Best eCommerce Books – Top 11 Picks You Must Read

The business of eCommerce is becoming wildly popular. If you’re looking to jump into this world, though, there is a lot to learn. That’s where gaining knowledge from the professionals and experts in this field can come in handy.

eCommerce books are great for readers that want to learn more about the business of making money online. So we did the research and gathered up the eleven best eCommerce books that are must-reads for those that want to learn more about eCommerce businesses. So, if that sounds like you, let’s get started!

Best eCommerce Books

No matter what you’re selling, from jewelry to art, solid knowledge of eCommerce and how it works can help you be more successful in your venture. So, whether you still have to come up with a business idea or you already have a website up and running, the eCommerce books below will help you drive more sales and attract a lot more customers to your store. Keep reading below to learn more about what you can learn from these books and the experts that wrote them. 

1. Growth Hacker Marketing

Written by marketer and author Ryan Holiday, Growth Hacker Marketing is an eCommerce book about marketing and advertising. In this, Holiday talks about growth hacking: marketing strategies solely focused on growth. More specifically, he explains various case studies from successful brands that have used these strategies without spending a dime. 

If you’re a beginner in the industry or new to the eCommerce world, this is one of the best books for you. By reading this, you’ll learn about search engine optimization, content marketing, and conversion rate optimization on all social media platforms. 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Growth hacking mindset: Growth hacking is a mindset that focuses on rapid experimentation, data-driven decision-making, and continuous innovation. It involves finding creative and unconventional ways to achieve growth quickly.
2. Product-market fit: Before diving into growth hacking, it’s essential to ensure your product or service resonates with the target market. Building a product that solves a real problem for a specific audience is crucial for successful growth hacking.
3. Test and iterate: Growth hackers emphasize the importance of constant testing and iterating on marketing strategies. By running experiments, analyzing data, and making iterative improvements, you can optimize your marketing efforts for better results.
4. Virality and referral marketing: Word-of-mouth marketing can be a powerful driver of growth. Creating viral loops and referral programs that encourage customers to share your product with others can lead to exponential growth.
5. Building a minimum viable audience (MVA): Instead of focusing on reaching a broad audience, growth hackers aim to identify and target a small group of early adopters who are passionate about their product. By serving this MVA exceptionally well, you can leverage their enthusiasm to drive growth.
6. Using platforms and leverage: Growth hackers look for platforms and existing networks that can amplify their message and reach. By leveraging platforms such as social media, content marketing, and partnerships, you can tap into larger audiences and accelerate growth.
7. Data-driven decision-making: Growth hacking relies heavily on data analysis and metrics to make informed decisions. Setting up tracking systems and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) allows you to identify what’s working and what needs improvement.
8. Agility and adaptability: The landscape of marketing is constantly changing. Growth hackers need to be agile and adaptable, willing to try new things and adjust their strategies based on market feedback and emerging trends.
9. Embrace unconventional methods: Growth hackers often embrace unconventional marketing tactics and strategies. They think outside the box, experiment with different channels, and find creative ways to attract and engage customers.
10. Continuous learning: Growth hacking requires a commitment to continuous learning and staying up to date with the latest marketing techniques and trends. By staying curious and open to new ideas, you can stay ahead in the rapidly evolving marketing landscape.

2. Don’t Make Me Think 

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug is a common-sense approach to web usability. If you work in web design, this is one of the best eCommerce books for you. In this, Krug explains his secret formula to making people stay on a website for a longer time. 

Krug also explains why people leave websites and how you can make your website better for each customer. If you’re a reader who wants to improve your site and drive web traffic through the roof but have little experience in customer service, this is the perfect guide for you.

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Simplicity is key: Design your website to be simple and easy to understand. Users should be able to navigate and interact with your site without having to think too much or struggle to find what they need.
2. Clear and concise communication: Use clear and concise language in your website’s content and navigation. Avoid unnecessary jargon or complex terminology that might confuse users.
3. Create effective visual hierarchies: Use visual cues such as size, color, and placement to create a clear hierarchy of information on your website. This helps users quickly identify the most important elements and understand the organization of the content.
4. Design for scanning, not reading: Most users scan web pages instead of reading them word by word. Structure your content with headings, subheadings, bullet points, and bolded text to make it easy for users to scan and find relevant information.
5. Remove unnecessary clutter: Eliminate any elements, text, or images that do not contribute to the user’s goals or add value to the website. Simplify the design and focus on what is essential.
6. Provide clear and intuitive navigation: Ensure that your website’s navigation is easy to find, understand, and use. Use standard navigation conventions and organize information logically to help users navigate effortlessly.
7. Test and iterate: Regularly test your website’s usability with real users and gather feedback to identify areas for improvement. Iteratively refine your design based on user insights to optimize the user experience.
8. Leverage usability conventions: Follow established usability conventions and patterns to make it easier for users to interact with your website. Avoid reinventing the wheel unless there’s a compelling reason to do so.
9. Design for different devices and screen sizes: With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure that your website is responsive and provides a seamless experience across different screen sizes and devices.
10. Prioritize user needs and goals: Put yourself in the user’s shoes and design your website to meet their needs and help them accomplish their goals. Understand your target audience and design with empathy.

3. Launch

Written by Internet millionaire Jeff Walker, Launch teaches readers how to sell online and build the business of their dreams. If you want more revenue streams or a successful website, Launch is the book that will help you succeed in the world of eCommerce.

In this book, Walker talks about setting up an eCommerce store, cultivating the mindset of successful entrepreneurs, and selling a product that each customer will love. If you want to learn about eCommerce businesses and the best way to make sales online, Launch is one of the best books for you to read.

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. The Product Launch Formula (PLF): The book introduces the Product Launch Formula, a systematic approach to launching products that builds anticipation, engages your audience, and generates sales. It involves a series of pre-launch, launch, and post-launch strategies.
2. Building an engaged audience: Prior to launching, focus on building an engaged audience through various channels such as email marketing, social media, and content creation. Engage with your audience, provide value, and establish trust to lay the foundation for a successful launch.
3. Pre-launch content and sequences: Use pre-launch content to generate anticipation and excitement for your product. Offer valuable content and insights to your audience, gradually building up to the launch event. Plan a series of pre-launch sequences to educate, engage, and prepare your audience for the upcoming offer.
4. Launch event strategies: Create a launch event that captures attention and drives action. This could involve webinars, live videos, or other interactive experiences that showcase the value of your product and encourage conversions. Utilize scarcity and urgency techniques to drive sales during the launch period.
5. Leveraging joint ventures and affiliates: Collaborate with partners, joint ventures, or affiliates who have access to your target audience. By leveraging their reach and influence, you can expand your reach and drive more sales during the launch.
6. Sales funnel optimization: Design and optimize your sales funnel to maximize conversions. Ensure a seamless customer journey from initial opt-in to purchase, incorporating upsells, downsells, and follow-up sequences to increase revenue.
7. Gathering and leveraging social proof: Collect testimonials, case studies, and success stories from your satisfied customers during the launch. Social proof helps build credibility and trust, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
8. Post-launch follow-up: After the launch, follow up with your customers to provide additional value and support. Maintain communication and nurture relationships with your audience for future launches and ongoing business opportunities.
9. Continuous improvement: Analyze the results of your launch and gather feedback to identify areas for improvement. Refine your strategies and tactics based on data and customer insights to enhance future launches.
10. Embrace a growth mindset: Adopt a mindset of continuous learning and improvement. Each launch provides an opportunity to gain valuable experience and refine your approach for future success.

4. Digital Marketing

Co-written by Dave Chaffey and Fiona Ellis-Chadwick, Digital Marketing explains how companies can utilize social media to reach their marketing goals. If you already have a business but want more sales, more happy customers, and more products to sell, this is the perfect book for you. 

In this book, you’ll learn about how each major business has met its marketing goals by using social media. You’ll also learn about SEO, establishing a loyal customer base, and utilizing innovation on all digital platforms. Whether you have a lot of experience or close to none, this book will help you grow your eCommerce business and gain access to your customers’ emotions.

5. Building a Story Brand

In Building a Story Brand, author Donald Miller teaches readers how to clarify their brand message so that customers will listen. If you want to connect with your customers and solve a problem that they’re passionate about, this book will teach you how. 

This is one of the best eCommerce books for those who want to increase their conversion rate or scale their business. By implementing Donald Miller’s seven marketing strategies, you’ll be able to make more money from eCommerce and become a big name in the industry. This is one of the best books to read for those who have multiple businesses or want to find a way to create multiple streams of income.

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Clarify your message: The most successful brands are those that can clearly communicate their message. Clearly define your brand’s core message by identifying the problem you solve, the solution you offer, and the transformation your customers can achieve.
2. Position your customer as the hero: In your marketing, position your customer as the hero of the story, not your brand. Understand their desires, challenges, and goals, and position your brand as the guide that helps them overcome obstacles and achieve success.
3. Identify the villain: Every hero needs to overcome a villain or obstacle. Clearly identify the main problem or challenge that your customers face and position it as the villain. Your brand’s solution should be presented as the means to conquer that villain.
4. Create a clear plan: Provide a clear and actionable plan to guide your customers on their journey. Break down the steps they need to take to achieve their desired outcome, and make it easy for them to follow.
5. Use simple and memorable language: Avoid using jargon or complex terminology in your marketing. Use simple and clear language that your customers can easily understand and remember.
6. Focus on the transformation: Highlight the transformation that your customers will experience by using your product or service. Paint a vivid picture of how their lives will improve and the benefits they will enjoy.
7. Use storytelling techniques: Incorporate storytelling elements such as characters, conflict, and resolution into your marketing messages. Engage your audience emotionally by telling compelling stories that resonate with their experiences.
8. Make your brand’s message consistent across channels: Ensure that your brand’s message is consistent across all marketing channels. Whether it’s your website, social media, or advertising, maintain a cohesive and unified message to reinforce your brand’s story.
9. Test and iterate: Continuously test and refine your marketing messages to improve their effectiveness. Collect feedback from customers, track metrics, and make adjustments as needed to optimize your messaging.
10. Apply the StoryBrand framework to all aspects of your business: The StoryBrand framework is not just for marketing messages. Apply it to all aspects of your business, from customer service to product development, to ensure a consistent and compelling brand experience.

6. Shoe Dog

Shoe Dog is a best-selling memoir by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike. In this, Knight explains Nike’s first few years as a start-up and what the business world is really like. This book is great for entrepreneurs and people who want to become eCommerce professionals. 

If you want to learn more about the eCommerce world and what it takes to make it big, this book will be a great guide for you. However, if you’re looking for a more applicable, less personal story, this memoir may have too much storyline and little advice about the eCommerce business.

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Passion and perseverance: Phil Knight’s passion for running and his relentless pursuit of his vision played a vital role in the success of Nike. The ecommerce business requires similar passion and perseverance to overcome challenges and drive growth.
2. Embrace innovation: Nike was at the forefront of innovation in the sportswear industry. In the ecommerce space, it’s crucial to embrace technological advancements and adapt to new trends to provide a seamless and engaging online shopping experience for customers.
3. Customer-centric approach: Nike prioritized understanding and meeting the needs of its customers. Similarly, in ecommerce, focusing on customer satisfaction, personalization, and delivering a seamless user experience are crucial for success.
4. Build a strong brand: Nike’s branding efforts were instrumental in building a loyal customer base. Investing in building a strong brand identity, storytelling, and consistent brand messaging can help differentiate your ecommerce business from competitors.
5. Establish strategic partnerships: Nike formed strategic partnerships with athletes, sports teams, and influencers to enhance its brand visibility and reach. In ecommerce, forging partnerships with complementary businesses, influencers, or affiliates can help expand your customer base and increase brand exposure.
6. Supply chain management: Nike’s success was partially due to its efficient supply chain management. In ecommerce, optimizing your supply chain, inventory management, and logistics are critical to ensure timely delivery and customer satisfaction.
7. Adaptability to market changes: Nike demonstrated adaptability by responding to market shifts and consumer preferences. Similarly, in ecommerce, staying agile and adjusting your strategies based on changing market dynamics and customer demands is essential.
8. Investment in marketing and advertising: Nike invested heavily in marketing and advertising to build brand awareness and drive sales. Allocating resources to digital marketing, social media advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) can help generate traffic and boost sales for your ecommerce business.
9. Customer feedback and product improvement: Nike valued customer feedback and used it to improve its products continually. Embrace customer reviews, ratings, and feedback to gather insights that can be used to enhance your ecommerce offerings and customer experience.
10. Long-term vision and persistence: Nike’s success did not come overnight. Phil Knight’s persistence and long-term vision were crucial in overcoming obstacles and building a global brand. In ecommerce, maintaining a long-term perspective, staying focused on your goals, and persevering through challenges are key to achieving sustainable growth.

7. Anyone Can Do It 

Co-written by Sahar Hashemi and Bobby Hashemi, Anyone Can Do It consists of 57 real-life lessons about entrepreneurship. In this, Sahar and Bobby tell readers what it was like building Coffee Republic, their eCommerce business, from their kitchen table.

This inspiring eCommerce book explains how the Hashemis built a profitable business and made their dream job a steady income source. By reading this book, you’ll learn about why some businesses fail and how you can create a profitable business idea. This is one of the best business books out there for readers who want to build a life out of eCommerce. 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Follow your passion: Pursue a business idea or venture that you are passionate about. Sahar and Bobby Hashemi were driven by their love for coffee and the desire to create a unique coffee experience.
2. Embrace innovation and disruption: Be open to challenging traditional norms and disrupting established industries. Coffee Republic brought the concept of American-style coffee shops to the UK, introducing a new experience to customers.
3. Start small and learn as you go: Begin with a small-scale operation to test the market and learn from the experience. Coffee Republic started with a single coffee cart and gradually expanded.
4. Focus on the customer experience: Place a strong emphasis on providing exceptional customer service and creating a memorable experience. Coffee Republic strived to make customers feel welcome, fostering a sense of community in their stores.
5. Take calculated risks: Be willing to take calculated risks in your business. The Hashemis took risks such as quitting their corporate jobs and investing their own savings into Coffee Republic.
6. Embrace the power of branding: Develop a strong brand identity that resonates with your target audience. Coffee Republic positioned itself as a youthful, edgy, and vibrant brand that stood out in the market.
7. Build a strong team: Surround yourself with talented individuals who share your vision and can contribute to the growth of your business. Coffee Republic focused on building a strong team that was passionate about the brand and its values.
8. Adapt to change: Be adaptable and willing to evolve as the business landscape changes. Coffee Republic had to adapt to challenges such as competition and changing market trends.
9. Seek mentorship and advice: Seek guidance from experienced individuals who can provide valuable insights and mentorship. The Hashemis sought advice from business experts and mentors throughout their journey.
10. Persevere through challenges: Building a successful business requires perseverance and resilience. The Hashemis encountered numerous obstacles but persevered and overcame them to achieve success.

8. You Should Test That

You Should Test That by Chris Goward is all about conversion optimization and the best strategies to increase sales. If you already have a store but want to rank higher on search engines, become a best-seller in your industry, and draw in more viewers, this is the perfect eCommerce book for you. 

This book will teach you how to turn each site visitor into a paying customer. You’ll also learn about SEO, how to rank high on Amazon, how to send follow-up emails to your customers’ inbox once they leave your site or fill their cart, and a long list of other strategies.

With Goward’s case studies and interactive exercises, this book leaves you fully equipped to run a site and increase your sales. By the end, you’ll experience major growth in your eCommerce business. 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Test everything: Embrace a culture of testing and experimentation. Test different elements of your website, such as headlines, call-to-action buttons, layouts, and colors, to identify what resonates best with your audience and drives higher conversions.
2. Data-driven decision-making: Base your decisions on data rather than assumptions or opinions. Use analytics tools and collect quantitative and qualitative data to gain insights into user behavior and preferences.
3. Hypothesis-driven testing: Develop clear hypotheses about what changes or variations will improve your website’s performance. Test these hypotheses to validate or invalidate them and gain insights into customer behavior.
4. Segment your audience: Segment your audience based on demographics, behaviors, and other relevant factors. Test different variations tailored to specific segments to better understand their preferences and optimize conversions.
5. Prioritize high-impact tests: Focus on tests that have the potential to generate significant impact and uplift in your key metrics. Prioritize tests that target crucial areas of your website or address specific pain points in the customer journey.
6. Test one element at a time: Test a single element at a time to isolate its impact on conversions. This allows you to accurately identify the impact of the tested element and avoid confounding factors.
7. Test throughout the customer journey: Test various touchpoints and stages of the customer journey, including landing pages, checkout processes, form submissions, and post-purchase experiences. Optimizing each step can lead to significant improvements in overall conversion rates.
8. Iterate and learn from tests: Analyze test results, gather insights, and apply the learnings to future tests. Continuously iterate and refine your website based on the knowledge gained from testing.
9. Embrace both qualitative and quantitative data: Use a combination of quantitative data (e.g., conversion rates, click-through rates) and qualitative data (e.g., user feedback, surveys) to gain a comprehensive understanding of user behavior and preferences.
10. Continuous testing: CRO is an ongoing process. Regularly run tests to optimize and improve your website’s performance, as customer preferences and market dynamics may change over time.

9. The Startup Owner’s Manual

Co-created by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf, The Startup Owner’s Manual is a step-by-step guide loved by over 100,000 entrepreneurs. This is one of the best eCommerce books that teaches readers how to build and grow a successful business. 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Customer discovery: Prioritize customer discovery to gain deep insights into your target market. Understand your customers’ needs, pain points, and behaviors to develop products and services that align with their preferences.
2. Build a minimum viable product (MVP): Create a minimal version of your product or service that fulfills the core needs of your target customers. Test and iterate on your MVP based on customer feedback to ensure market fit and minimize wasted resources.
3. Customer validation: Validate your business model and assumptions by obtaining feedback from early customers. Engage in continuous conversations with customers to refine your value proposition and improve the user experience.
4. Use lean startup principles: Adopt lean startup principles, such as rapid experimentation, continuous learning, and agile development. Apply validated learning to iterate quickly and efficiently, allowing your ecommerce business to adapt to market needs.
5. Embrace the “get out of the building” approach: Actively engage with potential customers, partners, and industry experts to gather insights and validate assumptions. Interact directly with your target market to validate demand and identify pain points.
6. Customer acquisition and retention: Develop effective customer acquisition and retention strategies specific to the ecommerce landscape. Experiment with various digital marketing channels, optimize user experience, and leverage data to drive traffic, conversions, and repeat purchases.
7. Analytics and data-driven decision-making: Leverage analytics tools and collect data to gain insights into customer behavior, website performance, and conversion funnels. Make data-driven decisions to optimize your ecommerce operations, marketing campaigns, and user experience.
8. Scalability and operations: Consider scalability from the early stages of your ecommerce business. Design your operations, logistics, and technology infrastructure with scalability in mind to accommodate future growth and increased demand.
9. Continuous innovation and iteration: Ecommerce is a rapidly evolving industry, and staying ahead requires continuous innovation. Foster a culture of experimentation, encourage new ideas, and consistently iterate on your products, services, and business processes.
10. Focus on customer experience: Differentiate your ecommerce business by providing a seamless and exceptional customer experience. Invest in user-friendly website design, intuitive navigation, personalized recommendations, efficient customer support, and hassle-free purchasing processes.

10. Web Analytics 2.0 

Web Analytics 2.0 is all about customer-centricity and online accountability. Written by web analytics thought leader Avinash Kaushik, this business book teaches readers how to apply web analytical techniques correctly. More specifically, the author teaches readers how to listen to their customers, measure success on a long list of platforms, and use Amazon to find SEO keywords. 

This book will help you run a data-driven business that produces money-making results. Whether you sell products on Amazon FBA or you have a personal website, this is one of the books that will help you draw in the target audience that you want. 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

1. Focus on meaningful metrics: Move beyond vanity metrics and focus on metrics that align with your business objectives. Define key performance indicators (KPIs) that directly reflect the success of your website and measure progress against those metrics.
2. Segmentation is key: Analyze your website data by segmenting it based on different dimensions such as demographics, behavior, and traffic sources. Segmentation allows you to gain deeper insights into different user groups and understand their specific needs and behaviors.
3. Implement actionable analytics: Ensure that your web analytics implementation provides actionable insights. Collect data that helps answer important business questions and empowers decision-making rather than drowning in irrelevant data.
4. Set up a measurement framework: Establish a measurement framework that outlines your goals, objectives, and the metrics you’ll track. Develop a structured approach to tracking and analyzing data, allowing you to evaluate performance and make data-driven decisions.
5. Understand the customer journey: Analyze the complete customer journey on your website, from acquisition to conversion and retention. Gain insights into user behavior at each stage and identify areas for improvement to enhance the overall user experience.
6. Multichannel analytics: Track and analyze data from various marketing channels and touchpoints. Understand how different channels contribute to conversions and optimize your marketing efforts accordingly.
7. Experiment with A/B testing: Utilize A/B testing to experiment with different versions of your website or marketing campaigns. Test variations to determine what resonates best with your audience and drives higher conversions.
8. Data visualization: Use effective data visualization techniques to present data in a clear and understandable way. Visualizations help communicate insights, facilitate decision-making, and make complex data more accessible.
9. Continuous learning and improvement: Web analytics is an ongoing process. Continuously monitor, analyze, and learn from your data to identify opportunities for optimization and improvement. Embrace a culture of continuous learning and data-driven decision-making.
10. Focus on actionable insights, not just reporting: Move beyond reporting data and strive to provide actionable insights. Translate data into actionable recommendations that can drive meaningful changes and improvements in your website and marketing strategies.

11. The Complete eCommerce Book

The Complete eCommerce Book by Janice Reynolds is a comprehensive guide for maintaining a successful online business. If you’re searching for more growth from your online business, this is one of the best eCommerce books for you. 

Key Topics and Takeaways:

Final Thoughts: Reading About eCommerce

The eleven best eCommerce books above are all great tools to learn more about business, using web analytics on your social media account, and running a great eCommerce site. Whether you want to sell a handmade product or learn more about social media marketing, the books above are great tools that will help you improve your site. By reading a book from this list, you’ll be able to sell more of your product and draw in a longer list of buyers!