If you’re looking to make some serious online business that makes an impact, then it’s hard to ignore the unbelievable opportunities that are available to us thanks to the amazing world of eCommerce.
As long as you have the skills, knowledge, and determination required, just about anyone can take a shot at building a multi-million dollar company.
Just ask Jesse Willms, who has leveraged the power of the internet to his benefit since the ripe old age of just 15 years old.
Throughout the years, Willms has turned his hand to buying and selling books, computer software, and even a wide variety of health and wellness products where he sold over $500M in supplements.
Because of this, Willms has shown he is one of the most prolific online sellers in the history of the internet, and there are key lessons we can learn from his meteoric rise to success.
The E-commerce boom
Amazingly, eCommerce accounts for 14.1% of all retail sales worldwide, and this number looks set to continue rising at an exponential rate.
In fact, at the time of writing, there are an estimated 2 billion digital buyers in the world, meaning at least 25% of the world’s population make online purchases in at least some capacity.
With that said, it’s important to understand just how much of a revolutionary force eCommerce has been, with companies like eBay, Alibaba, and Amazon all radically transforming the world we live in and the way we do business with each other.
So what is the driving force behind this shift in consumer behavior? Well, first and foremost, it’s all about convenience. Customers can shop from the comfort of their home at any time of the day.
They can browse entire collections at their leisure, and there is no need for long car trips or carrying heavy bags.
Secondly, it’s not just the consumers who have benefited from newfound convenience. Over the last decade, business owners have enjoyed increased access to global supply chains, which has lowered costs, reduced delivery times, and improved the quality of their products.
This allows companies to scale faster than ever before.
With that in mind, here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to jump on the bandwagon.
Always have your customer in mind
Throughout his very early days, Willms was a pioneer of internet marketing. He quickly figured out how important it is to keep your ear to the ground and observe for any gaps in the market, such as unmet wants/needs that you can capitalize on.
No matter what type of eCommerce business you decide to create, it’s vital to keep your customer in mind at all times. Be willing to adapt to feedback and criticism. Strive to create a memorable customer experience as the goal is to create brand loyalty right from the get-go.
“At the end of the day, we are working for our customers. Our decision-making stems from listening to their feedback and fulfilling their needs. By providing top-notch customer service, we can ensure our customers are satisfied and continue to generate a healthy revenue stream,” says Willms.
It’s all about leverage
When you stop to think about the number of resources available to entrepreneurs these days, it’s truly staggering. If anything, we suffer from the curse of having too much choice and too many options when it comes to deciding on what route to take your eCommerce business.
With that said, in order to propel yourself to success, you must utilize the tools at your disposal as best as you can. One obvious example of such a tool is the eCommerce behemoth that is Amazon, and the amazing features it offers to business owners.
For starters, you can leverage the brand power of Amazon and sell your products on their massively popular marketplace (for a small commission, of course). However, in doing so, you gain access to huge amounts of traffic, increased trust, and brand legitimacy.
Amazon has around 12 million of its own products listed on the marketplace. This number increases to a monstrous 350 million when you include all third-party sellers, which is an obvious indication of its value to eCommerce business owners.
Here are a few of the main methods of making money as an eCommerce business through Amazon:
- Private labeling
- Dropshipping
- Wholesale purchasing
- Arbitrage selling from other online marketplaces
- Retail arbitrage
- Amazon FBA
Making the most of fulfillment centers
If you want to reach as many customers as possible and give yourself the best chance at boosting sales, you should seriously consider using one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers.
This handy service removes most of the stress from the sales process as Amazon handles the bulk of the heavy lifting, such as inquiries, refunds, returns, delivery, and customer service. They can even take care of labeling, preparation, and packaging for you.
All you have to do is send your product to one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers and let them handle the rest.
According to Jungle Scout’s report, at least 66% of all sales are fulfilled by Amazon, with an amazing 86% of sellers achieving a profit.
Develop resilience and be willing to pivot if necessary
“When it comes to business, I like to backtrack and see what I could have done differently to change the outcome. You can also view challenges as an opportunity to grow, develop a thicker skin, or improve important skills. At the end of the day, if you truly want something, you will work hard to achieve it,” says Willms.
It seems the common denominator between those who succeed and those who fail is more often than not their ability to adapt quickly to the circumstances they are faced with, both good and bad. As 2020 so abruptly proved, we can never be too sure what the future holds.
Covid-19 changed the face of eCommerce as we know it, with more people making online purchases than ever before.
As people were forced to stay indoors, they turned to the internet to procure everyday items such as groceries and goods they would normally purchase on foot.
This brought a huge opportunity to entrepreneurs, and those that were willing to meet the new demands of consumers were richly rewarded.
Looking forward, nobody is quite sure what impact Covid-19 will have on the economy, yet there will almost certainly be many more opportunities for eCommerce entrepreneurs to profit from the huge shift in consumer spending habits.
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