Is Ecommerce a Viable Business Model for Seniors

Very often, these stores are advertised using Facebook advertising and other types of paid advertising. While the ecommerce business model can be highly lucrative, with the successful sellers raking in thousands in a day, the crucial question is – Is it suitable for seniors?

To answer this question, we’ll need to ask ourselves 5 other questions.

What’s your budget like?

The ecommerce model is a ‘cash heavy’ one. While it doesn’t require massive cash outlays, it does require you to spend money testing ads.

Sometimes you will hear people who are trying to sell ecommerce models telling you that you could make tons of profit investing only $5.

This is not entirely true. In fact, hundreds of dollars are usually spent to discover a winning product or an ad that converts. That’s just how it is. You recoup your losses only when you discover a product that sells well.

While this may not be that big a deal to someone who is working and has a steady income, most seniors are out of the workforce and living on limited funds. It is vital to evaluate your budget and finances before trying ecommerce out.

If you have money to spare, you could give it a go. However, if cash is tight and you’re coming online in the hopes of making a few dollars to alleviate your financial problems, ecommerce is NOT for you.

Are you interested in it?

Ultimately, you’ll need to constantly test and tweak your ads. You’ll spend hours analyzing your stats.

You’ll also need to look for new products to sell. You’ll either be getting new designs done or be designing them yourself for print on demand companies.

There probably will be returns and other customer issues to deal with. If you follow the drop shipping model, you’ll have to search for reliable suppliers, etc. There are many moving parts in this business model.

It may all seem too complicated to most seniors who are new to online marketing. Generally, you’d be better off starting off with simpler business models such as freelancing, niche websites, affiliate marketing, product creation and so on.

Once you’re making good money with these, you can use some of those profits to go into ecommerce and diversify your online portfolio.

In short, ecommerce is risky, requires cash… and requires a lot of time and effort.

How much time (and energy) do you have?

Seniors generally have much more time on their hands since they’ve left the workforce. Unfortunately, one of the many ironies of life is that now they have the time, but not as much energy – and they get tired easily.

Ecommerce requires you to spend time analyzing your ads, conversions, etc. You’re always on the clock because money is being spent on ads. You can’t afford to take a day or two break which could lead to money being lost due to underperforming ads.

So, knowing how much time and energy you have to invest in this business model is something to take note of too.

Have you made money online with other methods?

Ideally, you should only embark on an ecommerce model after you’ve given the other online marketing methods a try. With ecommerce, you’ll need to know how to build a store. You’ll need some idea of how to do good copywriting to make your product listings look good.

Then we have Facebook pages and ads. So, you need an understanding of social media. SEO is also important so that you can generate organic traffic.

By now you’ll realize that ecommerce requires knowledge and skills that are gained from knowing the other online marketing methods. It’s best to start off with those first before you plunge into ecommerce.