The importance of market research should not be undervalued or overlooked, especially if you are planning to start an online e-commerce business. To create a strong and firm ground for your business, market research proves to be very beneficial. From exploring potential competitors to preparing the business for any threat, you always have an upper hand and a competitive edge.
Starting an online e-commerce business may seem a little overwhelming, hence performing market research can make your business a success as you will have all the information you need to grow your business. If you do not spend time conducting marketing research, you might not have enough information on how to start an ecommerce business. Studies reveal that 90% of e-commerce startups fail in the initial 120 days. Thus, market research is important to validate your business model and avoid the probability of failure.
Importance of Market Research in E-Commerce
If you have doubts as to why market research is so significant, read below to know why it must be at the top of your checklist for starting an ecommerce business.
- To Know Your Customers
Before starting any business, you need to ensure there are customers for you to sell your products. Market research will enable you to know your audience and their needs. For instance, if there’s a low demand for the products or services you are selling, you should analyse your business plan once again and then move things forward in the best possible direction. Also, if you found promising demand in the audience for your products and services, you can make better decisions on how to increase sales.
- To Understand How to Sell
Understanding how to sell your products to the audience should be the priority in any new business. This is especially important because customers keep changing and evolving with time. With a better knowledge of your audience, you can not only know whom to sell, but how to sell as well.
For example, if you know that your target audience is home-makers, then you must focus on the market on platforms where they are usually on the net, for example cooking videos, etc. By doing extensive market research, you can get a clear idea about the best platforms to sell to your customers. Learning how your customers’ shop can be very helpful for the success of your business.
- To Identify Your Competition
It’s necessary to know your competition when starting an online e-commerce business. If you are aware of your direct as well as indirect competitors and their business foundation, you can work upon issues that may threaten your business. Moreover, you will remain ahead in the competition race by being proactive in promoting your product with the shared audience.
Online market research will always give you the upper hand. By knowing your competition, you can plan business decisions strategically to keep your products in the limelight. Customer’s loyalty keeps changing and hence without knowing your competition, you can find yourself feeling like a tiny fish in a pond.
- To Lower Business Risks
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about half of the businesses do not survive for more than five years. If you want to ensure that your business runs successfully for a longer duration of time, you need to streamline your sales and customers. For this, market research is needed!
To minimize business-related risks, meeting the needs of the audience is important and regular market research will be your way to keep track of the same. If you have plans on changing on updating your products, you should experiment with it on the smaller section of the audience before going all-in with it.
ECommerce Market Research Tools
There are two ways to conduct online market research, you do it yourself or you hire someone else to do the job. While using paid market research tools for analysis is great, focusing on tools that can provide relevant information is the key. If you are wondering how to get started with the market research process, here are some of the tools you can use (and should use!).
- Google Trends
Google Trends is a really fun tool that showcases an array of information related to any search query you insert. For example, if you are keen on starting a clothing business and want to know if the audience has an interest in vintage dresses, all you need to do is enter the term in search to check the trends.
This Google-powered tool is free and easy-to-access, hence e-commerce startups having budget constraints can make use of it. Google trends can help you identify what people are searching online and you can then analyse the data accordingly to gain insights.
- Google Keyword Planner
Another free and super-easy way to check your product or services demand is to conduct keyword research. Google keyword planner helps you keep track of how many people are searching for a product. Additionally, this tool can provide relevant keywords that you can use in your product names or on the website. Performing keyword research gives you a clear picture of what consumers all around the world are searching for!
- E commerce Research Paper
Many entrepreneurs overlook the importance of E Commerce market research reports. Searching for market data based on the specific industry before starting a potential business can be very helpful. By just performing some quick searches, you will have a better insight into the market opportunities. For e-commerce publications, Harvard Business Review, First Round Review, Inc, WWD, etc can be checked out.
- Use Social Media
Social media includes your most passionate audience and hence utilizing it for marketing research can be a great idea. By having a peek into various social media platforms, you can recognize how customers are reacting to a particular kind of product or industry.
Learning the needs and demands of the target audience is the foundation of any business and social media serves the purpose. For example, you can utilise the Instagram search tool in the same way as Google Trends. You can also keep an eye on hashtags and check what’s trending at a particular time.
- Know Who Can Help
If you are wondering how to start a successful ecommerce business, you need to understand both marketing and sales inside out. The marketing tactics can be very confusing and may seem unclear especially if you have just started your business. In such a scenario, you should opt for professional support from the business expansion consultants like YRC for marketing research.
Why YRC for E-Commerce Market Research?
Getting started with an online e-commerce business is not a smooth process since there’s so much competition. If you want to fulfil your dream of starting an online e-commerce business and want to make sure that your business thrives, then (YRC) “Your Retail Coach” is the consultant you need!
Your Retail Coach is one of the reputed market research companies and can help you make better and informed business decisions. YRC employs extensive market research tools and uses all the necessary resources to conduct e-commerce market research effectively. Our market research analyst then creates a research paper containing exclusive recommendations for your business.
The research report prepared by YRC will list out short-term growth led strategy and a launch plan as well. All the suggestions in the research paper would be supported by a document that includes relevant steps and guidelines that can be followed. The market research exercise performed by YRC on your behalf will enable your business to grow with a better perspective. Implementing the recommendations mentioned in the report will offer you an unmatchable place in the market.
Your Retail Coach (YRC) has experience working with an array of e-commerce startups closely and have conducted market research for a multitude of clients. We have the special expertise and knowledge required to perform market research for e-commerce business. Our team has hands-on experience in developing market research papers and other documents to offer recommendations to our clients.
