Starting a business on Taobao is not difficult, nor is it simple. Many people die on the road, and many people are doing it in a prosperous way, and I am just the one who died halfway!
A few friends opened an online store part-time job and finally closed after a year and a half struggle. I initially proposed to close the store, and I did the final work of removing the shelves. After completing it, I suddenly felt empty and wanted to cry.
To be honest, the store has been operating quite failed. After opening for one and a half years, the seller had 5 hearts of experience when closing the store, and the three dynamic scores were all 4.7 points.
Looking back on every detail, we summarize how we opened this online store, and maybe we can prepare an emergency for the future.
[Fall one: The supply chain is not smooth]
In doing brand distribution, the brand itself has already made a big flagship store, and the market competition is quite fierce. Some brands still have price limit requirements, and small stores have almost no advantages.
Because there are trustworthy people who are acting as regional agents for products, they promise to ship the goods on behalf of others and do not need to stock up. So without inventory pressure, this seems to be an advantage, but in fact it is the fatal disadvantage.
Unable to keep track of product inventory in time. Regional agents have a large daily flow of goods, and best-selling products are often out of stock within a few days, and we may have just launched this product. The supplier will update the arrival of the goods through the information release channel, but will not update the inventory, nor will it notify which goods will be out of stock.
Therefore, the following situations are often encountered, at least 30 orders.
When the buyer asks if a certain model and a certain color are available, we must first ask the supplier. Sometimes the other party responds slowly, and the buyer will lose it.
The buyer paid and we only realized that the goods were out of stock when the supplier asked the supplier to ship the goods. We had to complain to the buyer for a smile and asked the buyer to return the goods. If I were the buyer, I would be very upset.
The supplier basically goes through batches and is helpful to us for shipping. It is often difficult to train buyer loyalty to us if we send us wrong products or postpone shipments.
【Fall 2: The original intention of opening a store is not firm]
The store was opened by one person, and the three of them agreed without hesitation. The original intention was to try the waters and try the water of e-commerce. Yes, we really aim to explore e-commerce, not to make extra money by doing small businesses.
So although I feel sorry for losing the order, I am not worried from the bottom of my heart.
Those who have ambition can accomplish their goals, and this is true. With a lucky mentality, we hope to build the store in a few random attempts, which proves difficult. Now opening an online store is no longer enough to have a source of goods.
【Fall Three: Partners are uneven】
At the beginning, the four of them worked together, and they were all friends. The leader blindly attracts people with his friendship, and his friends think this matter very simply.
The team went well and got together, but it was disharmonious at the beginning.
The leader is the most business-minded, and the source of goods is also provided by his relationship, but he only wants to stay in the back and hand over the store to the partners to operate it. He only appears when he needs to contact.
Partner No. 1, likes to direct others, enjoys being obeyed, and has to argue for winning everything. I think opening an online store is just about investing money - launching new products - shipping as simple as that.
Partner No. 2 is considered half an internet celebrity, lacks initiative, and does a little bit of work. Competent in the job of getting goods and shipping customer service.
Partner No. 2 is considered half an internet celebrity, lacks initiative, and does a little bit of work. Competent in the job of getting goods and shipping customer service.
Partner No. 3, me. I have a little basic web design, a little experience in selling second-hand products, and a little attention to operations. Lack of business thinking, it is difficult to bring into the identity of a seller.
I've been brainstorming several times and it ended in a bad mood.
I planned several events and the leader supported them. Once he relaxed, the effect of the event would be weak.
Two months later, the partner was negotiated to withdraw from the 1st. The relationship between friends was very delicate because of this, but now it is normal.
When I finally asked to close the store, my friend was very busy at the time and basically agreed without saying anything.
【From the fourth: The planning and operation capabilities are weak]
Some people say that everyone can do product operations in the Internet industry, with the least professional threshold.
The more you seem to have no threshold, the higher the requirements for people. Just like single men and women often say that finding a partner has no requirements, they are the most picky.
The four of them are all laymen in planning and operation. They can only tell you what awesome cases they have seen. They are still in the imitation stage, and the imitation is not very advanced.
Until now, I have not carefully discussed the theoretical basis of planning and operation, so I have no idea how to start in summary. I can only list some facts, such as:
There is no research, no copywriting, no plan, and do whatever you think of.
For online activities, only reward-related forwarding and derivatives are performed, and the participants are mainly acquaintances.
Offline activities have little effect because they have deviations in positioning the consumer group, and few people watch. Except for the time when I went to a tourist attraction to set up a street stall, the turnover was quite considerable, but the profit was pitiful.
The promotion channels for event are very narrow, and I didn’t intend to spend money on advertising. At the beginning, I only posted hard advertisements and soft articles on Weibo and WeChat. Except for occasional interactions with acquaintances, it basically had no effect. Later, I posted articles related to product on Tieba and forum, which attracted a little bit of traffic, and the daily visits of the store could be increased from single digits to double digits.
The operational execution ability is weak, and several people have a complex of shirking each other. They think it's enough, but they are not working hard enough.
[Five: Half-knowledge about the e-commerce platform you are in]
In the C store opened on Taobao, you should theoretically play with common services in the backend. However, except for the initiator, others did not understand some basic information, such as Taobao's sorting rules, infringement complaint rules, the most efficient way to access new treasures, the reasons why sub-accounts always fail to divert, which promotional channels such as direct trains are the most effective, etc. Anyone who thinks about it when he has time, just search it, and forget it if he doesn’t have time or forget it.
I have also opened a WeChat store blindly, and there is no traffic at all, so it will be left alone.
I have also considered group buying platforms such as "Wow, group buying", but I have never met the qualifications to start a group. And once the group is successful, our unstable supply will also be a big problem.
【at last】
It is easy to open an online store, especially small sellers of C-stores that do distribution, which can easily become an e-commerce bubble.
The golden age of sellers and amateur players is over. I won’t write about the experience of slogan-style “must be clear”. I just have one sentence: Be cautious when opening an online store, and treat opening an online store as a career. Even if the wine is fragrant, I am afraid of the deep alley.
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Author: Yitang
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