The Easy eCommerce team spoke to innovative eCommerce founder Jake Shofer about his new upcoming eCommerce venture. In addition to our other case studies, we decided to gather insights from a development angle, providing a more relatable perspective for budding entrepreneurs.
With a wealth of knowledge across industries and company stages from his time in venture capital, Jake and his business partner have most recently decided to build an eCommerce store. Their company, The Lazy Wombat Supply Co., or Lazy Wombat for short, provides sand-free, compact and fast-drying beach towels with a unique design approach. As a self-proclaimed disruptor, Jake is looking to simultaneously disrupt the traditional towel industry and existing sand-free towel competitors. His towels resolve all the drawbacks of traditional beach towels, while featuring bold and uniquely Australian designs, including our personal favourite of smashed avocado on toast and coffee! You can check them out here (although Jake stresses that the store is still being developed!): https://lazywombat.com.au/
We discussed Jake’s top tips, and his biggest mistakes, in the development stage of his business.
What are your top 3 tips for building an effective eCommerce company?
Create a reliable product - A hugely important factor for any eCommerce store is creating trust with your customers, and that starts with a high-quality, reliable product. You’re already behind physical stores on the trust front, and while it can be tempting to cut costs with a cheaper product from a cheaper manufacturer, this will only harm you in the long run. You lose out on reviews, return customers, and brand equity if you take this approach, which will cost you far more than the little bit extra it costs to ensure your product meets the highest standards.
Launch ASAP - I can’t emphasise this enough: just get out there and start testing. Too many entrepreneurs spend months or even years perfecting their product or their store, just to launch and realise there isn’t a market for it. No matter how much research you do, sometimes what you think is the case just isn’t. The best way to find out if something is worth pursuing is to just get it out there for market validation. Keep your initial costs low, keep your business lean, and put yourself in the position to quickly pivot if need be. There’s a common saying that if you’re not embarrassed by the first public iteration of your product, then you’ve taken too long to go to market.
Utilise influencers first - Influencer marketing is becoming easier and more effective every day. Many see it as an alternative strategy to traditional digital streams such as Facebook or Instagram, but I think it’s actually your best option to start with. The problem with social media marketing is that you need an audience to market to, and while you might think you know your target audience, trust me, you don’t. The great thing about influencers is they already have an engaged audience. They’re relatively cheap to get going with, and once you reach an initial level of sales or engagement from their audience, you’ve all of a sudden got a lookalike audience to use in your social media marketing. Influencers are also great for building trust and identity for your brand, and if done correctly, can result in previously unachievable returns on marketing spend.
What is your biggest regret in your business journey so far?
Not doing this sooner - Honestly, I wish I could turn back time because plunging into the world of eCommerce was the best decision I ever made. The eCommerce industry is growing so rapidly, and the past few years have been amazing for those involved. There still is a lot of opportunity out there, but I wish say 5 years ago I had gotten involved, because there was a lot more back then!
Anything else to say?
Start early - Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone reading this, but if you can, start your entrepreneurial journey as young as you can. When you’re in university, while it might seem like you don’t have any free time, trust me, you do, and you’ll never have more again in your life. It’s all just a matter of effective time management. The great thing about being in university is that you have a lot less responsibilities, and can therefore take on more risk. Don’t wait until you’re married with kids and your mortgage depends on your regular income. Take the plunge early, and worst case scenario you can just move back in with your parents!
Don’t be afraid of failure - Early on, failure is your best friend. It will happen a lot, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Whether it’s within your actual business, or in general life, failure is the best learning opportunity you’ll get. When things go wrong, don’t bury your head in the sand. Work out what you could have done differently and take that lesson forward. Of course, make sure you’re not dwelling on the past, that won’t change anything. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of regret, but make sure it’s healthy regret. In the business world, not a single big company out there is the same as what it originally was - everyone iterates their product, or market, or structure at some point. The best entrepreneurs can take failure in their stride and use it to become better.
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