9 Proven Tips To Make Money With eCommerce

Are you struggling to make money with e-commerce? While some people find e-commerce challenging, some are making a kill with it. Statista shows that e-commerce revenue is expected to grow by 3.9%, increasing from $374.3 billion in 2021 to $476.5 billion in 2024 in the U.S.

You undoubtedly want to get a piece of this pie. To help you learn the ropes, we’ve compiled a list of proven tips to increase your sales and make money with e-commerce.

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced e-commerce entrepreneur, here is how you make money with e-commerce and tips to help your online business soar.

If you are interested in starting an eCommerce business and wonder how much money you need to get started in eCommerce, I wrote a whole article that I encourage you to read.

What Is e-commerce?

E-commerce is the buying or selling of products and services online. You can sell or buy physical goods like a laptop, a watch, a t-shirt, and a bike or services like consulting and online courses. People also buy and sell digital products like ebooks and software.

E-commerce takes different business models, such as:

Making and selling: You sell your products in your online store.
Working with a manufacturer: the supplier gives you the products, and you sell them online.
Wholesaling: You buy goods in bulk, store the inventory, and sell them through your online store.
Private labeling: You buy a ready-made product and apply your label to make it part of your brand before selling it online.
Dropshipping: You act as a bridge between the buyer and the seller. You sell products but don’t store any inventory. Once the buyer places an order with your store, you send it to the supplier for processing and delivery.

Regardless of your e-commerce model, making money comes down to sourcing goods at a lower price than you sell them.

So, look for products with high demand to leverage economies of scale. True, you will spend money to run your online store and attract and keep customers, but your business can thrive.

Your store will be profitable with the right creativity and investment in the right channels. Do you want to know how to make money from your e-commerce store? Let’s dive into the next segment.

How To Make Money Through e-commerce?

E-commerce has a lot of potentials as buyers shift from offline purchasers to digital buyers. Here are 9 proven tips to make money with e-commerce.

1- Choose The Right Products

This is a no-brainer. You make money when customers buy products in your store. If you sell products that don’t address your target audience’s pain points, you will seldom make money with e-commerce.

So, how do you go about choosing the right products? Research and identify highly demanded goods but with low competition. Check Amazon Bestsellers and Google trends to know what people are searching for and buying.

Listen to potential customers’ conversations on platforms like Reddit, Quora, and other social media sites to know what they are looking for in your product market.

In summary, this is how you choose an ideal product:

Ensure the product fills a market gap.
The product is timeless.
The products don’t have expiry dates.

2- Build a User-Friendly Website

Your e-commerce website is your storefront. It is the first impression your customers have on your brand, so get it right.

Ensure your store is easy to navigate and optimized for mobile devices. Why? Emarketer estimates that 59% of e-commerce sales happen via smartphones. Furthermore, small online businesses get 30% more mobile conversion than larger brands, underscoring the need for mobile optimization.

Here are additional tips for building a user-friendly e-commerce website:

Choose a clean and professional design that’s easy for the eyes.
Use concise language in your product descriptions and other content.
Provide clear and easy-to-find contact information so customers can contact you with any questions or concerns.

3- Drive Traffic Using a Blog

Creating optimized blogs can drive traffic to your website and dominate search engines, thus leading potential customers your way.

Besides writing valuable blog content related to your products, target relevant keywords to increase your search engine rankings.

But there is more. You can increase traffic on your e-commerce site through email marketing. Building an email list or investing in your own marketing channels will improve your revenue.

Like Tobi Lutke once said- your email list and website are the only things you own on the internet; the rest are just rented.

But how does your email list improve your traffic? Your subscribers will be the first to know when you publish a new blog, run a promotion, or offer a discount on products. As they click the email, they are directed to your website.

Google recognizes sites with high traffic and ranks them, allowing you to attract non-subscribers to your store.

4- Use High-Quality Product Images

Since customers can’t see or touch the products in person, you can convince them with high-quality product images on your e-commerce store.

So, ensure the product images are clear and showcase different angles. Customers often make emotional decisions when deciding which products to buy, and a catchy image will likely facilitate the process.

Here are some tips for using high-quality product images:

Invest in a high-resolution camera or outsource a professional photographer to take product photos.
Use the uncluttered background to allow the product to stand out.
Take the photos in a well-lit room with natural light for accurate colors.
Edit the image to the correct size and format for the store.

5- Choose a Suitable Platform

Choosing an e-commerce platform is vital for your online business success. If you want to make money with e-commerce as a beginner, do comprehensive research and choose the right platform.

What is an e-commerce platform? The software allows you to sell your product to customers over the internet.

The ideal eCommerce platform will accelerate growth and enhances your chances of earning a desirable income. The best platforms are those with massive traffic and significant sales history.

A good e-commerce platform should help you

Sell you products
Manage inventory
Print your shipping labels
Create an eye-catching storefront
Integrate your store with other tools like email marketing platforms.

Some popular e-commerce platforms include:

6- Choose Your Audience

If you want to sell products online, narrow your audience. Know your primary target audience and focus on them.

You will use the correct marketing strategy when you narrow your target market. Otherwise, you may waste money on unfruitful campaigns.

Study the competition and know how they market their products. In a free market, data from the competition can help you stay ahead in the game and make more money.

7- Provide Excellent Customer Service

The e-commerce industry is super competitive, and your differentiator could be stellar customer service. Good customer service is vital for your online business because it helps with customer loyalty, positive reviews, and peer-to-peer referrals.

Here are some steps to providing excellent customer service:

Respond promptly to customer inquiries and concerns, whether they come through email, phone, or social media.
Take the time to understand your customers’ needs and preferences, and offer personalized recommendations and solutions.
Provide multiple support channels like phone, email, live chat, and social media.
Train your customer service team to handle customer inquiries and complaints effectively.
Be transparent about your business practices, policies, and procedures to gain your customers’ trust.
Collect customer feedback through surveys, reviews, and other tools and make changes accordingly.

8- Automate, Automate, Automate

One way to make money with eCommerce is to minimize expenses as soon as possible. Automating your process helps reduce costs and facilitates growth.

Although you may initially find it time-consuming, you will reap big down the road.

So, what processes can you automate?

Order fulfillment
Marketing
Accounting
Inventory management
Shipping and logistics
Payment processing
Data analysis and reporting
Customer service

Automating these processes gives you more time to focus on other growth activities like creating and publishing blogs.

9- Invest In Shopping Ads

Shopping ads can help you earn with eCommerce from the onset. You can generate sales with product-specific paid ads.

Do you have products you think will do well with a little advertisement boost? You will recover the cost when you make the sale.

Additionally, you can use Google shopping ads to target customers searching for these products on the search engine. Optimize your product description and images to meet customer searches.

In Conclusion

Following these tips can help you make money with eCommerce. Like any other entrepreneurial journey, operating an eCommerce store is hard work.

You will need to study your target market and completion for insight into how to package your products. Once you discover what strategies work best, your business will soar, and money will flow into your bank account.