How to Smash Your Ecommerce Goals

Originally presented for XENA on 1 September 2023

Ecommerce has boomed for businesses of all sizes in recent years. Advancements in South Africa’s fashion and grocery retail sectors have reduced the barrier to entry significantly and more SMEs are now online or are considering it.

Despite this, taking your business online can be a daunting task. There is much to think about, from platform choice through to courier selection, and it all comes at a price. Whether you already have a website or are just beginning your online journey, setting goals for your business’s ecommerce success is key.

Focus On Your ‘Why’

Many SMEs exist for a reason, whether that is to solve a problem or fill an untapped need in communities and industries. However, all too often this purpose is forgotten when going online. It’s easy to be caught up in the whirlwind of decisions to make, digital trends, and even competitor activities we wish to emulate.

By focusing on the ‘why’ – for your business and your customers – you can zoom in on what is truly important. For example, consider:

• If you’re currently doing business offline, what do you do well?
• What ‘job’ do your customers hire your business to do? How can you enable that online?
• Is there something your customers love you for? 
• What did you want to change/improve/create in the first place?
• What experience online and offline do you want to give customers?
• Where do you currently connect with your customers (or better yet, where/how are they connecting)?

Remember, no matter where you are selling, no customer will ever ask for a task to be harder, more expensive, or slower to accomplish. Keep it simple, and keep it true to your mission as a business, even if that means forgoing the latest and greatest.

Getting Started

Ecommerce is a long-term investment and comes with a whole host of considerations and costs. To bring clarity to your choices, start off with a short list of non-negotiables – what are the features or functionalities you need for your online business that will make or break your success?

The 3Ps of Platform, Payments, and Promotion can help you question your options more thoroughly. All too often small businesses opt for the most affordable choice, or the top-of-mind brand. While this isn’t in itself a bad thing, it can lead to a lack of scalability down the line, or worse, paying for it in hidden fees and opportunity costs. The table below outlines some examples of items to think about and look for when making selections.

There is a lot of information out there, and each platform, site builder and online offering can be quite unique in what it does and does not offer you. Here are the top 3 things to look out for when assessing your options:

1. ‘Cheap’ or free platform fees

It’s a common misconception that ecommerce platforms are completely free. While some like WordPress can be (or Netcash Shop’s Free plan), you will almost certainly pay for apps, plugins, domains, and even security to add to your website. Other platforms like Netcash Shop and Shopify charge a monthly fee, but are all inclusive on security, responsive design, and include free sub-domains. You will still pay for apps and payment gateways you choose to add, but it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons like these when making a platform choice. The old adage, ‘You get what you pay for’, is never truer than for ecommerce!

2. Cart fees

Most platforms have a built-in payment gateway (like Netcash Shop) or you need to source and connect your own payment providers. All payment gateways will charge a set transaction fee per payment method such as credit/debit card, Instant EFT, Scan to Pay, and so on. However, some platforms add an extra ‘cart fee’ to each order you process on your website. This doubles the cost per transaction to you, and reduces your profit margin. Take careful note of what is charged, and question this upfront to make sure you are comparing apples and apples when making a payment provider choice.

3. Websites without selling capability

There are a range of website builders to choose from that are simple and excellent. While some do include ecommerce functionality i.e. the ability to add/activate an online store on the website, many do not. Ensure that your choice of website supports your business goals, even if you aren’t currently selling online. While it may be more affordable to start with a simple site, it will be costly in development fees, customer orders, and time later on if you need to migrate your website to a new platform. Rather opt for a platform that can grow with your business, even if the fee is a little bit more now, as you are guaranteed to save in the long run.

The key is to understand your business’s essential requirements now, and make decisions that facilitate that, while making provision for future growth and ambitions.

The GOALden Rules of Goal Setting

Knowing your mission and requirements means that you’re better able to set relevant goals for your ecommerce business. Once again, the best approach is to dial into what is truly important, and what will ultimately mean success or failure. 

1. Get curious

It’s easy to have a hard-and-fast view of your market, but taking some time to do research and question your own knowledge is important. This will help you to tackle your goals from all angles, and be more open to new ideas that could benefit your business online.
Some actions you could take include:

• Reviewing competitors locally and globally.
• Benchmarking your metrics in a South African market context (hint: our local benchmarks are often lower than that of developed ecommerce markets like the United States).
• Taking economic and consumer trends into account.
• Questioning any preconceived ideas you have on platform, promotion, or payment provider choices – make sure facts align with your views before making decisions.
  

2. Find focus

As an SME, you have limited resources. Homing in on the most important goals is essential to using those resources to their best potential. By now you know what success will look like for your business, so distill that into a few (5 maximum) goals that you can focus on completely.

3. Be SMART

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound (SMART) goals are the bread and butter of any business. In addition to a few, focused goals, adding metrics, deadlines, and actions will ensure that you stay on track throughout a given period. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is another common method of goal setting in business. By taking the initiatives approach of OKRs and combining this with SMART goals, you can create a plan of action that will keep you accountable.

For example, your SMART goal may be:

1. Increase online sign-ups (leads) by 30% in the next 3 months.

Your initiatives to facilitate this goal could be:

• Analyse and improve the sign-up flow (conversion path) pages for desktop and mobile device users, using heatmap and Google Analytics data to identify and test improvement areas.
• Identify top converting paid media campaigns and increase spend and/or run tests on these campaigns to further optimise them.
• Identify the top organic social media posts on Facebook and Instagram and turn these into lead generation advertisements.

You can see how by adding equally specific action steps to the goal, it suddenly becomes a lot more achievable.

Running an online business can be very rewarding. Online has a range of opportunities and benefits that traditional brick-and-mortar retail doesn’t offer – increased customer reach, lower capital expenditure, agile and affordable product/brand testing, and the space to get creative. Keeping your business’s purpose in mind is the best way to ensure success, and is the key to setting and smashing your ecommerce goals in both the short and longer term.