From the size and experience to the user: the new focus of e-commerce truly create a venture capital-backed e-commerce companies is very difficult. The good news is: venture capital community and the business sector have been on the 'how' in this new world to build a new generation of e-commerce company has formed a consensus, some of the lessons learned from the first generation of commercial enterprises had learned, others It draws on the recent success stories. Text / MuckerLab co-founder Will Hsu compete for the first generation of e-commerce hegemony battle lasted a long time before the dust settles, Amazon and a handful of sensible physical retail stores has become a big winner. After 15 years, a combination of online and offline trend of the formation of a strong tide, enough to nurture the new generation of the new e-commerce company. Comparable, the same in the past 15 years, online photo sharing market has gone through almost four times the rise and fall of victory or defeat: Photobucket - \u0026 gt; "shakugan no shana cosplay " Flickr - \u0026 gt; Facebook - \u0026 gt; Instagram.
Change cycle of e-commerce industry so long, mainly the following reasons: 1. It's the gap between enterprises embrace those lines network technology and become more prosperous retailers who failed to do, through a lot years will appear, this time to open for subversion of vertical markets. The new fee-based or social type users access to appeared: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and celebrity endorsements. 2. gigantic Amazon has finally matured and slowed down the development trend (transition to a stressed control inventory to free / fast shipping as the main advantage of the mall). 3. The original scattered in various fields, but to win retail all kinds of skill sets necessary to compete or e-commerce sector has finally merged into the same set of 'entrepreneurial skill sets,' including on the Internet to obtain the user to promote their products and optimize the user interface and supply chain management. Over the years, we learned new facts field of electronic commerce, unfortunately, many of them just tell us: and truly create a venture capital-backed e-commerce companies is very difficult. The good news is: venture capital community and the business sector have been on the 'how' in this new world to build a new generation of e-commerce company has formed a consensus, some of the lessons learned from the first generation of commercial enterprises had learned, others It draws on the recent success stories. Retail profit margin is very meager, and e-commerce company sometimes more terrible, and to solve this problem but can continue to expand the scale of the construction of an electricity supplier companies most important part. The first strategy to solve this problem is to 'reconstruct the supply chain' - this is an angel investor Chris Dixon (Chris Dixon) argument, which is often linked to create a brand new type of formula and as defined in the new practices in the field to set a new price (electricity supplier website Warby Parker glasses and shoes electricity supplier website ShoeDazzle is typical) closely. Specifically essentially as follows: Bypass the supply chain of one or two intermediate links, to its own products, the partners (usually a Chinese manufacturer) is responsible for the production and direct online sales.
As a result, the ability to obtain higher profits at the same time, strict control of cash flow and lower retail prices. Suddenly, profitability and price aspects of subversion is likely enough to make an opportunity, so that businesses can invest in other mutually exclusive strategies, such as to enhance the brand image, targeting areas before giving up and explore new channels. Another strategy to solve this problem is to embrace the low-margin, no longer bear the inventory and price risk, but the scale pattern through the mall. Of course, this is not the panacea to improve the online mall 'traffic' is no easy task. Expand electricity supplier supply chain business is very difficult, it should be as soon as possible to strengthen competitiveness in this area. Supply chain is not only a problem of cash flow or operational aspects, it also relates to the user experience. See in this regard the delivery Amazon invested much resources, how much innovation it, such as Gold member (Prime), convenience stores parcel Pickup (Locker), the date of delivery and free return items; or look at eBay (eBay ) Free shipping and delivery date of the specifically listed expected increase it by encouraging the conversion rate. Logistics for customer satisfaction and loyalty play a significant role. Therefore, there is little new generation of e-commerce company shipped directly from the third party ('drop ship', unless the online store, which as the name suggests was shipped by a third party), but the supply chain management as a core competence, around Shipping \u0026 Logistics vigorously pursue innovation (Warby Parker and clothing rental website Rent The Runway do better). Far been commercialized to inventory management as the most important products and 'search' type of user experience, because between Amazon and Wal-Mart is not much space at all. In terms of products, the new generation of e-commerce sales of products are usually one of several types of the following: 1. The design of very strong and unique product (flash sales site Fab), either by an expert or an influential person to pick Such products (fashion electricity provider website JustFab and ShoeDazzle), or through community crowdsourcing model to solve, of course, you can also take into account the two modes. 2. The own-brand products (because Amazon / Wal-Mart is not the same kind of goods sold). 3. Usually limited number of non-fashion goods (antiques, collectibles or second-hand goods), 1stDibs website is to take this route. The local product inventory available online sales, cross-channel shopping experience, usually 'fair' in the form of the operation (Shoptique). User experience (which is often closely related to the product itself), the focus is to create a set of carefully selected (and often personalized), focusing on the 'discovery' of contingency strong shopping experience, focus is no longer a search , recall and relevance - the kind of emotional experience but meet the shops when shopping. Ultimately, the store will not disappear, it is time to embrace the business enterprise retail of. This is a very easy to understand, do not be too dogmatic adherence to create 'virtual' company's philosophy. You can take the road of development of multi-channel to increase profits come in handy, increase inventory to a test line sales channels, including traditional department store (footwear and eyewear company Toms), mobile shops (Fab), multi-level marketing team (jewelry direct selling company Stella and Dot), embedded gallery (Warby Parker) and the line service networks (high-end custom clothing website J. Hillburn). Customers place where (the line!) And trying to find a way around Google tight control over online shopping traffic. If you are successful in the online shop as a customer dimension left channel, low-margin stores under that line is also acceptable, as user acquisition costs (Amazon's free shipping service is actually provided for this purpose) can be.
If you do not 'unique' users access strategy, and that it all over again. In the past, if you want to build an e-commerce company, first cosplay costumes for sale select a market and building site, then we have to consider what strategy to increase traffic. Search Engine Marketing? Search engine optimization? Ad showing? Ad networks? Super Bowl ad? Now it's different. From the product itself, all aspects of the brand, Web site to the delivery box, must be re-considered from the perspective of promoting new users get. An open secret e-commerce sector is: social business either worked so well, or mess. So, if you have to make the customer satisfied with the brand, products and user experience, then you will get a lot of praise, sharing and forwarding may add a social media advertising paid for, so the effect is more prominent. If you sell Sony stereo system on the Internet, but can count on the Facebook viral marketing to attract customers, then I wish you good luck. In addition, the best batches of the new generation of e-commerce company successfully created such a phenomenon: the creator / seller is also marketing staff (retro clothing retail network ModCloth and socializing breakthrough trading platform Instacanvas). Let creators / sellers feel their work on the site and their own identity really very important, it makes them emotionally naturally tend to attract traffic on their own (often through social channels). Postponement of stars or network highly influential person as creator / promoter, usually intensify the effects of the strategy (shopping site OpenSky and MyGlam). But in the long run, the most sustainable strategy is to develop the habit of sharing the entire user base.
The last key aspect of change is prosperity users to access the mobile Internet, consider shopping experience to mobile devices (especially the iPad) on consumer and leisure, so the only way to move the business to the successful operation is to provide for a mobile form of product categories . This in turn means that do not rely on those that emphasize inventory management of goods, but the main 'discovery' products. Mobile users do not like typing, so few search, they seek in their e-commerce sites like Pinterest as browsing style shopping experience. If you do not have a unique dimension to improve customer loyalty and retention rate (retention strategy) strategy, start all over again now. If proper operation, 200-300 square Registered users with e-mail can bring more than $ 100 million in revenue - monthly number of unique visitors and just five years ago, you need much more in order to get this half of the camp income. Today only the best next-generation e-commerce company to meet or exceed these targets. With exclusive merchandise, continued to launch new products, excellent shopping experience and stay focused on the user dimension activities to please the user, so that they become repeat it. This can improve profitability, so that the electricity supplier has the ability to take on more users to access activities, access to a much faster growth rate than its competitors.
Otherwise, the user gets to work marking time in the beginning will be the rate of return for too low. We'll talk about in this context 'subscription' type of business model it, if this model is used to maintain the relationship with the end user is no friction between the (baby products site Diapers.com), or to strengthen those Featured experience must try or touch the product, it could not be better. But if just mechanically 'subscribe' way to increase user transaction trouble, in order to prevent churn (implemented through continuous periodic charges), that it does not match the other components of the business model, it can not solve the previously mentioned other issues.
The development of a new generation of e-commerce companies the critical point has arrived. These pioneers work together to create a self-reinforcing strategies and tactics, which addresses some of the birth defects in the year 2000 the first batch of e-commerce companies, but also to make up for the shortcomings inherent in the retail industry. More e-commerce venture company is to follow in their footsteps, "mononoke cosplay " entering various fields and consumer categories. The retail sector is a diverse industry, this diversity is also reflected in the online world. Taking into account the penetration of e-commerce retailing only 8%, its penetration breadth (involving more types) and depth (existing e-commerce category of consumption increase) will bring a wave of entrepreneurs and venture investors new opportunities . (Via Forbes Chinese Network)