[Journey] Build a profitable e-commerce brand in 120 days

Day 7:

Working through product research. This is near completion. The next stage will be validating product groups / opportunities. Basically, I have identified a group of niched products that I think have potential and I will look to validate them (ie. seek evidence that there is a market for them).

Next Steps for Day 8:
Consolidate and summarise findings for product research
Validate potential product groups/

Day 8:

Product Research is completed. I have commenced product group validation, so I far I don't think it's effective - however during the process, I was able to observe what the competitive brands do in their process. So I think I will be allowing myself approx. 1.5-2 weeks to a full study of some big competitors within and across industries.

NGL I really want to start immediately by sourcing products and start marketing, but I am going to invest a lot of time and resources into the overall research. e.g. what do good brands do well

Actually in hindsight, while I was writing this, I have been doing product validation wrong. I am looking to see if a set of style or niche within jewellery is in demand, not the actual product.

Next Steps for Day 9: Continue Product Style validation. Target completion is Day 10. Day 11 will be the commencement of Competitor research

Day 10:

Product Style / Group Validation is complete. I didn't really get too much out of it or anything new. Will look to commence competition research today and see all trends between each of the competitors.

Next Steps for Day 11: Continue Competition Research. Target Completion is Day 15. By Day 15 - I should have a list of requirements that I need to achieve to replicate good practices from competition.

Are you going to use ads or social media for traffic?

TechEinstien said:

Are you going to use ads or social media for traffic?

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Ads for direct sales traffic. Social Media for Engagement / Feedback loop

Good luck with your journey

Day 11:

I commenced Competition Research last night of the big players and noted any trends that they were doing, so that I can add that as a list of action.

Secondly, I've also started doing my research around storytelling /branding. The reason I am looking into this is to build an engaging community around my brand / story. So think FB groups / discord channels. The story telling seems a bit difficult because I feel like I am overcomplicating it, so what I am going to do is pick a couple of topics I am passionate about and see if there is a big following of that niche on facebook and reddit.

Will this affect the products I advertise? Yes and No. With Google Shopping, branding and story telling is not needle mover as the search intent is usually generic. So for example, people will usually just google "womens rings" but if you're brand was around the empowerment of women - nobody will be googling "womens ring for empowered women". However, I suspect with Meta ads, brands are far more effective as your advertising can be geared towards the characteristics of people, which means you can target the right audience. Happy for an alternative opinion on this.

So in summary, brand development / storytelling will be something that's not high priority but will be done over a longer span of time, so that I can allow time for ideation etc.

Next Steps for Day 12: Competition Research. on Track to complete by Day 15.

Day 12:

Competition Research is ongoing. Brand / Storytelling has progressed. I have an idea of the audience / community that I want to build. The next questions will be how do I make a connection between the audience and the product. I have just drafted a pyramid to see the systems that I will need to put in place prior to marketing, as at times - i was feeling a bit lost. Feeling a tad nervous because I am at the 10% mark of the journey. Hopefully, within the next 10% - I have a range of products I want to market and a finalisation of the brand / story telling.

Next Steps for Day 12/13:

1. Complete Competition Research
2. Ongoing Brand Development / Story Telling

Nice journey, good luck! What were some of the main lessons you learnt from your first journey that you will be applying now?

Nice to see daybyday updates. Let's hope for the best. Good Luck

Obsidian Knight said:

Nice journey, good luck! What were some of the main lessons you learnt from your first journey that you will be applying now?

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Thanks.

Pretty hard question to answer because there were so many, but if I had to summarise in 2 points

1) Unique product / offer
2) Quality. This encompasses all aspects of customer journey from seeing your ad to the item delivered to their doorstep.

I guess that's why I'm investing some time j to the research stage.

Day 13:

Competition Research is almost complete. Hopefully, this will be complete tonight. Brand and storytelling is progressing. I will need to match it up with a selection of products to see what the brand could look like and how it will connect to my targeted audience. Once I am confident with this, I will start looking at community building and probably write up a draft plan. For a community to be effective, it may take some time so I would like to get started on this as early as possible.

Next Steps for Day 14/15:
Consolidate list of actions from Competition Research
Commence a Branding Plan, which discusses mission, vision, themes, and customer avatar.

Day 14:

Competition Research is complete. I have consolidated a list of requirements that I will need to action. I have commenced a Customer Avatar Plan, instead of a branding plan. Given that my secondary focus is to build a community/ following to funnel into my brand, the customer avatar plan will help tailor my marketing message, story, solutions, community and subsequently the brand.

I have also commenced Product Selection Plan, which will be driven by the research that I did about a week ago. At this stage, I have done it at a pretty high level (ie. just objective, headings and subheadings) to basically guide my actions. I have a tendency to scatter my thoughts and ideas, so setting up a structure in place is really helpful. This will help me very specific in terms of the products im looking for.

As you can see, I am very much into plans. They are extra work but I feel they are a great guiding tool and a reminder to stick with what you initially set out to do. That's why you'll see in a lot of White Collar Industries, there is a lot of plans, systems and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

I am going to set some key milestone targets to help push key activities and for accountability.

Next Steps for Day 15:

• Ongoing Customer Avatar Plan. Target Completion by Day 17
• Product Selection Plan. Target Completion by Day 17

Target Milestones:

1. Commence Daily Community Engagement / Building by Day 40

Day 15:

Haven't done much today but did work through the Customer Avatar Plan. And will put in a short amount of time for product selection.

Next Steps for Day 16:

• Ongoing Customer Avatar Plan. Target Completion by Day 17
• Product Selection Plan. Target Completion by Day 17

Target Milestones:

1. Commence Daily Community Engagement / Building by Day 40

Good luck for the journey.

ecommerce is not short term game. You may need more than 120 days.

lotsofmoney said:

ecommerce is not short term game. You may need more than 120 days.

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That's a fair comment.

If you don't mind me asking, why do you think it'll take more than 120 days

Good luck on your journey

good luck with this journey will be following along

naz10101 said:

Thanks mate. How did you pick the micro influencers? Is there anything I should watch out for?

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Depending on the price of your jewellery free + shipping can work quite well in this niche. But your branding, site and social media needs to look legit.

You can scrape and target micro influencers with say 1000 or more followers, who are followers of bigger jewellery brands etc. Then tag / dm them asking if they would be intetested in being a micro influencer for your brand. Then give them a free+shipping offer and ask them to like, follow, post and comment about the jewellery.