Would love to hear your opinions on how an e-commerce site should be run

collegeme

I am in the process of creating an e-commerce website. I have the name, the domain name, the facebook and twitter pages and some market research and a list of products that I want to stock.
I have built up about 10+ suppliers.

I however only have a little stock at the minute (The website is WIP and business is not yet open).

With limited funds (if LEO doesn't work out), how would you run an e-commerce site?

Would you start with a small amount of products in stock ready for despatch?
Or, would you order from supplier once an order is placed (2-3 days delivery)?

I wouldn't be to fond of the second option but is it done a lot? I don't think dropshipping would be something i'd look at for this type of business.

All advice appreciated.

jimmii

I would start off with a fewer number of products than I would like but be sure to be able to keep them in stock. You only get one chance to make a good first impression and if someone orders something from you and it takes over a week to arrive it might put them off ordering from you again. People expect things to be arriving in two days now.

10+ suppliers is quite a lot maybe try streamline that a little if possible.

I would make sure to have set aside enough money to market it properly and would give that preference over having stock if need be. You can have the best products at the best prices but if no one knows your site exists then it doesn't matter! Its worth putting money into building a good social media audience. We made a post a few days back and it reached 45k+ people! We were like wahoah there thats insane! If you see how much putting an advert in a magazine with 45k readership costs you soon realise the value in social media investment. Its important to target your audience as much as possible to get the best value though.

From my experience what people tend to look for in a website is competitive pricing, quick free delivery and regular new products.

collegeme

Thank you. 45k+ reach is amazing! I have another page with 1.5k likes and a post the other day reached 6k and I was over the moon with that.

I had a busy Christmas and I think you're spot on regarding everything above.
Targeting the audience is the reason I am running 4 seperate pages for 4 different markets as such (that's the plan).

I was so afraid that few products comes across as ametuer but I suppose it's the best way to start off.

Thanks so much for your input. Can I ask what business segment you are in with a reach like that?

jimmii

How professional it is considered is probably going to come down more to the design than the number of products there are lots of micro companies out there with <10 products on their sites. I wouldn't worry too much about the number of products you have listed if you are using 10+ suppliers you definitely have more than enough to get going!

We're retail too high street and online. Typically a standard post would reach about 2500 people but sometimes it really catches the imagination and goes huge we stock what I would call quite quirky things so I guess sometimes its just something that I lot of people really like! We don't go in for those viral attempts you see some pages post just trying to get shares we just stick to what we do.

4 pages done well is going to be quite a lot to manage! It might be worth trying to get that down once you reach 5k+ on a page you find you need to be quite active dealing with comments and messages about products. Even if you post the price etc people will still ask how much it is and there is nothing worse than a page that doesn't respond to comments there is too much value there to be throwing it away like that.

collegeme

Thank you. Am currently actively managing two pages but on a small scale. Christmas is seasonal so I like that the activity slows in Jan.
I admit that Christmas was an eye opener on how much one person can physically do (throw in some kids and sickness).

My eyes have been opened at the support people need to make a purchase alright. I never anticipated being sent screenshots of my website asking "how can I buy this?".

Congratulations, you sound like you are doing something right.

Magnate

Just having a lurk and stumbled upon this thread. You've just reminded me of how much I love e-commerce. There's no greater feeling than waking up and checking how many orders have been placed the previous day. It's what makes me tick - well used to. Can't wait to finish school and get back to it!

jimmii

You do get a few weird emails alright makes you wonder how people even got the computer on at times!

Christmas certainly is pretty bonkers its just none stop after the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend I just remember packaging things up for three or four days solid certainly wasn't looking forward to wrapping presents after that! We've been very lucky with what we do the start really is incredibly tough a lot tougher than we imagine its important to have the necessary "life" funds in addition to the money you need for the business otherwise you will need to be dipping into the business money which you are unlikely to be able to afford to do in the first 6 months or so.

jimmii

Magnate wrote: »

Just having a lurk and stumbled upon this thread. You've just reminded me of how much I love e-commerce. There's no greater feeling than waking up and checking how many orders have been placed the previous day. It's what makes me tick - well used to. Can't wait to finish school and get back to it!

Yeh totally I love when I see the little notification on my phone that shows an order has been placed! Even if its just something for a tenner I just love that someone has appreciated what we are doing and decided to buy from us!