Due to the low cost of entry, the number of online businesses has been growing steadily. There are about 9.1 million e-businesses in the world today, of which about 2.5 million are from the country itself. However, it is very sad that many of these businesses fail within a year or two and close their shutters. Here’s a list of ten mistakes that your need to avoid as an e-entrepreneur: Going in for a business that’s not your forte It’s enticing to see other online businesses grow manifold. It’s easy to fall prey to pursuing a similar business. However, most first-time entrepreneurs are charting a story that’s a perfect recipe for failure when they go after commercial ideas that are not their expertise. They do not have the know-how of the industrial domain, and might also lack passion for it, yet they venture into the business. Lack of preparations A business, online or offline, needs a lot of preparatory work. A business plan is a must. You need to conduct market research to analyze competitors, the industry status, etc. Similarly, it is imperative to strategize on production-related and quality-assurance-related aspects. The business plan should also contain background information, an executive summary, and, most importantly, financial projections. Wanting to make fast money If you want to make fast money, you may need to go slow and reconsider your options. Very few businesses in the world – offline or online – turn profitable with the word ‘go.’ If your expectations are a quick buck, it is unrealistic and the right option for failure. Be prepared to face losses. Be grounded that the initial few years will be full of struggles before taking this step. Going after the smaller details The good part about an online business is that you do not have to plan a lot about renting an office, warehouse, etc.

Every business seeks to streamline its operations to expand and achieve its short-, medium-, and long-term objectives. And that’s where a point of sale (POS) system is extremely helpful. Such a system combines software and hardware components, which allows you to facilitate transactions on a digital platform. However, as you will see, a POS system offers much more than that. Here are some ways to grow a small business with POS systems: Streamlining inventory management Every business owner needs to continuously keep track of current inventory status, including information about the stock quantities in a storage facility, the time left before the inventory will be replenished, and the location in which the stock is stored (if there are multiple sites of storage). With a POS system by your side, you will not need to invest in an expensive tracking and management system for managing your inventory. For small businesses, a POS system can monitor the stock levels in the inventory and provide a notification when a reorder is needed. This notification will be received when the inventory levels dip below a certain threshold. So, your business operations can carry on without downtime due to inventory shortage. One frequent issue in inventory management is keeping track of all the storage locations where you may have stored your inventory. POS systems solve this problem by keeping track of inventory locations and movement and maintaining records of when you last purchased inventory, at what price, and if any inventory returns were made, showing how you can grow a small business with POS systems. Automating tasks This attribute of a POS system helps small retailers more than most other businesses. Your business constantly seeks to save time spent carrying out functions such as documenting transactions, calculating the sales tax for each sale, or collecting payments.

Many people dream of setting up an online business at home. With millions of products and services at your fingertips, you can start one from the comfort of your house and turn it into a roaring success! But things aren’t as easy as they seem; there are a few problems you might face along the way, so a few tips to help with the process might help to make things easier. Tips to start a successful online business from home Starting a home-based online business is thrilling, but it sure comes with its challenges. It requires you to put in a lot of your time, hard work, and money, and the results won’t be as expected. But dealing with such doesn’t mean you give up on it. Instead, try your best and work harder to ensure you become successful. Here are seven helpful tips to give you a kickstart: Do thorough market research Every successful business starts with a solid idea, but having an idea is not enough. You also need to understand the market for the products and services sold. This step will help you understand the feasibility of your business idea and aid in evaluating if there is a demand for your product or service. Market research should also include information on your competitors to create a tailored plan to beat them. Evaluate your brand Today, you need to evaluate and ensure the viability of your product or service, considering everything can be easily found online. Millions of products are available in the market, but some sell more than others. So it is important to understand why their sales are better and how you can set your brand apart. Such an evaluation can ensure your products or services are unique, eye-catching, and meet the audience’s needs. Determine your online sales stream Market research and competition analysis will help you realize several methods for executing plans.

Emails are an integral part of routine work assignments when you are part of a professional environment. You can use them to communicate, share tasks, request work, and even build your business. However, maintaining an inbox is not an easy task. It can be confusing and time-consuming at times. Some applications could automate your email tasks and make mailing manageable. Read on to find out about six automation techniques that enhance workflow. Automatically saving attachments One of the techniques that can improvise your inbox organization is automating the downloading process of the attachments that come with your emails. You want to do this because you do not want to treat your inbox as a storage space. Not only will this lead to your inbox getting full quicker, but it could also lead to trouble if you accidentally delete an important mail. Instead, you can automate the forwarding of mail to a storage application. You can also automate the transferring or emailing important attachments to a cloud storage application. You can also save your important emails on your notes application. Using log for emails Many of us want to maintain a clear and organized inbox. But doing this often means deleting the older messages or the ones you think are unimportant. But, in some cases, you may need to check older emails. What should you do in such cases? The answer is simple. You can use any automation application available to convert your mail into logs. Your conversations are saved in a spreadsheet or chat application so you can access them later. Auto-sending emails If you’re interested in marketing or need to send out mail while on vacation, you can automate your inbox to send emails by itself. If you’re someone who works on increasing the business by emailing your potential clients, automating this process can help save time.

The boom in online shopping in recent years has nudged businesses to strengthen their online presence and build a stronger, deeper, and more personal relationship with their customers. Businesses have developed websites, social media profiles, and even apps as part of their omnichannel marketing strategy in addition to conventional brick-and-mortar retail stores to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience. But how does it help improve the customer experience? Let’s find out. What is omnichannel marketing? The exponential acceleration of technology has become a double-edged sword for marketers. While it has become easier to get the right message to the target audience at the right time, marketers are also mired in a sea of complexity, with an expanding number of channels and competition to deal with. At a time when losing a customer’s attention is as easy as ever, companies have come up with omnichannel marketing to create a consistent brand image and improve customers’ shopping experience. It involves integrating and working with the numerous channels that businesses use to communicate with customers, including offline stores and events and digital media like websites, newsletters, emails, apps, push notifications, and much more. How does omnichannel marketing improve customer experience? Omnichannel marketing is different from multi-channel marketing. For example, multi-channel marketing is when a landing page of a company’s website is linked to an email promotion campaign using two channels to convince customers to buy one’s products. On the other hand, omnichannel employs a data-led, AI-driven approach to comprehend complex data points like customer behavior, preferred channels, age, and other factors to determine which messages to send to which customers through which channels and at what time. This ultimately results in a seamless and highly customized experience that impacts sales significantly more than usual multi-channel marketing. When omnichannel marketing is truly effective, it can boost customer loyalty, improve brand recall, and increase sales.