Growth is always exciting for online retail. As an online retailer, it’s tempting to want to scale up as quickly as possible. However, slower organic growth is often better long-term than rapid, potentially unsustainable growth. In this article, my goal is to explain why I believe this to you.
Focus on high-quality products and customers
When you grow slowly and steadily, you have more time to carefully curate your product selection and nurture your ideal customer base.
- Take time to find high-quality suppliers and manufacturers. Don’t just add any product to your store. Vet suppliers thoroughly to ensure they’ll provide excellent products that align with your brand. Many vendors can provide samples – take advantage of that before committing to large orders.
- Get to know your early adopters. Learn what draws customers to your products specifically. Double down on those product varieties to help build a community around your niche.
Slow growth gives you space to build meaningful connections and trust with suppliers and customers. This forms a solid foundation for scaling later.
Refine systems and operations
When you scale rapidly, it’s easy for things to spiral out of control. Processes break down, you scramble to handle support tickets and shipments; things quickly become a mess. I’ve seen this firsthand with many brands.
With gradual growth, you have breathing room to:
- Test and improve internal systems, from your website CMS to fulfillment workflows, refine them until they’re robust.
- Hire carefully and train staff thoroughly as your team expands. This prevents your staff from getting overwhelmed and can result in you losing top talent.
- Keep up quality control and customer service. Don’t let your standards drop, even during busy periods.
Remember, Strengthening your operations positions you to scale efficiently later on. Infrastructure matters.
Minimize risk
While rapid scaling may look good in the short term, it can be financially risky if you:
- Take on significant debt or outside investment too early
- Overextend on inventory orders before demand is proven
- Continue pouring money into marketing without knowing your LTV
With slower growth, you can fund expansion mostly through revenue, keeping costs in check. It allows you to:
- Start small and reinvest profits to grow.
- Only order inventory you’re confident will sell. You can test smaller batches first.
- Experiment with marketing tactics cautiously, assessing ROI and continuously improving.
This minimizes the risk of overextending yourself financially. You can then expand intelligently based on actual sales and metrics.
Stay focused
When you grow fast, there’s temptation to expand your offerings and stray from your core mission to sustain uncontrollable speed.
More moderate growth enables focus on:
- Offering only what your most loyal customers truly want. Avoid feature creep or scope expansion until you’ve nailed your core niche.
- Improving products rather than rushing out new varieties constantly. You can take time to optimize existing products based on feedback.
- Doing a few things extremely well, rather than spreading yourself thin across many initiatives.
Organic growth forces you to keep refining your competitive advantage rather than getting distracted.
Enjoy the journey
At the end of the day, rapid growth can be exhausting. You miss opportunities to:
- Celebrate small wins along the way rather than constantly moving goalposts.
- Connect meaningfully with staff, partners, and customers as things scale up.
- Feel proud of the business you’ve built step-by-step through focus and care.
Slower growth is an accomplishment in itself. Don’t get so fixated on rapid expansion that you miss the rewards of the journey.
Key Takeaways
- Organic growth allows you to lay a strong foundation before scaling up. Take time to curate products, understand customers, and refine systems.
- Avoid overextending yourself financially or operationally. Expand prudently at a manageable rate.
- Stay focused on your core competencies rather than expanding too quickly. Do a few things exceptionally well first.
- Enjoy small milestones along the way. Slower organic growth allows you to build community and celebrate wins.
I believe the most sustainable businesses balance patience with ambition. Focus on organic growth first. When the time is right to accelerate, you’ll have developed the infrastructure to support rapid expansion successfully.