Like any business, ecommerce has moments when scaling feels necessary. This involves boosting sales, reducing unnecessary expenses, and saving time through automation.
Achieving these goals takes careful observation, thoughtful planning, and precise execution. But when done right, the rewards of scaling your business will be as fulfilling as the effort you put in.
So, join us as we explore one of the most frequently asked questions: How to scale an ecommerce business easily and efficiently.
How to Scale an Ecommerce Business: 6 Strategies
Scaling an ecommerce business is quite different than growing an ecommerce business. The former focuses mostly on tweaking the existing business structure to boost the sales number.
Whereas the latter means bringing new investments into the business, expanding into new markets, increasing staff, infrastructure, etc. Below are 6 most executed methods of how to scale an ecommerce business –
1. Understand the Current Business Status
To understand what needs to be worked on and at what scale, first you need to assess the current overall status of your ecommerce business. You can start by analyzing your product or service offerings, your current marketing strategy, your target audience, competitors, current trends, etc.
Assessing these parameters is very important to understand where your business is standing today and in what fields need a touchup indefinitely. Issues found in this stage will narrow down your field of work and will make your activity more efficient and accurate.
2. Revamp Product Offerings
Your products are your connection to your audience. Ensure they meet expectations in quality, pricing, and variety. Neglecting these areas can leave you trailing behind competitors who prioritize them.
For example, if you’re selling pencil boxes in Red, Yellow, and Black, but Blue is trending and your competitor offers it, you’re likely losing customers. Staying updated with trends ensures you don’t miss out on potential leads.
Also, exploring newer business opportunities with newer products is never a crime. Therefore, explore the benefits of adding new products or services that complement your existing offerings.
We have seen big companies like Apple Inc. utilizing this strategy over the years to upscale their business. They expanded from computers to mobile devices and wearables, like the Apple Watch, to meet demand and complement their ecosystem.
3. Optimize Marketing Channels
Once you’re done working with your product, the next big part is to optimize the marketing essentials. It is often seen that even though the product isn’t that great or unique, it is in high demand due to proper marketing. For ecommerce businesses, this marketing is critical as it helps you get noticed by your customers.
So make sure you’ve done a tremendous job in creating exceptional marketing strategies. There are mainly two types of marketing channels that need tweaking to scale an ecommerce business –
Inbound Marketing Channels for Ecommerce
- Content Marketing: Blogs, videos, and guides attract organic traffic and build authority.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Optimizing for keywords helps rank higher on search engines and drives traffic.
- Social Media Marketing: Engaging posts and campaigns on platforms like Instagram and Facebook boosts visibility.
- Email Marketing: Newsletters and personalized emails nurture leads and retain customers.
- Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with influencers brings authentic visibility to your products.
Outbound Marketing Channels for Ecommerce
- Paid Ads (Google Ads, Facebook Ads): Reaches targeted audiences quickly with measurable ROI.
- Affiliate Marketing: Partners promote your products to their audience for a commission.
- Cold Emails: Reaching potential customers directly with tailored offers.
- Direct Mail: Sending physical coupons or promotional materials to prospective buyers.
- Telemarketing: Engaging leads through phone calls to promote offers or gather feedback.
Monitor your marketing insights very closely to identify the weak points. Take initiatives to improve those metrics, and conduct an A/B test between your experiments to find which strategy works the most suitable for you.
4. Improve Your Online Store
Your online store might be losing leads due to poor performance. When a website takes too long to load, most visitors will leave immediately, as the maximum buffer time is only about 3 seconds.
This makes it crucial to ensure your site is operating at its best. Regularly monitoring site health parameters like Core Web Vitals, server response time, and caching can lead to significant improvements in performance and user experience.
Beyond performance, focusing on a few technical elements can also make your site more search engine-friendly. This can give it a competitive edge in rankings and help you attract more leads.
Key factors in search engine rankings include –
- Indexability: Ensures your pages are properly indexed by search engines.
- Meta Tags: Accurate and optimized titles, descriptions, and header tags.
- Mobile-Friendliness: Ensures your site works seamlessly on mobile devices.
- XML Sitemap: This helps search engines crawl your site efficiently.
5. Focus On Automation
Automation is a game-changer for ecommerce as it helps reduce costs and save time while boosting efficiency. Time-consuming tasks such as sending emails, managing inventory, invoicing, etc. are as automated as possible.
This enables you to focus on scaling your business and enhancing customer experiences. Here are some key strategies and tools for automation –
- Email Marketing Automation: Tools like Mailchimp and Klaviyo send targeted emails based on user behavior. Apart from that ecommerce platforms like the EasyCommerce offers built-in email-sending mechanisms for notifying the end consumers with automated emails.
- Inventory Management: If compatible with your ecommerce platform, use solutions like TradeGecko or Zoho Inventory as per third-party solution to track stock in real-time.
- Order Processing: Streamline your operations by automating order confirmations, shipping notifications, and tracking updates. EasyCommerce makes it effortless to manage all these tasks from one centralized platform.
- Customer Support: Add 24/7 support to your site with chatbots like Tidio, and Zendesk. WordPress users can add WhatsApp and AI Chatbots through plugins.
- Accounting and Invoicing: QuickBooks or Xero streamline financial tasks. Not only that, it helps you to calculate your financial standings accurately and efficiently manage your expenses.
Incorporating these tools can transform your operations, making them more cost-effective and scalable opportunities.
6. Excel In Customer Retention
Building strong customer relationships is key to growing your ecommerce business. You can encourage repeat purchases and long-term loyalty by improving engagement and satisfaction.
Research shows that about 89% of ecommerce customers are likely to repurchase from that same ecommerce platform. Here’s how you can achieve this –
- Bonuses and Discounts: Surprise customers with special offers to make them feel valued.
- Loyalty Programs: Reward repeat purchases with points, exclusive perks, or discounts using tools like Smile.io or LoyaltyLion.
- Personalized Communication: Use email tools like Klaviyo to send tailored messages based on customer preferences and behavior.
- Proactive Support: Offer timely and helpful responses through chatbots or live agents to address concerns quickly.
- Feedback Loops: Collect customer feedback and implement improvements to show you value their input.
Another crucial aspect of positive customer satisfaction is that satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your business to others. This word-of-mouth promotion can significantly contribute to your business’s growth and scalability.
Ecommerce Scaling Secrets You Should Try
Now proven strategies depend on how well the executions are, there are more scaling secrets you can try. Most notables methods include –
Up-Sell and Cross-Sell
A significant part of any ecommerce business comes from sales generated through upselling and cross-selling. Not sure what those mean? Upsells and cross-sells are purchases made from the product suggestion section on a product page. They inspire customers to buy more than they planned.
Free Shipping
Who doesn’t love free shipping? Offering free shipping is a great way to encourage customers to complete their purchases.
By providing free shipping, even with a minimum order value, you can increase order sizes and reduce cart abandonment. It’s a win-win for both customers and your business.
Abandoned Cart
Abandoned carts are one of the biggest missed opportunities in ecommerce. Use automated email reminders to gently notify customers to complete their purchases.
Try reducing cart abandonment by offering special discount popups before customers even leave your site.
Lucrative Copy
The product copy is often the first impression customers get of your business, so make it count! Keep it clear, catchy, and focused on the customer’s needs or problems your product solves.
Highlight benefits rather than just features, and include a strong call-to-action (CTA) that encourages them to act quickly.
Outsource
Scaling often results in having more tasks than you can handle. Outsourcing can save you time and money while maintaining quality.
Hire freelancers or agencies for tasks like content creation, customer support, or digital marketing. This lets you focus on your core business while experts handle the rest.
Scale Your Ecommerce Business to Newer Heights!
Every ecommerce business owner dreams of scaling their business. Scaling is often smarter than just trying to grow because growth without a plan can lead to wasted investments.
Scaling means more than just adding money to your business. It requires careful analysis of where your business stands, tracking insights and activities, and finding ways to sell more effectively.
Start using the strategies and tips shared above to begin scaling your ecommerce business today!
Read our another blog on how to increase ecommerce sales to scale your ecommerce business.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How long does it take to scale an ecommerce store?
The time it takes to scale an e-commerce store depends on factors like your strategies, budget, market, and effort. With effective planning and execution, you might see results in a few months, but significant scaling often takes 6-12 months or more. Patience and consistency are key.
Can you scale a drop shipping business?
Yes, you can scale a drop shipping business by optimizing your product selection, improving marketing strategies, automating processes, and expanding to new markets.
Focus on high-performing products, use data-driven advertising, and build a strong brand to stand out. Consistent effort and strategic scaling can significantly grow your drop shipping business.
How do I scale my small business?
Scaling a small business means making the most of your current resources to maximize sales without major expansions.
This involves optimizing your marketing channels, improving your website’s speed and performance, and diversifying your product offerings.