Brief takeaways of an excellent article from Entrepreneur.com

A couple of weeks ago, Pano (my E-commerce prof), shared with us an article called “5 Ecommerce Mistakes to Avoid: A Newbie’s Guide”. I wish I had read that before a started to sell online some merchandise from my dad’s ex business –with not so much success-. Here are the main takeaways:

-          “Everyone that starts a business has big dreams, ambitions and excitement”.

-          In the same page of Croll’s “Don’t sell what you can make, make what you can sell”, Lin –an author quoted in the article-, says “do your homework beforehand and make sure you’re selling something people will buy”. You can start by looking for products similar to yours that are sold online.

-          Don’t forget to make use of social media. It’ll help you to communicate with your customers and understand what they want.

-          Don’t try to appeal everyone by offering too many different types of products. It’s better to find a niche market, preferable a category not seen anywhere else.

-          Avoid unsold inventory by getting a sense of the demand of your products. Search for them in different marketplaces to see home many are being sold.

-         As any entrepreneur you’ll have a big “To do list”. Since it’s impossible to so everything at the same time, prioritize the tasks that will help you keep customers and have a healthy business