How can I run an e-commerce as a non-technical person?

Electronic commerce is what it is today. Even if your product is very good and your business is successful in the traditional world, with a physical store, the possibilities of having e-commerce are endless. Your business can have an unimaginable reach just by being available on the Internet since you can not only reach local customers but also international ones, located anywhere in the world.

But of course, we understand that many have this concern: not being a technical staff. They consider that to create an e-commerce and manage it, you need to have technical or programming knowledge for the website to be successful and bear fruit. They believe that perhaps you have to know about programming languages ​​and web design. We tell you the truth: you don't have to be a technology expert to run your own e-business.

Being a technical staff is not a requirement to have an e-commerce, since there are hundreds of suppliers and technology partners that can guide you on this path of e-commerce. They can guide you from defining the idea of ​​your website to development and implementation. You just have to be clear about what you want to sell in your e-commerce and what audience it is aimed at.

The proof is this: the founders of Tinder, AirBnB and Dell, are people with a non-technological background and yet created three of the most popular and successful companies in the world, they noted on the Hackernoon portal. They also shared an infographic showing that not half of the entrepreneurs behind an e-commerce studied technology: many are economists, lawyers, accountants, or are dedicated to law or marketing.

Creativity: the most important thing in a non-technical person

Ok, we just told you that being a technology expert is not a requirement to have an e-commerce and we maintain it. But there is an essential characteristic that every entrepreneur must be: be creative. Since technology is not your forte, you must have creative ideas that make your business grow.

“As a non-technical founder, your greatest characteristic is your ability to come up with creative ideas. Having a contagious passion, the ability to organize, dedication and a clear vision of the business, is much more important than any difficult skill”, they emphasized in Hackernoon.

Leadership is essential: having the ability to lead your team with a clear understanding of what you want to achieve for the company. Being that "captain" of the ship is what will lead your project to success, beyond the technical skills you do not have. Although you are not an expert in HTML, Javascript or Python, for example, you are the one who makes the decisions, so it is more important that you know about topics such as finance, marketing, sales, among others.

In addition, the ability to research will also give you many advantages and benefits. 42% of failures in new companies is the lack of need in the market, determined a survey by CBInsights and cited by Merixstudio.

For this reason, you must do an exhaustive investigation on that problem that you want to solve for your public, investigate the monetization model on which you can work, of course, investigate your target audience and investigate what competition exists and how they are handling their businesses.

Tips for running an e-commerce without being a technical person

Find a technology partner

Since you are a non-technical person, you can surround yourself with people who are. Having at your side the technical experience of someone else -a provider or technological partner- can be of great help and an ally in your projects.

This partner can be internal, suggests Merixstudio, dividing the work in this way: while you expose the business vision and create the roadmap to follow, your technical partner will be in charge of everything related to the technical and control quality.

If you prefer an external partner, that is also possible. “Founders who want to focus on the product and get rid of things like hiring or retaining the team are betting on outsourcing the entire team. This approach significantly speeds up the process of launching the first version of the product or testing a prototype", they explained.

Learn the basics

It doesn't hurt if you know the basic processes involved in developing software or coding, so you can understand the work your technical partner will be doing.

You don't need to compete with professional developers and write code for your software. However, it's always a good idea to develop an understanding of the technology your business operates with.

"It is always useful to learn along the way. A combination of self-study and asking the right questions will help you fill in the gaps in your knowledge. As I said before, you don't need to become a developer, unless you want to. All you need to do is develop a basic understanding of the processes and your platform of choice", explained in a Nordic Tech House article.

Create a team with the skills you need

This team will have to have all the technical skills that your business needs, but you must also evaluate if they are people committed to their work in general, if the developers enjoy their work, if they are good at listening and communicating, they limited in a Neoito article.

Mentally prepare

“You may have some initial problems connecting with your technical team. It may take time before you begin to understand the technical aspects of your product development cycle”, they warned, so you must be prepared mentally, armed with a lot of patience to go through these first stages of your e-commerce.

Have confidence in yourself

Confidence in your project and the certainty that it is a good idea is what will drive your success. Have faith in your e-commerce, in your product and what you are offering, have confidence that you are providing a solution that will make your customers' lives much easier.

You must have confidence in yourself, in your product and in your team. Make sure you can seamlessly execute your business plan, manage your team, and handle everything related to marketing your products and e-commerce. 

Do you need a technological partner to guide you in the creation of your e-commerce? Contact us!

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