As part of an e-commerce project, the realization of a business plan is essential. Indeed, there are many problems to launch an e-commerce site or application: market study, analysis of competitors, design of the offer, communication strategy, sales assumptions, investments and expense. The goal n t is not to generate a document full of figures, but to follow the business plan approach to plan your actions and get a first vision of your project .
The particularities of an e-commerce project
Compared to traditional commerce, an e-commerce business has several particularities . First of all, the business does not need commercial premises. The company's showcase, as well as its product shelves (its catalog), are digitized. In return, this implies having a digital strategy to attract customers to the website or application. Then, as soon as the geographical coverage is important, logistics are systematically outsourced at the level of customer delivery. For product storage, this is also the case for the majority of new e-commerce businesses.
By using an e-commerce CMS or when the strategy is to sell on existing marketplaces (Amazon, Facebook, etc.), the project can see the light of day very quickly. The business model is intended to evolve over time, depending on the tests carried out, the experience accumulated and the trends observed. The collection and use of data is a major issue.
The study of the target market
The study of your market is essential, it makes it possible to obtain a global view of the sector, to identify the actors and the expectations of the customers, then to detect opportunities. Numerous statistical and quantitative studies are carried out by the federation of e-commerce and distance selling ( FEVAD ). You will find in these reports a lot of important information to move forward in building your business plan. Then, surveys and polls will allow you to obtain additional quality information.
The platform's customers
It is essential to characterize your customers with as much detail as possible. The more you identify your target, the more you will know how to use relevant information to build your offer. The success of an e-commerce project relies in particular on your ability to provide a clear response to an identified need.
Communication strategy
You need to define what your communication strategy is . Even if you have the best ecommerce platform in the world, it won't be of any use without traffic. To be successful, you need visibility.
From the start, you must work on an action plan to achieve the goal of sessions (daily, weekly, monthly…) on the platform. How do you plan to generate X sessions on your platform? Often, the action plan requires a fairly large budget, especially at start-up.
It is necessary to explain what will be the sources of the sessions on the platform: affiliation, purchase of keywords on search engines, display, partnerships, social networks… It is risky to base oneself on SEO traffic objectives. No one can predict the natural traffic that a site will generate in the future, especially when the site in question is not live when it is time to work on the assumptions.
Average cart, sessions and conversion
In 2020, the average basket of an online customer amounts to approximately 60 euros. Then, the uses depend on the sector in which you are going to position yourself. The session objectives were worked on during the establishment of the communication plan. This data is complex to evaluate, it is based solely on assumptions. The communication plan must be in line with the objectives of the sessions.
Finally, the conversion rate is also a random element. Here, you have to learn about the rates of the competitors. Only real tests on your platform will allow you to refine your conversion forecasts.
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