Expert from 'viral' beauty brand worth $1M: 3 tips to grow your eCommerce business during the COVID pandemic
Announcement posted by Millennium Communications 22 Sep 2021
Sydney’s CheekyGlo made $1m in 11 months with an exfoliating glove after it became popular on social media. Co-founder, Allen Fu is spilling the secrets on the success of his e-commerce business and put together his top three tips for startups and small businesses who are looking to grow their audience during the pandemic.
He can also provide information about how to scale up quickly when your product or service becomes a success seemingly overnight, influencer marketing or how to sell your product on TikTok. If you are interested in speaking with him or have an upcoming story about e-commerce businesses over the last year CheekyGlo would make a great case study about two mates who started a company from their garage.
Please let me know if you would like more information.
Cheers,
Carla
3 tips to boost your eCommerce business during the COVID pandemic
The effects of the COVID pandemic are being felt by everyone. Businesses and individuals across Australia and the rest of the world are facing financial stress due to extended lockdowns and health restrictions.
If you’re an eCommerce business you might not have had the operational side of the business affected significantly. However, your online sales are probably taking a dive due to the general slowdown in spending.
“COVID has been tough for many sectors, including eCommerce,” explains Allen-Fu. Allen is the co-founder of CheekyGlo, an online beauty business which launched during the COVID lockdown in 2020.
“Many people think that eCommerce has had an easy ride through COVID. But the reality is, online spending has also been greatly affected by COVID. People are simply spending less money on everything”.
With this in mind, there are a few things you can do to ensure your online business makes the most of a tough time.
Tip 1: Think BIG, like CRAZY BIG
Founders are often limited by their own imagination. As a CEO or founder you have an important job. You need to cast the vision of the organisation to your staff and customers.
“Think so big that you scare yourself! When you do this, you become creative with solutions and are forced to think outside of the box. It also inspires your team to be more creative and inspired,” says Allen.
“Whatever you want to achieve this year, times it by 10. We elevated our vision from $200,000 of revenue in our first year to $2 million in our first year. Even though we probably won’t achieve it, we will easily be five times better than our original goal.”
By expanding your goal, even if you don’t reach it, you’ll almost always completely outdo your original target.
“Shoot for the stars and if you miss at least you’ll land on the moon. Continue to do what scares the crap out of you. It will force you to get creative with solutions!”
Tip 2: Marketing: Test, test and test again
When it comes to nailing your marketing, experimentation is a start-up’s best friend. Marketing is key for growth. There is no point to having an amazing product if no one knows it exists, or knows how to buy it.
“COVID has created a fast changing social landscape with surges in online traffic. Although this is positive, it does eat into advertising returns. Additionally, new privacy laws continue to hurt returns of paid ads,” explains Allen.
Large social media firms have been bombarded in recent years with privacy law changes which leads to reduced targeting capacities and use of data for the advertiser. We used to rely on the smarts of these social media companies to deliver content to the right people with deadly accuracy like a sniper. But now advertising looks more like throwing a net into an ocean and hoping we land the right species of fish amongst hundreds. We need to create more first hand data through our own campaigns, social media engagement and insights. With less access to consumer data, our paid advertising is less accurate. And data is everything.
Because of this, many businesses, especially new businesses who solely rely on paid advertising on specific platforms like Instagram and Facebook to generate traffic and revenue are struggling to stay profitable. To expand on these Allen recommends testing additional platforms and increasing organic social content.
“There are dozens of popular social media platforms out there you can experiment with. Start testing content on TikTok, Pinterest or Little Red Book.”
“There is no honour in assumption, especially in marketing. That’s why virality seems so random. But since virality is the goal of every business in the digital era, there is no harm in experimenting with different platforms and styles of content.”
Additionally, continually experimenting with your operational systems and processes is a good idea. There are always ways to increase output and be more efficient. Test and trial new methodology in all aspects of your operations from product manufacturing to team communication.
“Be creative and bold with your experiments - there is no one size fits all approach.”
Tip 3: Be super bullish with your content creation
It’s safe to say that we are consuming more online content than ever before. Traffic on social media is increasing, as is people’s screen time.
“Create as much content as you and your team can. Content creation is the future of e-commerce. Not just in the sense of advertising but also to create an identity for your brand,” explains Allen.
Creating a brand identity will help you stand out from your competitors. Your brand identity will help people connect with your product or service on an emotional level. It will give customers a reason to choose your brand, not just once, but time and time again.
“The more content you can release daily, the more of an advantage you give to your business and your brand,” says Allen.
“At CheekyGlo we have created our own inhouse mini studio to take pictures and film videos, and edit them immediately. We provide real-time social media content to our followers about product launches and business updates. Plus, we keep them entertained.”
Content creation will help your brand stay at the forefront of your customer’s mind amongst the whirlpool of social media.
“Even though it’s a challenging time, don’t be disheartened or give up. Continue to think big, be innovative and keep creating.”
- ENDS-
Cheers,
CARLA HORVATH