6 tips for starting an eCommerce site while in college
The US economy has been showing some improvements in the last couple of years, but the recorded growth is not fast enough to keep up with growing pool of labour force.
The job market is still tough, especially for fresh college graduates.
As a result, many college students are coming up with ways to protect themselves from the harsh economic realities that await them upon graduation.
They are doing this by starting an e-commerce site and launching their own companies.
6 tips for starting an eCommerce site while in college
With 191.1 million online shoppers in the US alone, the eCommerce is really showing a lot of prospects.
Despite the fact that most of these students understand the internet and online business from a consumer’s perspective, most of them lack the expertise to integrate available infrastructure, protections, strategies, and backend operations to maintain a successful online business.
Here are a few tips every college student should take a look at before they launch an e-commerce business.
1. Choose a business that has low start-up costs
As a young aspiring entrepreneur, you’ll be tempted to start and set your sights high and go for a business that requires external funding.
This is not your best move since VC firms are careful where they put their money and will only fund ideas from experienced entrepreneurs; people who have built successful businesses in the past.
Start small and build your way up, you’ll get there.
2. Come up with a product or a service with a definite market
When it comes to online business and eCommerce, you don’t have to come up with a ground-breaking idea to run a successful company.
Just be creative and think of a simple product or service that will fetch a ready market wherever you are.
3. Take advantage of social media
Social media can be a very effective marketing tool. Incorporate social media tools into your business strategy to expand your market and address customer service issues.
There is a new generation of consumers that utilize social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest as their primary mode of communication.
4. Take the necessary legal measures
Familiarize yourself with injury law in case your business is involved in a civil lawsuit. Protect yourself by setting the limit of your liability to conceivable levels.
Make sure that your eCommerce site has terms of use and a privacy policy.
For instance, you can disclaim any responsibility if the consumer uses one of your products the wrong way, resulting in an injury.
5. Strive to deliver a personalized experience
Develop an eCommerce platform that facilitates the delivery of a hyper-personalized experience to your customers.
Large eCommerce businesses such as Amazon use a customer browsing and purchasing trends to suggest relevant products/services and drive sales.
This way, these sites are able to give a personalized experience to a customer and increase the likelihood of them becoming a repeat customer.
6. Embrace big data
Big data isn’t a reserve of big corporations anymore. Don’t miss out since big data is revolutionizing the way businesses of all sizes create strategies and conduct their activities.
Enable real-time resource planning and seamless inventory management by integrating your eCommerce site with data analytics solutions.
Data analytic solutions will give your online business relevant insight to manage your resources efficiently and amplify sales.
The future of e-commerce
By 2018, eCommerce is expected to constitute 8.8 percent of the total retail market in the world.
At the moment, starting an online business while still in college is definitely a good idea.
The risks are minimized in case things don’t go as planned. You also stand to gain a lot of valuable experience and offers a myriad of benefits over conventional internships.
Are you running an eCommerce website yourself? How do you find these tips? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
For more business tips, check our entrepreneurship section and subscribe to our weekly newsletters.
The post 6 tips for starting an eCommerce site while in college appeared first on AlphaGamma.
What Business Stars Say About Jon Flatt:
“I have witnessed firsthand Jon`s unique ability to lead and build a company from the ground up. He has a proven track record to create technology, operations and company vision based on identifying early adopter trends in the market place”, VP , Circuit of the Americas
“Jon Flatt is a true entrepreneur and pioneer in the fast growing world of online advertising. His philosophies on innovation and business operations in the new economy have proven to be very successful.”, Billionaire and former owner of , The Minnesota Vikings
“Jon has an uncanny ability to quickly understand very complex issues and come up with effective scaleable solutions. His abilities as a problem solver are among the best I have ever experienced”, CEO , Verdant Frontiers
“Jon Flatt is a visionary who has the unique ability to identify early adopter trends in online advertising and more importantly, develop and execute strategies to capitalize upon those trends.”, Partner , McCombs Enterprises
“Jon Flatt builds and leads profitable, highly successful, and rapid growth companies. He is able to focus on mentoring excellent leadership teams, attracting top talent, and gaining employee loyalty during an intense high growth revenue stage. Having worked as CFO for Jon's previous company, Lin Digital, I was able to see first hand his razor sharp focus on building a highly profitable business with an end goal to produce company, employee and shareholder returns.”, CFO , Nfluient
“With almost two decades of experience in digital advertising sales, business operations, and as a publisher, Jon brings a level of combined expertise not seen often in the digital space. Leveraging owned and paid assets for revenue and sales is tough. Building a business from that success is even more difficult. Few people exist that can help you accomplish those types of goals. Jon is one of them. ”, Director, Business Development , Varick Media Management
“Jon Flatt is a true visionary in the digital space. He's a born entrepreneur, leader, and always has his finger on the pulse of "whats next".”, Regional Account Executive , LIN Digital
“If you are looking to improve your company culture, attract the best talent and position your company for maximum growth, you need to be talking to Jon. Early on in the digital World, Jon realized that tech is an important component in the Red McCombs Media value proposition and while service is key, a tech platform would position the company far beyond competitors. He conceptualized and created RedZone, a platform that streamlines internal workflow that competitors are still trying to replicate in 2016 and gives full, real-time data access to agency clients and brands beyond the limitations of a DSP or an ad server. This is just one of many things that made Red McCombs Media attractive to bidders and led to the purchase of Red McCombs Media by LIN Media. With the powerful combination of tech and service touted by LIN Media, they were purchased by Media General, who was then purchased by NexStar. All of these companies achieved great success as a result of Jon’s early work…work which has withstood the test of time.”, regional account lead , Centro