Still Building E-commerce Stores From Scratch? You’re Playing the Wrong Game!
The Odds Are Bad for New E-commerce Businesses
New e-commerce stores fail at a high rate. This is not our own opinion. This is what the data shows;
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of new businesses fail in the first year. Nearly half fail within five years.
And e-commerce businesses are not immune to this pattern.
Moreover, Shopify data shows that most new stores never cross $1,000 in monthly revenue.
Even worse, many stores never make a single sale!
Why does this happen?
It’s pretty simple…a new store has no trust, no traffic history, and no proof that customers want the product.
Every step you take in building your store costs you money and time. For instance, ads cost more each year.
Statista shows that the average Facebook ad costs rose over 60% from 2017 to 2023.
As a new online store owner, you’re starting on a clean slate, with zero data. You’ll be guessing what works.
And the market will charge you for every wrong guess you make.
Related: Building An E-commerce Company Vs Buying An Existing One
We Help You Buy / Build, Manage and Scale E-commerce Brands for an EXIT
E-commerce Simplified for Busy Individuals – We handle the buying, building, and scaling, so you can focus on what matters.
Growth-Focused Strategies – From sourcing to marketing, we drive growth and prepare you for a profitable exit.
Expertly Managed Exits – We build a high-value brand designed for a Lucrative exit.
Scratch Builds Burn Time, Not Just Cash
Building an e-commerce business from scratch forces you to do everything at once.
You’ll need to test products, test prices, test copy, test ads, and so on.
Needless to mention, each test is time-consuming (may take weeks).
Meanwhile, your competitors running existing stores with the advantage of real data move faster.
CB Insights reports in their study that the lack of market demand is the top reason startups fail.
This simply means that if your product(s) aren’t filling a market need, the odds of your ecommerce business failing are significantly high!
Built-from-scratch stores face this specific risk every day. You do not know demand until you spend enough to find out.
Now…
Buying an already established e-commerce store changes that.
Think of it this way: demand already exists, and customers already paid. The store has already proved that the idea is working, and you’re not doing any guesswork.
With no guesswork, you’ll be focusing your time and money on improving your online business.
Established E-commerce Stores Come With Proof
One of the benefits of acquiring an already-running e-commerce business is that it gives you assets that brand new stores lack. To be more precise, you get the following:
You get the sales history
You see traffic sources
You know the average order value
You know the repeat purchase rate
With access to these numbers, you can greatly reduce the risk of failure in the highly competitive e-commerce space.
FE International, one of the top firms that deals with the acquisition of e-commerce businesses, states that acquired e-commerce stores tend to reach profitability faster than the new builds.
At Trend Hijacking, we totally agree with this statement. More than 90% of the ecommerce businesses we have helped our clients acquire end up hitting profitability faster.
This is in sharp contrast to clients who opt to go with our program, which involves building from scratch.
Buyers who acquire ready-made stores skip the early loss stage.
Just like with any other business, proof matters when it comes to online business. It helps guide your decisions. It tells you what to cut and what to scale.
Because the store already works, you stop wondering if it will work and start focusing on how to grow it.
You Can Fix Weak Ops Faster Than Weak Demand
You might think, “If I buy an e-commerce store, I might end up inheriting problems from the previous owner."
We have seen that fear play out many times among the buyers we help acquire ecommerce businesses at Trend Hijacking.
What we advise those buyers is that this kind of fear misses a crucial point:
Bad ops are easier to fix than bad demand.
If you inherit a store with poor email flows, you can fix that in days.
If the ads waste money, you can tighten your targeting.
If you notice the product pages lacking clarity, you can simply rewrite them.
However, if no one wants the product in your brand-new e-commerce store, no amount of fixes will help you.
Overall, making operational changes helps you drive strong gains when the demand already exists. Demand sets the ceiling while ops raise you closer to it.
Established stores have already passed the demand test.
Related: What To Do After Buying An E-Commerce Business
The Skill Shift Most Founders Miss
While building from scratch rewards builders, buying rewards the operators.
Most people think they are builders, but in truth, the most success comes from operating well.
Operating in this case means improving margins. It means lifting conversion rates, retaining buyers, etc.
These skills compound fast.
A Bain & Company research shows that a 5% increase in retention can raise profits by 25% or more.
Unfortunately, stores built from scratch rarely reach retention.
The best part about established stores is that they already have buyers to retain.
This shift changes how you work. You focus on leverage, not survival.
We Help You Buy / Build, Manage and Scale E-commerce Brands for an EXIT
E-commerce Simplified for Busy Individuals – We handle the buying, building, and scaling, so you can focus on what matters.
Growth-Focused Strategies – From sourcing to marketing, we drive growth and prepare you for a profitable exit.
Expertly Managed Exits – We build a high-value brand designed for a Lucrative exit.
This Is How Smart Buyers Lower Risk:
Buying does not mean buying blind. In other words, not every e-commerce business listed for sale is a good buy.
As a smart buyer, you should focus on profitable businesses that have the potential to scale.
Here’s our quick list of the key areas you should review:
First, check the revenue quality. Check traffic sources. Avoid stores that rely on one ad account. Look for organic or email sales.
Second, customer behavior. Review repeat rate and refunds. Healthy stores show patterns, not spikes.
Third, consider owner involvement. A store that runs with systems transfers better than one that depends on the current owner.
Keeping these steps in mind will help you reduce the risk of buying the wrong store. They also show growth paths.
Check out this earlier post we did on how to conduct due diligence when buying an e-commerce store.
The Game Is Not About Pride…
Some builders wear struggle like a badge. They strongly believe that starting from zero proves skill.
But then again, markets do not reward pride; they reward results.
Large companies buy revenue all the time.
According to PwC, mergers and acquisitions remain a core growth strategy for top firms. They buy cash flow instead of trying to reinvent it.
You can apply the same logic at a smaller scale.
Final Thoughts
Building from scratch teaches you lessons, no doubt. But it can also drain your resources.
On the other hand, buying an established e-commerce business gives you data, demand, and speed. You trade ego for leverage. You trade guessing for proof.
If you want to build wealth, play the right game. Start where others stop. Use what already works and then make it better.
That's how the real operators win.
Buy An Online Store With Trend Hijacking
If you're thinking about buying an online store, the hardest part is knowing which numbers to trust.
Many e-commerce businesses for sale listings hide weak traffic, thin margins, or owner risk behind good screenshots.
At Trend Hijacking, we help you source undervalued ecommerce stores for sale opportunities with high growth potential, check traffic and sales at the data level, negotiate, and close on your behalf.
Check our Smart Acquisition services for full details on how we can help you buy an online store.
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