Aspiring E-commerce Entrepreneurs, Here's How To Build Your Own Online Store
Insaka eCommerce Academy CEO Warrick Kernes speaks to us about his signature training program, one of only a dozen worldwide programs to have been accredited as an official Shopify Education Program.
There’s no two ways about it, e-commerce is fast becoming the preferred way for people to shop. A recent report by Mastercard confirms that more than half of South Africa’s consumers now confidently shop online. While this sharp increase in adoption is most certainly a result of the current pandemic, there’s no denying that the cat’s out of the bag and there’s no going back.
Online shopping has massive advantages for both consumers and business owners. Shopping online offers more choices, more convenience and massive savings to both the person buying and the person selling. These perks mean that a business that wants to grow needs to have an online presence and, ultimately, somewhere for people to purchase their product or service. But there are tricks to this trade.
Warrick Kernes is one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of e-commerce in South Africa, and certainly the right person to learn these tricks from. The CEO of the Insaka eCommerce Academy is a serial entrepreneur himself and has been playing in the e-commerce space for over a decade now - giving him an innate understanding of how e-commerce works from an expert’s perspective and from a business owner’s perspective.
He founded The Insaka eCommerce Academy in 2017 with the aim of sharing this knowledge and empowering South African entrepreneurs with quality e-commerce training that they can use to start their own e-commerce businesses.
Still to this end, Warrick is hosting a live 5 Day Challenge this week where he’ll teach participants everything they need to know to start, build and launch an online store. This easy to follow action plan is an absolute must for anyone looking to create a new income, start a new online business, take a profitable side hustle full time, or even grow an existing business. We spoke to Warrick about his passion for e-commerce and how people can take part in his e-commerce challenge.
Warrick, what's your background - and why so passionate about e-commerce?
I stumbled onto e-commerce in 2008 when I finished my business studies degree and moved over to the UK. I was looking for just about any job so that I could pay my rent and I ended up joining a young startup that exploded online over the next few years. My contribution to that growth led to me being recognised as the Young Businessman of 2009 at the HSBC business awards. My confidence was bolstered and my newfound experience in e-commerce helped me to see the opportunity to move back home to SA and to start my own online business.
In order to do that though, I had to move back in with my parents in 2010 and I put everything I had into inventory and marketing for my new site. Sales started to come in and after 3 years of blood, sweat and tears, I hit my first R1m month. The business grew from there but it was tough as the e-commerce industry was young and there was zero support, mentorship and community. I made a lot of mistakes and paid a lot of school fees time and time again.
My success led to a lot of people approaching me for advice on how they could start an online business, too. I had worked tirelessly over the years to find the answers to these same questions and although I had the answers they were looking for, I didn’t have the time to really and truly help them. So in 2017, I sold my business - which at the time was doing over R20m in annual sales online - and I dedicated myself to helping other entrepreneurs to achieve success with selling online. My vision is to help others to have what I wish I had when starting out; mentorship, guidance, the best training and a community to help guide them towards success faster.
Can you share a little about Insaka? What is the problem it's aiming to solve?
Referred to by one student as “the solution to South Africa’s struggling online entrepreneur,” Insaka is committed to helping entrepreneurs to start and grow their own online businesses. With over a decade of e-commerce experience, we want to share our knowledge with others to help you to avoid the mistakes we made and to accelerate your learning, growth and success online. Insaka has already helped thousands of entrepreneurs to achieve more success online and we are proud to have been approved as Africa's only Shopify Education Partner and only one of a few worldwide.
On the Insaka website, you’ll find a wide range of free valuable resources to get you started and to help you no matter where you are in your e-commerce journey. We also offer a selection of super high-value step-by-step video courses for those wanting to maximize their time and fast track their success.
Can you tell us about your accreditation with Shopify?
My signature training program called YOUR ONLINE STORE teaches South African entrepreneurs how to start, build, launch and grow their own e-commerce business even if they have no prior experience.
I share my 14 years of experience and guide them step by step to understand the foundations for success, how to build their own site and how to grow their sales. The training is done online via video training so it can be done at their own pace and at a time that suits them but it is also supported by live support and community support from fellow students and alumni who’ve previously built successful businesses using the same training.
I teach how to use the two best e-commerce platforms in the world being WordPress and Shopify. Since Insaka has been a Shopify Partner for many years they asked to assess our course content and we were thrilled when they certified the training as one of only a few courses worldwide that are official Shopify Education Programs. This is the only program with this certification in Africa and there is nothing else like this as it focuses on overcoming all the challenges which are specific to South African entrepreneurs.
Why is e-commerce such an important topic for entrepreneurs to learn going forward?
E-commerce has been growing steadily over the years but it has boomed recently as COVID led to consumers fundamentally changing their shopping behaviour. This growth has maintained itself and is expected to continue over the coming years. At the same time, starting an online business is easier now than ever before as entrepreneurs can start the business in their spare time before committing full time. The risk is also lower than many other businesses as you can start with little capital and you don’t need to invest everything you have to be able to test your business idea. In comparison to other countries, e-commerce in SA is still in its infancy so this is still a great time to get into the market.
What is the new course you're offering this August?
I am hosting my famous Free 5 Day Challenge where I show you how to build your online store in just 30 minutes per day over the course of five days, even if you have no prior experience!
Here’s everything you’ll discover when you join me for the free challenge:
Discover how to easily register your website on the leading e-commerce platform;
Learn how to simply upload your products onto your site (and use our product pack if you don't have your own products yet!);
Uncover how to quickly set up a payment gateway on your site so that you can officially start taking credit card payments;
Discover the easiest way to design a stunning home page for your site;
And learn how to turn your site on so that it’s Live on the internet and ready to start making sales!
You can do all of this for free even if you have no experience with websites! All it will take is between 15-30 minutes on each of the five days. It's easier than you think - I’ll show you.
How can Heavy Chef community members get involved?
Book your free ticket to the challenge here.
PayFast Releases Their First-Ever PayFast Ecommerce Performance Index
In their first-ever Ecommerce Performance Index, PayFast provides some fascinating insights into how lockdown affected local businesses.
2020 has brought on so many changes for local businesses.
One of the most apparent changes has been their migration to the online space.
A lot more businesses have moved into the ecommerce space to allow them to carry on with sales despite the pandemic.
In their first-ever Ecommerce Performance Index, PayFast provides some fascinating insights into how lockdown affected local businesses.
2020 has been a shot of adrenaline for the ecommerce sector, with the COVID-19 lockdown doubling the average 1% to 2% hold the sector had in the retail space to around a 4% share in a matter of weeks.
Over the course of the year, ecommerce businesses, established and new, have successfully leveraged digital platforms and online tools, to meet changing customer behaviours and develop forward-thinking retail and service models.
In the first-ever PayFast Ecommerce Performance (PEP) Index, we unpack how the pandemic has accelerated local ecommerce adoption by as much as three to five years.
The report consists of industry, payment and buyer data sourced from PayFast platforms over the past year, as well a survey conducted among our merchants in September 2020 that provides insight into how lockdown affected their businesses.
The report also includes some insightful interviews from a few of our partners including ecommerce platform WooCommerce, shipping solution UAfrica, payment method Mobicred, online store Snatcher and the Insaka eCommerce Academy. These interviews provide a well-rounded analysis of the local ecommerce industry that complements our findings. Download the PEP Index below to find out about some of our key findings, including the number of new merchant registrations we had over the past year, the fastest growing industry in 2020, the highest PayFast online transaction this year so far, and more.
The 2020 edition of the PEP Index is a first of its kind, and we look forward to publishing this report annually with new ecommerce related findings and insights in the years to come.
Are You Really Ready For Black Friday?
PayFast founder Jonathan Smit offers advice on what online sellers can do in preparation for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.
eCommerce has seen a massive boost in the last year, thanks to COVID-19.
More businesses are moving online as it becomes clear that the pandemic is here for a while yet.
This means Black Friday 2020 is going to be like no other before.
Expect massive profits, if you’re prepared, and utter madness if you’re not.
PayFast’s Jonathan Smit, a dude that really gets ecommerce, has this to say about how you can capitalise this Black Friday.
The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in a massive shift in ecommerce volumes, which we're still seeing now, and has boosted ecommerce adoption rates in South Africa by at least three to five years. Every year we’ve seen a big spike in online sales around Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM), and it’s predicted that ecommerce volumes are going to be even more pronounced this year.
So, simply, if you run an online store you can expect massive volumes this year; more than any of us have ever seen before.
What Does This Mean For You?
Preparation, preparation, preparation. In the lead up to the most popular shopping period of the year, you should put a plan in place to manage the expectations of your customers. Because at the end of the day, there are only so many boxes you can move on a daily basis. Try and figure out what that number is and plan around it. People generally don't mind if their delivery is delayed a little bit, but you need to communicate it to them to set their expectations.
Here are some other practical questions to consider:
Should I hire temporary staff around the busy period to pack boxes?
How good is my inventory tracking? What happens when things sell out?
Do I have enough boxes and packaging material?
Do I have established lines of communication with my suppliers? With my courier company?
Should I get a "backup" courier relationship?
Be Sensible With Promotions
I would highly advise that you be smart about any promotions you plan to offer. Realistically, sales are great for the consumer, but I'm pro the business owner/entrepreneur, and I don't think it makes sense to lose money over this period (especially with the amount of stress it causes). So be smart about what you sell and how you discount (if you do). For example, if you have a loss leader which you promote, ensure your cross-selling is excellent so that you make money overall.
Doing promotions shouldn't mean that you lose money needlessly; it’s a tool for ultimately growing your business in the long term. You should aim to try and break-even if you can when considering all costs. Ideally, you should still make a profit over this period, but you can consider it a market building opportunity too (which comes at a short term cost sometimes).
By planning ahead and taking into consideration some of the points I made above, you will be well equipped to deal with the busiest shopping period of the year. During the BFCM weekend, PayFast will be dedicated to making sure that all online payments processed through our engine will be done as quickly and securely as possible. We’ve got the payments covered so you can focus on delivering a great customer service.
About The Author
With a degree in computer engineering, Jonathan Smit personally developed the core PayFast platform way back in 2007. Since then, he’s grown PayFast into Africa's largest payments startup and one of the most recognised payment brands in the country.
Retail Capital Has Released The Ultimate eCommerce Game Plan
With 21.9 million South Africans shopping online and R62 billion revenue forecast for 2020, you need to get online now.
The pandemic has sped up the large scale adoption of eCommerce.
More people are opening online shops and even more are shopping online.
Taking your shop online seems to be the most logical business step right now.
But first, you need to get clued up on the ins and outs of eCommerce.
Retail Capital's eCommerce #GamePlan is a great place to start.
Our partners recently released a practical guide for gearing your business towards eCommerce growth.
It’s a goody - you want to get a copy!
eCommerce was always going to be the way to shop. Now, with the pandemic and ensuing paranoia over physical contact and enclosed spaces, online shopping activity has seen a boost that not even the biggest optimist could have predicted, at least not so soon.
Starting an eCommerce shop is a no brainer. You save on costs, expose your business to more eyes, and generate more business leads. Plus, the marketing is faster, cheaper and a lot more effective. With 21.9 million South Africans shopping online currently, and R62 billion in revenue forecast for 2020, you need to get online and you need to do so now. It’s folly, really, not to see the value of being online with your business at a time like this.
As with every business practice, however, there are best practices to follow if you want to achieve success and see your business grow. Heavy Chef partner Retail Capital has put together just the document you will need to guide you on your eCommerce journey. The eCommerce #GamePlan is a practical guide for gearing your business towards eCommerce growth.
We spoke to Cate Williams, Marketing Manager at Retail Capital, about the recently released publication and the sort of insights entrepreneurs can look forward to finding in it.
Thanks for chatting to us Cate. You've recently released a practical guide to help businesses prep themselves for the online retail space. What inspired the guide?
We’ve seen a very obvious shift to digital in the retail space due to the various stages of lockdown over 2020, but this transition has been written on the wall for quite some time. The Game Plan is laid out as 10 clear guidelines for creating a successful eCommerce business, whether you have been online for a significant period of time and are looking to conduct a comprehensive audit, overhaul existing processes or if your business is stepping into the virtual sphere for the very first time.
With 21.9 million South Africans shopping online currently, and R62 billion in revenue forecast for 2020, you need to get online and you need to do so now.
We want to do everything we can to assist small business owners in making the digital shift as seamless and structurally sound as possible, as this truly is the future of retail.
Why do you think business owners particularly need assistance with setting up eCommerce?
We think that although eCommerce has become increasingly user friendly even in just the past year, there are a lot more layers to consider that aren’t necessarily part of the traditional brick and mortar set up, things like cybersecurity, logistics & warehouse management, digital payment gateways and more. We believe a lot of traditional business owners are struggling to adapt to a digital market and part of this guide explains how businesses in any sector or industry can make the move to online, or at least incorporate an aspect of it into their day-to-day operations.
Top advice about setting up an eCommerce store from the book?
Invest in what works for you! From eCommerce platforms, delivery options, payment gateways, packaging and more, figuring out a system that works both for you and your customer is paramount to success. Another key point is to trust the tech - digitise and automate as much as possible. Ultimately this will allow you to free up your time focusing on customer service and quality products.
What are some other highlights from the publication?
We have included real-life insights and examples from local eCommerce business heroes, from a number of industries, which really helps give context to the Game Plan as a whole. We also highlight that you can fast track your eCommerce growth with funding from Retail Capital - to upgrade tech, purchase stock, hire talent and whatever your business needs to grow, a perk of our funding being unrestricted.
Can you tell us a little about the #GameChangers campaign and how it fits into the #GamePlan?
What is a Game Changer? “An event, idea or person that affects a significant shift in the current way of doing or thinking about something.”
The game has truly changed in 2020, the economy is struggling, and entrepreneurs need to change the game and find innovative ways to not only survive but thrive.
What is a Game Plan? “A strategy worked out in advance, especially in sport, politics, or business.”
The #GamePlans (With eCommerce being the first one) are a series of practical guides that are meant to assist business owners to navigate an array of industry-specific challenges, thrive in a fast-tracked digital world and plan for the next normal.
Does any particular story come to mind about a #GameChanger whose business has made a successful transition into the online retail space?
Absolutely, Mama Bongi of Mama Bongi’s Choc Chip Cookies! From humble beginnings, Mama Bongi started by supplying her cookies to the team at Amazing Spaces and, with the guidance of her mentor Julia, has grown the business into a fully-fledged eCommerce store with stockists across South Africa. She is a true example that with a passion for what you do and a solid game plan nothing is impossible!
How can our readers get their hands on a copy of the #GamePlan?
The complete eBook is available for free download right here.
How can they get involved in the #GameChangers?
We are running ongoing competitions on our social media platforms encouraging our following to nominate a small business who they believe is changing the game in their industry and community. The winners stand a chance to win a R2,000 voucher from that very business on behalf of Retail Capital. We’ve already had some incredible entries and we love how people have been so forthcoming in showing their support for local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Why is the #GameChangers a particularly important project for Retail Capital?
We believe strongly that in today’s climate everyone needs to be a #GameChanger. When it comes to Business Funding (the traditional banks just don’t cut it), we’re changing the game to provide small businesses with easy access to Business Funding & Asset Finance solutions, which means business owners can now execute their game plans with ease, weather the storm and excel and grow like never before.
Why Website Speed Matters For Your Business
Every good company needs a website. It’s a great way to build brand identity, promote your business, and communicate with potential customers. You can even sell various products and services online, if it fits into your company’s profile. In this article, Praise Majwafi investigates how speed can affect your site’s performance.
Every good company needs a website. It’s a great way to build brand identity, promote your business, and communicate with potential customers. You can even sell various products and services online, if it fits into your company’s profile.
However, to do this, you need an effective website. If your website doesn’t appeal to search engines, brings down customer satisfaction, and presents your company in a bad light, it’s worse than useless. It could drive away potential customers who would otherwise consider doing business with you.
That’s why website speed is important. Slow speeds lead to everything you want to avoid for your website.
Let’s see how.
Speed and search engines
First off, speed impacts search rankings. Faster websites get consistently better search results. This means they get more visitors from search engines, which are the biggest driver of internet traffic.
Likewise, slow websites get penalized by Google’s ranking algorithm. This is especially important now, as speed has recently become a ranking factor for both mobile and desktop searches. If your site is slow, your ranking suffers across the board.
Given that a website’s primary purpose is to attract customers, a web page that gets no traffic isn’t particularly useful. That’s why doing everything to improve your search rankings, speed optimization included, is in your best interest.
Speed and customer satisfaction
The other thing slow speeds jeopardize is customer satisfaction. There is a direct correlation between load times and customer satisfaction. Namely, each second of delay reduces customer satisfaction by 16%.
Every business owner should know how important customer satisfaction is. Dissatisfied users spend less time on your site, giving you fewer opportunities to convert them into paying customers. Moreover, they are less likely to engage with your company and be open to your offer.
In plain English, people hate slow websites. A slow website looks unprofessional. If your site is slow, customers instinctively distrust your business and are reluctant to purchase your product or services, regardless of how good your offer is.
One more important way long load times hurt your business has to deal with your reputation. Yes, slow speeds affect that too.
44% of customers share their bad online experiences with their friends. Online reviews are a thing, and they are where most people look for information before engaging in a business transaction.
That means that if your site is slow, or images don’t load fast enough, or your checkout takes too long to complete, everyone will know about it. This kind of thing can easily run your business into the ground so it really pays off to mind your website speed.
What are you to do then?
The first thing you should do is learn how to test and improve your site’s performance.
The second is to get quality website hosting.
Both of these are equally important and one doesn’t work without the other. Combine these two things and you will reduce any performance issues drastically.
And if you’d like to familiarize yourself a bit more with how website speed works and how it affects websites, we have this nice infographic for you:
Infographic source: https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/how-speed-affects-website/
Event Report: Online Retail State Of The Nation - Download All The Results Here
Last week Heavy Chef hosted a duo of events in Johannesburg and Cape Town, based on the state of the nation’s ‘Online Retail’ sector. On Wednesday evening, the event was held at Workshop17 in Sandton, headlined by Arthur Goldstuck, Managing Director of World Wide Worx and Brad Elliot, Founder and CEO of Platinum Seed, joined by Ally Khan Pretorius, GM of Uber Eats. On Thursday evening, in Cape Town at Workshop17, Waterfront, the final presentation was given by Andrew Smith, CEO of Yuppiechef.
Last week Heavy Chef hosted a duo of events in Johannesburg and Cape Town, based on the state of the nation’s ‘Online Retail’ sector. On Wednesday evening, the event was held at Workshop17 in Sandton, headlined by Arthur Goldstuck, Managing Director of World Wide Worx and Brad Elliot, Founder and CEO of Platinum Seed, joined by Ally Khan Pretorius, GM of Uber Eats. On Thursday evening, in Cape Town at Workshop17, Waterfront, the final presentation was given by Andrew Smith, CEO of Yuppiechef.
Brad Elliot was the first of speakers to take the stage, and he taught us some Mandarin in doing so. He spoke about a ‘Whanghong Economy’, which is the nascent Chinese digital economy taking over. It is based on influencer marketing via social media platforms. The term Wanghong (网红) is used to title internet celebrities in China, and their job is to attract internet users on social media, which can later translate into profit through targeted e-commerce and smart online advertising.
Professor Arthur Goldstuck (he’s actually not a professor, he just looks like one) then introduced the results of the largest Online Retail Survey ever conducted in South Africa. This comprehensive survey was a collaborative effort between World Wide Worx, Platinum Seed, Ask Afrika and VISA. It is now available to the general public - click below.
Some salient points from Arthur’s presentation at the event:
Online retail in South Africa is set to reach R14,1bn in 2018, with a growth rate of 25%.
Lack of reinvestment by online retail in the digital underpinnings of their business hinders growth.
The future belongs to those retailers with a customer centric strategy, that offers audacious digital-first, people driven solutions.
Our final chef in Johannesburg, Ally Khan Pretorius, GM of Uber Eats South Africa, stirred the pots and added more flavour to the serving by teaching us how mobile data informs strategy to drive mobile transactional behaviour. Ally spoke about Uber Eats and their evolving strategy, for perspective. She later then mentioned that moving from ‘Recommendations’ to a ‘Personalization’ strategy is the way forward for the online retail space. This shift will tailor the product offering and customer experience to being more customer centric and therefore resulting in a better option for customers.
The following evening’s event saw an even bigger crowd in Cape Town, with Andrew Smith, CEO of Yuppiechef, joining Arthur and Brad on stage, for a scintillating presentation on Yuppiechef’s transition from clicks to bricks. Andrew was funny, insightful and devastatingly honest about how hard it is to create an eCommerce store from the ground up.
The evening ended with Fred Roed, CEO of Heavy Chef, presenting the ‘Online Retailer Of The Year’ awards, supported by World Wide Worx, Platinum Seed and Heavy Chef. The awards were adjudicated based on the extraordinary amount of research pooled by the Platinum Seed and World Wide Worx teams, which gave Arthur, Brad and the various team members a very close view of the retail sector in South Africa.
The awards were handed out by Arthur and Brad, on stage with Simon Leps and Adheesh Burdee from the eCommerce Forum of South Africa.
The winners of SA’s Online Retailer of The Year were:
2nd Runner-Up: joint award is made to Woolworths and NetFlorist
1st Runner-Up: Clever Little Monkey
Emerging Retailer of the Year: KAMERS/Makers Online Marketplace
Online Retailer of the Year: Yuppiechef
Andrew Smith and Shane Dryden were in attendance in Cape Town to receive the winning prize.
Above: Arthur Goldstuck, Brad Elliott, Andrew Smith (Yuppiechef), Shane Dryden (Yuppiechef), SImon Leps (eCommerce Forum SA), Adheesh Burdee (eCommerce Forum SA).
All in all, there is a significant growth opportunity in the eCommerce sector and it is driven by high mobile penetration. Yes, South Africa might not be considered a ‘Whanghong Economy’, but the potential of us becoming a contributor to the world of eCommerce is there. Vuka Afrika, masenze!