Anyone successful here in E-commerce

[RVR]

I'm just curious here, has anyone on here made built a successful business in the e-commerce platform?

If so, what were your struggles of getting started, fees/captital you needed etc.

 

[Daniel LocalBizOnline]

Are you asking from a website designer point of view, or from a customer wanting a e-commerce point of view?

 

[airborne]

Success selling what?

 

[RVR]

I'm talking about anyone who owns an e-commerce and Making some good money from it.

 

[hellfire]

I'm talking about anyone who owns an e-commerce and Making some good money from it.

How much is good money?
Do sellers on BoB count?

 

[c10n3d_0r6]

Firstly, you can't own an ecommerce. Ecommerce means electronic commerce and it covers a lot. It could be selling items online (TakeAlot, YuppieChef etc), providing services online (Freelancer.com, Upwork.com) or even doing work by meeting with people but advertising your services online. Earning revenue off a website through advertising could also be regarded as ecommerce.

I make some extra money by selling subscriptions to courses and mock exams for student pilots, but not enough that I can quit my day job.

 

[Darko]

Firstly, you can't own an ecommerce.

You most certainly can own a site that sells things online. Therefore making it an ecommerce site. You can also own the things you sell on it. Like t-shirts etc.

Earning revenue off advertising is not ecommerce. No trading takes place.

 

[SilverNodashi]

From a customer POV: You need to define your goals clearly. There are many e-commerce platform to choose from, even for South Africa. The moment you need to track VAT, handle shipping for large items or sell Customizable (why is this not a dictionary word yet?) goods - be prepared to pay extra for workable solutions, or for a developer to code something that will work with the platform you choose.

From a developer / designer's POV: Again, there are many systems available, but more run on PHP and Smarty so it's not difficult to design a "theme" for your shop. Designing something spectacular, on the other hand, might be a bit more difficult.

The following options come to mind:
Wordpress + Woocomerce
Drupal + Ubercart
Prestashop
Magento
Joomla! + Virtuamart
OpenCart
ZenCart

Also look at:

Accounting:
Quickbooks online
XERO accounting
Zapier integration

for deliveries:
MDS Collivery
Fastway couriers
DHL

etc.

IF you want todo this on your own, be prepared for a steep learning curve.

Have we done is successfully? Sure. But the term "successful" can be vague, to say the least - the question is, successful in what exactly?

 

[Max Headroom]

An online shop has to be run like a normal business, but your web site is the shop front. All the normally day to day running of a business still has to take place (VAT, paying staff, etc.). Coupled to that is deliveries and a payment gateway. And keeping stock is very important. If you don't have it, and is still a product on your site, could be one of the quickest way to chase people away.
Just like any business, you have to advertise and keep the site interesting with specials and news (letters) to keep people coming back.

I've seen too many little shops starting up and then people sit back and wait for the people to come. And to come back again and again.
Many sites I've seen (and worked on) that lasts for years are those that have a big company behind them or is an actual shop with an online shop.
But I have seen small ones being successful, only because the person behind it is dedicated and has the time to manage it.

 

[Thor]

I'm just curious here, has anyone on here made built a successful business in the e-commerce platform?

If so, what were your struggles of getting started, fees/captital you needed etc.

We do.

Why? niche product.

Struggles? Millions to keep upfront stock.

Who do we use? Shopify

why? Easy and all in one.