How to Run an Successful E-commerce Website in 2024(Beginner’s Guide)

In the past few years, the e-commerce website is loved by e-commerce sellers, because it does not need to rely excessively on third-party platforms, sellers have more autonomy to improve the shopping experience of their website, get more user data insights, establish brand image and eventually achieve higher performance growth. Product selection is one of the most important things to do in e-commerce, spending more time is not excessive.

We all recognize a statement: e-commerce wants to be successful, seven points rely on product selection, and three points rely on operation. But no one-size-fits-all approach can solve every problem. Everyone’s resources vary, their areas of expertise differ, and the models they wish to pursue are unique. Any method must be tailored to your circumstances and then optimized accordingly.

Table of Contents

• How to choose the right business model?
• Leverage your strengths and avoid weaknesses
• Consider your personal development stage
• Utilize your unique resources

How to Choose the Right Business Model?

The biggest issue for most newcomers to the business of e-commerce websites is not knowing which model to follow. Initially, it’s not recommended to pursue a general merchandise model, as it’s becoming increasingly difficult to succeed with, and the companies that do profit from this approach are not as simple as they seem, making it hard for the average person to master. For the majority of merchants, the best entry point is a niche, high-quality product model. This can be based on your hobbies or the resources you possess.

However, the truly recommended e-commerce website model is one for long-term operation. Long-term strategies are inherently counterintuitive, requiring sustained operation over time to achieve breakthroughs, which often frustrates merchants who are impatient for success.

Are there any alternative models? Indeed, there are some relatively faster models. I’ll share two that are worth considering for beginners.

1. Multi-account matrix – Social media niche high-quality product model

Many short video social media channels still offer opportunities, such as INS Reels, Pinterest Idea Pins, and YouTube Shorts. The engagement metrics for these channels, including views, likes, and comments, are staggering and hard to achieve with longer videos. The most significant advantage of short videos currently lies in brand promotion and rapid, massive exposure, rather than more direct conversions.

Of course, there are direct conversions, but the content that can achieve this requires higher product prices and brand recognition.

Therefore, for those who want to pursue direct conversions with this social media niche high-quality product model, the price point should not be too high to avoid giving consumers too many concerns. It’s best to offer free shipping and relatively low prices. You can gauge the price range for products that convert well by looking at the average prices on TikTok Shop.

With the advent of various AI-assisted tools, the barrier to content production has significantly lowered. AI can also create relatively high-quality video materials. Beginners can test multiple accounts and product categories on a large scale, refine their focus through testing, and continuously optimize their video content, gradually building their own brand.

In short, in this model, product selection must align with the platform. The initial focus should be on volume and finding direction, while the later stages require upgrading and optimizing content, gradually focusing on niche categories, and moving towards branding.

2. Multi-channel advertising – Niche high-quality product model

For beginners just entering e-commerce, diversifying your advertising channels leads to a healthier traffic structure. It’s worth exploring various channels and ad formats that still offer opportunities.

Many beginners want to quickly select products and validate their feasibility, so they may need to invest more in advertising initially. The feedback from ads is very quick; within 1-2 days, you can make a preliminary judgment on whether the product works.

Although the opportunities in advertising channels have diminished, it’s best not to rely on just one channel. There’s still some opportunity in Google’s PMAX ads and Bing’s shopping ads. Don’t just focus on Facebook ads; for some fashion product merchants, conversions on Pinterest and Instagram are also quite good. You can also try new ad formats from major platforms, as ad platforms tend to prioritize high-quality traffic for new ad formats/products.

Additionally, if you have the resources, you can try influencer and affiliate marketing models, but these may not be suitable for most newcomers who lack such resources.

Leverage Your Strengths and Avoid Weaknesses

A significant reason many newcomers decide to enter e-commerce is because they have experience or related knowledge in the field. If you consider e-commerce as a project, the first thing a newcomer should focus on is the module they excel at, as this is where they are most likely to receive positive feedback and build confidence. Assess your skills, conduct a comprehensive analysis, and identify your strengths and the directions where you have the most potential.

For example, if Jack has been working on Google Ads for three years and has increased the company’s ROAS from 1 to 7, bringing in decent profits each month, then Jack could try using his expertise in Google Ads to run a niche high-quality product website! While expertise doesn’t guarantee success, the chances are certainly higher!

Of course, it’s essential to analyze whether your area of expertise still offers opportunities and isn’t overly competitive. If not, switching directions might be a good idea. No channel remains evergreen; learning and practicing are lifelong endeavors.

The sooner you recognize your strengths, the sooner you can focus in the right direction. This may sound pragmatic, but for most ordinary people, career planning does need to be more practical. You rely more on yourself, and even if you may not particularly enjoy the work, if you’re prepared to continue in this line, the best approach is to uncover and deepen your areas of expertise. You can gain a lot of feedback from basic operations to advanced operations.

Consider Your Personal Development Stage

Different stages of sellers have different purposes and methods for running e-commerce websites.

Combining my experience and interactions with many sellers, I’ve compiled some typical examples. You can see for yourself and even find your place among them. Here’s what you can do!

1. Amazon sellers transitioning to e-commerce websites

Some mature Amazon sellers who transition to e-commerce websites do well, while others struggle. Amazon sellers typically need these conditions to succeed with e-commerce websites:

Support from company management: The boss must understand the concept of e-commerce websites and branding, be willing to treat the e-commerce website as a strategic project, and invest significant resources.

A mature internal operations team: The company should have a team that truly understands the operation and marketing of e-commerce websites. The operator is particularly important, as they must communicate with the boss and build a team to get the business going. If you don’t have a suitable operator or can’t recruit the right person, consider hiring an external e-commerce website operations consultant with strong capabilities for guidance and assign the most capable and willing internal operators to cooperate and execute.

Product differentiation: The company can develop differentiated products targeting niche audiences in product selection or R&D.

Clear and reasonable expectations and planning: Don’t expect the e-commerce website to become a major sales channel overnight, nor assume that an established e-commerce website can’t become a second growth point. Having reasonable expectations and planning is crucial.

2. B2B sellers transitioning to e-commerce websites

The advantage of B2B factory-type sellers lies in cost control, but their weakness is a lack of marketing knowledge. They’re always focused on cost control but struggle to recruit suitable marketing talent. The core reason is that B2B bosses find it hard to switch to a B2C business mindset, leading to unreasonable planning, difficulty in coordinating internal resources, and inability to achieve good results.

Can B2B sellers transition to B2C e-commerce websites? The answer is clear: absolutely!

In fact, B2B sellers transitioning to B2C can adopt a cooperative approach, with the factory focusing on products and the operations team focusing on e-commerce website operations. By agreeing on a timeline, sharing risks, and sharing profits, both parties can focus on their areas of expertise and achieve a 1+1>2 effect.

3. Newcomers to e-commerce websites

The main types of newcomers to e-commerce websites currently are: sellers from other industries; sellers with strong experience on third-party e-commerce platforms; and sellers with overseas backgrounds who want to combine factory supply chains to build brands.

Sellers from other industries: These newcomers usually have few resources, making e-commerce websites challenging. However, if they can combine experiences from other fields, they might succeed. For example, some sellers who transitioned from Google SEO and monetized traffic through affiliate ads have a foundation in SEO and understand traffic operations.

These beginners can consider short-chain models, such as content websites selling traffic, dropshipping, etc. Of course, if they have strong learning abilities, they can also directly operate an e-commerce website with self-shipping.

Sellers who have done well on third-party platforms: These sellers usually started with Amazon and have accumulated a lot of experience in product selection, operations, and supply chain over the years. They need to focus on team integration and develop products that cater to specific audiences. Not many sellers can successfully transition.

Sellers with overseas resources who want to build brands with factory supply chains: If these sellers can find a good direction, they are more likely to succeed with e-commerce website brands. In fact, many of these sellers have excellent supply chain resources, and their product quality is not inferior to big brands; they just lack marketing capabilities. Combining these two aspects offers significant development potential. However, it’s worth noting that this is quite challenging and truly about branding, not a downgraded consumption model focused on low prices and dumping.

Utilize Your Unique Resources

Many small European and American brands are exceptionally skilled at cold starts, promoting their products through social media, forums, and various other channels. They may not have particularly strong resources, but they make the most of what they have to promote themselves.

For beginners primarily skilled in operations and traffic generation, you can use e-commerce website-related payment resources, advertising account resources, influencer alliances, and other resources to help market their products.

Of course, these require long-term accumulation and often strong networking resources to obtain. But these are the resources that can help when you start a new business.

Once you decide to start an e-commerce business, you must utilize all available resources. Starting a business is inherently a low-success-rate endeavor, and what you need is to continually increase that success.