I’ve Found the Best Ecommerce Advice on Reddit: Here Are My Highlights

• 💡 Key takeaway: If you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to run a successful store, turn it down a notch. Break down your store’s management into easy steps and take it one step at a time. You can always make changes along the way!

Numerous components go into running an ecommerce store, so it’s understandable if you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of tasks you have on your plate each week – especially if you have a small team. A Reddit user expressed this feeling in a frank post on the ecommerce Subreddit:

“I have my products, my branding, and my own packaging—everything is ready to be sold.

But now, I’m at the point where my head is exploding. Getting my Shopify store ready feels overwhelming, and I’m afraid of messing everything up. Every time I try to learn about building the website or creating creatives for ads, I end up feeling even more frustrated.

The worst part? Everyone is giving completely different advice. One person says do this, another says never do that, and another one says you must do it this way. And here I am—3 months in, and I still haven’t launched my store.”

After sharing this post, Reddit came to the rescue with some superb advice. The general consensus was for the user to get their store live first, start selling products, and worry about the specifics later. Your store doesn’t have to run perfectly the first time, since any refinements can be made later.

These refinements might include:

• Testing out different social media posts
• Allocating a small portion of the budget to paid ads to see how they perform
• Optimizing the checkout experience
• Refining your product listings

The main lesson here is to get the ball rolling. The sooner you start selling, the more you’ll learn, giving you the opportunity to improve your ecommerce strategy over time.

💰Want to use Shopify yourself? Check out our guide to how Shopify works

*Original Reddit post

• 💡 Key Takeaway: In an oversaturated market, do your research before choosing an item to sell and avoid shrinking your product margins. Additionally, see how you can optimize your branding to help you stand out online.

With operating expenses, costly suppliers, and the state of the global market, maximizing your profit margins can feel like an impossible task. Ideally, you’ll want to be taking home more than enough money to keep your business afloat.

One Reddit user expressed their concerns about low product margins in the ecommerce Subreddit, fearing that it may be a global trend:

“Saw a post on LinkedIn talking about how ecommerce margins are getting crushed. Noted a founder doing $25M a year, with a take home of $100K for himself.

Looks like commodification to me. You choose a product that’s easy to get and ship, but everyone can get it themselves, so it’s a race to the bottom.

What do you think the issue is? Do you see margins dropping and ecommerce getting more competitive?”

This post sparked a lot of discussion, with many users sharing their two cents on the issue.

Some Redditors blamed low profit margins on:

• Businesses being too focused on growth – Huge growth doesn’t always equate to better profits. You may need to pay more to accommodate the infrastructure increase.
• Dropshipping is oversaturated – Dropshipping’s popularity has created increased competition, since more companies are selling the same things.
• Good branding is needed to stand out – With so many businesses selling the same product, businesses need to put more emphasis on storytelling to best communicate what they’re offering consumers.

While this topic might sound concerning, you can still thrive online if you find a strong product that has plenty of demand.

Also, when you conduct market research, see where the other competitors are lacking. Your product, branding, and customer service must satisfy customer needs and expectations, so try to go above and beyond your competitors if possible.

💰 Wondering what to sell next? Read our guide to the best high-margin products for your store

*Original Reddit post

• 💡 Key takeaway: If you need to market your store, only choose select marketing channels that your audience are actually using. That way, you can invest your time and money wisely, be it through paid ads or different social media platforms.

Even if you’ve mastered your stores operations, or have found an effective way to manage your inventory, ecommerce marketing might be an area that you’re less comfortable with.

This was the case for one user on the Small Business Subreddit. In this scenario, they had moved from Etsy to Shopify and needed some guidance on which channels were best for advertising their store.

Their post said:

“ I have an online retail store (candles, wax melts, skincare, etc.) I primarily started on Etsy, then moved to Shopify. I’d say 95%+ of my customer base is from TikTok, as that’s where I consistently post (and now sell as well.)

What is the best way to advertise an online store? There are so many options (social media, billboards, flyers?)”

While many of the answers recommended using a mixture of social media, paid ads, and user-generated content, one marketing expert wanted the Redditor to know that there’s no “perfect formula” for an ecommerce store.

In fact, they stated that the formula will depend on what specialist products you’re selling and the target audience that’s associated with it. Once you know who your products appeal to, you can start identifying the marketing and advertising platforms that they’re actively engaging with.

That way, you’ll be using methods that’ll showcase your store to the right people and help you increase traffic to your store.

*Original Reddit post