But Ms. Harris, previously a Web-marketing consultant, says she didn't anticipate just how much it would cost to venture into e-commerce.
Koren Shadim
For example, within a few months she discovered she needed to hire a fulfillment company, because she couldn't fit all of her inventory in her family's home. This resulted in her having to spend an extra $7 to $15 on every item she sold for shipping and handling, depending on the product's size and weight.
"I was looking at it in a very myopic way," says Ms. Harris, adding that she managed to keep her virtual doors open only by quickly raising her prices about 20%. Today, ECOlunchboxes.com operates out of a commercial space, has five employees and last year it posted just under $1 million in sales. "You have to be looking at your margins every step of the way or you won't have a business," she says. "You'll have a hobby."
If your startup is performing well locally, you may be tempted to cast a wider net by taking it online. U.S. Web retail sales are expected to reach $262 billion this year and rise to $370 billion by 2017—sales growth that's outpacing that of physical retail stores, according to market-research firm Forrester.
Yet branching out beyond your backyard will likely require incurring additional operating expenses and making other adjustments, caution seasoned entrepreneurs and startup experts. They recommend identifying these in advance, and then creating a budget and strategy that accounts for your findings.
"You may need to consider things like shipping costs and taxes," says Caroline Daniels, a lecturer on entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.
After a decade of helping run his family's apparel and accessories business at flea markets in Oahu, Hawaii, Ronald Diep three years ago created an eBay store and an e-commerce site to complement it—SwrvHawaiianShirts.com. He says he was surprised to discover that customers have very different needs and expectations when shopping online versus in person.
For instance, they often ask more questions about product details, such as what material a shirt's buttons are made of. They also tend to be more concerned about issues such as credit-card fraud and identity theft. And they demand more attention.
"They want [a response to emails] the next day," says Mr. Diep, adding that he checks for messages from customers every 20 minutes.
Gauging writers' emotions can be challenging. "When you talk to someone face to face, you can tell if they're upset or joking," Mr. Diep says. But that's not true with email, he adds, which is mainly how he communicates with customers.
If you own a bricks-and-mortar store and want to start selling items from it on the Web, pay close attention to your inventory, advises Mark Bollman, an entrepreneur in Boston who learned that lesson the hard way.
He opened Ball and Buck, a shop that sells men's lifestyle products, in 2009 and a few months later added a shopping-cart component to its website, BallandBuck.com, to attract more customers. But he didn't take any steps to ensure that the items listed for sale on the site were in stock in his physical store.
As a result, there were a few occasions in those first few years when he disappointed customers because he couldn't fill their orders. He has since set up a cloud-based inventory-tracking system that costs roughly $100 a month.
Another tip Mr. Bollman learned from experience: Invest in a good camera to take clear, high-quality photos and video of your products—and make these the center of attention on your e-commerce site. He says he noticed a spike in sales right after he started putting more images and less text on his store's home page.
Mr. Bollman says going the extra mile is necessary because it's tough to make an emotional connection with online shoppers. In a physical store, people "smell the leather couches and hear the Americana music. It's a full sensory experience."
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