Mastering e-commerce and successfully selling your products online is tough! There are so many software solutions out there that can help you sell products on your website, and even more marketplaces like Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy.

When learning about this thriving industry, I think it’s best to focus 1/3 of your time on platforms, another third on marketing/social media, and the final third on how to optimize and grow your business.

Whether you want to build a business that does enough revenue to support you or you are looking to grow your business beyond a handful of employees, each of these books will have something for you!

1. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

I love this book! I think the reason that it’s so effective is that it focuses on productivity output, rather than just the amount of time that you throw at a business.

The book explains how you can free up time and improve efficiency by developing systems that will replace you in your ecommerce business.

This ‘free time’ can be used to relax on a beach or be re-invested into creating new products or further expanding the reach of your business.

I also recommend checking out Tim Ferriss’ blog for some free tips on lifestyle design.

2. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

It’s easy to overlook the power of reputation in a digital age. It seems like there is so much focus on marketplaces and products are quickly becoming commodities. The way to stand out, when the world is becoming increasingly flat, is to build a positive relationship with your customers.

This is done by paying ridiculous attention to customer happiness, from the moment someone enters your door until and after the time they leave. In this book, Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, shares his secrets for astounding ecommerce success.

It is a must-read for any online entrepreneur who wants to build a successful business and make a mark on the world while doing it!

3. Amazon Selling Secrets: How to Make an Extra K – 0K a Month Selling Your Own Products on Amazon

If you are new to selling products on Amazon, I’d recommend getting started with this book. It is relatively inexpensive and cuts right to the meat of what you need to know about the ecommerce platform.

However, if you are familiar with Amazon, I think this book would be too basic for you. Your time might be better spent listening to this podcast on the SmartPassiveIncome blog, which goes into more detail about one entrepreneur’s successful amazon business.

Finally, if you are willing to invest a day or two on blogs and googling around, you could probably accumulate just as much knowledge in this book, but I do think it presents the information is a nice and organized fashion.

4. Inbound Marketing and SEO: Insights from the Moz Blog

There is a lot of free content out there on SEO and content marketing. Of those resources, the Moz blog is one of the most authoritative. This book is the cornerstone of my knowledge regarding SEO.

Although there are search engine algorithm changes each year, I think this book serves as a good core piece of knowledge that should be read from front to finish.

I highly recommend it. If you implement the practices, you will see your search engine traffic improve over time, which can lead to increased sales and repeat customers!

5. Selling on Shopify: How to Create an Online Store & Profitable eCommerce Business with Shopify

If you’re a beginner in the eCommerce space, it’s likely that you’ve considered Shopify or SquareSpace as a tool to host your online store. Shopify has a lot of good blog articles and tutorials, but if you want something that will take you step by step through the process of creating a Shopify store, I’d recommend this book.

This book will be too simple for more advanced users, or if you have a firm grip on the functionality and tools that Shopify offers e-commerce entrepreneurs.

Finally, you will learn a lot about what it takes to be successful on an e-commerce platform in general, which can be later applied to your own website!

6. eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies

Another marketplace that many ecommerce entrepreneurs get their feet wet in is eBay. eBay is a good way to experiment with selling products online if you have very little experience. You will quickly learn the important of a good reputation and the supply and demand for different products.

This book will hold your hand through the process of setting up an eBay business and cover basic terminology that you need to understand to have a firm grasp on how the marketplace works.

Once you understand the marketplace, it will be easier to pick out the best item to sell and how to go about promoting it on the website.

7. Etsy Empire: Proven Tactics for Your Etsy Business Success

Depending on the type of products that you want to sell online, Etsy could be a great platform, particularly if you are planning to sell handmade items or homemade crafts.

As more and more craft lovers are becoming familiar with Etsy and popular image-centric social media websites like Pinterest and Instagram, the opportunity to convert followers into buyers is growing.

Etsy Empire will walk you through the steps you need to take to turn your hobby into an extra income stream, and maybe one day, a full-time job. It covers marketing, accounting, shipping, customer service, and more.

8. E-Commerce 2014 (10th Edition)

If you really want to understand the driving forces behind the e-commerce revolution, this book is a good place to start. Unlike the previous books mentioned, this is a textbook (can be dry at times) and covers emerging trends, technological innovations, and industry examples.

While this book is designed to be used in a university course, it can also serve as an introduction to the industry for e-commerce entrepreneurs and can quickly get you up to speed on where the industry is going.

Which books did I leave out?

Let me know in a comment below! What book has helped you the most?