5074650

E-Commerce, The Future

Business, it runs the world, the economy, and our lives. We need to fill the need for

commodities that we use in our household, by doing so we buy products. Amazon is one way we

buy our products online, although there is no retail in person interaction with this online business,

this is what we call an E-commerce business. The reason for choosing my topic is to understand

how to run a business. Many of my family and friends run businesses and I thought I would give

it a try. I want to see what it takes to run a small scale E-commerce business. I want to pursue

business in the future, I would eventually like to own my own business, doing this project would

help me learn the basics of owning a business. I want to take skills that I have learned from this

project and my mentor to eventually contribute to my future career. It may not be advanced as

different aspects of business can get, but it will enable my mind to set goals, learn to talk to

people, and make business happen. There are many operations and fundamentals of business,

many of which are achieved easily through simple marketing and the will to create something

remarkable, Therefore I intend to answer the question: How does marketing and a growth

mindset create a profitable business?

To understand the basics of business one needs to figure out the absolute basics. Many

online businesses are created throughout the internet selling a variety of things; anything from

water bottles, little trinkets, major machinery, or just about anything you set your mind on. The

amount of products in this business are endless. But first people need to know what the basics of

E-commerce is: “Ecommerce refers to companies and individuals that buy and sell goods over

the internet” (Bloomenthal). Essentially companies or singular entities create websites on the

internet for people to buy goods on. This gives someone what's called “Revenue.” Revenue is the

amount of money the company generates over a certain period of time. As seen in big
 5074650

Ecommerce companies like Amazon and Alibaba, they work their way to the top of the market

and push many smaller companies or individuals out from the web to promote the bigger name

brands. Bloomenthal states, “It involves more than one party along with the exchange of data or

currency to process a transaction. It is part of the greater industry that is known as electronic

business (ebusiness), which involves all of the processes required to run a company online”

(Bloomenthal). Amazon as the most profitable Eccomerce started out as an online book store

where people bought books and read or listen to them. Within the next decade Amazon slowly

attracted more people to their website, they went from selling books just about anything. Amazon

uses a pyramid marketing system one can refer to this as an affiliate marketing; a company

offers an affiliate marketing program to people like me who are trying to own an Ecommerce

business, the definition of these affiliate programs, is to essentially have other people advertise

the products on the smaller websites:“Affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products in

return for a small commission for each sale” (Patel). Affiliate marketing creates an easy path for

new Ecommerce starters to return a profit. For example, Hydro Flask has an affiliate program

which allows companies to put their water bottles on their websites. Although this seems to be an

easy way to get products on your website there are a few benefits and drawbacks. With most

affiliate programs there is a small percentage that is given to a person or persons for each item

sold on their website; the benefit to this is a company does not need to hold any inventory.

Affiliate programs are a lot easier to allow succession in an online business. This may seem an

easy way to start as you do not need to keep any inventory or compete with other websites as you

are selling for one company and one company only. There are very dramatic challenges to this

that people may face as it is simply not worth the time and effort. Why isEcommerce needed?

This is a growing question for older generations as they are not as attached as the younger
 5074650

generation. Advice given to me from my mentor Syed Anas Hashmi, states “I think the main

reason I started an Ecommerce business was more for the remote working aspect of it, I did not

have to manage any inventory, I can work my own hours, and it is the next big thing” (Hashmi).

The significance of Ecommerce is the growing demand of products. When someone into a retail

store to buy paper towels there is a limited amount in stock, during the pandemic many stores

were out of paper towels. Ecommerce Technology Made Easy, Sridhar states, “Electronic

Commerce is the modern business methodology to address the needs of organizations, and

merchants” (Sridhar). Ecommerce is the future of the internet, over the past two decades society

has started to shift away from retail shopping and moved towards ordering everything online.

There are advantages and disadvantages to ordering things online, some of the advantages are the

convenience.Someone can order something from their couch and it arrives at their door in the

next few days. A big disadvantage that most companies still cannot fix is when the package gets

lost or takes extremely long to arrive. In this case people cannot talk to someone in person to

resolve the situation. As for receiving long arrival dates, some could vary from one day shipping

to one month shipping. Society shifting away from retail shopping to Ecommerce shopping

because there is a spike in stay at home jobs. An Ecommerce business person is solely dependent

on online marketing;it is not the door to door salesmen marketing, it is the world wide web. With

the implementation of social media,marketing is one of the best ways to promote a product

because it enables someone to reach a mass amount of people without having to pay for

advertisements. Amazon gives a great five step guide to start your Ecommerce business, one of

the examples given is, “Social selling is a way for entrepreneurs to share about products and

allow shoppers to buy during a live show.” (Amazon). This means the sooner you get your

product on any social media, it can become an instant hit. What is very useful is to see what is
 5074650

trending, mainly targeting people between the ages of 16-21 connects you to the youth shopping

industry, buying the latest jordans or even a cool skateboard. Anything to get the attention of the

social consuming youth.

One major factor that most business owners are affected by is the mental stress that is

bestowed when conducting business operations. When creating an online business a person needs

to have a growth mindset. They Need to be confident, strong, and willing to succeed. To fully

understand how having a growth mindset majorly affects a business, “If you want to succeed in

life, you must know your purpose. If you want to have a business growth mindset, you must

become self-aware and understand your purpose. Self-awareness has the power to align your will

and humility, which attracts people to you through your purpose” (Livolsi). Without a growth

mindset many can fail due to stress, being discouraged, and unmotivated. There are some simple

ways to counteract this and will help you succeed, “Greatness does not come when you put in

just ten percent. Put in ten percent, and you'll achieve only two percent of your potential. To

achieve greatness, you've got to be at 100 percent, putting in the time and effort” (Livolsi). When

creating an Ecommerce business one needs to put in a lot of time and effort; if they do not put in

the time, the research, the obstacles, they will never succeed. There are always obstacles when

creating an online business whether it is shipping issues, website maintenance down times,

product availability, and even customer issues. That is why when creating this business one is

spending time improving and making their website better, fixing every little flaw. When

interviewing my mentor Mr. Hashmi, I asked “What challenges did you face when starting your

Ecommerce business?”To which he replied, “I researched and put lots of time and effort into

researching marketing techniques, I eventually began to see positive feedback by doing simple

marketing strategies” (Hashmi). This information opened a new door into how easy it is to use
 5074650

social media to one's advantage and keep trying. The more someone gives up, the less motivated

they will be to try again. Once a person gives up, about 90% of the time they will end trials there

and discontinue your idea, if you stick with your idea and learn from trial and error you can

successfully create any Ecommerce business.

A key point to always look back at is to make sure your website is built to perfection.

Glitchy websites, poor customer service, and lack of creativity creates an unwanted presence on

your website. With running a business that runs solely off of technology it is essential to make

sure everything runs smooth to ensure customer satisfaction. When you have created your online

business and you begin to make money, you may tend to drift away from the main point, which is

make your website functional, making a strong boundary between the money and the overall

quality of your website is one of the most important parts. You cannot be blindsided by how

much money you may be making, but rather the attention your website is attracting. “Business

leaders that focus solely on money are never fully satisfied, and often lose their customers.

Instead, care about creating value. You want customers to say how proud they are about your

products and services” (Livolsi).Focusing on money only makes a person hungry for more; if

they focus their attention away from the money and use that mindset on making a good quality

functional website, they will have a much more successful outcome. “When money comes

between you and your business, the business will always take a massive hit in terms of quality,

people get money hungry and realize they are making as much as they were before, it is not a

healthy mindset” (Tapal). If a person depends on money they will never succeed; they need to

worry about money when they start making a lot of it. For the beginning they need to focus on

the basics and allocate time to the website. The common saying, “You learn from your mistakes”

impacts this area of business crucially. When dealing in any sector of business whether it is
 5074650

owning a restaurant, an online business, or clothing shop, one needs to take the mistakes that they

made and learn how to fix it and make it better. An article from Pay Simple states, “If you’re

going to fail, fail spectacularly. Sure, some business owners get lucky and their company

succeeds right away. But let’s be honest, how many entrepreneurs do you know of who were

successful on their very first try? Richard Branson to Elon Musk, were once known for multiple

failures!”.As stated in the article some business owners find that loophole and get lucky their first

try in the business sector. Although to fully succeed a person has to fail at least once; the biggest

corporate names fail all the time, and they fix it. They use a business mindset and learn from their

mistakes to make it better the next time. The more invested someone is with their time into their

business the better the outcome will be. Pay Simple states, “You can build a successful business

simply by being smart and methodical, but if you don’t feel at least a little bit excited about what

you do, at some point all the energy propelling you forward is going to dry up. After all, why not

just go and work for someone else?” (Pay Simple). With a little bit of passion, someone's

business topic will be more interesting and willing to create something successful.

Some Business people in our society cannot ask for help. Although there are ways to

counteract that, “Small business owners tend to have a do-it-all, be-it-all approach. This works in

the early stages of a business, when you’re often wearing many different hats at once. But there’s

a dark side: this can-do attitude sometimes prevents business owners from asking for help when

they need it most. They’ll take on bigger piles of work, slog through ever-longer hours, fall

asleep at their desks and forget to show up at dinner. Or worse—they’ll run their health into the

ground, mismanage business risks, or burn out completely” (Pay simple). This shows that using

any of the help one can get, can really take them down the shorter road and help improve their

business. In the same article Pay Simple also states, “To succeed in business, you have to be
 5074650

prepared to ask for help. As innovative a trailblazer you may be, chances are that those who have

come before you could share a helpful tip or two” (Pay Simple). Asking for help only improves

morale and willingness to succeed; the more motivation one has from their peers the better they

will perform. Having a good healthy mindset can go a long way, a lot of stress builds and it is

hard to release tension from overworking your brain, “I would try to take vacations and do things

to keep my mind off of work” (Tapal). Doing things that you like can greatly improve your will

to work harder, it clears your mind to be ready for the next challenge.

Networking is very important when it comes to creating a business. The more people

someone knows, the better they make your product or better the chances of gaining foot traffic.

From NerdWallet Rosalie Murphy states, “Your e-commerce business needs customers who

appreciate your products enough to buy them more than once and, ideally, customers who will

promote them to their networks. Establishing a strong brand presence on social media can help

you build a following” (Murphy). Having good network capabilities can help a person succeed in

the marketing aspect of their online business as they can reach out to people that can reach out to

more people. Some may call this a ripple effect. Using networking skills to one’s advantage can

help by connecting them with influencers that will promote products. Rosalie Murphy states,

“Influencer marketing, in which you pay popular social media creators to plug your products”

(Murphy). Using social media influencers to promote a product is one of the best ways to

advertise a product as they can reach a large audience quickly. Especially targeting a certain

group of people that your product may attract is the easiest way to create foot traffic on your

website. For many who seek to reach an array of people from all over the world to create a

website that hold more than just one specific item, the best way to succeed that way is to use
 5074650

social media, but social media in a way of reaching all audiences, understanding the algorithm of

social media platform feeds can boost your attraction on the website.

For many years now I have wanted to start my own online business and now that I have

the chance I would like to share it with everybody. It has been a dream to start something and

build it over a long period of time. As easy as it may sound I think that starting an online

business can be stressful and overwhelming. When it comes to marketing, networking with

influencers and using social media to your advantage can really help your business grow

exponentially. For your growth/business mindset it is important to keep your eyes on the

succession and the satisfaction of seeing people enter your online abyss, not the money, not the

recognition, but the overall feeling of succession. “One thing that kept me going and creating my

business was learning from my mistakes” (Tapal). It is never guaranteed to succeed on the first

try, most advise to follow the common quote “learn from your mistakes” and apply this to the

creation of your creativity on your online business. When encounter a challenge that you are sure

you cannot complete the first time you need to continue the trial and error system. Many iconic

investors, business owners, crypto-enthusiasts, entrepreneurs have all failed and gone through

trial and error. Without this common practice all business would crumble as soon as there is sight

of a problem. You cannot fix the problem without trying until you succeed. This ties into my

research of building a growth mindset to implement that into your creation of a business. It helps

to strengthen your brain with obstacles that many cannot complete. In conclusion, when starting

your online business, marketing and having that strong mental mindset of creating something

someone can simply click once to access a sea of endless options, to maybe something that is

more lower scale can only be determined by how hard you work and the time you put in to your

website to ensure that customers are satisfied. Start small and dream big.
 5074650

Work Cited

Murphy, Rosalie.:“How to start an Online E-commerce business”

“How to Start an eCommerce Business: A Step-by-Step Guide.” NerdWallet,

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/how-to-start-an-ecommerce-business.

Amazon: “Start an Ecommerce Business”

“Learn.” Amazon, MENU Publications, 1989,

https://sell.amazon.com/learn/start-ecommerce-business.

Bloomenthal, Andrew. “e commerce defined”

Bloomenthal, Andrew. “Ecommerce Defined: Types, History, and Examples.” Investopedia,

Investopedia, 4 Nov. 2022, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ecommerce.asp.

Mcdonald, Mark: “How to Start an Ecommerce Business in 2023

(Practical Guide).” Shopify, 21 Nov. 2022,

https://www.shopify.com/blog/ecommerce-business-blueprint.

Pay simple: “How to Have a Business Mindset”

5 Ways to Develop a Winning Business Mindset | Paysimple.

https://paysimple.com/blog/develop-a-winning-business-mindset/.

Livolsi, Kristian.” How to Have a Growth Mindset in Business”

Livolsi, Kristian. “10 Steps to Achieve a Growth Mindset in Business.”

Entrepreneur,Entrepreneur, 4 Aug. 2020,

 5074650

https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/10-steps-to-achieve-a-growth-mindset-in-busi

ness/353483.

Anas Hashmi, Syed. Personal interview. 21 March, 2023

Tapal, Munazzarr. Personal interview. 8 April,2023

PDF) E-Commerce Technology Made Easy - Researchgate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317278278_E-Commerce_Technology_Made_Easy.