Online store in Singapore
So I started my online business with Shopify around February 2014. I was introduced to it by a friend and I found it extremely easy to use. I had no coding background whatsoever and it was addictive. I previously had a WordPress website. But it was so ugly that I had to find ways to add the PayPal button to collect payments online. So when I found out that Shopify has checkout and online checkout capabilities, I was hooked. I never looked back.
Shopify allowed me to integrate essentials like Google Analytics and download apps to easily augment features. So if you are thinking of starting an online store, use Shopify. I keep it.
2013
Moving on, my first year at Shopify and to be honest it was bad. I was paying $40-50 a month without a sale. For the whole year! Look:
At that time, he was still young and fortunately did not have much commitment. So I looked at it as a hobby and enjoyed having a fully functioning website, even though I had no sales. I received emails from time to time, but nothing concrete.
2014
Then came 2014 and strangely more and more companies have an online store due to government grants like PIC. That really helped boost confidence in online shopping. Also, my products were pretty niche, so I didn’t have a lot of competition. I started getting more emails and more calls. My phone was ringing off the hook! I wondered why. I searched for keywords online and was surprised to see that the site was in the top 3 organic for most of the keywords that describe the site. In 2013, it was on page 100. I read somewhere before that if you want to hide a dead body, bury it on page 2 because no one will find it. And now I’m on the first page and in the top 3! Look at my sales in 2014:
I never imagined that my sales would skyrocket like this. I was excited.
2015
I went full time on the site. I went to courses to help increase site traffic. Basically tons of books and YouTube videos to learn how to be a better online marketer. I started trading abroad and started selling more and more. 2015 was a breakthrough for me because I felt like I really broke into the online scene.
I almost tripled my sales! There is no turning back now.
2016
I felt like an online guru! I thought of starting an educational center to share my knowledge. I wanted to make more money by helping people create an online store like mine. So I started and strangely my strategy didn’t work well with most of my “students”. I couldn’t explain why. So I stopped. I felt like a scammer. To this day, I still don’t know why. I think it was the first year of non-stop website tweaking despite no sales that helped the site get to the first organic page. So no matter what other people say, ad traffic will never compare to organic traffic. You can never get a shortcut even if you pay for traffic. There are more elements to making a sale online and even more to having consistent online sales. Regardless, 2016 was another big year for me as more and more people shop online.
It was time for him to take the next step. fighting the greats
2017
I always knew that I had to innovate. The market was increasingly congested. My competition was no longer local SMEs. Amazon, Taobao, Qoo10, Lazada and many more were the preferred place for online shoppers. They were offering a lot more products, a lot better prices, and they had all kinds of loyalty programs. I needed to be better, otherwise I have to start looking for another job. I started creating a video for every product or service I was selling. Of course, I had to keep my customers loyal, so I introduced my own loyalty program. Although he knew that he could not compete with the big internationals, there was a gap in the market of high-end consumers who prefer renowned brands. I had to conquer this market. So the products I brought back were from well-known brands. I also focused on services. All kinds of ways to differentiate the site from the main ones. It wasn’t too bad for me in 2017.
Despite the strong competition I managed to maintain my sales. Although the days of crazy year-over-year increases are over, I firmly believe that the online shopper market will continue to grow. Let’s hope there is a better performance in 2018.
