SESSION 1
The Ecommerce Opportunity
by Cory Miller

WORDPRESS + ECOMMERCE
The Big Opportunity Is

LET’S TALK
WORDPRESS FIRST

On WordPress
- WordPress is 10 years old
- Powering 20%+ of the web 1
- 69% use it as a CMS 2
- Powering 52% of the Top 100 blogs 3
1. http://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management/all/q
2 http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/27/wordpress-now-powers-18-9-of-the-web-has-over-46m-downloads-according-to-founder-matt-mullenweg/
3. http://royal.pingdom.com/2013/05/07/wordpress-top-100-blogs/

Why WordPress?
- Freedom and control
- Content and commerce together
- Super secure and flexible
- So easy my mom can use it
- It grows with you
- Great ecommerce plugin options

Ideal solution for small biz,
solos, indies & nonprofits
Making it an ...

THE ECOMMERCE
OPPORTUNITY

“Ecommerce generated
$231 billion in sales for U.S.
retailers last year ...
http://mashable.com/2013/03/12/forrester-u-s-ecommerce-forecast-2017/

.. expected to increase
13% to $262 billion this year”

Western European sales are
expected to grow faster than
the U.S. in the next 5 years
By the way ...

Ready for the kicker?

Ecommerce is
less than 6% of total sales
http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/pdf/ec_current.pdf

Just look around you
Want more proof?

How many businesses
around you don’t have
ecommerce sites?

3 REASONS TO SPECIALIZE
IN WORDPRESS ECOMMERCE

1. The opportunity & need

2. Lack of experts

3. Make more money

THE BIG 3
KEY MARKETS

1. Indies and solos

2. Small biz and nonprofits

3. Enterprise

LET’S FOCUS ON
SMALL BUSINESS

Think Local. Sell Global.
Pro Tip:

Small Retail Stores

Retail Ideas
- Clothes
- Books
- Sports
- Jewelry
- Gifts / Novelty
- Camera
- Furniture
- Toy / Hobby
- Stationery
- Cars / Bikes / Motorcycles
- Used Stuff

Turn Bricks & Mortar
into Bricks & Clicks
Pro Tip:

Nonprofits

Nonprofits
- Churches
- Museums
- Galleries
- Gardens
- Camps
- Charities
- Donations
- Ticketing
- Fundraising
- Memberships

Make it easy to give & go
Pro Tip:

Personal &
Professional Services

Personal / Prof. Services
- Consultants
- Coaches
- Therapists
- Dog Walkers
- Lawn Mowing
- Cleaning
- Other Freelancers

Food & Beverage

Marketplaces

Small Manufacturing,
Wholesalers (B2B)

Go through the YellowPages
ProTip #3:

HOT SERVICES TO OFFER

1. Membership Sites

Charging for access
to valuable content

2. Flat Rate Shipping

Ditch eBay and Etsy

One-off, specialty products
on their own domains

3. Recurring Payments

Make life easier for
their customers to pay, give

While stabilizing their revenue

So where do
you go from here?

FIRST STEPS FOR
GETTING STARTED

1. Take next steps in learning

Our Resources for You
- Free ebook: Getting Started with WordPress Ecommerce
- Free ebook: Creating Your First Ebook
- Free workbook: Biz Plan Primer for Web Designers
- Ongoing Training from WebDesign.com

2. Start looking at plugins

Easy Digital Downloads
WooCommerce
Shopp
WP-Ecommerce

iThemes Exchange
And of course, ours ...

3. Offer ecommerce
on your own site

Sell your packages
& services online ASAP

Recurring payments, invoices
Like ...

4. Find a Beta client

Start simple and easy,
then graduate

PARTING THOUGHTS

The challenge is tough.
The opportunity is great.
Is it a good fit for you?