the best entrepreneurs understand that looking at your business as a whole, and the progress you are making, is a good way to stay motivated. This skill also helps you from getting paralyzed by the details.

Skills to Practice to be a Great Ecommerce Entrepreneur

Understand good design. Not every business that someone starts requires them to communicate as visually as ecommerce entrepreneurs do. It’s a crucial quality that you can present your products and services visually with great photography, illustration, animation, video, or whatever visual medium you choose. The way you dress says a lot about you, just as the way your visuals are perceived by your customers will either enrapture them or turn them away.

Think like a buyer. Running an online business is about giving people what they want when they want it, and the way they want it. So learn to look at your business every step of the journey a potential customer will take. How and where will they first encounter you? What value are you providing them? When you send them to learn more, does the next chapter build the story and continue to excite them? And is every step along the way easy, including things like customer service and returns? Treat your buyer like you would want to be treated.

Be analytical. The beauty of running an ecommerce business is that you can continually capture data at every step of the customer journey to analyze and make your online shop better. There are a lot of free tools out there to do just that — find them and use them. There are also countless videos on YouTube that will walk you through the usage of things like Google Ads, Facebook marketing, and Google Analytics. Look for recent videos that feature screenshot walkthroughs of the tools you will be using. And once you are comfortable with the tools, check-in daily to see where you should be making improvements. Even small fixes can result in big wins for you and your customers.

Be patient. If you’re only improving your conversion rate by half of a percent, the increased revenue you will get will gradually pay back the time you invested or the tools you paid for. If you add a live chat box to your site and nobody uses it, keep in mind that eventually someone will — and that person will likely become a customer and tell others how easy getting service is. It even takes time sometimes to get paid. Stay focused on your two-year plan and congratulate yourself for every little win along the way. Make patience your friend and ally.

Recommendations Before You Start an Online Business

Depending on what your business is, you may have some slightly different requirements, but make sure you’ve planned for these things before you get too far into creating your online store.

Do you have a business plan? Though it’s true that many ecommerce entrepreneurs simply dive in and start running an online business, anyone who has been in business will tell you that a business plan is an invaluable tool. Not only does it make sure you’ve taken care of all the requirements to launch your business without any issues, but it will help you set expectations to keep you from getting frustrated or overwhelmed.

Do you have a business license? You may be surprised to know that simply setting up an online store and taking money may require a business license, even if you’re simply operating out of your home. Be sure to check with your local city requirements.

Do you have a bank account? To operate with your own business name and use your business license, it’s a good idea to have a business bank account. This will make filing your taxes more straightforward as well. Search your local area for “free business checking” — the best accounts have good online banking for accepting money and paying bills.

Do you have ecommerce hosting? It’s essential that wherever you host your website, it is on a fast and secure web host. Your site needs to stay up reliably. It should be automatically backed up. And it should be easy to work with and get service for, without hidden costs or fees.

Do you have analytics in place? You will want to measure what users are doing on your website and be able to see how your online store is performing in order to make tweaks. Make sure you have analytics installed and configured accurately for ecommerce analytics.

Do you have an email platform? These days there are a lot of email platforms to choose from. Email is critical for any ecommerce business because it can be used for resales, upsales, abandoned cart reminders, promotional campaigns, and countless other things. Make sure your email platform integrates with the aspects of your store. You will find many low-cost options out there — many that come with free tiers of service to help out new online businesses.

How to Choose the Right Ecommerce Platform

Easy setup. Let’s face it—not a lot of people have a long history of running a successful online business. This is where you should rely on the expertise of your ecommerce provider to help you. The best ecommerce platform for you will be one that is easy for you to set up, even though it may have hundreds of features.

Price. An out-of-the-box ecommerce business may sound like a good idea, but this can often come at a premium. Look for an ecommerce platform that gives you a free trial and lets you test out how your business will run.

User experience. Every ecommerce entrepreneur knows that user experience is key to capturing and holding onto customers. Make sure that your ecommerce platform provides an easy, intuitive browsing and checkout process.

Ease of checkout. There are many factors to consider for your online store’s checkout process. Real-time inventory, real-time shipping quotes, coupon codes, upsells and packages, no-surprise pricing, lots of payment options. Make sure your ecommerce business handles all of these completely and with ease for both you and your customer.

Social media selling. Your ecommerce store is one destination for your customers — social media is another. Many buyers prefer to conduct business on the site they are currently on – Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon, Pinterest, TikTok. Your job is to provide the ability for your customers to buy from you no matter where they choose to transact. Look for an ecommerce platform that integrates with these sites.

Easy backend management. Whether setting up coupons or changing inventory, your ecommerce platform should be easy for you to see and change what is happening on the frontend for your customers with an easy-to-navigate and comprehensive backend interface.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to think about when pondering life as an ecommerce entrepreneur. But choosing the right ecommerce platform can help you better understand the lay of the land. And that’s where Ecwid comes in.

We’ve helped build thousands of successful online businesses and have done a lot of the thinking for you along the way. Let us help you navigate how to become an ecommerce entrepreneur who succeeds in whatever niche you choose. You’re in this together — if you succeed, they succeed. Ultimately you are in partnership not only to grow together but to create a world of happy customers.

Sell online

With Ecwid Ecommerce, you can easily sell anywhere, to anyone — across the internet and around the world.

Get started

Jun 11, 2021

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.