A prospective ecommerce founder is seeking practical, real-world business risks beyond theoretical frameworks, specifically asking for experiences from year 1-2 operations. They’re looking for concrete examples like chargeback fraud, unexpected supplier minimum order quantities (MOQs), and shipping losses.
Key risks identified by respondents:
Main insight: Operational failures typically erode profits more than marketing missteps. The discussion remains open, with the respondent asking about the founder’s specific niche to provide more targeted risk assessment.
I’m revising the planning and trying to separate theory from reality. AI can pull up like 10 theories easily but I want to really get down to the ground work. I know the categories (financial, operational, compliance, market), but what actually hit you in year 1 or 2?
Examples like chargeback fraud, surprise supplier MOQs, or shipping losses are super helpful. What top 2’3 risks would you warn a first-time ecommerce founder about?
That’s a great angle, theory’s easy, but the reality hits different once you’re actually running the store.
What caught me off guard early on were things like cash flow crunches payouts delayed just when ads were scaling, or a payment processor randomly holding funds. Then there’s the supplier side, minimum orders suddenly jumping or lead times stretching for no reason. And honestly, shipping and chargebacks were the quiet killers. A few bad delivery weeks and you’re issuing refunds left and right.
In my experience, profit isn’t usually lost in marketing but it’s lost in the operations nobody expects to go wrong.
Out of curiosity, what niche are you building in? That makes a big difference in which risks hit first.
Food truck business on sausages. Our themes are locally sourced ingredients, buns, soda pops from local breweries coupled with our homemade toppings and sauce.