Meet Prakash Veenam, whose expertise in the field of e-commerce was proven in the growth of one company and his current employment in the upper echelons of the online store everyone and their mother loves to use. He was the CEO of Maternova, an e-commerce company focused on saving the lives of pregnant women and newborn children via the supply of cutting-edge medical products. He helped increase the company’s top line growth, even through the tumultuous economic situation brought about by COVID-19. Now, he works at the world’s largest online retailer- Amazon- as Senior Business Development Manager.
Veenam’s expertise in a business focused on e-commerce has given him unique insight into how to make a business successful.
According to Veenam, there are three basic requirements when building and growing a successful e-commerce business: Knowing your niche, knowing your scale, and having an interactive website.
First, you must know what you are bringing to the market. Is it a mix of different types of products? Industrial items? Perhaps niche organic foods. It’s important to be clear about it.
“E-commerce gives you a lot of space in which to put hundreds and thousands of products,” Veenam says, “But just having so many products on your website isn’t conducive to good business. You need to know the demand, and have a supply chain in place. Then consider what your fulfillment center looks like. Do you have an effective customer service department? There are many things to consider.”
Next is the scale.
“Any company will have some type of limitation,” Veenam explains. Indeed, even the biggest companies have limitations like who they can work with, or how far their reach is allowed to be. Smaller companies might have limitations on money or technology. “It might be the number of hires or contracts you can sign. It all depends on company size and the scale of their product/market.”
Veenam explains how these barriers can hinder growth if a business leader is not nimble enough to work with them. “It takes strength of character and an ability to make tough decisions. During my time as CEO of Maternova, we were not able to break into every region we wanted to due to legal and monetary limitations.” In fact, he was the one to make the choice on which countries to
enter. For a company whose mission is to provide life-saving medical equipment to as many women and children as possible, it was a hard choice as CEO.
The third most important aspect is a robust, interactive online platform. Attention to detail is important at this stage. What type of information do you provide to customers, and how much? Can customers provide their reviews? How easy is it to understand the information displayed?
“One part of breaking into non-English speaking regions was catering the website to the local language,” Veenam explains, talking about the process of reaching out to different customer bases via Maternova’s online platform, “And we also had to consider different cultures around online shopping. It required hiring local experts to succeed. It’s creative solutions like this that you have to come up with.”
Veenam also talks of other requirements to make an e-commerce business develop in the best way possible.
“If you have the basic requirements down, then you have to keep at it with your regular business skills. E-commerce is just another type of business after all. But you also have to keep in mind that each company will have its own paths to success.”
Veenam speaks of finding the right partners for Maternova’s manufacturing and distribution.
“Manufacturers had to provide cutting-edge products, but also be competitively priced. And distributors needed to share some of Maternova’s goals. We wanted to help people, not price gouge them for profit.”
It is a perfect example of the specific demands of developing a company like Maternova. But Veenam assures that the right skills can help you identify and respond to these demands: “I focused on the skills of those I hired. Did I have enough people with backgrounds in e-commerce and sales? Did they have knowledge of medical equipment? If I had competent workers with the right skillset, I could lead them more effectively because we were all on the same page.”
Veenam is putting his own skills to work at Amazon, which certainly demands all of his expertise. His tips are sure to help anyone who is looking to build and grow their own e commerce business.
