– “How do you actually make your e-com store profitable?” is a question I get asked all the time. And I mean really profitable, not just getting revenue and bidding on Facebook and on Google AdWords all the time. But how to actually make it profitable?

I know for a fact that lots of you struggle with that. Some of you get completely addicted to Facebook Ads and bidding on Facebook, and, you know, finding winning products and then bidding a little bit more. And I know that some of you might have an agency who does that for you, but lots of you actually do it yourself. And while it’s amazing that you’re learning about these platforms, I can also see how it can become addictive, right? And you start spending a thousand, $2,000 a day and yet you’re still coming short at the end of the day.

So the big question is, how do you actually make your store profitable, not just getting new revenue in all the time, but how do you make it profitable? Now, the answer is very, very simple as always. It’s repeat business. So basically what most of you are doing right now is you kind of have established what we call a leaking bucket. You’re paying for new traffic, you’re paying for all of those new customers that are coming in all the time, they are costing you huge amounts of money to buy, you know, one wallet or to buy, I don’t know, one bucket, or to buy one torch, or to buy one jacket. And the thing is that we need to look at all of our purchasers as people. Who are these people and what are they actually after? What else do they want or need in their life, and how can we offer it to them?

So my challenge to you guys today is start looking at your e-commerce business from a perspective of customers. What it is that my customers want? What else can I offer to them and what are they after? So, the secret in e-commerce profitability is in repeat business because that’s actually the customer that you are not having to pay for to return, so that’s where the profit really starts stacking up. So of course we’ll always have to be spending money on Facebook, we’ll always have to be spending money on Google, but we don’t want to be dependent on these platforms because the algorithms change all the time, and we want to make sure that if we pay 10, 20, 30, or sometimes even $40 for a purchase for a new customer to come to our site, we want to make sure that we actually get in touch with the customer again and we offer them something that they’re after and we offer it to them when they are after it.

So the secret in profitability of your e-commerce store is definitely repeated business. Make sure you get to understand who your customers are, what they’re after, and you want to make sure that you serve them fully. When you’re a gift store, when they need a gift, you want them to think of you. When you’re a fashion store, and they need a new item, or they want a new item, you want them to think of you. When you’re selling gadgets and they’re after new gadgets, you want them to come to you. Of if you’re selling accessories or hiking stuff, or outdoor stuff, you want them to think of you in the first place, so, you want to know your customers, you want to service them fully, you want to make sure that you just don’t pay for the traffic the first time on advertisement, but actually that you keep those customers and keep servicing them over and over. In other words, it also would be called brand loyalty. So brand loyalty is extremely profitable and it is the thing that’s going to actually tip over your e-commerce store from just, not just making revenue but actually becoming profitable and making money.

This is Silvia Myers talking about the profitability of your e-commerce store. I hope this was helpful for you, let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are, and I wish you all the best with your e-commerce business. Talk to you later, bye.