Why is Starting an eCommerce Business Harder than SaaS?

The last couple of weeks since starting with Shopify Plus, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I could get involved in the world of eCommerce by starting my own online store.

As well as just making sense to take advantage of the resources and encouragement provided by Shopify, I want to properly understand what it’s like to start and run an eCommerce business from all perspectives.

But more importantly, I think it is such an amazing channel to begin selling and their are some fantastic opportunities.

So why then is it so hard to commit to the right opportunity?

Maybe you don’t have this problem (and if you don’t lets talk), but I think the approach to finding good eCommerce ideas differs to SaaS, and for me, it’s much harder.

James Altucher used to always talk about the “Idea Muscle”. When you’re looking for SaaS ideas, you are constantly finding problems that can be solved by software. It’s then relatively straight forward to get a rough idea behind the market and value behind it. You’re constantly building up that idea muscle which in turn helps you find better ideas faster.

With eCommerce, it seems I’m constantly trying to figure out the market first. “How many people would be willing to buy this”. But the really successful companies seem have to a deep understanding of your customers needs. To do this, you have to be involved in the product and industry the same way your customers are.

I think this problem is compounded by the resources required to start an eCommerce store. In SaaS you can usually spin up a basic MVP and scale it out. With eCommerce, committing to an idea means buying products, branding and a website.

I have a new admiration for people who start a clothing line. With software you know there is a problem to be solved, but how can you do that with a clothing label?

If you’ve worked in both industries I’d love to hear your thoughts. Maybe there are a lot more similarities that I’m missing? Did you face the same challenges when formulating your business?