Council Post: Nine Steps Every Entrepreneur Can Take To Scale Up Their E-Commerce Business

In the first half of 2021, the e-commerce industry hit $408.51 billion, which is up nearly 22% from the previous year. With so much room for growth and a promising future in a digital-first world, e-commerce continually attracts entrepreneurs and their business ideas. Before launching a new venture, however, it’s important to have the right strategy in place. 

Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their recommended steps for entrepreneurs looking to scale an e-commerce business. Here’s how to ensure your online company thrives in the current marketplace.

1. Make Sure You Have Your Business Model Down

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to scale your business, you first need to make sure you’ve gotten your business model down. Sometimes it’s even helpful to try unscalable things to prove out the business concept. This takes a lot of time and effort. After you’re comfortable proving the business model out, you’ll want to deploy as much automation as possible. – Dustin Lemick, BriteCo

2. Research Tracking And Integration Technology

To scale your e-commerce business, you need to get smart about all of the latest tracking improvements and integrations that have been released over the last 10 months. I’ve spent the last few months upgrading my clients’ Facebook tracking to the Conversions API, adding the Google global site tag, optimizing Google Shopping, TikTok and expanding integrations with platforms like Shopify and Klaviyo. – Kaitlyn Witman, Rainfactory

3. Invest In SEO

SEO is heavily neglected by e-commerce brands, mainly because it takes time and can be difficult to attribute the return on investment accurately. However, with a good SEO strategy, over time e-commerce brands can start to acquire customers for less since SEO brings organic traffic to the website. It also safeguards the business from being over-reliant on paid ads. – John Murphy, eBike Generation

4. Simplify And Systematize

The simpler your options online are, the less confusion or questions customers will have, thus speeding up the buying process. “Systematize” means that we should constantly strive for automation. Consumers like communication and efficiency, so make sure your systems can produce these results. – Marjorie Adams, Fourlane

5. Get A Line Of Credit Before You Need It

Even if your business is financially healthy, you don’t know when you’ll need extra cash. Once you have an established line of credit, you can control when you draw from the line and how much you can borrow. This gives you amazing control over your business finances, which allows you to better implement long-term strategies. – Shu Saito, Fact Retriever

6. Identify A ’10x’ Growth Channel

Determine the growth channel that will 10x your business. Often, a business will get stuck in a certain growth channel that is working, but isn’t the one that will help it really scale up. Ask yourself, if you want to scale, what’s the growth channel that will best help you do that? Learn everything there is to know about that channel and pump it up as much as you are able. – Cody Candee, Bounce

7. Delegate Your Responsibilities

Delegate your responsibilities to someone else. Your time is the most valuable, regardless of salary. Start making notes of what could be done by someone else. Record yourself (with a screen recording, by taking notes or both) and start drafting a job description based on those responsibilities. Once you’ve strategized exactly what needs filling, find the person to take those tasks over. – Emily Stallings, Casely, Inc.

8. Diversify Your Products

Look for that element that fits what you do like a hand in a glove. That might be kits if you sell parts. That might be training sessions if you sell software. Diversify toward something that makes life easier for your customers. It’s almost always worth it, and growing outward is often more stable than growing upward. – Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts

9. Focus On Quality Customer Support

Strive for top-level customer support. Personally get involved in this so you know it’s being done right. Customer service is still lacking at many e-commerce businesses. Get yours right and you should surpass the competition in no time and your e-commerce business will scale itself. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance