Malcolm was generous to join us for our 2nd event! He talked about how a complete beginner can start an ecommerce store. The four big stages are: deciding on a product, research and preparation, building your store, and post-launch.

First, you have to find what product you want to sell. Malcolm said it is often the most challenging stage of starting your ecommerce business. He provided a list of ways you can find a product. This section will list the main points that were raised by Malcolm.

• Solve a customer pain point.
• Capitalise on trends early.
• Research products with higher profit margins.

The second step in this stage is evaluating your product ideas. Malcolm saw many people starting without researching the marketplace. Most of them failed. Research can be a grind but it will provide the best results. Examples include market demand, competitors, target customers and so on.

Malcolm moved on to the third step. Now you have to figure out how to obtain your products. There are times when people sell handcrafted products, which is a viable ecommerce. You can also find a manufacturer or wholesale purchase the products. However, keep in mind their price point. Dropshipping is also a choice. If it suits you, a combination of these methods is also acceptable. As long as you can stably obtain the required quantity, store them and distribute them, you are ready for the next step.

The second stage is research and preparation. The first step in this stage is to research your competition. Search for your competitors and find out what they are doing. Think about various situations, such as what if they started to sell the same product. You will have to find a way to differentiate your ecommerce store.

Also, make sure to know your target customers’ profiles and desires. Malcolm said he has seen people get would up by their product, fulfilment and idea. They didn’t learn about their customers and thought their idea would go well. You have to appeal to the customers to generate sales. That is why you need to know about your target customers.

After all of that research, you start writing your business plan. Malcolm and his team have seen many people come for ecommerce consultations. One of the first things they ask is, “Where is your business plan?” According to Malcolm, fifty to sixty per cent of people don’t come with one. They would send them away and tell them to come back with a business plan. Only about five per cent would come back with a good business plan. Some people would come back with a business plan that is thirty pages long! Malcolm recommended the length of four pages, printed on both sides of two A4-size papers. A business plan is supposed to be a road map, a small simulation of putting your ecommerce business together.

Now we enter the exciting stage of building your store! Before getting too excited, Malcolm advised selecting a platform that suits your business the most. You will need to create a checklist covering what you will require for your business. What are the functions that I need for my store to work? What will I need for my customers? What is my budget? After getting all of these listed, evaluate all of the choices.

Malcolm said you must have an ecommerce-dedicated solution for your online store. He and his team had to help with re-purposing websites, websites not built from ecommerce platforms. Malcolm said it makes sense to choose a simple website platform because it is affordable at the start. However, you will hit a brick wall at some point in growth.

Here are some other points Malcolm had raised.

• Make sure the front end works for the customers.
• Your ecommerce website is not only a store, but it is also a marketing tool.
• Assess the running costs of the website. (E.g. Server upgrades, the developer pays, etc.)
• Think about fulfilment and payment methods.

Now we are at the final stage of starting an ecommerce business, post-launch of your first ecommerce store. “Your store is the machine and now you need to feed that machine by marketing your products and brand.” As a master of marketing and sales, Malcolm shared some essentials.

• Targeted traffic – is crucial for new stores.
• Free traffic sources – go after the low-hanging fruit (e.g. SEO).
• Paid advertising – spend money to make money.
• Outreach – connect with existing audiences (e.g. re-targeting).
• Analysis – reflect to optimise (e.g. analytics).

Post-launch is also the stage where you have to consider longevity out of your product range. Also, make the most out of your customers.