Oct 15, 2020Do You Hide Behind Your Business?I do. My business is me, but there’s no picture of me. — I run a reasonably successful eCommerce store selling freshly roasted coffee. I love coffee and I love the interaction with the customers, who seem to like my product. I also love eCommerce. There’s so much to it and so much still for me to learn. I’m very good at customer…Ecommerce4 min readEcommerce4 min read
Oct 13, 2020The Three Types of Traffic to Your Ecommerce StoreSome simple techniques to get new customers that come back for more. — In the very beginning, when I launched my first eCommerce store, I decided that the best way to get customers was to use Google Ads. I researched some keywords, set up an ad and pointed it to the home page of my web shop. Certainly I did get some traffic…Ecommerce6 min readEcommerce6 min read
Oct 10, 2020A Short Story About Wealth CreationWealth is created when you add value — One summer’s day Mike was looking at the weather forecast and he noticed that tomorrow was going to be scorching hot. He decided to go out and buy a crate of bottled water and some ice. The next morning Mike awoke early and set off to the local river bank…Business3 min readBusiness3 min read
Oct 7, 2020How I Got New Customers to my E-commerce Store for FreeThis simple technique works wonders for lowering your advertising costs — Back when I started my e-commerce business, I didn’t know much about how to get traffic to my store or how to get those visitors converted into paying customers. I basically set up a Google Adwords account, created an ad that would appear on Google search and pointed the ad…Ecommerce4 min readEcommerce4 min read
Sep 30, 2020Why Sticking to Your Mission is ImportantWhy I had to decline an invitation to sell my products in someone else’s shop — Earlier today I received an email. It was from another e-commerce retail company that wanted to sell my coffee on their website. It was a very nice email saying they were impressed by my packaging and my message, which is all about sustainability, traceability and fairness in the coffee supply…Ecommerce2 min readEcommerce2 min read
Sep 29, 2020The Four Levers of Business GrowthGrowing your business isn’t just about getting more customers — Over the last four years I have been running my own e-commerce business selling coffee online. Over this period I have studied many ways of increasing my sales and ultimately the success of my business boils down to just four metrics. I’ve found these four “levers” are universal and don’t…Ecommerce2 min readEcommerce2 min read
Sep 19, 2020How One Company Stays ProfitableI just Googled how many McDonald’s restaurants there are in the UK. There are 1,249 in total. Given the queues I always see at the local drive-thru’ they appear to still be selling a lot. What’s the secret to their growth and longevity? The up-sell. Everyone knows the phrase: “Would…Ecommerce2 min readEcommerce2 min read
Sep 16, 2020The Perfect Product to Sell OnlinePick a product you’re passionate about and ideally has repeat business built-in. — For four years now I have been running my own business. Firstly as a side hustle and then, earlier this year, full time. It’s certainly been a roller coaster ride up until now. The product I sell: coffee. I roast it myself. I package and ship it out myself. It’s…Ecommerce3 min readEcommerce3 min read
Sep 10, 2020Coffee and eCommerce: My First BusinessThe first ecommerce business I started from scratch — Way back in September 2016, my wife, Barbara, and I took a trip to the local farmer’s market. It was only a small one in our local town, with the usual array of bread, cheese and veg stalls. …Ecommerce5 min readEcommerce5 min read