Is My Business Ready for E-Commerce?
Thinking about selling online or expanding your current store? Are you ready for e-commerce? Walk through what it takes to run a successful e-commerce operation. Learn the essential tools, workflows, and habits needed to attract customers, manage orders, and sell confidently online.
Get Ready for E-Commerce
Thinking about selling online or expanding your current store? Are you ready for e-commerce? Walk through what it takes to run a successful e-commerce operation. Learn the essential tools, workflows, and habits needed to attract customers, manage orders, and sell confidently online.
Meet the Expert
Terrand Smith
A consummate retail professional, Terrand Smith oversaw close to $1 billion in revenue during her 15+ year-long career in corporate retail. Working at the headquarters of some of the top retailers in the U.S., she managed, grew, and restored categories with thousands of products and hundreds of vendor partners in over 15,000 retail outlets.
Her strengths were in optimizing product assortments; establishing pricing strategies; developing impactful promotions; improving inefficiencies; negotiating with vendors; developing innovations and managing profit & loss statements. These strengths allowed her to drive significant growth in sales, market share, profitability, and new business models for her companies.
Smith is now the Founder and CEO of 37 Oaks, a Chicago-based education company that educates and prepares small businesses for growth through e-commerce, wholesale, storefront & popup markets. Strengthening and revitalizing communities through commerce is not only her mission but also her responsibility. She is also the author of Prepare to Shift: The Workbook which outlines a proven roadmap to shift a hobby into a growing business.
Stay in touch with Terrand:
Is Your Business Ready for E-Commerce?
Topics discussed include:
- I want to sell online. What does that actually mean, and what does being truly ready for e-commerce look like?
- What are the most common mistakes small businesses make when they first try to launch online, and how can I avoid getting stuck before I even start?
- Before I build an online store or choose a platform, what foundational questions should I be asking about my business and my customers?
- Should I sell on Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, my own website, or somewhere else? How do I decide where to sell online?
- Once my online store is live, what systems and workflows do I need to manage orders, fulfillment, and customer communication without becoming overwhelmed?
- How can I position my products so customers can actually find them online?
- What does visibility mean in an e-commerce business, and what strategies move the needle?
- What role do shipping and fulfillment play in the customer experience, and what do I need to know to get this right from the start?
- How can I build trust with online customers who have never met me in person?
- What signals tell shoppers that my business is legitimate and worth buying from?
- What does success actually look like in the early stages of e-commerce, and how should I measure progress without getting discouraged?
- What kind of support, resources, or learning opportunities can help me successfully grow my e-commerce business?
Learn more about the FedEx E-Commerce Learning Lab here:
