If you are running an ecommerce business or are thinking about running an ecommerce business I wanted to share a few points that I think are pretty important if you want to grow and scale that business

And spoiler alert it is hard work.

I have been in ecommerce and brand building since 2010 when I launched my first business, The Healthy Mummy which I grew to a $25m turnover with a $4.5m ebitda. I sold half the business to Private Equity in 2017 and then went on to fully sell 100% of the business to a trade buyer in 2022.

I then went onto set up a new ecommerce business, Healthy Active Pet which helps dog owners to ensure their dog lives a long and healthy life.

I have also worked as a Consultant to over 35 ecommerce businesses and helped them to drive revenue and profitability.

So based on my own experience here are my top 7 tips for driving and scaling your business

1) Understand Marketing. If you are the owner or the founder – marketing is the most important part of your business. It is crucial that the marketing is working for your business. You can’t sell a secret so no matter how good your product/service is, if your marketing is not up to scratch then you will be limiting your potential. I spent at least 80% of my time on marketing and without doubt it is the reason I have made my businesses a success. A lot of founders and business owners outsource their paid marketing and they don’t really understand it – and I try very hard to educate business owners on understanding paid marketing so they can be empowered to drive this key area of your business forward. Having good CPA’s and ROI’s (and understanding how to get them) will have an enormously positive impact on your business and when you fully understand it you can unlock a huge amount of potential in this area.

2) Think differently about marketing. Most people think of marketing as paid ads. And yes this is a big part of marketing but it goes much much further than this. I believe that marketing should be in every aspect of your business. When I ran The Healthy Mummy I 100% believe the reason that I managed to drive the revenue and profits so high (without any loans or debt) was because I was and am OBSESSED about marketing. 

As well as paid media marketing is how your customer service operates, the content you put out, your order fulfilment, your product packaging, your top of funnel flows, your post purchase funnel, your lead attraction, your social media, your brand, your website UX, your page load, your SEO, your customer retention, your PR, your affiliates, your partnerships and your staff communication and human resources. Every touch point in your business is marketing and this is why you need to be obsessed by it.

3) Reviews. A lot of brands forget about reviews or are slow to respond. Consumers search for reviews on your product before buying so this is an important area to be across.

4) Traffic. Another area I have always been obsessed on is traffic. But the right sort of traffic so the people coming to your site have intent. There is no point sending a heap of traffic from GQ to a wedding dress ecommerce store – you need to have a strategy and focus on traffic with intent so your on site funnel can work hard and work well.

5) UX. Customer experience on your site is critical. Whatever brand I am working with I always put myself in the customers shoes. Who is the customer, what are the problems they are experiencing and how would they think about the site, content, flow and shopping process. The UX of your site is important.

6) Customer focus. Without the customer, you don’t have a business so start really thinking about them and how you can add value to their life. Listen to them and always put yourself in their shoes.

7) Staff. Good staff are one of the most valuable parts to any business and how you treat them is critical to them staying in the business. I always look for incredible energy and work ethic in staff as I believe this is what can make such a big difference in growing your business – you can teach skills but incredible energy and work ethic are something much harder to come by.

Whether you are working with people working part time, full time, freelance or consultants if they are good treat them well and HOLD ONTO them as can make an enormous difference to your bottom line

It is hard work running a business – but it can also be exceptionally rewarding if you do it well and build a brand that serves a purpose and at the same time creates jobs.

And if you want to chat to me about helping your business thrive contact me on Rhian@rhianallen.com