Is The eCommerce Jargon Slowing Your Business Down?
All you need is to… uh… stop delaying and just start!
Your are dreaming of starting an eCommerce business right away, aren’t you? But do the terms like plugins, extensions, shopping cart, payment gateways, responsiveness, coupons, fulfilment, etc., etc., (*panting slightly*) sound a bit too overwhelming? You’re not alone, and welcome to the club of such eCommerce-jargon-fearing-retailers who had a starting trouble just like you.
Many business owners like you feel or have felt the same way but ultimately the goal is to sell the products online. But the successful ones among them know one thing for sure — They need to start as soon as possible. Because you never know, there might be another person with the same dream and same idea just as yours. Agree?
So, coming back to the technology part, there is a common mistake that most eCommerce retailing aspirants make. They waste time on technology (website, eCommerce solution, plugins) instead of focusing on business (production, marketing, sales). When they are hell bent on launching the store only when the website has all the details (most of which they don’t use) attended to, there is a lot they are missing out on.
Let us dig a little deep into it.
What happens if you are fixated on the perfect website?
Let’s say you’re preparing the perfect website “before” you launch your store. What is the result? A significant amount of time and resource is lost in the preparation process. You may ask, “What’s the big deal? A great website will attract customers”. Wrong.
- The big deal is, by the time you have a great website, your business idea will lose its freshness.
- You lose out on the sales you could have made if you’d launched.
- And customers look for great products, not great website. Of course user experience is important, but improving on user feedback is better than waiting for the big launch.
Clearly, the quicker you are in the market, the longer you stay in people’s minds. So, time is the advantage. Ask yourself if you can afford to lose that time in perfecting the website. Yes? No?
What every store owner wants
Well, 99% of the store owners want a technology that delivers everything. Everything and what everybody else already has. And that exactly is the sure-fire way to failure.
You could waste your time in understanding and implementing every nut and bolt an eCommerce website can have. This approach can deliver a great website at your disposal but as I said earlier, your business idea would have lost its million dollar worth by then. Many store owners take this approach and spend countless hours trying to develop their website on their own or they grind a web developer to do this. This approach might be OK if you have tens and thousands of products to sell. But it does not work for small and medium businesses. I have seen a few owners, who spend hours changing the border colour. Is the border colour going to affect the number of sales?
The idea of having a perfect eCommerce website is great. But it should not become an obsession. The very nature of the technology is that it changes, too frequently. For example, a year ago, online stores used to have these large product sliders. Now that trend has become obsolete because it occupies quite a lot of real estate, especially when browsing in a mobile or tablet. Remember what happened to Flash animations? The very feature you think is unique today might become an absurd element the next day.
So, What else could you be doing? Is there an easier way to build your online store? Like instantly?
There is. Gone are the days when technology was reserved for the tech people. Today, technology is more aligned towards the non-technical folks.
The success of any consumable technology lies in its simplicity.
While the website itself is inevitable, you can get through it like a pro if you have the right tool. But hold on. Before jumping into the tool, an important question must be answered…
What actually makes you feel overwhelmed?
The two most influential factors that make you overwhelmed about the abundance of technology are:
- Fear of being basic
- Fear of the unknown
Fear of being basic (FOBB)
The Fear Of Being Basic is often associated with the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). Store owners, in the initial phase of their business do not want their website to be “basic”. The general misconception is that they’d miss out on customers if the website doesn’t have a certain advanced feature. But, customers look for products and not for features.
Sometimes, FOBB is good because it keeps you highly updated but it shouldn’t slow down your business. The focus has to be towards the primary goal — selling the products. Features exist only to boost that goal.
For example, let’s say you are about to launch your online store that sells swimsuits and consider it is the Summer season — the best time to sell swimsuits. You notice that your site does not have a photo gallery and a slider which your competitor has. You postpone launching your website by a week or so. Now, you have missed a week of business during the peak sales period — not because you lack those features but because you have not published your website. If your products are good, you could still have made some sales without any gallery or slider.
Any component or feature or content can add value to your site only when your site is available to the customers. You can be unapologetically basic, but have the necessities, and you can always add exciting components to your website later.
Key Takeaway:
Don’t miss out on selling while waiting for the perfect website to be built.
Publish the basic site first. Improvise.
Small income is better than no income.
FOBB is good when you want to upgrade.
Fear Of The Unknown
The ‘unknown’ here is the technology behind your website. Generally, until you haven’t ventured into something, it is natural to feel a slight discomfort. Similarly, if you do not have a prior experience in building a website, you might not be very comfortable with doing it yourself. You develop concerns like:
What if some bug arises?
What if your site crashes?
What if you couldn’t solve it?
What if there is nobody to help you through an issue?
Typically, there are three courses of action one takes during such a situation:
- Build a great website no matter how long it takes
As I mentioned earlier, your business could lose its freshness and demand by the time you come up with a stunning website. The FOBB takes over.
OR - Hire an expert
Hiring a developer to build and maintain your eCommerce website sure sounds like a good idea. But it involves cost that you probably didn’t think of while developing your business plan. Again, you would end up wasting a lot of time in finding the right developer and he/she may take a while in understanding and producing what you need.
OR - Find a software that doesn’t overwhelm you ✔
Sounds simple enough? If you ask whether THIS action wouldn’t consume time, my answer is NO! You can find a solution that does not overwhelm you right here in the article.
Key Takeaway:
Familiarise yourself with technology.
Find a tool that doesn’t overwhelm you — J2Store, for example.
Why J2Store Can Be Your Ideal eCommerce Solution?
J2Store allows you to focus on selling your products. In fact, the whole point of J2Store is, “Setup your store in 10 minutes and start selling”.
It is tightly integrated to Joomla and provides a wide range of functionalities in just few clicks. And it is not complex. Using J2Store is easy as pie.
The fear of being basic can now settle because J2Store is powerful.
The fear of the unknown can’t bother you because you don’t have to deal with the unknown technology anymore.
Looks like there is not much of a work involved in your online store, after all? You’re right. All you have to do is:
- Install Joomla! CMS (Content Management System) in your website.
- Get a beautiful theme/template that suits your business, either free or premium. A template can even You could try ThemeParrot.
- Install J2Store to make your website ready for eCommerce with the shopping cart symbol at the top right corner.
- Upload the products — either manually or import from inventory depending on the number of products you want to sell.
- Set the payment gateway up to receive payments. Choose one based on your location and requirements.
- Publish.
You have a “basic yet advanced” eCommerce website with a “simple yet powerful” eCommerce solution. Pretty awesome, isn’t it? With J2Store, you can get your online store up and running in a jiffy! What are you waiting for?
Oh! If you have already set your online store up, think of selling smart!
Have you felt overwhelmed by technology, too? Has J2Store helped you fast forward your business? Feel free to share your views and experience with us! Because our inspiration to do a better work everyday comes from our valuable customers.
Afterthoughts
Ever heard someone say, “I had the idea of X business which is now so popular. If only I had started it…”? Rings bells, right? At some point of life, almost everyone has heard one such story where people regret not giving life to an idea, even as a small start. You might end up being one such narrator.
That is why “starting” the business is more important than having all the unnecessary technical stuffs in place. Once you have traction, once you feel that your product is actually liked by people, you can always safely (and happily) enhance the website.
Start small, start rough, or start lean. But start.
