1. How did your business/startup journey begin?
The business was started by Jesse, the first iteration of the business was meant to be a "physical" dropbox for individuals who are moving houses, that business model and out platform have since evolved and moulded by our users to be e-commerce friendly, fulfilling both the warehouse management activities and needs of our e-commerce business owners like inventory management, and integration to their platform (ie Shopify, Amazon, Ebay and many more)
2. What were the key takeaways from the event?
Jesse Emia, CEO of KeepSpace, reminded us not to forget to factor in shipping and operational costs into your product, many business owners play with the figure of cost and profit but fail to factor in shipping and operations, it could be a game changer in identifying where you could improve your profit margin.
Es Chandra, Managing Director of Glide Agency, taught us to always be testing your ads and know your numbers, Facebook and Google Ads are absolutely amazing, but is important to test different ad sets and have strategies in place to maximise your conversion learning about distribution or how to spend your capital on marketing helps too.
Chris Heppeler, Director of BLACKROLL Australia told ecommerce owners to automate, automate, automate. Automating your business helps and able to give business owner to focus on the important things like sales/marketing and public relations and build your community, with new products like BlackRoll where it is famous in Germany, you really need to hustle it out, build the brand and to build communities surrounding in and be a loving brand.
3. Can you share some of your e-commerce experience / challenges?
There is a myth surrounding the e-commerce industry that is it supposed to be "easy" and everyone is a millionaire, unfortunately e-commerce owners would need to put in the work like any business, especially during the earlier stages, is true that many parts could automate, but please, do things that do not scale first before scaling !
One of the biggest challenges that we have seen is there isn't enough time to spend time with family, take a break or high shipping costs, spending time fulfilling will take a lot of time away for e-commerce sellers, so it is important for them to focus on sales and marketing where they are able to increase their revenue to be self sustainable.
Let's face it, the logistics game is all about volume, and for early startups, is impossible for the business owners to have the privilege and the numbers to leverage on better accounts, a 3PL provider could be an option to provide affordable shipping rates with varieties of options to customise the way you ship and you have full control of your time too.
4. Can you share some tips for the Spacecubed community?
Don’t try to scale too soon, focus on growing your sales through marketing, if it can be delegated please do so, after working with many e-commerce users, the tipping point where e-commerce owners start looking or unable to fulfil their orders is when they hit 25+ orders in a week.
When you are starting up, mingle with the community and do not be afraid to ask for help, E-commerce is a lonely journey, but remember there are communities here to help, doesn't matter if you are new or a veteran!
If you're looking to get involved in a community and work alongside others in the e-commerce industry, book a tour of Spacecubed today or check out our 30 Day Trial options!
