Ecommerce Experts Share Advice for Entrepreneurs

What does Valentine’s Day 2021 have to do with ecommerce and fulfillment? Aside from the obvious uptick in online gift buying, picking, packing and shipping, Valentine’s Day is about passion. When you’re passionate about your work, every day is a labor of love, and that’s how eFulfillment Service feels about helping online retailers this holiday and all through the year.

We asked our execs what they love most about the future of ecommerce; here are the themes that capture their romance with online selling:

1. There’s lots to love about selling worldwide in our time of easy access to global marketplaces and tools that make it easy produce websites.

2. Ecommerce is not all bonbons and rose petals, and would-be internet retailers should protect their passions by doing research and evaluating other suitors after their customers.

3. Online selling provides a bright future for those entrepreneurs and businesses seeking out a working relationship that requires creativity, innovation and growth.

John Lindberg, founder and President of eFulfillment Service started helping internet retailers ship directly to customers in 2001, as direct-to-consumer online fulfillment was in its infancy.

Jordan Lindberg, Executive Vice President, joined the company in 2006, and also launched Stardust Memorials in 2010, which is now the leading online cremation urn store, giving him unique first-hand insight into what fulfillment clients experience daily.

Steve Bulger, Chief Operating Officer, joined the ecommerce fulfillment team to guide the marketing and sales in 2011, advancing to oversight of operations.

You’ve all been in ecommerce for a while, what do you find that’s new and exciting or something within the industry you’re passionate about?

“As a lifelong entrepreneur, what I love about ecommerce is the fact that an individual who has a good product idea can quickly set up an online webstore of their own, plus a selling platform like Amazon that is then available to the entire worldwide marketplace. Anyone, anywhere, and at any time, can then buy and pay for that product online which can then be immediately picked, packed and shipped subject to a tracking number and transit insurance. That’s efficiency unlike anything we’ve ever seen” —John Lindberg

“Marketplace selling on places like eBay, Walmart, Amazon, Etsy, and others has made it easier to reach a larger audience, and faster, than it ever used to be. Although developing your own specialized webstore has advantages, the ability to sell on your own platform as well as marketplace platforms has made it easier to grow and expand, if you’re able to gain attention on major selling platforms through unique products or exceptional pricing. Several companies have made marketplace managers available to ecommerce retailers to streamline the listing management functions and make it possible to get from thinking about selling to actual selling faster than ever (SellerCloud, EcomDash, SellerActiive, Skubana, SellBrite, etc.).” —Jordan Lindberg

“I’ve enjoyed watching how the world of ecommerce is driving innovation in so many areas, from the way consumers shop online and the personalized experiences they get, through data mining and artificial intelligence, to the technology being developed in order to get packages to consumers so quickly and efficiently.” —Steve Bulger

What would you tell people who are considering starting an internet retailing business about ecommerce?

“Do your research and know your options. With a booming industry, you’ll find it’s saturated with opportunities and they aren’t one-size-fits-all. Success comes from being able to pivot when your plan doesn’t go exactly the way you thought it would. To stay competitive takes creativity and flexibility and the ability to know what your business needs and how to find it. “ —John Lindberg

“Do your homework. It helps when merchants are selling something they’re passionate about, but passion alone won’t lead to a successful business. A startup ecommerce entrepreneur needs to do a considerable amount of research up front to ensure they are selecting the best products from the best manufacturers, gauging the competition, learning about their target market, setting up the tools/resources to allow them to be efficient, which may include outsourcing some parts of the business, and, above all, making sure all of the numbers work when all revenue and costs are factored in.” —Steve Bulger

“Even though the cost of starting an ecommerce business is relatively low (compared to opening a restaurant or traditional brick-and-mortar retail store), that advantage also means that it’s extremely competitive, and any ecommerce retailer is essentially competing for sales against everyone else selling those same sorts of products anywhere else in the United States or even the world. The work that it takes to really get a project off the ground and producing an income is more than most people realize, and because so many product categories are already stuffed with competitors, it takes some real creativity, insight, and specialized knowledge to find niches where a new retailer can prosper. I think that the majority of new ecommerce businesses fail, essentially, because their products are not filling an already unmet-demand or because the prices are too high relative to volume competitors.” —Jordan Lindberg