Velvet Caviar CEO Michelle Aranbayev Discusses E- Commerce Financing

The worldwide e-commerce industry is believed to be responsible for more than $3.5 trillion in sales annually, a number that is projected to double over the next three years as more and more people dive right in.

At the same time, the e-commerce industry – particularly with smaller to midsized companies – is dealing with its fair share of growing pains as entrepreneurs face a number of challenges that threaten the success and financial future of their e-commerce companies.

Funding is one of the biggest challenges e-commerce entrepreneurs have to contend with in 2020 (and beyond). To better understand these challenges and learn how to overcome them we spoke to the CEO of Velvet Caviar, Michelle Aranbayev. She’s transformed this e-commerce company into a mobile accessory giant and understands what it takes to succeed today.

What Do You See as the Biggest Challenges for E-Commerce in 2020?

Michelle Aranbayev (MA): Obviously, priority one for e-commerce companies today has to revolve around securing the kind of funding necessary to not only compete but thrive in today’s hyper competitive e-commerce space.

On top of that, though, entrepreneurs getting into the world of e-commerce are also going to need to handle the omnidirectional approach to business that this 100% online model leverages. It’s a world apart from the traditional “singular” customer experience that most brick and mortar businesses are used to, especially when your customers can interface or contact your business through so many different channels online.

The last challenge I want to touch on briefly is one I think a lot of e-commerce entrepreneurs really struggle with, and that’s sticking to the “old approach” to selling online today. Data driven decisions need to be taken advantage of far more frequently today than they probably are, and customer segmentation is a huge piece of the success puzzle as well.

What Do Smaller Brands Have to Do Well to Compete with Bottomless Budget Big Companies?

MA: Competing with major corporations that are getting into the e-commerce (we’re not just talking about Amazon here, either) is one of the day-to-day challenges that I have to contend with as CEO at Velvet Caviar.

We recognize that some of our competitors are going to have nearly bottomless marketing budgets, can throw almost infinite amounts of cash at problems to solve them, and are always going to take advantage of their size and scale to crush smaller competitors whenever possible.