Ecommerce MAXed

When I worked for a popular hosted ecommerce company with 100's of customers, I was amazed to learn that 95% of them never did more than $5,000 in a month.

That's not very good.

For most of those sites it wasn't that they were new. In many cases, they had been selling online for years without ever really hitting their stride.

The other 5% of sites would grow month after month, quarter after quarter, year after year. 

So, why did the first group stagnate? And why did the second group get on a growth path?

One thing I have seen over and over is that getting to about $20,000/month or so is critical. Companies that achieve that keep on growing and going beyond that.

Sites that don't hit somewhere near that number seem to continue to struggle.

So why is getting to $20k/month magical?

If you do that it means:

1. You've found a way to get BUYERS to your site. There are many ways to do this - I probably know about 10 that have worked for someone. You just have to find one that works for you.
   
2. You have products that enough people ACTUALLY want to buy.
3. Your PRICING and merchandising is at least decent.
4. Your web site actually works. Believe it or not, this kills most sites.
   

From this point, do a good job with customer service and you will see more and more repeat business.

Your business can actually start paying for itself and for someone to work it. 

Keep working the winning formula and you'll find getting to $100k/month will be easier than getting to $20k/month.

It just takes some time.

Now, there is another set of challenges lay somewhere beyond $100k/month - and I'll discuss them in my next post - but if you are past $20k/month, feel good that you are in the select group of ecommerce companies that are succeeding.