7 Keys to Ecommerce Success —And a Few of the Costly Tripwires to Avoid Along the Way

The world of online selling is full of folks who thought it would be the easier, softer way to run a business. The unspoken fantasy sounds something like “I’ll work in my pajamas at home, click a few buttons, get a PayPal account, build a website in five minutes, and the money will start rolling in.” And it’s true, it’s easy to start selling online. In the past five years alone, the friction of starting an online business has been reduced to almost nothing. For example, it used to take up to a month to open a merchant account and now you can get a merchant account instantly from PayPal or Stripe.

Because e-commerce set-up is easier than ever, there’s more competition than ever. This is why it usually doesn’t take long for new sellers to realize their real challenges—keeping their business and increasing profits. The good news is that succeeding in e-commerce doesn’t have to be so difficult. If online retailers take the time to properly set-up their systems in the beginning, far more businesses owners will be happy and more businesses will survive. In an industry where the ultimate goal is sustainable growth, this is my checklist for success.