Gap Year Enterprises: What Students Need to Know About Opening an Online Store

According to a recent study, around 83% of people on a gap year decide to work instead of play. This shouldn’t be too surprising. Whether it’s taken before or after university, a gap year is a great opportunity to try a few things out – dip your toes in the water, get your feet wet, all of the common expressions you can think of!

This is especially true if you have an entrepreneurial spirit. In another survey, it was discovered that there’s been a 2.1% increase in entrepreneurs worldwide in the last two years, and it’s not hard to see why. Being an entrepreneur gives you the opportunity to do things differently, running with a spark of an idea and turning it into something that shines. Plus, it allows you to play by your own rules, which is exactly what gap years are all about!

When it comes to playing by your own rules, however, it’s important to remember that – while there are no rules to entrepreneurialism – there are several pitfalls that can easily be fallen into. Let’s say you’re using your gap year to open your first online store. 

Pretty exciting, right? Until you find out that nearly 90% of new e-commerce stores fail within the first 120 days of operation. 120 days. That’s just four months! If you don’t work to avoid these pitfalls, you won’t even be halfway through your gap year before things start crashing down, and this is why it’s important to know as much as possible about opening an online store properly. Thankfully for you, we’ve got a few ideas to help you out.

Number One: Automation is Your Friend

We cannot stress this enough: opening an e-commerce store in 2024 is incredibly hard, especially if your team is limited. It’s important to remember, in this way, that there are a variety of tools out there that can help you. Specifically, automation tools that can handle several tasks including inventory management, order processing, and customer support. 

This is particularly important when it comes to marketing – which is going to be the key driver of your store’s visibility and sales in that first year. Automating your email campaigns has been made a whole lot easier with an AI email generator, and while it might seem risky from a personalisation standpoint, the technology has improved dramatically to include personalised, engaging content, tailored and optimised timing-wise, saving you precious time to focus on running the site. 

Number Two: Starting Small

We’re not sure what your concept is, of course, but it’s likely you’re not the only one with the same idea. Around the web, there are going to be thousands of businesses likely offering the same thing – or something close – as you, and they’ve had a lot longer to find a foothold. With this in mind, you need to recognise your position and work on starting small – finding a focused selection of products or services that resonate with a specific audience. 

This will then allow you to test the market, learn what works, and refine your offerings without overwhelming yourself. It’s also important to consider that any company needs feedback to improve. Customer feedback in your first year is going to be invaluable, so encourage customer reviews and pay attention to common questions or concerns that will inevitably arise. You can then use this feedback to improve your products, website,  customer experience, and help you to refine your business strategy before expanding and taking on those bigger, more established e-commerce platforms.

Number Three: Setting Realistic Goals

The last thing we want to mention is that, so many times, new e-commerce stores set unrealistic goals, and this is one of the key reasons why they fail. With a limited amount of time during your gap year, it’s easy for things to spiral out of control, so staying organised is crucial. Use online tools to create clear to-do lists, track your progress, and keep yourself on schedule. Instead of focusing on a large, overwhelming goal, break down your objectives into manageable milestones – like ensuring you remain in operation beyond 130 days! 

That might sound like a joke, but goals like this can be just as effective as any other. If you work to manage your budget, automate all the necessary tasks, reach a narrowed, focused audience, and then move beyond the point where 90% of e-commerce businesses fail, you’ll know that you’re on the right track – things are working and you’ve already reached a respectable, difficult milestone. And knowing that can be invaluable as a new entrepreneur.