When starting an eCommerce business, it is important to set a clear objective. Like in any endeavor, having a goal helps direct effort and work, while remembering that the journey itself is what truly matters.

The main objective of any online store is “to sell more.” In almost all cases, an eCommerce platform is created to increase revenue. However, there are other important—though perhaps secondary—considerations. An eCommerce platform is a tool that, beyond boosting sales, can reduce costs in commercial tasks, increase efficiency in business relationships, improve the company’s positioning, or maintain customer satisfaction, among other benefits. What are your objectives?

Once you know your objectives, they are meaningless if they cannot be measured. It is crucial to define them as precisely as possible and establish a way to track them: we can measure the percentage of revenue growth, service call time in costs, the percentage of orders placed through the portal in efficiency, the increase in website visits in positioning, or the cost of maintaining clients if the goal is retention.

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The next step is developing a strategy. Starting an eCommerce business requires a work plan that sets a direction toward achieving your objectives. For this, you need to establish:

• A purpose: with objectives and indicators.
• Activities to perform: with specific actions and timelines.
• Communication: its strategy and channels.
• Resources: with budgets and responsible parties.

When creating this plan, it is important to recognize that starting an eCommerce business represents a significant change for the organization—composed of people and processes that, in some way, must transform. This digital transformation also involves acquiring, using, and developing technology that may be more or less novel.

Regarding people, the transformation will affect both internal users (at various levels) and external users (potentially customers). This is where one of the greatest challenges arises when integrating an online store into a sales strategy.

As with any process, challenges may evolve, and one must be able to adapt. In eCommerce, the main challenges typically involve people, processes, and/or technology.

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Regarding strategy, it is important to always follow a series of steps, which form a continuous loop:

1. Understanding customer needs.
2. Acting according to the stage of the purchase process.
3. Providing value (in products, services, and the shopping experience).
4. Learning from the customer.
5. Returning to the first step and repeating the process.