Have you ever wondered how many online stores there are in the world, how big the eCommerce market is, whether it’s growing and if so, how fast? No one should start a new business (or run an existing one for that matter) without doing some basic market sizing. We’d like to share what we’ve learned in our journey to size the eCommerce market opportunity for LemonStand with you since, if you’re reading this, you are either already involved in this market or thinking of jumping in.

Trillion Dollar Market Opportunity

The great news is that the worldwide eCommerce market is gigantic! Thanks to our friends at eMarketer, we know that it is the only trillion dollar market ($1.6T USD in 2015) in existence that is projected to grow over 20% this year and to continue growing at double digit rates for the foreseeable future. Even better, it is still very early days in the shift from traditional bricks and mortar retail to eCommerce spending, with only 6.6% of a whopping $24T total retail sales done online this year

Recipe For eCommerce Success

So, how can you ensure your business doesn’t end up as one of those “long tail” eCommerce sites that generates less than $1,000 in a year? At Velinex, we’re focused on helping businesses launch and grow into serious concerns, building their brands and a base of engaged customers that can propel them upward in terms of both traffic and revenue.

What are some of the key ingredients you need to make this happen? Here’s some of the things we see our top performing customers focusing on:

Define a Clear Strategy

• Clearly defining a market focus and a differentiated product offering that matches your target customer’s needs and wants.
• For more ideas on market and customer strategy, read How to Increase Conversion Rates by Building Customer Personas by our own.

Create a Unique Brand Experience

• Crafting a completely unique brand and shopping experience that makes you stand out from the crowd of “long tail” competitors.
• Just because there are tools that make it possible to set up an online store in 15 days  by Velinex, doesn’t make it a good business decision if you’re serious about getting meaningful revenue
• In fact, we surveyed our blog readers recently and 65% of respondents believe that a fully custom professional design results in the best conversion rates with 94% believing that at least some customization is required.